Management Team

David D. Halbert

Chairman and CEO

David D. Halbert is the former chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of AdvancePCS, the nation's leading independent health improvement company. Mr. Halbert founded AdvancePCS in 1987 and successfully guided the firm from a small, privately owned company into a Fortune 500 corporation that became the largest provider of pharmacy benefit management services in the nation. AdvancePCS grew into a leadership position in the industry with its health improvement offerings, which helped AdvancePCS clients and their members improve quality of care while lowering health care costs. AdvancePCS served more than 75 million people - one in every four Americans - and managed 600 million prescription transactions annually, representing approximately $28 billion in drug expenditures.

Under Mr. Halbert's direction, AdvancePCS recorded 39 consecutive quarters of record earnings with a compound annual earnings growth rate of 84% for the five years prior to the merger. While the company continually innovated to meet emerging client needs, Halbert supplemented its internal development with eleven strategic acquisitions. In March 2004, AdvancePCS consummated its $7.5 billion merger with CaremarkRx, generating a 36% premium to AdvancePCS shareholders.

Mr. Halbert brings to his current position more than 25 years of management experience in the energy, financial and health care industries. Before AdvancePCS, he founded Halbert & Associates Inc., an investment company that both formed and financed a number of projects and companies in the banking, real estate, energy and health care fields. Today, he personally supports the Caris Foundation.

Laurie Johansen

Vice Chairman

Laurie Johansen formerly served for nine years as a member of the executive management team of AdvancePCS, the nation's leading independent health improvement company. From 2001 through 2004, she was the senior vice president, corporate secretary of AdvancePCS where she worked with David Halbert, chairman of the board, on matters relating to the Board of Directors of AdvancePCS. In addition, she was responsible for securities regulatory compliance, including Sarbanes-Oxley initiatives, and the legal aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Prior to becoming corporate secretary, Ms. Johansen served as senior vice president, office of the CEO, as well as general counsel at AdvancePCS.

Before joining AdvancePCS, Ms. Johansen worked in the corporate and securities group of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld for five years. She focused on mergers and acquisitions, public equity and debt financing, and general corporate legal and compliance services.

Ms. Johansen earned her business administration degree as well as her law degree from The University of Texas.

Jonathan Knowles, PhD

Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer

Jonathan Knowles, PhD, joined the Caris Life Sciences™ (Caris) Board of Directors on September 1, 2009 and accepted the position of vice chairman starting on January 1, 2010.  He accepted the additional position of chief scientific officer in May 2010.  In these capacities, Dr. Knowles provides scientific and strategic guidance, supports the identification and expansion of R&D opportunities, and assists with the development of Caris' international presence. Dr. Knowles' appointments to these positions continues a distinguished career that has spanned decades in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry, including most recently his role as president of group research at Roche, a position he held since 2007, and member of that organization's Corporate Executive Committee since 1998.

Dr. Knowles was a member of the Genentech Board for the last 12 years and a member of the Chugai Board for seven years.

Dr. Knowles was also the chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee of Genentech. He was for five years the chairman of the Research Directors' Group of EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations) and was the first chairman of the Board of the Innovative Medicines Initiative, a unique public-private partnership between 28 Pharmaceutical companies and the European Commission with a budget of more than 2 Billion Euros over five years. Dr. Knowles focused the company on key disease biology areas of high medical need and in-depth understanding of molecular pathology of disease. Under his leadership, the company developed and implemented a strategy of highly effective therapies based on personalized healthcare and built one of the best pharmaceutical pipelines in the sector.

Dr. Knowles attended Magdalen College School in Oxford and received a first class honours degree in molecular genetics from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. He received his PhD in genetics of mitochondria with Professor G. H. Beale FRS from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Jonathan Knowles has been recently appointed a professor of translational medicine at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, has been awarded a distinguished professorship in personalized health care at the Finnish Institute for Molecular Medicine at the University of Helsinki, and has been appointed as a visiting chair at the University of Oxford. In addition, he is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization and a William Pitt Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge.

