On The Spot e-News
Volume 4, Issue 6 | July 2009
In this issue:
- 2009 Signature Scientific Microarray Conference Recap
- Signature CEO in New York
- Signature Announces Appointment of New Laboratory Directors
- Signature CEO Lisa G. Shaffer, Ph.D., Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2009 Award Recipient in the Pacific Northwest
2009 Signature Scientific Microarray Conference Recap
In its second year, the Signature Scientific Microarray Conference grew in both content and attendance. In 2008, 46 Signature clients came to Spokane, Wash. to discuss their experience with microarrays over two days of speaker sessions. This year, 75 Signature clients from the United States and abroad—some traveling from as far as China and the Czech Republic—traveled to Spokane for three days of content. New this year was a Thursday slate of pre-conference sessions focusing on genetic counseling issues, prenatal testing and the challenges of interpreting microarray results in the laboratory. Fifty-one Signature employees were available to answer questions, and nine exhibitors displayed their products.
Response to the conference was positive, with attendees giving high marks to keynote speakers R. J. McKinlay "Mac" Gardner, M.D., David Chitayat, M.D., and Kurt Benirschke, M.D. and the insightful discussions in the pre-conference sessions. Attendees also commented on the wealth of clinically relevant information—particularly for hard-to-interpret cases— and friendly atmosphere, with one attendee describing this year’s conference as "very informative, well-organized, and extremely helpful in my endeavor to improve our microarray performance and knowledge".
Signature thanks all the conference attendees, vendors, sponsors and SGL staff who made the second annual Signature Scientific Microarray Conference a success. Please check the Signature website soon for information about the 2010 conference.
Signature CEO in New York
Lisa G. Shaffer, Ph.D., President and CEO of Signature, will be the featured speaker at a symposium titled "Medical Applications of Array CGH and the Transformation of Clinical Cytogenetics", presented by the North Shore/Long Island Jewish Health System Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. Details of the speaking engagement are below:
- Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2009
- Time: Refreshments - 4:00pm; Lecture - 4:30pm
- Address: Goldman Center, Conference Room B
Feinstein Institute for Biomedical Research
350 Community Drive
Manhasset, New York 11030
Signature Announces Appointment of New Laboratory Directors
Signature has appointed two new laboratory directors, Drs. Marilyn Slovak, Ph.D., and J. Britt Ravnan, Ph.D. Signature anticipates the appointments will help the company manage its steadily increasing volume of cases.
Dr. Slovak is an expert in the field of cancer genetics. She joins Signature from the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Cali., where she was Director of Cytogenetics and Professor of Pathology. Dr. Slovak is an American Board of Medical Genetics (ABMG)-certified clinical cytogeneticist and a founding Fellow of the ABMG College. Dr. Slovak has co-authored over 125 peer-reviewed publications and six book chapters in the field of cancer genetics and was recently, along with Signature President and CEO Lisa G. Shaffer, Ph.D., one of the co-editors of the 2009 Recommendations of the International Standing Committee on Human Cytogenetic Nomenclature. Dr. Slovak received her Ph.D. in Regulatory Biology from Cleveland State University and completed her postdoctoral training in Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics at the University of Arizona.
Also an ABMG-certified clinical cytogeneticist, Dr. Ravnan joins Signature from Genzyme Genetics in Santa Fe, N.M., where she was Cytogenetics Laboratory Director for 11 years. Prior to her tenure at Genzyme, Dr. Ravnan held the same post at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Regional Cytogenetics Laboratory in San Jose, Cali. Dr. Ravnan received her Ph.D. in Genetics from Stanford University and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Medical Genetics at the University of California-San Francisco. She is licensed in the state of Florida in cytogenetics and New York state in cytogenetics and molecular and cellular tumor marker oncology.
"Drs. Slovak and Ravnan are exemplars in the fields of cancer genetics and medical genetics, respectively, and as Signature grows and positions itself as a leader in diagnostic testing in genetic disease and oncology, we anticipate their expertise will be invaluable," said Dr. Shaffer. "The addition of Drs. Slovak and Ravnan ensures our team of board-certified laboratory directors will be able to meet the growing diagnostic demands of our company."
Drs. Slovak and Ravnan join ABMG-certified Laboratory Directors Beth Torchia, Ph.D., Roger Schultz, Ph.D., Allen Lamb, Ph.D., Trilochan Sahoo, Ph.D. and Gail Wenger, Ph.D. at Signature.
Signature CEO Lisa G. Shaffer, Ph.D., Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2009 Award Recipient in the Pacific Northwest
Signature President and CEO Dr. Lisa G. Shaffer, Ph.D. has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2009 Award in the Life Sciences category in the Pacific Northwest. According to Ernst & Young LLP, the award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses. Dr. Shaffer was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a gala event at the Sheraton Seattle on June 26, 2009.
"I am honored to be recognized for our company’s innovative approach to the genetic diagnosis of mental retardation and birth defects," said Dr. Shaffer. "Signature has provided testing to over 36,000 families, and it is the thank-yous from grateful parents, some of whom have been searching for years for answers, that drive our continued innovation."
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year awards celebrate their 23rd anniversary this year. The program honors entrepreneurs who have demonstrated exceptionality in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.
As a Pacific Northwest award recipient, Dr. Shaffer is now eligible for consideration for the Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009 national program. Award recipients in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award recipient, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California on November 14, 2009. The awards are the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.