Verinata Health, A Leader In Noninvasive Prenatal Testing, Announces Additions To The Senior Management Team

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verinata Health, Inc., a privately-held company dedicated to maternal and fetal health, today announced the addition of three industry veterans to its senior leadership team. Dr. Vance Vanier joins Verinata as President, Dr. Keith Jones as Senior Vice President of Research and Development and Dr. Suchetta Bhatt as Vice President of Genetics.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120425/SF94380LOGO)

"As we expand our commercial presence bringing the verifi® prenatal test to physicians and families throughout the country, we are building a management team with the needed experience, knowledge and relationships to further strengthen and grow our business," said Dr. Jeffrey Bird, Executive Chairman and CEO of Verinata Health.

Dr. Bird continued, "Vance has valuable experience as a company leader in the field of genetic testing and brings a strong track record of having built a rapidly growing, technical business. Keith and Suchi each bring substantial scientific and clinical expertise that will allow us to build upon our strong foundation to broaden our clinical offerings in the most impactful manner."

Most recently, Dr. Vanier served as President and CEO of Navigenics, a preventative genomics company acquired by Life Technologies in July 2012. Dr. Vanier joined Navigenics as Chief Medical Officer in 2008. He was appointed CEO in late 2009, subsequently raised three rounds of venture capital financing and brought on strategic investors and distribution partners. Prior to Navigenics, Dr. Vanier served as a partner in the life sciences practice at Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV), where he invested in, and worked together with, diagnostic service businesses including CardioDx and Crescendo Biosciences. Dr. Vanier received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and completed his residency training at the University of California, San Francisco, and Highland Hospital in Oakland. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford University, as well as dual bachelor's degrees with honors. He was named a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute in 2011, and continues to serve on the clinical faculty of Stanford Medical Center in Emergency Medicine. 

Dr. Jones joined Verinata from Affymetrix, where he served as Vice President, Assay and Application Product Development, providing scientific oversight and leadership to all projects in the Genetic Analysis Business Unit including projects in genotyping, sequencing and copy number assessment. Prior to Affymetrix, he was a Research Fellow at Affymax Research Institute where he founded the molecular genetics group to focus on bottlenecks in genetic and genomic analysis. In addition, he served in various roles of increasing responsibility at Spectra Biomedical and ImmuLogic. Dr. Jones received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Stanford University and two B.S. degrees in chemistry and biology from the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and numerous patents.

Dr. Suchetta Bhatt joined Verinata from Genzyme Genetics (now Integrated Genetics, part of Labcorp), where she was most recently Medical Director and Director of the Prenatal Diagnosis Centers, responsible for the quality of testing, counseling and medical care provided by all clinical staff members, including satellites. In addition, she served in a variety of senior positions over her almost twenty year tenure. Prior to Genzyme, she was in pediatric practice. Dr. Bhatt earned a Master of Surgery in Ophthalmology, a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree all from the University of Bombay. She completed residencies and held a fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. 

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. The verifi® prenatal test and verifi® Monosomy X option are available throughout the United States, with the exception of New York, through a physician. For more information about Verinata, please go to www.verinata.com.

SOURCE Verinata Health, Inc.