Franz Walt

First Light Diagnostics has appointed Peter Kaspar to its board of directors. Kaspar has been a member of bioMérieux's executive committee, where he was responsible for the firm's molecular diagnostics unit, global research and development, and later the microbiology unit. Kaspar previously held executive roles within several global organizations, including the Foundation for Innovative Diagnostics.

PathAI announced Esther Abels has been appointed its vice president of regulatory and clinical affairs and strategic business development. She will direct the company's development of medical devices and lead its regulatory strategy. Abels was most recently a senior direcgtor at Philips where she led efforts to gain US Food and Drug Administration approval for whole-slide imaging systems. 

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics announced that its board of directors has appointed Robert Yates as chairman and chief executive officer effective Feb. 12. Yates will succeed Martin Madaus, who is retiring after serving as chairman and CEO of Ortho since June 2014. 

Yates is currently Ortho's president and has served as a director on the company's board since June 2014. He was previously the chief operating officer and a member of Ortho's executive leadership team for more than four years.

GeneCapture has appointed Greg Thompson as its chief operating officer. Thompson will oversee the product design, commercialization, and medical device approvals for the firm's portable and rapid diagnostic for the point-of-care market. Thompson previously served as VP of design in the medical division and VP of global product design and development at Sanmina. Thompson earned a BSEE degree in computer engineering from North Dakota State University.

Metabolon has appointed Michael Rasche as its president of international business. Rasche will lead the firm's international business activities with a focus on customer and team expansion. Prior to Metabolon, Rasche acted as chief commercial officer at Definiens. Before Definiens, Rasche served as corporate VP of global commercial operations at Ayoxxa. He has also held leadership positions at Dako (now Agilent), Roche, and Bayer Diagnostics in Europe, as well as North and South America.

US BioTek Laboratories announced the appointment of Jack Frausing as president and CEO. Frausing assumes the leadership role from co-founder and current president Raymond Suen and his co-founder and wife Margaret Suen, the current executive vice president. The addition of Frausing is the first step in a plan to expand the company's testing and reporting capabilities and expand sales and marketing to reach and service a growing customer base. Raymond and Margaret Suen will continue to be active in the company to facilitate a smooth transition.

Ian Heynen has been named general manager of Sysmex Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sysmex America. He will execute the firm's business strategy in the Canadian market and will report to Sysmex Canada CEO Andy Hay. Heynen was most recetly senior vice president of sales and marketing for Profound Medical. Prior to that he was acting president of the international division of Hologic.