Team | Metabolomic Diagnostics

Charles GarveyExecutive Chairman

Charles Garvey is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in growing Irish companies internationally. From 1990 to 2003 he was first COO and then CEO of Horizon Technology Group Plc. and took Horizon from a small privately held company to a major European multinational with significant global credentials. Charles took Horizon public on the London and Dublin stock exchange in 2000.

Charles continued to work with Horizon right up to its sale to Avnet Corp in 2009. From 2006 to 2011 Charles was CEO of NitroSell Ltd., a SAAS based ecommerce platform, which has generated almost $1B in sales to date. Charles continues to serve as non-executive chairman of NitroSell.

For the past six years, Charles has used his proven teambuilding and managerial skills to build a focused, motivated and successful team of life science professionals at Metabolomic Diagnostics. Charles has extensive experience at forging and managing partnerships with major multinational companies and in corporate finance and fundraising

Robin TuyttenChief Executive Officer

Dr Tuytten is a globally respected leader in the field of mass spectrometry and women’s health. Prior to his appointment as CEO Robin had been leading the Metabolomic Diagnostics R&D programs. Robin is trained as an analytical chemist and holds a PhD from the University of Antwerp where he developed methodologies for the mass spectrometric analyses of nucleosides and nucleotides. He joined Belgian biomarker company Pronota in 2006. Robin led Pronota’s Preeclampsia biomarker program until he joined Metabolomic Diagnostics. With more than 20 peer reviewed scientific publications, co-inventorship on several technical and biomarker patent applications including protein biomarkers for PE, a solid track record in commercial biomarker development and a deep knowledge of the field of pregnancy diseases, Robin Tuytten is well positioned to lead the company’s current and future product development efforts.

Hillary CroninChief Innovation Officer

Hillary has worked in and with several start up/ developing companies and has been closely involved in the day to day operation of expanding businesses in a variety of cross functional roles. Having a solid mix of a technical background and business experience she recognizes the supports that are required to overcome the challenges associated with commercialising technical products. Hillary has spent her career working at the leading edge of innovation, delivering scientific excellence to the market place

Louise KennyPrincipal Investigator

Professor Louise Kenny (MB ChB (hons), PhD, MRCOG) is Executive Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, University of Liverpool.

Louise’s post-doctoral work mainly investigated the use of metabolomic technology in the development of a screening test for pre-eclampsia. This work attracted the Society for Gynaecological Investigation President’s Award and Plenary Presentation at the annual meeting in Los Angeles, 2005.

In 2006, Louise moved to Ireland to take up key role in the development of the new Anu Research Centre at Cork University Maternity Hospital and continued to develop her research programme in uteroplacental insufficiency, adverse pregnancy outcome and pregnancy loss.

In 2007, Louise was appointed as a Health Research Board Ireland Clinician Scientist. This 4 year award (of €1.6 million) is underpinning the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) Study- a prospective longitudinal case cohort of pregnancy outcome which will also contribute to the world’s largest global pregnancy biobank (see www.scopestudy.net).

In July 2009, Louise was awarded a prestigious Principal Investigator Programme grant from Science Foundation Ireland to develop predictive metabolomic markers of poor pregnancy outcome. In addition, she currently holds grants from The Wellcome Trust, The Children’s Medical and Research Foundation, Molecular Medicine Ireland and the Health Research Board of Ireland.

In 2013, Louise led a successful bid under the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres call to establish the first perinatal research centre in Ireland, the Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT)(www.infantcente.ie).

Louise’s work has resulted in >200 peer reviewed original papers, reviews and book chapters. She is the co-Editor of the 19th Edition of `Obstetrics by Ten Teachers’- the world’s leading undergraduate textbook in obstetrics and senior Editor of the forthcoming 20th editions of ‘Obstetrics and Gynaecology by Ten Teachers’. In addition, Louise is a reviewer for a wide range of international journals including the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the British Medical Journal, Clinical Chemistry, the European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the Journal of Perinatal Medicine and Reproductive Sciences and research funding bodies such as the Medical Research Council (UK), the Wellcome Trust, Action Research, the British Heart Foundation, Wellbeing and Sparks, the Children’s Medical Research Charity.

Philip BakerPrincipal Investigator

In 2015 Philip Baker was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Head of the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology and Dean of Medicine at the University of Leicester, with Honorary Consultant Obstetrician status at the University of Leicester Hospitals NHS Trust.

Prior to accepting the position in Leicester Professor Baker lived and worked in New Zealand where he served as Director of the National Research Centre for Growth and Development and held the position of Professor of Maternal & Fetal Health at the University of Auckland.

Professor Baker also runs a dedicated pregnancy research centre based in Chongqing Medical University in Western China following his appointment as a National Distinguished Professor by the Chinese Government in 2013.

Previously Professor Baker led the medical schools in both Manchester, UK and Alberta, Canada. He also established and then directed the Manchester NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. He has held visiting professorial appointments in Hong Kong, Toronto and Yale.

Paul HandsDirector

A successful business graduate and serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years’ experience in the technology and life science business sectors. He is recognized for an outstanding mix of strategic vision, global management skills and the proven ability to scale a business across several continents.

He has successfully completed multiple venture funding rounds and has established an international network of professional associates. Paul has founded a number of technology companies in Ireland, including QCL (acquired by Calyx in 2003) and QUMAS,(acquired by Accelrys in 2013) Paul is a co-founder of Metabolomic Diagnostics.

Diarmuid CahalaneDirector

Diarmuid Cahalane has been consulting to the technology and life sciences sectors for over 20 years. He is recognised for his strengths in risk analysis, remediation, cost reduction and compliance. In 1997, he established his own regulatory consulting company, and went on to work with many of the leading life science companies, including Pfizer, Schering Plough, and Glaxo Smithkline. He maintains contact with the FDA at a high level and recently visited Washington DC to discuss innovation concepts with the FDA, Patient Advocacy Groups and others. He is an expert member of the Irish mirror committee of ISO:TC276 and is also a member of the Preeclampsia Biomarkers Consortium in the United States.