Board of Advisors
Carl Wittwer, MD, PhD
Technology & Scientific Advisor
Dr. Carl Wittwer is Professor Emeritus of Pathology at the University of Utah and previously spent 35+ years as a Medical Director at ARUP Laboratories. With 50+ US patents, countless research awards and over 200 scientific articles to his credit, Carl is recognized for revolutionizing molecular diagnostics and known globally for many innovations including: rapid-cycle polymerase chain reaction (PCR), extreme PCR, high-resolution melting (HRM), and the LightCycler® System. His continuing research goals are dedicated to reducing the time and cost of amplification (PCR). In addition to advising PathogenDx, Dr. Wittwer is a recognized entrepreneur of his own, co-founding Idaho Technology/BioFire and serving as Scientific Advisor to several other molecular diagnostic companies.
Susan Evans, PhD
Clinical/Human Diagnostics Board Advisor
Sue Evans has held leadership positions in R&D, general management, strategic planning and scientific affairs and brings over 30 years of experience in diagnostics and health technology companies. Dr. Evans’ consulting work focuses on strategy development and assessment of growth opportunities. Dr. Evans most recently served as CEO for ImmunArray, Ltd. Prior as VP, Scientific Affairs for Beckman Coulter. At Beckman Coulter, Sue held roles as VP, Corporate Strategic Planning and VP/GM of Beckman Coulter Genomics, known formerly as Agencourt Bioscience.
Dr. Evans began her career in diagnostics at Dade Behring, Inc., where she served in various R&D capacities, assuming the leadership role as SVP R&D. Sue has led organizations in the development of IVD diagnostic systems and assays across a wide range of laboratory disciplines. Dr. Evans has been involved with many professional associations, including the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC); serving on the Board of Directors, as Secretary, and as President in 2003. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Analytical, Life Science & Diagnostics Association (ALDA), and served the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB), now the AACC Academy, on the BOD and as President.
Dr. Charisse Winston
Alzheimer’s Dementia Scientific Board Advisor
Dr. Charisse Winston is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) in the Keck School of Medicine. She joined the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience in August 2023, following the completion of her postdoctoral training and MOSAIC K99 fellowship at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She received her Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from the University of Virginia, her Master’s in Biochemistry, and her PhD in Neuroscience from Georgetown University.
Dr. Winston is a translational neuroscientist dedicated to advancing the field of biofluid-based extracellular vesicles (EVs) as early diagnostic biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). Her research uniquely focuses on developing novel EV-based tools for ethnically diverse and underserved patient groups, particularly Black Americans and the Diaspora. Additionally, Dr. Winston’s work aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying the physiological and pathogenic roles of EVs in both healthy aging and disease.
Carl Yamashiro, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Carl Yamashiro has spent 25 years working with companies in biotechnology and biomedical diagnostics with a strong emphasis on molecular diagnostics. He worked at Applied Biosystems (now Thermo Fisher) on PCR-based food and environmental assay development. Additionally, Dr. Yamashiro has managed systems development for microarray-based diagnostic systems for both Roche Molecular Systems and Motorola.
Dr. Yamashiro received his B.S. in Biochemistry from UCLA and his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Oregon. He was also an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. Currently, Carl is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University.
Dr. David Acheson
Board Advisor, Chairman of the Food Safety Committee
Dr. David Acheson will Chair the food safety committee on the Board of Advisors that will inform the company’s development of rapid detection testing technologies for the food industry.
Dr. David Acheson has more than 35 years of medical and food safety research experience. He served as the Chief Medical Officer at both the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service as well as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). Dr. Acheson was later appointed as the first Associate Commissioner for Foods at FDA. For the past decade, he has consulted with the world’s largest food brands at all levels of the food supply chain through his firm, The Acheson Group, published extensive research and has been a regular guest on national news programs.
Dr. Acheson studied internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of London Medical School. He then taught and studied at Tufts University in Boston where he researched the molecular pathogenesis of foodborne pathogens. Additionally, David was a fellow at the Royal College of Physicians in London and the Infectious Disease Society of America.
REGGIE GAUDINO, PhD
Board Advisor
Dr. Reggie Gaudino oversees all scientific research and development for Steep Hill Labs and manages the YnsightTM genetics division. The research from Dr. Gaudino has been peer-reviewed and published, leading to important new discoveries. He is internationally recognized as a leader in genetics science. Dr. Gaudino is a Scientific Advisor for partner company, PathogenDx, where he helps identify and commercialize DNA based testing opportunities. Dr. Gaudino and Steep Hill act as the partner laboratory for PathogenDx product development and validation testing.
Dr. Gaudino received his B.S. in Molecular Biology and PhD in Molecular Genetics from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and he conducted four years of post-doctoral research at the Washington University in St. Louis, studying transcriptional regulation of rRNA. Reggie was one of the first African-American molecular biologists to enter a PhD program in the United States in 1985.
