WORCESTER, Mass. - Verax Biomedical, Inc., a developer of rapid tests for detecting bacterial contaminants found in blood cells and tissue, announced Tuesday the appointments of R. Scott McKenzie as senior vice president of operations and Nancy Hornbaker as vice president of regulatory affairs.
Prior to joining Verax, McKenzie had been site director of the Abbott Diagnostics immunoassay manufacturing facility in Longford, Ireland, where he took the site from green field to operational status in 19 months and supervised the hiring and training of 340 employees. Previously, he was divisional vice president of Abbott Diagnostics/Abbott Molecular and vice president for Vysis, Inc., both of Downer's Grove, Ill. Earlier, McKenzie held posts with ATC Diagnostics, Inc. and GENE-TRAK Systems, both of Framingham, Mass. and SCOTT Laboratories, Inc. of West Warwick, R.I.
Before joining Verax, Hornbaker was a regulatory consultant for Biologics Consulting Group and has advised Verax in regulatory affairs since 2002. Previously, she was director of regulatory and clinical affairs for Bayer Diagnostics and held similar positions at Chiron Diagnostics and Baxter Diagnostics. Earlier, she held a regulatory position at Abbott laboratories.
"Both Scott McKenzie and Nancy Hornbaker have strong track records in areas of key importance to us right now," said Jim Lousararian, CEO of Verax Biomedical. "Scott's operational skills in Ireland will help tremendously as we ramp up production of the Verax Platelet PGD to more than 60 million units over the coming years with our manufacturing partner, British Biocell International."
"Nancy Hornbaker's expertise will be invaluable as we conclude clinical trials and prepare regulatory submissions to the FDA and similar organizations abroad and her experience in blood testing products is a real plus," Lousararian continued.