George Poste, DVM, DSc, PhD, FRC Path, FRS

Vice Chairman

Dr. Poste is the vice chairman of Caris Life Sciences™  and chief scientific advisor. In addition, he is chief scientist, Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative (CASI) at Arizona State University. He assumed this post in February 2009. This program links expertise across the university in research on synthetic biology, ubiquitous sensing and healthcare informatics for personalized medicine.

From 2003 to 2008 he founded the Biodesign Institute at ASU (www.biodesign.asu.edu/). In creating this Institute, Dr. Poste designed and built 400,000 sq. ft. of new facilities, achieved cumulative research funding of $225 million and recruited over 60 faculty, including three members of the National Academies of Science and Engineering.

In addition to his academic post he serves as chief executive of a consulting company, Health Technology Networks, which specializes in the application of genomic technologies and computing in healthcare. He is chairman of Orchid Biosciences, the leading company in DNA forensic analysis, and serves on the board of directors of Monsanto, Exelixis and Caris. From 1992 to 1999 he was chief science and technology officer and president, R&D of SmithKline Beecham (SB). During his tenure at SB he was associated with the successful registration of 31 drug, vaccine and diagnostic products. In 2004 he was named as ‘R&D Scientist of the Year’ by R&D Magazine and in 2006 he received the Einstein award from the Global Business Leadership Council.

He has published over 350 research papers and edited 14 books on pharmaceutical technologies and oncology. He has received honorary degrees in science, law and medicine for his research contributions and was honored in 1999 by HM Queen Elizabeth II as a Commander of the British Empire for his contributions to international security. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal College of Pathologists and the UK Academy of Medicine, a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University and a member of the Council for Foreign Relations. He is a member of the US Defense Science Board, Institute of Medicine Forum on Global Health, and Council for Foreign Relations. He is chair of the DOD Task Force on Bioterrorism and the newly launched DOD Task Force on Synthetic Biology.

Click here to view video clips from Dr. Poste.

Gerard "Jerry" A. Martino

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Jerry Martino joined the Caris Life Sciences™ (Caris) management team in October 2009 where he is executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Mr. Martino provides executive leadership for the financial functions of the company, strategic guidance for integrated corporate functions, and direct leadership for the execution of service lines. Additionally, Mr. Martino helps to shape the international strategy for the company.

Mr. Martino brings twenty-five years of wide-ranging financial and accounting expertise to Caris. Prior to coming to Caris, Mr. Martino was chief operating officer at Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc., a $700 million pharmaceutical development company. In this role, his responsibilities included all financial reporting, treasury, investor relations, contracts and pricing, internal audit, information technology, human resources and supply chain activities. At Par, Mr. Martino directed a financial re-engineering of the company after discovering accounting irregularities and internal-control weaknesses. This led to a major restructuring of the company's personnel and a significant upgrade of the company's talent and expertise.

Mr. Martino's career includes twelve years with Schering-Plough, starting as an assistant controller and rising to vice president, Global Materials Management, Global Supply Chain Operations. Mr. Martino's accomplishments at Schering-Plough include the implementation of a world-class, global, strategic-sourcing capability, which saved the company millions and made Schering-Plough an industry leader in global supply chain operations.

Mr. Martino is a certified public accountant and a graduate of Montclair State University.

Dominic P. Moorhead

President, European Operations

Dominic P. Moorhead joined Caris Life Sciences in May 2010 as president of European Operations. In this role, he is responsible for leading Caris’s expansion into Europe and rapidly establishing and building-up the company's European operations, including the European headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. In addition, of prominent importance for Mr. Moorhead is the development of a laboratory network across Europe, supporting partnerships with leading research institutions, universities and hospitals that share Caris' goal of bringing personalized healthcare to patients.

Mr. Moorhead joined Caris with 26 years of finance and operations management expertise in the European healthcare sector. In particular, for the latter nine years he served as chief financial officer for Roche Pharmaceuticals, where he was involved in all aspects of business leadership as a member of the Pharma Executive Committee, and led the finance function globally. His career includes work with blue-chip companies: Hoffmann-La Roche, Serono, Zeneca and Price Waterhouse.

