About Us

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Mike is an accomplished executive R&D leader with a diverse 20-year record of directing product-focused life science and diagnostic research and development organizations. Dr. Reed recently founded BioNexis LLC, a technical and management consultant firm for the Life Science and Diagnostic industries.  Prior to this, from his most recent role as the Chief Science Officer for OraSure Technologies to past leadership roles with Beckman Coulter and Osmetech Diagnostics (now GenMark Diagnostics), Mike has directed the development and commercialization of over 300 products ranging from rapid tests for infectious disease, molecular diagnostic tests, saliva and microbiome specimen collectors, and complex flow cytometry reagents for immune monitoring and leukemia/lymphoma diagnostics. This experience in large and small companies has provided Mike with a deep understanding of the practical requirements of commercializing technologies and tests in these challenging and highly regulated markets. Mike has a BSc from the Australian National University, a PhD from the University of Adelaide and completed the Executive Program in Management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Richard has more than 30 years’ experience in the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) industry. Currently, Dr. Creager is the co-founder of NaviDx LLC, a management consultant firm for IVD and biotechnology companies. He also is a business consultant for the SBDC @UCI Beall Applied Innovation. Previously, Richard was SVP Molecular Diagnostics and Chief Science Officer for Beckman Coulter. He also served as Group Vice President for Beckman Coulter’s Immunoassay Business. Dr. Creager also held senior executive positions with Kallestad Diagnostics and Sanofi Diagnostics Pasteur. During his career, he lead the development and commercialization of more than 150 IVD products (assays and instruments) for infectious disease,  cardiovascular disease, fertility, autoimmune disease, cancer, and women’s health. Previously, he served as chairman of the board for Medical Alley, a 501(c)3 non-profit trade association of healthcare companies in Minnesota. He currently serves on the board of directors for the 1for2 education foundation, OnRamp Bioinformatics, and Ubiquitome. Richard has a B.S. from Muhlenberg College, a M.S. from Duquesne University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He also attended The Wharton School of Business for Advanced Management Program. 

Kimberly is an accomplished molecular diagnostics sales and marketing professional with over 20 years of IVD experience. Ms. Arvanites has developed and launched hundreds of IVD products throughout her career. Her distinction is marked by her proven track record in highly strategic positions at Beckman Coulter, Abbott Molecular, QIAGEN and Sysmex Inostics. Kimberly is committed to bridging the gap between IVD manufacturers, labs and testing facilities to support the development of improved IVD products that contribute to higher patient care standards. In 2016 she co-founded NaviDx, a business advisory firm for IVD companies to support her commitment. Her passion for molecular biology started in the early 1990’s during her undergraduate studies while performing HIV research at Northwestern University’s Fienberg School of Medicine, where she worked on the CCR5 receptor site study that played an integral part in understanding HIV and the genetic components of resistance.  

Tony Morrison, BSc, MBA, is the Founder and CEO of Motive Biosciences and AVID Diagnostics. Tony‘s background is in biochemistry and business development with over 25 years of diagnostics industry experience. Most of his career has been developing markets for niche immunodiagnostics in endocrinology, serology, biogenic amines, and molecular diagnostics. He has trained and led specialized high complexity diagnostic reagent teams at Diagnostic Systems Labs, Beckman Coulter, and Ansh Labs. MotiveBio is a digital health application that tracks and combines women's health and laboratory test data to generate a personalized reproductive health assessment that she can share with her physician. AVID Diagnostics (AVID-Dx) is a biotechnology and diagnostics startup developing a digital health application and delivers reliable diagnostics and surveillance testing for SARS-CoV-2 infections in the community. Our solutions help to localize and predict the spread and decline of infections. The data we collect aids local, state and national public health agencies to deploy, or redeploy, resources necessary to limit the spread of infections and treat the affected population. Our analyses will be used for trending and epidemiological monitoring of future outbreaks to speed healthcare response and to continuously improve our knowledge and capabilities to combat outbreaks in the future. 

Meredith is a rising sophomore at College of William and Mary studying Business Analytics and Computer Science. In her freshman year she has been focusing on data science and how to apply it to global health solutions such as Malaria elimination, treatment, and prevention. She has demonstrated her leadership and organizational abilities consistently as an intern at Dilworth Paxson, LLC, as Secretary of her dormitory council, founder of several high school clubs and initiatives and as the student advocate for her high school board. The AdVeritasDx goal of bringing meaningful, factual content to the healthcare community is a great match for Meredith's experience and passion towards solving some of the world's larger health problems.

