Verinata Health Appoints Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist James D. Goldberg, M.D., to Clinical Advisory Board

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Verinata Health, Inc., a privately-held company dedicated to maternal and fetal health, today announced the appointment of James D. Goldberg, M.D., to its Clinical Advisory Board.  The Clinical Advisory Board helps to guide the development of Verinata's non-invasive prenatal diagnostic test.

"Dr. Goldberg is internationally-renowned for his leadership in the area of maternal fetal medicine and prenatal genetic testing," said Caren Mason, Chief Executive Officer of Verinata Health. "Jim's extensive clinical expertise as both an ob/gyn and maternal fetal medicine specialist will provide invaluable insights and guidance as we prepare for the commercial launch of our first non-invasive prenatal diagnostic in the first quarter of 2012."

Dr. Goldberg is the Director of the Prenatal Diagnosis Center and Managing Partner of San Francisco Perinatal Associates.  Dr. Goldberg has an international reputation in the area of reproductive genetics.  He is currently president of the Maternal Fetal Medicine Foundation and on the board of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine.  He has published extensively in the area of prenatal diagnosis and genetics.  Dr. Goldberg received his M.D. from the University of Minnesota and completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco.  He completed fellowship training in Maternal Fetal Medicine and Medical Genetics at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.  He is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, maternal fetal medicine, and medical genetics.  

"I believe that the ability to identify chromosomal abnormalities with a high degree of accuracy from a single maternal blood draw will change the practice of prenatal diagnostics," said Dr. Goldberg. "I look forward to working with Verinata to optimize this test for commercialization, allowing physicians and their patients to receive definitive fetal chromosomal information and reducing the anxiety associated with the diagnostic process today."

Verinata Health, Inc.

Verinata is driven by a sole, extraordinary purpose – maternal and fetal health.  Our initial focus is to develop and offer non-invasive tests for early identification of fetal chromosomal abnormalities using our proprietary technologies.  We aim to reduce the anxiety associated with today's multi-step process, the unacceptable false-positive rates, the non-specific and sometimes confusing results of current prenatal screening methods, as well as the risk of current invasive procedures. In support of national guidelines recommending first trimester aneuploidy risk assessment, we believe women who desire such an assessment should be offered a single blood draw test with a definitive result.  Verinata is conducting a prospective, blinded pivotal study to clinically validate the sensitivity and specificity of its first prenatal test on a large scale with results of the study expected in 2011. For more information about Verinata, please go to www.verinata.com.

SOURCE Verinata Health, Inc.