About Us

Rob joined Vizgen through its merger with Ultivue, a Cambridge, MA-based spatial proteomics and precision oncology company where he was CEO.  Previously, he held roles as chief operating officer of Harbinger Health (early cancer detection) and SVP of Corporate Development at Waters Corporation.  Rob began his career in the life sciences with Medtronic, where he served as VP/GM of its pacemaker and spinal implants businesses.  Rob is a board director at Vizgen and was previously a director of RedShiftBio (protein analysis instrumentation) and The Wolf River Conservancy (a Memphis-area non-profit).  He and family live in Sherborn, Massachusetts.

Simona brings to Vizgen more than 25 years of experience in the life science industry.  Prior to coming to Vizgen, she served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Cell Signaling Technology, where she built and led the company global legal team playing a key role in the company growth and global expansion.  She was instrumental in developing the global intellectual property strategy leading the negotiation of several strategic key collaborations and licensing deals in both the therapeutic and diagnostic fields.  Prior to that post, she was a partner in the Life Sciences Group at the law firm McDermott Will & Emery, and Chief IP Counsel at IVAX Corporation (TEVA) where she led offensive and defensive IP strategies. Dr. Levi has B.A.s in biochemistry and economics, a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Rutgers University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Dr. Levi has been a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association since 1996.

Anne Parsons is a seasoned Quality Assurance professional with extensive experience in leading quality processes on a global scale. She provides strategic leadership and serves as a subject matter expert, ensuring that organizational standards meet regulatory requirements and industry best practices. Anne's commitment to excellence drives continuous improvement initiatives, fostering a culture of quality and compliance within the organization.

Dr. Lorenz Rognoni leads the Image Analysis Portfolio at Vizgen, bringing over 15 years of experience in life sciences data analysis and computational pathology. With a background in physics and a Ph.D. in biophysics from the Technical University of Munich, he has applied quantitative methods to biology throughout his career.

Dr. Yvette Cajigas serves as the Vice President of Operations at Vizgen, bringing extensive expertise in assay development, biomarker strategy, and operational leadership. With a strong background in multiplex immunofluorescence (mIF) and spatial biology, Yvette plays a pivotal role in streamlining processes and driving operational excellence across Vizgen's expanding portfolio. Her leadership ensures efficient execution of strategic initiatives, supporting the company's mission to deliver innovative solutions that empower researchers in spatial genomics and disease research.

George has spent the past decade developing high-throughput spatial profiling technologies including extending MERFISH technology to profile 10,000 genes in the same sample. George received dual undergraduate degrees from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University.

Co-founding member of Vizgen, Jiang has been recognized with numerous awards including Forbes 30 under 30 in Healthcare, Spotlight Scholar at AIF, and STAT Wunderkind awardee. He completed his postdoc at MIT, and his Ph.D. at Harvard University in Xiaowei Zhuang’s lab.

Jim Forrester is a life science commercial leader with 20 years of experience in molecular diagnostics and life science tools. He has held senior leadership roles at Luminex, QIAGEN, NanoString, and startups where he led global biopharma initiatives and served as Head of North American Sales. Jim has a proven track record of scaling high-performing commercial teams, driving revenue growth across capital, consumables, and services, and partnering closely with R&D and marketing to successfully commercialize complex genomic and spatial biology technologies.

Iona is a commercial leader with 16 years experience in the life sciences sector. With a strong foundation in commercial and scientific communication, her career progressed from Life Technologies/Thermo Fisher Scientific into the rapidly evolving field of spatial biology, where she has spent the past seven years. She is driven by translating complex science into commercial impact through close collaboration with customers, colleagues, and distribution partners, and by enabling customer-led innovation.

