Board of Directors

With a reputation as a visionary and transformational leader, Thomas W. Burnell has amassed a wealth of experience in the healthcare, biotechnology, laboratory sciences, and manufacturing industries. Tom’s uniquely effective approach to fostering cultures of excellence, and his focus on people, have led to significant achievements in growing and improving the profitability, performance, and value of companies. Over the course of his career, he has created over $1 billion in shareholder value.

Tom has an outstanding track record of effectively leading organizational change and orchestrating turnarounds, as well as accelerating growth for startups and facilitating post-acquisition integration. With international business development experience spanning 38 countries on five continents, he has achieved triple-digit EBITDA growth in several businesses and has facilitated 39 M&A transactions on the buy and sell sides combined.

Tom is President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Interpace Biosciences, a fully integrated commercial and bioinformatics company, that provides evidence-based, clinically beneficial molecular diagnostic tests and pathology services.

Tom is also an Operating Partner of the healthcare investment firm 1315 Capital Partners and is on the board of directors for miraDry, Inc. In addition, he is an Advisor to the Board of the Cardiovascular Clinic of Nebraska d/b/a Pioneer Heart Institute and is a member of the board of directors, Nu-Tek Biosciences, Inc.

He co-founded Milestone Business Management, LLC, a consulting firm providing professional services to food, pharmaceutical, and life science companies, where he continues to serve as a General Partner. He also served as Interim President and CEO of Boston Heart Diagnostics, as well as Pioneer Heart Institute where he remains as Chairman of the Board.

He was a former Operating Partner at Ampersand Capital Partners, a middle-market growth equity firm, where he served as President, CEO, and Executive Chairman of Elite One Source Nutrisciences, Inc. and Executive Chairman of Accuratus Lab Services.

Additionally, Tom was President and CEO and Member of the Board of Directors at Viracor-IBT Laboratories, Inc. While maintaining his seat on the Board of Directors, he served as President and CEO of Nebraska Heart Institute (NHI) and Nebraska Heart Hospital (NHH). Tom joined NHI and NHH from Eurofins Scientific, Inc., where he served as President, CEO, Vice Chairman, and member of the Group Executive Committee. Previously, Tom was President and CEO of the startup company GenomicFX, Inc.

He has a B.S. in Animal Science and an M.S. in Animal Nutrition from the University of Nebraska, and a Ph.D. in Nutrition, with an emphasis on Statistics and Biochemistry, from the University of Kentucky.

Mr. Sullivan served as Interim Chairman of the Board from January 1, 2016 to June 20, 2016. Mr. Sullivan joined us as a director in September 2004 and has served as Chairman of various committees of the Board. In early 2010, Mr. Sullivan founded CRO Advisors LLC, a specialty consulting firm he continues to head. Previously, Mr. Sullivan was the president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Harlan Laboratories, Inc. (“Harlan”), a privately held global provider of preclinical research tools and services, from February 2006 through January 2010, when he retired from that position. Prior to joining Harlan in 2006, Mr. Sullivan was a senior vice president of Covance, Inc. (“Covance”) and the president of Covance Central Laboratories, Inc., a major division of Covance. Prior to joining Covance, Mr. Sullivan was chairman and chief executive officer of Xenometrix, Inc., a biotechnology company with proprietary gene expression technology. He assisted with the merger of Xenometrix with Discovery Partners International. Prior to Xenometrix, Mr. Sullivan was vice president and general manager of a global diagnostic sector of Abbott Laboratories. Since June 2013 and May 2013, Mr. Sullivan has been the chairman of the board of Bioreclamation IVT, LLC, a privately owned bio-materials company, and a member of the board of directors of PHT Corporation, a privately owned leader in electronic patient recorded outcomes in clinical trials, respectively. Since April 2011, Mr. Sullivan has been chairman of the board of MI Bioresearch, Inc. (formerly known as Molecular Imaging, Inc.), a venture-backed drug discovery services company. Since May 2015, Mr. Sullivan has been chairman of the board of Microbiology Research Associates, a microbiology services company. In January 2016, Mr. Sullivan became chairman of the board of H2O Clinical, a specialty contract research organization, and in November 2015, Mr. Sullivan joined the board of Accel Clinical Research, a Phase 1 contract research organization. Mr. Sullivan graduated from the University of Dayton, was a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps, and completed his M.B.A. in Marketing and Finance at Rutgers University. Mr. Sullivan has held senior leadership positions in companies in the life sciences and healthcare services industries.

Vijay Aggarwal, Ph.D. joined the Board of Directors in February 2022, bringing with him over thirty years of senior management experience in pharmaceutical services and clinical diagnostics. Dr. Aggarwal is an experienced and respected leader with proven accomplishments and expertise in corporate development, capital formation, operations leadership, reimbursement and sales growth.

Currently a Managing Partner of The Channel Group, Dr. Aggarwal also provides strategic advisory services to companies with operations or investments in the clinical diagnostics, molecular diagnostic, and anatomic pathology sectors. Prior to The Channel Group, he served as CEO of Vaxigenix, a pharmaceutical company developing vaccine treatments for colorectal cancer. From 2004-2009, Dr. Aggarwal was President and CEO of Aureon Laboratories, Inc., a predictive pathology company offering advanced tissue analysis services to practicing physicians and the pharmaceutical industry. He served as President of AAI Development Services, Inc., a global contract research and development services company serving the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, and from 1999-2001 he was President of Quest Diagnostic Ventures, where his responsibilities included new technology, new business models, clinical trials testing, and direct–to-consumer strategies.

Dr. Aggarwal spent 14 years with SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories, the clinical laboratory operations of SmithKline Beecham plc. During his tenure with the company he held many positions, including Executive Vice President of Laboratories, having direct responsibility for all of SBCL’s U.S.-based laboratories, and as Vice President of Managed Care, responsible for reimbursement.

Early in his career, Dr. Aggarwal spent 8 years at Bio Science Laboratories, finishing his time with the company as Manager of Toxicology and Special Chemistry. 

He currently holds Board positions at Allergenis, Accugenomics, Slone Partners, and Moleculera.

He earned a BA in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology/Toxicology from the Medical College of Virginia.

Joseph Keegan, Ph.D. was appointed to the Board effective January 1, 2016 and was subsequently appointed Chairman of our Audit Committee. Dr. Keegan has more than 30 years of experience in life science businesses. From 2007 to 2012, when it was sold to Pall Corporation, Dr. Keegan was CEO at ForteBio, Inc., a life science tool company, where he helped to lead a financing round and established product development and sales strategies for that company. From 1998 to 2007, Dr. Keegan was CEO at Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a provider of bioanalytical measurement systems, software and consumables, where Dr. Keegan helped to grow the company, both internally and through acquisitions. From 1992 to 1998, Dr. Keegan worked at Becton Dickinson and Company, a medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices and instrument systems, where he served as President of Worldwide Tissue Culture and Vice President, General Manager of Worldwide Flow Cytometry. From 1988 to 1992, Dr. Keegan was Vice President of the Microscopy and Scientific I nstruments Division of Leica, Inc., a life science tool and semiconductor equipment provider. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Arrayjet LTD, Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH), Carterra, Halo Labs, Labcyte as Chairman and Nanomedical Diagnostics as Executive Chairman. Dr. Keegan holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Boston University and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Stanford University.

Ron has significant experience as a senior executive at companies which develop and market high value, proprietary tests. In addition to serving as CEO of Exagen since 2011, Mr. Rocca served as VP of Sales & Marketing and General Manager of Prometheus Laboratories from 2005 to 2011.