HACKENSACK, N.J., Sept. 3, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Champions Oncology (OTC:CSBR) announced today the addition of two members to its senior management team: Dr. Neal Goodwin, previously at Jackson Laboratory ("JAX"), was named Vice President of Corporate Research Development; and Jim McGorry, previously at Genzyme Corporation, was named Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Translational Oncology Solutions business. Both Goodwin and McGorry will be reporting to the CEO of the company.
Joel Ackerman, CEO of Champions Oncology remarked, "We are very excited to continue the process of building our senior management team. Both Neal and Jim come to Champions with deep experience and track records of success in our industry. They will greatly expand our capacity for developing broader and deeper relationships with our customers and partners in all aspects of our business."
Dr. Neal Goodwin most recently served as Director of Business Development, Director of Research and Development and Program Director of In Vivo Cancer Pharmacology Services at JAX. During his 6 years at JAX, he founded and built their patient derived xenograft business portfolio. From 2003 to 2007, Dr. Goodwin was a founder and the Chief Scientific Officer of ProNAi Therapeutics, Inc., a cancer therapeutics firm with advanced clinical trial stage compounds. Prior to that, he was a senior scientist in genomics with Pharmacia.
Dr. Goodwin graduated with a Ph.D. in Microbiology from The University of Montana in 1997. He served a postdoctoral fellowship in functional genomics at the Jackson Laboratory with John Schimenti (now at Cornell).
Jim McGorry was most recently the Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations at Accellent Inc., a provider of outsourced manufacturing services to the medical device industry. From 1998 to 2010, Mr. McGorry was a Senior Vice President at Genzyme Corporation. From 2003 to 2010, he served as its Senior Vice President, Oncology and from 1998 to 2003, he held other senior level positions within Genzyme including Senior Vice President, General Manager, Cardiac Devices and Senior Vice President, General Manager, Bio-Surgical Specialties. Before joining Genzyme, McGorry spent over ten years with Baxter Healthcare and its predecessor American Hospital Supply Corporation where he held various sales and commercial roles including Vice President, Corporate Sales, Southern Region.
Mr. McGorry graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and served in the United States Military from 1979 to 1985. He also received an M.B.A from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
About Champions Oncology, Inc.
Champions Oncology, Inc. is engaged in the development of advanced technology solutions and services to personalize the development and use of oncology drugs. The Company's TumorGraft Technology Platform is a novel approach to personalizing cancer care based upon the implantation of primary human tumors in immune deficient mice followed by propagation of the resulting engraftments, or TumorGrafts, in a manner that preserves the biological characteristics of the original human tumor in order to determine the efficacy of a treatment regimen. The Company uses this technology in conjunction with related services to offer solutions for two customer groups: Personalized Oncology Solutions, in which results help guide the development of personalized treatment plans, and Translational Oncology Solutions, in which pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking personalized approaches to drug development can lower the cost and increase the speed of developing new drugs. TumorGrafts are procured through agreements with a number of institutions in the U.S. and overseas as well as through its Personalized Oncology Solutions business.
This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995) that inherently involve risk and uncertainties. Champions Oncology generally uses words such as "believe," "may," "could," "will," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. One should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements for many unforeseen factors. See Champions Oncology's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2012 for a discussion of such risks, uncertainties and other factors. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, they relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made, and Champions Oncology's future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements may not meet these expectations. The Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in Champions Oncology's expectations, except as required by law.