Aaron is a biomedical engineer with wide-ranging experience in device development, tissue engineering, and synthetic biology. His professional interests are in the development of simple, low-cost medical diagnostics for the point of care. He recently completed his Ph.D. in bioengineering from Harvard University, with a focus on design and fabrication of organ-on-a-chip microfluidics with integrated sensing capabilities. During his Ph.D., he engineered a device capable of measuring the functional potency of pancreatic islet cells by dynamically stimulating them with glucose and measuring their insulin secretions continuously. Aaron received his Sc.B. and Sc.M. from Brown University, and conducted post-master's research at MIT in synthetic biology, working with DNA recombination networks and amyloid scaffolds in bacteria and yeast.  He also interned at Fraunhofer CMI, contributing to the fabrication of a lab-on-a-chip PCR device for pathogen detection. In addition to his engineering and research background, Aaron has worked in the pre-hospital setting as an EMT. 

Sameer Rajesh is a rising sophomore at UC Berkeley studying Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Biochemistry. In his freshman year, he performed research in the Department of Chemistry at Berkeley, studying T Cell signaling pathways. He is also involved in the Publications Division of Neurotech@Berkeley, an organization that focuses on the frontiers of modern neurotechnology. He has previously done research in microbiology and was the president of his high school's science and engineering club. As a pre-medical student, Sameer hopes to become a physician, promote the dissemination of accurate medical information to the public, and help make healthcare equitable and accessible for all.

Faten Okda is an experienced veterinary medicine researcher with a demonstrated history of working in the molecular and diagnostic virology research and services industry. In addition to veterinary medicine, her areas of interest include public health, clinical pathology and microbiology. She obtained her Master’s degree from Cairo University, her Ph.D. from South Dakota State University, and is currently a postdoctoral fellow focused on influenza and COVID-19 research in laboratories at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In addition, she serves as a researcher at the NRC in Egypt. Dr. Okda has received several awards of recognition and has developed several commercially-licensed discoveries in her area of expertise. She has numerous publications (5 first author, 3 last author and 4 co-author) and has experience as a reviewer and editor in multiple journals such as Frontiers in Veterinary Infectious Diseases, Virology, Vaccine, mSphere, Viruses, and the Journal of Diagnostic Virology. She also holds several memberships in multiple professional associations and enjoys teaching in the St. Jude Graduate Biomedical School. Dr. Okda serves in leadership roles for several organizations including as Co-Vice Chair of Outreach and Vice Chair for Diversity in the Postdoctoral Leadership Council (PDLC), as Outreach Coordinator for the National Postdoctoral Association, as an institutional liaison for St. Jude, and as Public Policy Director for the BioTN Academic Alliance.

Veronique is a cellular and molecular biologist with deep expertise in cancer research. Her most recent adventure has been with Pellficure Pharmaceuticals Inc., working toward the development of a small molecule drug that is now in clinical trial. Other professional experiences include Vaccine Research Institute of San Diego (tumor biology), Epic Sciences (companion diagnostics in circulating tumor cells), and Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. She started her career as a staff scientist at the French research institute INSERM and was fortunate to spend a sabbatical at the Scripps Research Institute. Veronique has published numerous patents and scientific manuscripts, has trained scientists at all stages of their careers, and for many years was on grant review panels for federal agencies such as the DoD. Awards include Innocentive Challenge award for “Novel Applications for Nanofiber Technology”. Her foray into IVD tests and her contribution to AdveritasDx stem from a desire to contribute to the fight against COVID. 

Anna is an immunology researcher and recent graduate from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor’s in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Her immunology experience ranges from proteomics work with Malaria strain Plasmodium vivax, to studying co-infection patterns in insect model organisms. She is currently a research technician at Tufts University School of Medicine studying HIV acquisition in women. Anna plans to further her education in graduate school starting in the next few years.

Alexander James Phillips is a biochemist and software engineer.  He is being supported by the Center of Complex Interventions as a research associate focusing on diagnostics and open standards.  Early in the pandemic he helped co-found HelpfulEngineering.org and OpenCovidPledge.org .  Prior to these efforts to help resolve the pandemic sooner, he has over 8 years of experience in commercial software development and founded the crowdsourcing wiki simulations platform TheWorldSim.org .  He holds a masters in biochemistry from the university of Oxford and a masters in biotechnology from the university of Cambridge.