Speakers

Ted Farrell is Vice President, Program Management at Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, a Johnson & Johnson company. OCD's in-vitro diagnostic analyzers and reagents are used in clinical laboratories and transfusion centers throughout the world to screen, diagnose, and monitor disease. Ted is responsible for portfolio management processes and for execution of new product development programs. He is also head of a center of excellence in software and electronics for the Johnson & Johnson medical device companies. Since coming to OCD in 2000, Ted has focused on the application of systems engineering approaches to development of medical diagnostic equipment, including responsibility for R&D of OCD’s analyzer products from 2003 to 2009.

Prior to coming to J&J, Ted was technical director and senior program manager at BBN and General Electric for a variety of defense R&D programs including real-time signal processing and system performance modeling for sonar, radar, speech detection, nuclear test monitoring and computer network defense systems. Ted is a graduate of Bucknell University, the GE Edison Engineering program, and has an MSEE from Syracuse University.

Christine Vietz received her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester Department of Biomedical Engineering in 2001. She has recently joined Progenika Inc. as Director of Technical Operations. In this role at Progenika, she directs the on-site CLIA regulated clinical testing laboratory, technical support and product management. Progenika’s technology is genetic based testing currently offering full gene testing for autosomal dominant hypercholerolemia and blood genotyping in the US. The Spanish parent company, Progenika Biopharma has on-going development of several other genetic-based diagnostic tests. Prior to working at Progenika, Christine worked as Directory of Laboratory Operations at Correlagen Diagnostics and as Director of Technical Support for the Aushon SearchLight product line.

Chris received his Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Rochester in 2004 with a thesis that focused on practical application of silicon nanostructures in biotechnology and energy. For the last 5 years he has worked for several university spinout companies that bridge the gap between the precisely structured solid-state microelectronic world and biological environments. He has worked on the development of the Arrayed Imaging Reflectometry detection platform since 2005, building from comparatively primitive early studies to the high-performance imaging arrays that are currently in development. Chris has (co)authored 4 patents, has 10 peer-reviewed publications, and has been invited to present his work on optical biosensing and nanostructured materials at conferences in the US and Europe.

Ernest is Senior Vice President, Research and Chief Scientific Officer of Vaccinex, Inc. Vaccinex is a Rochester, NY based biotechnology company that is focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and other serious illnesses. Ernest joined Vaccinex at its inception in 1997 and was a key developer of its core cDNA library and antibody discovery technologies. In his current position, Ernest is responsible for and contributes to the company’s research and technology development projects, as well as antibody selection and validation, and preclinical development of monoclonal antibodies. Ernest has BA in Biology from St. John Fisher College and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Rochester.

Jeff Bemis received his Ph.D. in Environmental Health and Toxicology from the University at Albany School of Public Health. He then spent three years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Environmental Medicine at the University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry. During this time, he studied the effects of environmental contaminants such as PCBs and dioxin on the nervous and immune systems and the developing fetus. Currently Jeff is Director of Clinical Studies at Litron Laboratories, a genetic toxicology assay development company in Rochester. Here he has gained experience in the preclinical and clinical requirements for safety testing of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and consumer products. He has also led efforts to investigate the requirements associated with regulatory review, manufacturing, and marketing of in vitro diagnostic devices for human use. Jeff has published 18 peer-reviewed articles and regularly presents his work at national and international toxicology meetings.

Vijay Kumar was a founder, President & CEO of IMMCO Diagnostics and now serves as Chairman of the Board and Chief Scientific Officer. Vijay obtained his PhD in biochemistry with fellowship in clinical immunology. He is ABMM, ABMLI Diplomat, with interest and focus in autoimmune diagnostics. Some of the achievements are the following: 1) identified a new immunological marker for the diagnosis of celiac disease. This marker has become the gold standard in the serological work up of the patients for celiac disease. 2) actively involved in the clinical diagnostic immunology division of the AACC for many years serving on its education committee organizing as well as speaking at various events and two times recipient of outstanding speaker award. 3) Published over 100 original publications in various journals with a focus on clinical and diagnostic immunology. 4) Published two books one on the immunopathology of the skin and the second on serological diagnosis of celiac disease. 5) Serves on the credentials committee of the American Board of Medical Laboratory Immunology. 6) Research Associate Professor at the University of Buffalo (SUNY) in three departments: Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Department of Dermatology, and Department of Laboratory Sciences.

He has been recognized by the US Small Business Administration as the exporter of the year in 2001 and by the Amherst Town Board for the outstanding achievement in technology. He is recipient of patents in the field and serves on various Boards. He also serves on the Deans Advisory Council of the college of Arts and Science of the University at Buffalo.