Amelia Wall Warner Joins Gentris Corporation as President

MORRISVILLE, N.C., July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Gentris Corporation (www.gentris.com), a global leader in pharmacogenomics and biorepository solutions, announced today that Amelia Wall Warner, PharmD has joined the company as its new President. Dr. Warner will oversee the U.S. operations, lead the development of new service offerings, and develop scientific education and training programs for biobanking and pharmacogenomics. As a key member of the management team, she will work with Gentris leaders to set the strategic vision for the company and ensure it continues to be on the cutting-edge of genomic medicine.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join the Executive Management team of Gentris, a company with profound impact on the understanding of the genetic basis for variation in drug response," said Amelia Wall Warner, Gentris President. "Our mission will translate to improved patient response and tolerance of drugs.  Gentris is on the forefront of pharmacogenetic research and will be a key strategic partner for pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers working to understand why patient responses vary with similar drug exposure."

Dr. Warner was most recently the Head of Clinical Pharmacogenomics and Clinical Specimen Management for Merck Research Laboratories (MRL). In her position, she oversaw all clinical pharmacogenomics projects, oversaw policies and procedures for biosample collection and storage for clinical trial samples, and was the MRL Pharmacogenomics Expert for the Translational Science Research Network. Amelia was the MRL key expert for global regulation for genetic research and human specimen usage regulation/law.

Amelia is the CEO and Founder of Global Specimen Solutions, Inc., a past chair of the Industry Pharmacogenomics Working Group (I-PWG), and a PhRMA representative to ICH E16- Genomic Biomarkers Related to Drug Response. As an industry expert, she has participated in numerous meetings and conferences as a key opinion leader on applying pharmacogenomics in drug development, best practices for collecting, maintaining, and maximizing return-on-investment for clinical sample biobanks in all phases of clinical trials, and appropriate informed consent to enable future use and testing. Dr. Warner brings to Gentris this cutting-edge clinical and regulatory expertise that will ultimately provide clients with the most up-to-date framework for integrating pharmacogenomics into their drug development programs.

Rick Williams, Gentris CEO, said, "We are pleased that Dr. Amelia Wall Warner, one of the top global leaders in biospecimen and pharmacogenomic innovation, has joined the Gentris leadership team as President. With her extensive experience in drug development, she will play a key role in helping Gentris to further integrate clinical genomics into its scientific programs that support pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies."

Dr. Warner completed a residency in Pediatric Pharmacotherapy at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with John Rodman, PharmD and a fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology/ Pharmacogenomics at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with William Evans, PharmD. Amelia holds a PharmD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Wake Forest University.

Related Links: www.gentris.com, www.linkedin.com/company/gentris

About Gentris Corporation:

Founded in 2001, Gentris is located in Research Triangle Park, NC, where it provides pharmacogenomics and biorepository support for all phases of clinical studies and genomic biomarker programs.  The Company works with academic and industry leaders to translate innovations in pharmacogenomics into safer, more effective medicines, which can lead to accelerated drug development and improvement in patient care globally.

SOURCE Gentris Corporation