On-Q-ity Founder and Genzyme Vet, Mara Aspinall, Moves to Roche’s Ventana Medical
Gregory T. Huang8/2/11Follow @gthuang
Mara Aspinall, the founder and former CEO of Waltham, MA-based On-Q-ity, has moved on to become president of Ventana Medical Systems, an Arizona-based division of healthcare giant Roche that focuses on cancer diagnostics. The appointment was announced in a press release today and is effective next month.
Aspinall is well known in the diagnostics world, having previously served as president of the genetic testing unit of Cambridge, MA-based Genzyme. On-Q-ity, which started in 2009, focuses on molecular diagnostics for cancer. The startup’s website still lists Aspinall as a founder and director, but makes no mention of a successor (or search for one) yet.
Xconomy profiled On-Q-ity last summer and earlier this year, when the company formed a strategic alliance with LabCorp to help commercialize its technology for detecting circulating tumor cells in the blood.
“My career has been about asking what is the greatest need for patients? The greatest need for patients today is in increasing the efficacy of treatments available now,” Aspinall said at the time. “We’ve made such progress with new drugs, we need to use diagnostics to improve the information the physician has if we want to improve how we use those drugs.”
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