Daktari Diagnostics today announces the appointment of Donald B. Hawthorne as President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and member of the Board of Directors.
Mr. Hawthorne brings over 30 years of life sciences industry experience, most recently as President & CEO of AdvanDx, a molecular diagnostics company, which was successfully sold to OpGen in July.
Mr. Hawthorne is a go-to-market expert, focused on creating and expanding commercial value. During his career in the life sciences industry, he has served as CEO, COO, CFO, Board member, equity investor, and strategic advisor. Prior to AdvanDx, he was founder and President of The HawthorneGroup, leading teams of life science executives in developing solutions that rapidly accelerated the pace of commercialization.
"There is a compelling need for the Daktari solution," said Mr. Hawthorne. "Our offering, initially focused on Hepatitis C and HIV, will dramatically improve how clinicians test and treat patients living with these diseases worldwide. I am delighted to be working with a talented team in developing and launching such an innovative platform with its unique combination of decentralized diagnostic testing and informatics."
Prior CEO and co-founder, William Rodriguez, M.D., is joining the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), based in Geneva, Switzerland, as Chief Medical Officer. He will be moving to Africa with his family and will continue to serve as an advisor to Daktari.
Thierry Bernard, a member of the Daktari Board of Directors, stated, "The company thanks Bill for creating a company vision capable of meeting worldwide healthcare needs. We are excited to have Don bring his commercialization expertise to Daktari as we move forward."