Gene Express Inc, Toledo, Ohio, has named David S Lester, PhD, as senior vice president of strategy and corporate development.
Lester earlier worked for Pfizer’s global research and development group, and global pharmaceutical group. He held several key positions, including head of the New York site for global clinical technology, founder and director of Pfizer Human Health Technologies, and director of clinical technology for new product development.
Gene Express enables drug and molecular diagnostic development by providing standardized genomic data. Its proprietary and patented StaRT-PCR (Standardized Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) platform technology for measuring gene expression levels in cells, clinical biopsies, and blood is used by a number of pharmaceutical concerns and academic centers.
Earlier in his career, Lester established, and served as director of clinical technologies for experimental medicine at Pharmacia. He is the founder and president of ITHW, Inc, a consultancy group focusing on technologies in health and wellness.
Lester was employed by the US Food and Drug Administration FDA for seven years, serving as a senior science advisor to the Office of Pharmaceutical Sciences, acting associate director of interdisciplinary science for the Office of Testing and Research, and team leader for the neural and cellular pharmacology group in the division of applied pharmacologic research.