Paul Rasmussen has over 25 years of experience in the biotech tools industry, spanning field applications, technical training, sales, BD, and commercial leadership in both North America and Asia Pacific.  He has deep hands-on and commercial knowledge of the qPCR, microarray, NGS, and spatial biology universe, acquired through over two decades of increasing responsibility at Applied Biosystems, NanoString Technologies, and Vizgen. Based in Singapore for over a decade, Paul is responsible for building and managing Vizgen’s commercial operations throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Xiaowei is a professor of Science, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Physics at Harvard University and an Investigator at HHMI. Xiaowei’s lab is known for the development of both MERFISH and STORM for super resolution microscopy. She has won numerous awards including the 2021 Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the 2019 NAS Award for Scientific Discovery. Xiaowei has been elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine.

David is a leader in scientific innovation and has founded and invested in successful companies for over 20 years; his public companies include Illumina, Quanterix, and 908 Devices and his start-ups include Sherlock Biosciences, Ultivue, and Arbor Biotechnologies. David is a Professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Wyss Institute, and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. David has been elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2019.

Jeffrey is the co-inventor of MERFISH technology, developed in Xiaowei Zhuang’s lab. He is applying MERFISH to the construction of cellular atlases on a wide range of tissues with a particular focus on the interface between host and microbial communities. Jeffrey has his PhD in Physics from UC Berkeley where he developed novel methods for manipulating single molecules. Jeffrey is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute and was named Pew Biomedical Scholar in 2019.

Keith Crandell is a Managing Director and Co-Founder of ARCH Venture Partners, L.P., a global seed, and early-stage venture capital firm focused on innovations in the life and physical sciences. Keith holds an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago (Booth), an M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from St. Lawrence University.

Christian Uhrich is an Investment Director at M Ventures, where he leads investments in innovative biotech companies. With extensive experience in strategy consulting and corporate development, Christian has supported major pharma and biotech clients in areas such as R&D, marketing, and post-merger integration. He holds an MBA from Mannheim Business School and a degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from Cooperative State University Karlsruhe.

David is a leader in scientific innovation and has founded and invested in successful companies for over 20 years; his public companies include Illumina, Quanterix, and 908 Devices and his start-ups include Sherlock Biosciences, Ultivue, and Arbor Biotechnologies. David is a Professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Wyss Institute, and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. David has been elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2019.

Mr. Posard brings over 30 years of general management and commercialization experience in the life sciences, therapeutics, and diagnostics industry to the Board of Directors. He is the Founding Principal of Explore DNA, a life sciences executive consulting firm, a position he has held since March 2016. Since 2017, he has provided advisory services to CEOs for several emerging life sciences companies. From February 2017 to April 2018, Mr. Posard served as President and Chief Commercial Officer of GenePeeks, Inc., a genetic research company. From March 2015 to April 2016, he served as Chief Commercial Officer of Trovagene, Inc., a molecular diagnostic biotechnology company. From February 2006 to February 2015, he held various commercial and general management positions at Illumina, Inc., a genomics company focusing on DNA sequencing, including senior executive positions overseeing Global Sales, Marketing, and General Manager of Clinical and Consumer Genomics as well as New and Emerging Markets. Mr. Posard holds a BA degree in Management Science from the University of California, San Diego.

Andrea Jackson is a Director at Northpond Ventures on the firm’s convergent technologies team. Andrea is a Board Director at several digital health and patient engagement companies, including Deep Lens, Hawthorne Effect, Octave Bioscience, Outcomes4Me, and SimBioSys. She is also a Board Director at life science software technology companies, including Saama, Scitara Corporation, Syapse, and VieCure; as well as at R&D solutions companies, including Codex DNA (NASDAQ: DNAY), Elephas Bio, Isolation Bio Inc. (formerly General Automation Lab Technologies), Refeyn, and Vizgen. Andrea also served on the board at Current Health (acquired by Best Buy) and NanoView Biosciences (acquired by Unchained Labs). Previously, Andrea was the commercial lead at Farcast Biosciences, an oncology clinical diagnostic company. Prior to Farcast, Andrea held various senior commercial leadership roles in life science startups and large companies such as PerkinElmer (NYSE: PKI) and Millipore. Before her operating roles, Andrea worked in JPMorgan’s Healthcare Investment Banking team and focused on life science tools, diagnostics, and biotechnology companies. Andrea received an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. with honors from Washington University in St. Louis.