YourBio Health Strengthens Leadership Team to Propel Next Phase of Growth

Three C-suite appointments add extensive experience in point-of-care medical device product innovation, clinical strategy and commercialization

MEDFORD, Mass., Feb. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- YourBio Health, a pioneer in remote blood collection technology, announced today the appointments of Michael Mina, M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer, Chester Robson D.O., as Chief Medical Officer and Thomas Briggs as Chief Growth Officer. Drs. Mina and Robson and Mr. Briggs join CEO Paul Owen on YourBio's executive leadership team. Mr. Owen's appointment was announced today by Flagship Pioneering, the company's founder.

The company's Touch-Activated Phlebotomy (TAP®) device is the first push-button blood collection technology. Using microneedles to achieve virtually painless blood draws, TAP products are used today in clinical trial, diagnostic, and wellness settings and enable easy-to-use and reliable at-home blood collection. The company has existing partnerships with biopharmaceutical companies, leading genetic companies, and academic research hospitals. Since commercial launch, TAP devices have been used in multiple clinical trials and in millions of blood collections.

The leadership team will drive the next phase of growth for the company, most substantially in clinical applications of its products where the company has strong existing footholds: integration with clinical trials and expansion into healthcare settings where patient-centric sampling is valued. 

"With a sharpened focus on serving the clinical research, patient care systems and diagnostics industries, we have optimized our path to continued growth and enhanced value creation," said Mr. Owen. "The board of directors and I have put together this leadership team based on their extensive knowledge of the challenges associated with decentralized blood collection and their unified passion for solving it. Together, we see tremendous potential to improve healthcare delivery by making blood collection easier and more accessible."

Dr. Mina brings extensive public health, diagnostic, and digital health experience to YourBio Health following leadership and advisory roles in government and industry-led programs to improve home- and community-delivered healthcare. Dr. Robson, a veteran in the arena of distributed care from prior C-suites roles at Walgreens and other healthcare services companies, will drive clinical strategy for the company's blood collection technology. Mr. Briggs will lead YourBio's commercial development strategy, building on two decades of experience in molecular diagnostic development, product applications, and partnership development.  

Dr. Mina remarked, "Close to one in five Americans avoids medical care because of fear of needles. The inability to or inconvenience of getting to a lab is a big hindrance to medication adherence and proper diagnosis. I joined YourBio to help change this paradigm. The real-world evidence backing the accessibility, efficacy, and convenience of the TAP device is compelling and this team has the acumen, drive, and technology to lead the blood collection industry to a new future."

Dr. Robson added, "Delivery of healthcare is changing rapidly, with care increasingly home- and consumer-driven. Your Bio's TAP device is perfectly positioned to be a key part of this transformation to deliver care on a national scale, yet at very personal level."

Mr. Briggs continued, "With the TAP device, we are effectively replacing the needle – a technology that is hundreds of years old – for the myriad of use cases for blood testing. In the clinical trial realm in particular, we have a real opportunity to foster patient diversity in research and enable high patient retention by virtue of how simple the device is to use and easy to integrate into existing workflows. I am energized by the leap forward we can make in improving clinical care and health outcomes by extending Your Bio's pioneering micro needle technology to integrated health systems, biopharmaceutical companies, diagnostic testing providers, and even the home."

About Michael Mina

Michael Mina M.D., Ph.D. is an accomplished industry leader with extensive expertise in infectious diseases, molecular diagnostics, and public health.

Most recently, Dr. Mina led the U.S. government's Home Test to Treat program, first announced by President Biden and funded through the NIH, a nationwide effort to connect home diagnostics to telemedicine treatment in conjunction with eMed Digital Healthcare, where he served as Chief Scientific and Medical Officer. He has advised, led or served on the board for many of the leading companies in the diagnostic and consumer health spaces, including 3M, Walgreens, C2Sense, Quantum-SI, CorDx, Vital Bio and ImmuneID. 

Prior to joining industry, Dr. Mina held multiple faculty positions in academic medicine. He was a professor of Epidemiology and of Immunology & Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where his research focused on highly multiplexed immunomics for public health and medicine. He was also a professor in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Associate Director of Molecular Virology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and helped create and support major nationwide testing efforts towards the COVID-19 response, including as medical director of the Broad Institute COVID-19 testing platform that served much of the Eastern seaboard. His research has received international recognition and was awarded an NIH Directors Early Independence Award and was highlighted as a Global Progress Maker by The Economist.  He routinely advises federal and international governments as well as large and small corporations on technologies towards public health.

