SUMMARY:  Proven, versatile executive with multidiscipline-based experience in establishing and leading organizations in a variety of biomedical markets.
 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

APPLIED IMAGING CORPORATION, (acquired) Santa Clara, CA  1994-1996

Vice President and General Manager

Responsible for founding a new corporate division to develop and commercialize a
revolutionary prenatal genetic blood test.   By 1996, this division employed ~20 people with
an annual budget of approximately $7 million.

•   Recruited a multidisciplinary team (R & D, Marketing, QA/RA, Engineering and Process Development).
•   Developed the product to pre-clinical stage.
•   Qualified a GMP-approved OEM manufacturer for the consumable.
•   Gained FDA agreement-in-principle for regulatory strategy.
•   Contracted four international pre-clinical evaluation sites.
•   Played a key role in successfully securing a $4.7 M round of financing.

ABAXIS, INC., Sunnyvale CA      1992-1994

Vice President, Development

Responsible for directing the development of a portable, point-of-care, clinical analyzer.
Managed a staff of more than 40 (7 Ph.D.) with an annual budget in excess of $6.5 M.

•   Established a unified product description and compatible objectives.
•   Reorganized staff into an effective cross-functional team.
•   Achieved product development objectives on schedule.
•   Facilitated a successful 510(k) submission.

TECHNICON DIVISION (Miles, Inc.) [Now Siemens, USA], Tarrytown, NY  1989-1992

Director of Planning        1991-1992
 

•   Evaluated alternatives and advocated strategies for immunochemistry development programs.
•   Initiated and managed a cost reduction program for a major clinical analyzer system ultmately resulting in ~20%increase in gross   margin.

•   Managed OEM vendor relations for immunochemistry reagents.
•   Eliminated ~70 non-profitable reagent products from catalog.
•   Introduced more than 20 new products including forecasting, pricing, advertising and sales promotion and training.

Product Manager, Ambulatory Diagnostics     1985-1988

Responsible for the leadership of a cross-functional "product team" in the successful product
development, introduction and support of the Analyst® benchtop chemistry system which
generated $18M revenues in its second full year of commercial sales.

•   Developed detailed product description document and gained approval.
•   Coordinated all aspects of product development and introduction.
•   Established unique systems for cost-effective installation, service and  customer support.
•   Initiated programs which reduced installation failures from 5% to <2%, and cost reduction of ~30% resulting in a total  savings of >$350K annually.

•   Introduced new products with subsequent annual revenues of >$10M.
•   Managed Technical Service Department responsible for customer support and clinical evaluations.

•   Directed a group of 19 (3 Ph.D.) providing technical support to production of products which generated > $100M annual revenues.
•   Led a select group of chemists and engineers who identified and successfully implemented solutions to the site's most costly production problems.

•   Coordinated commercialization of 8 new consumable products resulting in  incremental annual sales of more than $20M.

       •   Conducted successful clinical evaluations of 5 new diagnostic products.
       •   Provided third-tier customer technical support.
       •   Established market-relevant manufacturing specifications.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

ORLANDO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Orlando, FL  1972-1978

Director of Clinical Chemistry
 

•   Provided technical and administrative leadership for chemistry sections of the clinical laboratory generating > 5% of the total hospital revenue.
•   Served as Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida.

Chief Biochemist, Research and Development
 

•   Directed drugs of abuse testing laboratory.
•   Testified as expert witness in drug related court cases.

•   Assistant Chief Chemistry Branch, 9th and 4th US Army Med. Labs
•   Rank of Captain, security clearance SECRET, awarded Bronze Star Medal

EDUCATION

  Doctor of Philosophy,  University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (1969)
  Master of Science,  University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (1967)
  Bachelor of Science,  Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA (1963)

PROFESSIONAL

  American Board of Clinical Chemistry (Emeritus)
  State of Florida Clinical Laboratory Director's License (expired)
  American Association of Clinical Chemistry

PRESENTATIONS:

Risacher, R.L., The Statistics Behind the Headlines:  Do They Mean What They
Say?, Asilomar Mathematics Conference, California Mathematics Council, Monterey,
CA December 1996

P. O'Kelly, A.M. Saunders, S.B. Goldbard, I. Ravkin, J. Ginestet, and R.L. Risacher,
Instrumentation for the Genetic Evaluation of Fetal Cells From Maternal Blood.,
American Society of Human Genetics, Minneapolis, MN, October 1995. (Am. J. Hum.
Gen. suppl., 57:4, A286).

A.M. Saunders, S.B. Goldbard, P.J. Baldwin, M.A. Zarowitz, and R.L. Risacher,
Enrichmant of Fetal Cells From Maternal Blood for Genetic Analysis., American
Society of Human Genetics, Minneapolis, MN, October 1995. (Am. J. Hum. Gen.
suppl., 57:4, A287).

Risacher, R.L., Prenatal Diagnosis Based on Genetic Analysis of Fetal Erythrocytes
Found in the Maternal Circulation,  California Society for Medical Technology Joint
CSCLS/CAMLT Meeting, San Jose, CA , February 1995.

Landau, J. and Risacher, R.L.,  Automation of Immunodiagnostic Testing by the
Technicon IMMUNO 1TM System.  Presented at ATB '90, 6th European Edition of the
Oak Ridge Conference on Advanced Technology for the Clinical Laboratory and
Biotechnology, Milan, Italy, November 1990.  (Biochimica Clinica, suppl. 2;14, 14
1990)

E. Eugene Baillie, M.D., James D. Storey, M.D., Mary L. Sass, MT(ASCP), Harold
Grady, Ph.D., Sylvan Sax, Ph.D., John Moore, M.S., and Robert L. Risacher,
Ph.D., Clinical Evaluation of an Automated Column Procedure for the Assay of CK-
MB.  Annual Fall Meeting of The American Society of Clinical Pathologists, Las Vegas,
Nevada, Oct 25-Nov 2, 1979. (Am. J. Clin Path. 73:2,298 (1980))

Risacher, R.L., Clinical Toxicology in Support of the Hospital Emergency
Department, Annual Meeting of Division 3 of the American Society of Medical
Technology, Orlando, Florida, 1976.
 

PUBLICATIONS:

Risacher, R.L.,  Modification to the aca® - A Manufacturer's Comment That Can Be
Generalized, Clinical Chemistry, 26:13, 1926 (1981). (Letter to Editor)

Kaplan, M., Register, D., Bierman, A., and Risacher, R.L.,  A non-fatal case of
intentional scopolamine poisoning. Clinical Toxicology, 6:4 (1974).

Risacher, R.L., Investigations of the Oxidative Catabolism of Estrogens, Doctoral
Dissertation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (1969).

Risacher, R.L., and Gawienowski, A.M., Detection of some 2-hydroxy and 2-methoxy
estrogens and other phenolic compounds by a modified Folin-Ciocalteu test.  The
Analyst 91, 816 (1966).

Flanner, L.T., and Risacher, R.L., Vapor Pressures of solvent and propellant
mixtures. Soap and Chemical Specialties, 40, 108 (1964).
 

LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS:

Diplomate, American Board of Clinical Chemistry - Certificate # 365
Clinical Laboratory Director, State of Florida - License # JC0002141

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:

American Association for Clinical Chemistry
California Mathematics Council
Society of Archimedes