CombiMatrix Corp, a molecular diagnostics company performing DNA-based testing services for cancer and developmental disorders, announced that veteran molecular diagnostics specialist Richard Hockett, MD, has been named medical director, effective May 1. Hockett will report directly to CombiMatrix CEO R. Judd Jessup.
Hockett is the former chief medical officer for Santa Clara, Calif-based Affymetrix Inc, a provider of innovative genomic analysis tools and reagents for exploration and genetic testing. His special areas of focus at Affymetrix included applied genomics, new technology development, and regulatory affairs.
As a board certified clinical pathologist, Hockett’s specialties include molecular diagnostics, clinical application of technology, and biomarker strategies. During his career, he has spent more than 25 years applying biomarkers to clinical medicine.
Prior to joining Affymetrix, from 1999 to 2008, Hockett was a medical fellow II, group leader for genomic medicine at Eli Lilly and Company, where he developed the pharmacogenomic program and oversaw the application of genetic biomarkers to clinical drug development. He was also instrumental in developing the DMET analysis system, which has become the most comprehensive technology for the measurement of DNA variation in metabolism of pharmaceuticals.
Hockett started his career as an academic pathologist in the department of pathology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, where he oversaw the clinical immunology and molecular diagnostic laboratories and his research focused on developmental immunology and HIV disease.
Hockett received his MD degree from the University of Minnesota. He performed his residency in Clinical Pathology at Washington University, St Louis.
Source: CombiMatrix Corp
