CND Life Sciences Expands Leadership Team with Four Key Executive Appointments

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Jun 26, 2024, 08:07 ET

Enhances mission to advance the care of patients facing the potential diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disease

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CND Life Sciences (CND), a medical technology company pioneering the development of cutaneous neurodiagnostic tests and associated biomarker services, today announced the expansion of its leadership team by welcoming four new executives. Hernan Lopez joins CND as Chief Operating Officer, Kathryn Van Wie as Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, Annemarie Benton as Vice President of Market Access, and Bryan May as Vice President of Information Technology.

"We are thrilled to welcome this outstanding group of world-class leaders to the CND executive team," said Richard J. Morello, Chief Executive Officer of CND Life Sciences. "With their deep breadth of experience in healthcare, medical devices, life science, and biotech, we are well-positioned to expand our work helping physicians and patients detect and treat neurodegenerative diseases easier, safer, and more effectively than ever before."

As Chief Operating Officer, Hernan Lopez will provide strategic leadership and drive operational excellence across a range of functional areas within CND. He has an unprecedented track record and nearly 20 years of experience in medical device and life sciences companies. Prior to joining CND, Hernan was the Executive Vice President of Operations at GT Medical Technology, where he successfully brought an innovative medical device for the treatment of brain cancer to market. Prior to GT Medical Technologies, Hernan successfully managed explosive growth venture-backed company operations with successful exits, supported post-merger integrations, and worked in several operations roles in contract manufacturing organizations as well as multinational medical device companies such as Boston Scientific.

Regarding his new appointment, Hernan Lopez remarked, "I am excited to join CND as a true pioneer in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. I look forward to collaborating with CND's talented and dedicated team to advance our patient mission during this next phase of growth."

Kathryn Van Wie, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, will focus on key strategic initiatives including CND's biomarker capabilities for pharmaceutical clinical trials, international market expansion, and growing partnerships leveraging complementary technologies. Kathryn is an attorney who spent a decade at Vertex Pharmaceuticals as Corporate Counsel and subsequently in US Marketing and as Chief of Staff in Commercial Strategy and Operations.

Annemarie Benton, Vice President of Market Access, will oversee the development and execution of CND's market access and payer engagement strategies. Annemarie brings more than 17 years of experience in the life sciences and advanced diagnostic laboratory industries. She began her career as a molecular scientist and leverages her clinical background to advocate for the adoption of precision medicine solutions by navigating the evolving payer landscape. Prior to joining CND, Annemarie was Head of Managed Care at Bionano and led the payer relations and managed care department at Caris Life Sciences.

Bryan May, Vice President of Information Technology, will be responsible for all IT functions. With over 25 years of experience across diverse industries including healthcare, distribution, supply chain, and contract manufacturing, Bryan brings a proven track record of driving digital transformation, optimizing IT infrastructure, and implementing solutions to enhance operational efficiency and strategic growth. Prior to joining CND, Bryan worked at Atara Biotherapeutics where he supported infrastructure and cloud services across 3 sites. Before that, he served as the Senior Director of Infrastructure Services and Cloud Engineering at McKesson for 15 years.

About CND Life Sciences
CND Life Sciences supports the care of patients facing the potential diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disease and other neurological conditions. Operating a CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited laboratory in Scottsdale, Arizona, CND provides the Syn-One Test^® to clinicians and patients across the US as the world's only commercially available test to detect, visualize, and quantify phosphorylated alpha-synuclein located in cutaneous nerves. This abnormal form of the alpha-synuclein protein is the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and other synucleinopathies. Results of a recent prospective, multicenter NIH-sponsored study of the Syn-One Test^® was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrating >95% positivity in patients with a clinically determined synucleinopathy.¹ The study outcomes further support Syn-One's role as an accurate diagnostic tool for use both in clinical practice and in biopharma clinical trials. The test analyzes small skin biopsy samples collected in a clinician's office through a 15-minute patient procedure and includes an assessment of intraepidermal nerve fiber density and other important pathologic markers. The Company collaborates with biopharmaceutical companies on clinical trials for investigational therapies targeting neurodegenerative diseases and is also conducting studies assessing the test's ability to provide early disease detection and prognostic insights. For more information, visit cndlifesciences.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.

Contact:
Lisa DeScenza
LaVoieHealthScience
(978) 395-5970
[email protected]

Disclosure: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R44NS117214, R44AG076072, and R44NS127696. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

¹Gibbons CH, Levine T, Adler C, et al. Skin Biopsy Detection of Phosphorylated α-Synuclein in Patients With Synucleinopathies. JAMA. Published online March 20, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.0792.

SOURCE CND Life Sciences