Mr. Moorhead earned a BSc Honours Degree in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham and he is qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (FCA).

Joe Ellison

Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Mr. Ellison joined the company in April 2007 with more than fifteen years of broad based human resources (HR) leadership experience. Prior to joining Caris, Mr. Ellison guided HR departments in various progressive and industry-leading public companies. Before Caris, he led a large nationwide team of HR professionals for Caremark Rx, Inc.

Mr. Ellison has a track record of collaboration with leaders and employees to align talent optimization strategies and systems to meet evolving and scalable business demands. He has demonstrated abilities in talent planning and acquisition, corporate culture, organizational development, and employee engagement. During his time at Caris, he has attracted leading talent and guided the four-fold growth of the company’s workforce.

In addition to his MBA in management, Mr. Ellison is SPHR certified in the field of human resource management. He received his undergraduate degree in business with specialized study in human resources from the University of North Texas.

Russell O. Farr

Senior Vice President, General Counsel

Mr. Farr joined Caris Life Sciences™ in June of 2006. He is responsible for overseeing and managing all of the company's legal and compliance concerns. Prior to joining the Caris team, Mr. Farr was vice president legal services and managing counsel for CareMark in Scottsdale, AZ. He was vice president and assistant general counsel for AdvancePCS from 1999-2004.

Early in his career, Mr. Farr held various associate positions, with experience in real estate, corporate, financial, and bankruptcy law. Mr. Farr earned his BS (Accounting) and JD from Brigham Young University. While working towards his JD, Russell was also the lead articles editor for the BYU Law Review.

Michael J. Guidotti

Senior Vice President, Group Head, Caris Life Sciences Oncology

Mr. Guidotti is responsible for providing executive leadership for the Caris Life Sciences™  Oncology Franchise, as senior vice president, group head, Caris Oncology. His responsibility spans the Caris Target Now molecular profiling franchise as well as the hematopathology business segments. Mr. Guidotti previously served Caris in several capacities since joining the organization in 2005 as senior vice president, strategic development and subsequently acquired responsibility for leading the Caris Marketing, Product Development and Corporate Alliances teams.

Mr. Guidotti assumed responsibility for the Caris MPI Pharmaceutical Services division in the spring of 2008 and charged with leveraging the organization’s translational medicine expertise to drive custom biomarker discovery and assay development, in partnership with industry, to facilitate companion diagnostic development and commercialization.

Mr. Guidotti brings 28 years of healthcare industry experience to Caris. Previously he served as senior vice president, Manufacturer Contracting, Client Support and Strategic Alliances at Caremark Rx, Inc. and Advance PCS. Mr. Guidotti began his career with Bristol-Myers Squibb enjoying 19 years of progressive advancement through senior positions in field sales management, national accounts management, marketing operations and managed care.

Christine D. Kuslich, PhD

Senior Vice President, Group Head, Research & Molecular Diagnostics

Dr. Kuslich joined the Caris Life Sciences™ scientific team in May of 2006 (formerly MPI), where she currently leads the Research and Development division of Caris as well as oversees the Molecular Diagnostic laboratory. Her division is focused on the development of noninvasive biomarker capture technologies to identify and predict diseases, like cancer, earlier in development. In addition, she and her team develop new molecular assays for Caris and the company's pharmaceutical partners. Prior to her position at Caris, Dr. Kuslich led efforts to develop prognostic bioinformatic algorithms to predict deleterious de novo mutations as well as directing a development team focused on a therapeutic breast cancer vaccine at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University.

Dr. Kuslich served in leadership roles in clinical molecular diagnostic laboratories in Washington and Hawaii where she was responsible for developing and overseeing numerous proprietary clinical assays. Over the years her research has focused on a diverse array of disease-related issues including: epigenetic modification, imprinting, and the development of novel fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques in Hawaii. At the University of Washington her research concentrated on complex mRNA splicing mechanics including describing the process of ordered intron removal and its influence on disease severity.

Richard H. Lash, MD, FCAP, FACG

Chief Medical Officer and Group Head, Medical Practice

Dr. Lash joined Caris Life Sciences™ in August of 2006, and has over 25 years of experience in GI and surgical pathology. Prior to joining Caris, Dr. Lash served as co-director of the AmeriPath Institute of Gastrointestinal Pathology and Digestive Disease, as well as clinical associate professor of pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He is currently clinical associate professor of pathology at University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center. He earned his bachelor of science degree, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, at the University of Michigan, where he received his MD degree and membership in Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society in his third year. He was a resident and clinical associate at the Cleveland Clinic, where he received subspecialty training in GI pathology.

Dr. Lash continues to pursue academic interests, including publishing research and book chapters and training of residents and fellows. Dr. Lash is board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology and is a member of American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), Roger C. Haggitt Gastrointestinal Pathology Society (USCAP), American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and College of American Pathologists (CAP).

Stephen J. McMindes

Senior Vice President, Group Head, Anatomic Pathology

Steve McMindes leads the Caris Life Sciences™ Anatomic Pathology Group, focusing the integration of all facets of the organization on what specifically differentiates Caris’ anatomic subspecialties: the commitment to providing the highest quality diagnostic offering in the marketplace. Mr. McMindes also directs our innovative client service and information technology platforms, which encompass both proprietary solutions and unique strategic business alliances with industry-leading partners. Steve joined the company in 2005 bringing expertise he gained over 25 years in healthcare-industry leadership roles.

Prior to joining Caris, Mr. McMindes was vice president of pharmaceutical services for Advance PCS and Caremark Rx, where he led the sales team and integration efforts that combined product offerings during a merger of two of the largest pharmacy benefit management companies in the United States. Before Caremark, Mr. McMindes held a variety of executive positions leading teams responsible for executing strategic initiatives in sales, marketing, service, and technology for Premier, Inc., Imagyn Medical Technologies, Allegiance Healthcare Corporation, Scimed Life Systems, and Baxter Healthcare.

He holds a bachelor of science degree in nursing and biology from West Texas State University. Steve is a registered nurse, CNOR, and served as a captain in the United States Army.

Thomas T. Spalding

Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer

Mr. Spalding is responsible for all corporate marketing, communications, portfolio management consumer marketing and strategic branding. He has held senior-level positions in the healthcare industry for the last 18 years, spanning multiple functions, geographies and disease specialties. Prior to joining Caris, he was the vice president, worldwide marketing for Johnson & Johnson’s oncology diagnostics company Veridex, LLC. In this capacity, Mr. Spalding was responsible for strategy and marketing efforts for CellSearch® and GeneSearch® cancer diagnostic products.

Mr. Spalding earned a bachelor of arts degree from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and his masters in business administration from the Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management.

Alan Wright, MD, MPH

Senior Vice President of Strategy

Dr. Wright is the senior vice president of strategy for Caris Life Sciences™. Previously, he served as the vice president for product strategy and business development for Resolution Health, a privately held analytics and intervention company serving the managed care market place. Until 2005, Dr. Wright has served as chairman and CEO of Star Pharmaceuticals, a generic pharmaceutical company he founded in 2002, serving the needs of the urological community.

Previously, Dr. Wright was also senior vice president and chief science officer of Caremark and prior to that, Dr. Wright was senior vice president and chief medical officer for AdvancePCS. Following his bachelor of science, magna cum laude graduation at Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Wright received his medical doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his residency in internal medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia. While at Temple he served as chief medical resident from 1985 to 1986 and then went on to complete his master of public health degree at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Wright serves as the chairman of the URAC clinical guideline committee for PBMs and is a member of several journal editorial boards.

He is a member of the American Medical Association and American College of Physicians. He is also certified as a diplomate to the American Board of Internal Medicine and the National Board of Medical Examiners.