Dr. Mina received his M.D. and Ph.D. in the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program in infectious diseases, immunology and mathematics at Emory University. He completed his residency in pathology at Harvard Medical School and post-doctoral research in mathematics of infectious diseases at Princeton University and in Genetics at Harvard University. He graduated with bachelor's degrees in engineering and global health from Dartmouth College and, amongst other recognitions, was invited to receive an honorary doctorate for his work combating the pandemic. 

About Chester Robson

Chester (Chet) Robson, D.O., MHCDS, FAAFP is a distinguished healthcare leader with a wealth of experience spanning clinical medicine, digital health innovation, and healthcare strategy. Prior to joining YourBio as Chief Medical Officer, he provided strategic advisory services to healthcare organizations, including UChicago Med|Advent Health, DatosX, and GenXys, among others. Dr. Robson also served as Chief Medical Officer for Jasper Health, MDisrupt, and Imaware Health, driving clinical strategy and innovations in digital health and personalized medicine.

Before his consulting career, Dr. Robson held pivotal roles at Walgreens, where he significantly influenced the company's healthcare offerings. As Chief Clinical Officer of pharmacy services and Chief Medical Officer for Walgreens Healthcare Clinics, he oversaw the clinical integrity and quality of services at retail and specialty pharmacies and retail health clinics. His leadership in pharmacy services, clinical governance, and the COVID-19 pandemic response earned him numerous Walgreens accolades, including the Global Divisional Leadership Award, and the Pharmacy Safety Champion Award.

Dr. Robson's expertise spans pharmacogenomics, digital health, population health management, and clinical research. He led Walgreens' global pharmacogenomics initiatives and developed evidence-based methodologies for reviewing and validating digital health and pharmacy products. His innovative work in telemedicine, tele-behavioral health, and tele-dermatology resulted in millions of consumer engagements annually.

Dr. Robson has a rich history of advising organizations such as the American Heart Association and the Brancati Center at Johns Hopkins University, while also serving on various boards, including the Scientific Advisory Board for ImmunoProfile and the Advisory Board for Preveta. He holds an MBA in Healthcare Delivery Science from Dartmouth College and a Doctor of Osteopathy from Midwestern University.

Recognized for his leadership, Dr. Robson was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice and has received multiple leadership awards throughout his career.

About Thomas Briggs

Thomas Briggs brings 20 years of commercial development experience in biotechnology and large medical diagnostic companies to YourBio Health, including extensive experience in molecular diagnostic development, product applications, and partnership development.  

Prior to YourBio, Mr. Briggs led Becton Dickinson's external collaboration and partnerships for the Emerging Specimen Management Business Line. In this capacity, he was responsible for business development activities and marketing strategy, including the launch of multiple specialty blood collection products. Additionally, he served as a subject matter expert within the blood micro sampling space as a workstream lead within the IHI Project Comfort for demonstrating clinical validity of home collected blood samples. 

Between 2013 and 2021, Mr. Briggs held various business-development related positions both at Becton Dickinson and Tempus Labs focused on cultivating and growing partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients to support them in advancing their research, clinical and/or commercial programs. 

Before joining Becton Dickinson in 2013, Mr. Briggs spent 10 years in IVD Diagnostic Development with three of the top 10 Global Diagnostic companies: Abbott (Abbvie), BioMerieux and Johnson & Johnson. These roles resulted in 4 patents, 6 publications in Molecular Diagnostics along with leading a development program to replace charcoal with antibiotic binding resin in blood culture bottles. 

Mr. Briggs holds a master's degree in Marketing and Management (MBA) from DeSales University, a master's degree in Molecular Biology from East Stroudsburg University, a bachelor's degree in Biological Science from Pennsylvania State University and an NIH NCI Cancer Research Fellowship. 

About YourBio Health

YourBio Health is a medical device company that strives to take the pain out of the blood draw experience with its 'Touch-Activated Phlebotomy' (TAP®), the world's first push-button blood collection technology. TAP products eliminate barriers to blood collection by allowing a capillary blood sample to be collected from any physical location without the pain of a fingerstick or the need for traditional phlebotomy. Backed by the latest science, data management technology, and certified central labs, YourBio Health seeks to revolutionize and humanize the blood collection process serving clinical trials, diagnostic, wellness, and reference laboratory applications. YourBio was founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2011.

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SOURCE YourBio Health