Meet Our Team

Raymond Cheong, M.D., Ph.D. is a Principal at Baker Brothers Investments (BBI), where he has worked since 2013. Dr. Cheong had previously served as a director of our Company from June 2020 until June 2022 and then as the BBI Observer to the Board before resuming his board position in March 2023. Dr. Cheong also serves on the board of directors of Istari Oncology, Inc., a private biotechnology company focused on immuno-oncology and immunotherapy platforms, since December 2018. Dr. Cheong received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, where he was awarded the Michael A. Shanoff Award for best thesis research.

Heiner Dreismann, Ph.D. has served on our board since May 2023. Dr. Dreismann has more than 35 years of experience in the diagnostic industry and is regarded as a pioneer in the early adoption of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. From 1985 to 2006, he held multiple executive positions at Roche Diagnostics, including president and chief executive officer of Roche Molecular Systems, head of global business development of Roche Diagnostics and member of Roche’s Global Diagnostic Executive Committee. Dr. Dreismann currently serves on the boards of several public and private healthcare companies, including on Myriad Genetics, a public company focused on genetic testing and precision medicine and Mainz Biomed, a public company developing market-ready molecular genetic diagnostic solutions for life threatening conditions. He earned a Master of Science degree in Biology and his Ph.D. in Microbiology/Molecular Biology (summa cum laude) from the University of Munster in Germany.

Rustem F. Ismagilov, Ph.D. is one of our co-founders and has served on our board of directors since June 2013. Dr. Ismagilov is a Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and the Director of the Jacobs Institute for Molecular Engineering for Medicine at the California Institute of Technology, where he has been employed since July 2011. From July 2001 to June 2011, Dr. Ismagilov held various positions of increasing responsibility at the University of Chicago, including as a Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Ismagilov received a B.S. from the Russian Academy of Sciences and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard.

Rob Kelley has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the biotechnology industry and has served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer since December 2021. Mr. Kelley joined Talis Biomedical as the Chief Commercial Officer in September 2020.  Before Talis Biomedical, Mr. Kelley was Vice President, Sales and Commercial Development of Genalyte, Inc., a healthcare analytics and point-of-care diagnostics company. Prior to Genalyte, Mr. Kelley served as Vice President, Marketing of Cardiff Oncology, Inc., a publicly held liquid biopsy company (formerly Trovagene, Inc.). Earlier in his career Mr. Kelley held various positions of increasing responsibility with Illumina, a publicly held biotechnology company, including Global Sales Manager for clinical applications of Next-Generation Sequencing and Director, Market Development, New and Emerging Opportunities. Mr. Kelley received a B.S. in Biology from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the UCLA. Anderson School of Management.

Kimberly J. Popovits has served on our board of directors since March 2020. Ms. Popovits served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Genomic Health from January 2009, and as Chairman of the board of directors from March 2012, until its acquisition by Exact Sciences Corporation in November 2019. Ms. Popovits currently serves on the board of directors of 10x Genomics, Inc. since March 2020 and Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals since February 2018. In addition, Ms. Popovits serves on the boards of the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine and the Personalized Medicine Coalition. She also serves as an Executive Advisor to Blackstone Life Sciences and is an Advisor to the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA). Ms. Popovits received a B.A. in Business from Michigan State University.

Matthew L. Posard has served on our board of directors since March 2016. Mr. Posard is a Founding Principal at Explore-DNA, Inc., a life sciences and diagnostics consulting firm, a position he has held since March 2016. Mr. Posard served as President and Chief Commercial Officer of GenePeeks, Inc. from February 2017 to April 2018 and as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Cardiff from March 2015 to May 2016. Mr. Posard also held various executive roles at Illumina from February 2006 to February 2015, including most recently as Senior Vice President, General Manager of New and Emerging Markets. Mr. Posard serves as Chairman of Nautilus Biotechnology, Inc. since January 2019, Stemson Therapeutics, LLC since March 2019, and DermTech, Inc. since July 2016. Mr. Posard also serves on the board of directors of Deepcell Bio since March 2022 and Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. since March 2013. Mr. Posard received a B.A. in Management Science from the University of California, San Diego.

Randal Scott, Ph.D. has served on our board of directors since February 2016. Dr. Scott is a co-founder and Chairperson of the board of directors of Genome Medical, Inc., a genomic medicine company founded in August 2016. Previously, Dr. Scott was a co-founder of Invitae Corporation where he served as Chairperson of the board of directors and Chief Executive Officer from August 2012 to January 2017 and Executive Chairperson from January 2017 to August 2019. Dr. Scott resumed the role of Chairperson of the Board for Invitae in July 2022. Before Invitae, Dr. Scott co-founded Genomic Health, where he served as Chairperson of the board of directors and Chief Executive Officer from August 2000 to 2009 and Executive Chairperson from 2009 to August 2012. Dr. Scott has also served on the board of directors of BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. since June 2020 and Freenome Holdings, Inc. since December 2017. Dr. Scott received a B.S. in Chemistry from Emporia State University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas.