management team

 

Matthew Rabinowitz, PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Rabinowitz has pursued dual careers in industry and academia. Prior to Gene Security Network, he co-founded two technology companies: The first (panop.com) developed a system for real-time intelligent merchandizing on the web and was sold for approximately $100M; the second (rosum.com) developed an indoor location technology using broadcast digital television signals to augment GPS. That company was recognized as one of 30 Top Technology Pioneers for 2005 by the World Economic Forum. Dr. Rabinowitz has authored several papers and patents in optimization, signal processing, machine learning and bioinformatics. He has received the Scott Helt Memorial Award from IEEE and was selected by MIT Technology Review Magazine as one of the top 35 technology innovators under 35 in the US. Matthew joined the Stanford faculty in 2003, and is now a Consulting Associate Professor in Engineering. He completed his B.A., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University, receiving the Levin and Terman Awards -- the highest academic honors offered respectively in engineering and physics -- and a graduate fellowship to the school of engineering.
Jonathan Sheena, MEng
Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Sheena is company co-founder and an experienced entrepreneur with proven success in technology innovation. Before co-founding GSN, Mr. Sheena founded PocketThis which has offices in the UK and the US and sells cutting edge server technology to mobile networks worldwide. Mr. Sheena's background is in personalization technology. While a graduate student at MIT, and in partnership with the Associated Press, Reuters, Knight Ridder, ABC, and the New York Times, he built the first web based personalized newspaper called "Fishwrap". The technology was licensed by and deployed to newspapers worldwide, most notably the San Francisco Chronicle. After MIT, Mr. Sheena worked as a lead architect at Firefly, a pioneering company in online community, personalization and collaborative filtering. Firefly was purchased by Microsoft, where Mr. Sheena then worked to bring online the largest running personalization and online identity system used by tens of millions of people around the globe. He holds both M.S. and B.S. degrees from MIT as well as a number of patents in internet and mobile technology.
Daniel Potter, MD, FACOG
Laboratory Director
Dr. Potter concurrently serves as GSN's Laboratory Director and the Medical Director for the Huntington Reproductive Center, a large fertility practice in southern California. Dr. Potter's other positions include an Assistant Clinical Professorship in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University Of Southern California Keck School Of Medicine. His areas of research include cryopreservation of oocytes, embryo cryopreservation, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, gender selection and determinants of outcome in assisted reproduction. Dr. Potter co-authored the popular book What to Do When You Can't Get Pregnant (Marlow & Co. 2005) and was a 2006 recipient of the American Fertility Association's Family Building Award. Dr. Potter received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Southern California. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Southern California Women's and Children's Hospital and his fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio. Dr. Potter is double board certified in obstetrics and gynecology as well as reproductive endocrinology and infertility.
Dave Johnson, PhD
Chief Operations Officer and Senior Vice President of R&D
Dr. Johnson is an expert in computational and experimental genomics and is responsible for the design and implementation of the molecular biological, genomics, and genetics aspects of GSN's technology. Dr. Johnson comes to GSN from the Human Genome Center at Stanford University, where he worked with Dr. Richard M. Myers as the ENCODE Project Director. Dr. Johnson has recently published two papers in Science Magazine, one of which outlined the invention of a novel technology for quantifying protein:DNA interactions using next generation sequencing technology. Having transitioned full-time to the commercial sector, Dr. Johnson's ambition is to develop practical and useful commercial applications for the extraordinary knowledge and technology produced by the genomics revolution. Dr. Johnson holds dual B.S. degrees in Biological and Environmental Sciences from Duke University and a Ph.D. in Genetics from Stanford University.
Jason Nestor
Vice President of Sales
Mr. Nestor comes to GSN with over 25 years of pharmaceutical sales experience in the fertility and reproductive endocrinology marketplace and a demonstrated record of building sales organizations with a consistent pattern of sales growth. He is well known in the fertility industry with longstanding relationships with leading reproductive endocrinologists in North America. Most recently, Mr. Nestor served as Executive Director of Sales for Ferring Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for establishing Ferring’s sales presence, ultimately achieving annual revenues of over $100 million in the United States. Prior to Ferring, Mr. Nestor held various positions at the Ares-Serono Group where he established Serono's sales presence in the United States in 1982 and built the company's Canadian operations. Mr. Nestor was ultimately promoted to General Manager and President in 1989 to oversee all facets of the Canadian subsidiary.
Jennifer Keller, MS, MBA, CGC
Vice President of Marketing
Ms. Keller has fifteen years of clinical and business experience in the healthcare and biotech industries. She is a board certified genetic counselor with extensive experience in prenatal, pediatric, and adult genetics, with a particular emphasis in genetic screening program delivery. Ms. Keller began her career at the Genetics Clinic at Stanford Hospital where she coordinated the California state Expanded AFP Screening Program and provided patient care for prenatal genetic indications. After completing her M.B.A., Ms. Keller transitioned to healthcare consulting and biotechnology marketing for companies including Kaiser Permanente, Cord Blood Registry, and Genentech. She has been responsible for the design and execution of a number of physician marketing programs and has past experience in forecasting, program analysis, and market planning. Ms. Keller holds a B.S. from San Francisco State University, an M.S. in Health and Medical Sciences from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.
Barbara Pettersen, MS, CGC
Manager, Genetic Counseling Services
Ms. Pettersen is a board certified genetic counselor who has worked in the field of clinical genetics for over 24 years. She has extensive experience in prenatal, pediatric and adult genetics, including hereditary cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Prior to joining Gene Security Network, she has held genetic counseling positions at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Stanford University Medical Center, and Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center and her own private practice. Ms. Pettersen has also served as the clinical consultant for the Northern California Kaiser Regional Molecular Genetics Diagnostic Laboratory and has particular expertise in the clinical applications of genetic testing. She is actively involved in the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) and has served two terms on the board of directors, was awarded the NSGC Regional Leadership award, and has been co-author on a number of NSGC-sponsored Genetic Counseling Practice Guidelines. She is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC) and is Chair of the ABGC Certification Examination Committee. Ms. Pettersen holds a B.S. in Psychology and and M.S. in Medical Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
George Gemelos, PhD
Director of Research

Dr. Gemelos's expertise is in the areas of probabilistic modeling and statistics. Prior to GSN, Dr. Gemelos worked in the financial sector where he developed probabilistic trading strategies at Citadel Investment Group and later ran the quantitative trading and risk estimation teams at FL Group. He has broad experience in developing statistical models and algorithms for critical real-world applications. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.S. in mathematics and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. At Stanford University he was a member of the Information Theory Group where he conducted research in the areas of estimation, information theory and probability with an emphasis on large deviations.

Daniel Rabinowitz, LL.M.
General Counsel

Mr. Rabinowitz currently serves as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of GSN. Prior to joining GSN he was a corporate partner at the law firm McDermott, Will & Emery, and before that, was a corporate lawyer at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. During this time Mr. Rabinowitz worked in the United States and Europe advising domestic and foreign, as well as public and private, companies on capital raisings, M&A, investment management and compliance with US federal and state securities law. He then studied genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology at the Harvard University Extension School and attended courses on the legal and ethical aspects of biotechnology at Harvard Law School. Mr. Rabinowitz completed his B.A. and LL.B. degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, graduating at the top of his law school class, and completed his LL.M. at New York University School of Law on Rotary Foundation and Fulbright Scholarships.