Executive Team
Douglas S. Harrington, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Harrington has over 25 years of experience in the commercialization of healthcare technology. Prior to joining Aviir in 2008, he served as CEO and Lab Director at Specialty Laboratories, Inc. and WM Laboratories, Inc.; as Chairman & CEO at Chromavision Medical Systems, Inc.; and as President & Lab Director at Nichols Institute. Dr. Harrington is licensed in a number of states - including New York - holding CQ's in Molecular and Biochemical Genetics. In addition, he has successfully taken a number of new molecular technologies through state and federal regulatory approval. Dr. Harrington has been a board member of 14 companies with current directorships and managerial positions at Axela Biosensors (Board Member), Navigenics, Inc. (Consulting Laboratory Director), CLED (Chairman) and USC Keck School of Medicine (Clinical Associate Professor of Pathology). He holds multiple professional affiliation memberships - including the American Medical Association, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, the College of American Pathologists and the Association for Molecular Pathology and the International Academy of Pathology. Dr. Harrington received his B.A. in Molecular Biology and M.D. from the University of Colorado. He is Board Certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Hematology and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications.
Cynthia French, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Scientific Officer
Cynthia French joined Aviir in November 2010 as Chief Scientific Officer and is responsible for R&D, product development and clinical laboratory operations. Before Aviir, she served as Chief Scientific Officer as well as Executive in charge of Clinical Laboratory Operations for both Denmark and California sites at Exiqon. She has been directly involved in product development of new molecular diagnostics in the microRNA, DNA and proteomics fields. Prior to Exiqon, Cynthia served as Vice President, Affymetrix Clinical Laboratory Services, and was responsible for commercialization of CLIA laboratory operations - offering Affymetrix microarrays for genetic and molecular expression diagnostic testing. She has also held executive positions at Specialty Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics and BioRad Laboratories. Cynthia has extensive experience in managing product development, CLIA laboratory operations and clinical trials in both life sciences and diagnostics industries worldwide. Cynthia received her PhD and MBA from the University of California Irvine, and she was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT and Harvard University.
Bob Harman
Chief Information Officer
Bob Harman joined Aviir, Inc in June 2010 as Chief Information Officer (CIO). In his role as CIO, he is responsible for establishing Aviir's IT vision, strategy and overall technology capability. He provides leadership in the development, implementation and governance for all IT systems company-wide. Prior to joining Aviir, Bob held IT leadership positions in both public and private companies including Northgate Gonzalez, LLC; Specialty Laboratories, Inc.; 3D Systems, Inc. and many others. Bob is committed to improving patient outcomes through technology innovation. Bob earned his MBA at Pepperdine University.
Dane Ahrentzen, CPA
Corporate Controller
Dane Ahrentzen brings more than 20 years of experience in finance, operations and business development. He has extensive experience with Sarbanes-Oxley reporting and compliance as well as mergers/acquisitions, due diligence and internal controls. His industry experience includes medical devices, imaging, diagnostics, construction, market research and services. Prior to joining Aviir, Dane was an Internal Audit Director at Endocare - a medical device company engaging in the development, manufacture, and distribution of health care products. Before Endocare, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance and Administration for a regional construction contractor headquartered in Southern California. He has also consulted with various businesses in the areas of financial reporting, analysis and project management. Dane earned his Bachelor of Science from the California State University at Long Beach and is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of California.
Mike Beggs, Ph.D.
Vice President, Product Development
Mike Beggs joined Aviir in December of 2007 to lead the team responsible for developing the company’s innovative tests. He has over 15 years of broad experience in health diagnostics product development, device and reagent design, design control procedures, project management and manufacturing capability. Prior to Aviir, Mike directed R&D organization of Quidel Corporation. Before Quidel, Mike led the product development and launch of over twenty 510(k) accepted immunoassays for Abbott Laboratories. While at Abbott, he was selected to direct the research organization of Abbott Japan Co. (formerly Dainabot Co., Ltd.) in Tokyo, Japan. In that role, he successfully managed multiple departments – including Assay Development, Scientific Affairs and Regulatory Affairs - through both an FDA inspection and the launch of novel diagnostic products. In the course of receiving his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from North Carolina State University, he discovered novel interactions of pituitary hormone function regulators. Mike also holds a Master of Science in Biochemistry from North Carolina State University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Math from Duquesne University.
Evangelos (Vangelis) Hytopoulos, Ph.D.
Vice President, BioStatistics & Computational Science
Dr. Hytopoulos leads the group at Aviir that provides statistical and study design support to the research and development efforts of the company. He has over 15 years of experience in statistical methods for proteomics/genomics applications, algorithm development and high performance computing and visualization. Prior to joining Aviir, Dr. Hytopoulos led the development of information systems, database and analytical approaches for the BioMAP technology at BioSeek. Previously, he held positions at multiple technology companies - including X-Mine (leading the development of cutting-edge microarray analysis algorithms), CFD Research Inc. (promoting the adoption of numerical simulation technologies in the semiconductor and microfluidics industries), Silicon Graphics (serving as a high performance computing applications expert) and in the automotive industry (developing of state-of-the-art numerical methodologies that accelerated time-to-market for new automobile designs). Dr. Hytopoulos has Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering along with an undergraduate degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. He has published over 15 papers and is a frequent speaker on various topics.
