Antonino Morales
President and CEO, Director
Mr. Morales is the President, CEO, and a member of the Biocept Board, bringing more than 30 years of broad leadership experience in the US and Latin America. He has served in multiple senior management or consulting roles with various Fortune 100 companies including Citibank, Bank of America, Arthur Andersen, Mazda North America, and McDonald’s. Mr. Morales was Business Head of Citibank’s consumer finance operation for Latin America and most recently served as president and CEO of Apoyo Financiero, Inc. a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Mr. Morales has led multiple venture capital and private equity backed start-up companies. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Southern California and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.
Philippe Marchand, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Marchand is a veteran biotechnology executive and scientist with a proven track record in transitioning concepts to implementation and completion. Most recently, Dr. Marchand was the Chief Operating Officer of Biosplice Therapeutics, aiding in the development of first-in-class small-molecule therapeutics based on the pioneering science of alternative pre-mRNA splicing. Previously, he was the Chief Information Officer of Genoptix, where he oversaw the creation of the company’s diagnostics laboratory, the subsequent IPO, and the acquisition by Novartis. Following the acquisition, he assumed responsibilities for global IT operations for Novartis Oncology. Earlier in his career, Dr. Marchand founded two San Diego-based technology companies, Celula and Parallel Solutions. Dr. Marchand received an MS (Hons), a Ph.D., and the Research Habilitation in Electrical Engineering from the Université de Haute Alsace, France, and was a Lavoisier post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego.
Darrell Taylor, Esq.
Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, Corporate Secretary
Registered In-House Counsel
Mr. Taylor brings more than 30 years of corporate healthcare and leadership experience, including over 20 years as a transactional healthcare attorney. He is an experienced attorney who has provided legal, regulatory, and compliance counsel to global biopharmaceutical companies, biotech start-ups, and numerous healthcare entities. Most recently, Mr. Taylor served as Chief Compliance Officer and Associate General Counsel for Precision Diagnostics, a privately held company, and its CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited clinical laboratory. Previous to his in-house positions, he honed his skills as an attorney for a decade with the global law firm, DLA Piper, serving Life Science, BioPharma, Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Healthcare-related companies, as well as institutional investors and healthcare providers by assisting them with navigating opportunities in this highly complex, heavily regulated, and ever-changing industry. Mr. Taylor earned his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School and his B.S.M.T., with high honors, at The University of Texas Medical Branch.
Barbara Blouw, Ph.D.
Vice President, Clinical Development
Dr. Barbara Blouw is a scientist and leads the clinical development for our product pipeline by overseeing activities such as clinical trials, regulatory, and publication strategy. She joined Biocept in 2020 and has led different Investigator Initiated Trials, as well as the development of the FORESEE Study.
Barbara brings over 15 years of combined pharma and biotechnology leadership experience. She performed her graduate school research at the University of California San Diego and completed her post-doctoral research at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute, as a recipient of a fellowship of the California Breast Cancer program. During her work in academic research, she pioneered the development of transgenic mouse models of cancer, particularly for brain tumors. Barbara then transitioned to Navigate BioPharma as an industry professional and oversaw the assay development, validation, and clinical trial testing for a variety of assays, and led the startup for the histopathology lab. Before joining Biocept, she worked at Halozyme Therapeutics where she led multiple clinical and non-clinical collaborations, published multiple peer reviewed publications, and led various regulatory submissions to the FDA and EMA.
Nathan Sweed, M.D.
Medical Director
Dr. Sweed oversees the medical use of Biocept’s technology and laboratory capabilities. He joined Biocept in 2021 to assist in the launch of the CNSide cerebrospinal fluid testing platform. He works closely with our operations, clinical development, and research teams to advise on the medical application, clinical implementation, and execution of Biocept’s core technologies. Dr. Sweed is a graduate of the University of Houston (B.S. Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences) and University of Texas Health San Antonio (M.D.). He received post-graduate medical education in anatomic and clinical pathology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and University of Texas Health San Antonio. His medical interests include medical education, patient education, and the advancement of novel and innovative diagnostic methods.
Rob Walsh
Vice President, Controller
Rob Walsh leads our accounting and finance team; he joined the Company in May 2022. He has extensive accounting and finance experience in the biotech and life science space auditing and advising a multitude of enterprises ranging from pre-IPO to large market cap public companies. Before joining the Company, Rob served at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PWC”) within PWC’s Health Industries Assurance Practice and at CFGI, an accounting advisory firm. Rob’s background includes assurance work as well as assisting companies with drafting and uplifting financial statements to be S-X compliance, preparing technical accounting position papers and overall operational support for the financial statement close process. Rob earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and his Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Rhode Island. Rob is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
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