Cylex CEO and President Brad L. Stewart is responsible for global commercial operations, corporate strategy and business development. An experienced senior executive, Mr. Stewart maintains a record of success in many specialty-areas of the life sciences industry including: biotech; pharmaceuticals; orphan drugs; and diagnostics.

His accomplishments include the establishment and leadership of a successful U.S. business for a European pharmaceutical company; growth and diversification of an orphan drug company; strategic restructuring of the North American business unit of a global pharmaceutical company; development and management of joint ventures, including a multi-million dollar global pharmaceutical venture; creating an operational improvement business within a major global diagnostics company; and extensive management consulting and corporate strategy assignments.

Mr. Stewart is a graduate of the University of Florida.

 

Marc Berman, director of operations, is responsible for manufacturing and materials management functions at Cylex. He also coordinates the company’s information technology program, designing and implementing effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Mr. Berman brings more than 20 years experience in biotech and diagnostic kit manufacturing, including his work at cGMP- and USDA-licensed facilities, and experience working under ISO 9001 Quality Systems. As project manager in one of these facilities, Mr. Berman organized the design of modern, efficient corporate facilities and coordinated the transfer of operations to the new location. His experience includes production of ELISA and IFA diagnostic kits, as well as protein detection reagents for researchers.

Mr. Berman has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Sharlene Blum, customer care director, brings more than 25 years of clinical laboratory experience to Cylex. She leads the Customer Care department, which handles product requests and provides technical support, education and training for laboratory customers.

Ms. Blum holds laboratory certifications in the fields of histocompatibility, immunogenetics and immunology. Her experience in the clinical reference laboratory industry includes director-level roles at Quest Diagnostics Inc., where she served as director of hospital and satellite laboratories; director of customer solutions and quality effectiveness; and director of patient services. In all capacities, Ms. Blum demonstrated her ability to implement integrated operations, sales and quality systems; cultivate client loyalty; and increase customer satisfaction.

Ms. Blum holds a dual bachelor's degree in biology and education from Oswego State University, and a master's degree in health science administration from Towson University. She is a trained Six Sigma Black Belt.

 

John Jurczak, director of accounting, is responsible for all financial reporting, as well as maintenance and enhancement of financial controls. He brings more than 30 years of progressive accounting experience to Cylex.

Working primarily in the manufacturing sector, Mr. Jurczak’s professional experience includes management roles at Service America, GE Healthcare and Surface Technology. As a team leader, he oversaw significant reductions in product cost and inventory levels, while maintaining quality and availability. 

Mr. Jurczak holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from West Virginia University.

Dr. Richard Kowalski, an experienced senior executive, is director of medical and clinical affairs at Cylex. He is responsible for the use of Cylex platform technology with immunosuppressed populations, as well as design and implementation of multi-center studies required to generate data for ImmuKnow in all of its various applications. These studies support market expansion into new areas including allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, Hepatitis C, HIV and cancer.

As senior manager of preclinical development for Osiris Therapeutics, Dr. Kowalski assisted in the development of cell-based therapeutics for gene therapy and tissue regeneration using Mesenchymal stem cells. He spent several years as a research and development scientist at Cambridge Biotech, a subsidiary of BioMerieux-Vitek.

Dr. Kowalski earned a bachelor ’s degree in biochemistry/molecular biology from the University of Maryland, and a doctorate in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of Florida and the National Cancer Institute.

 

Dr. Jianrong Lou, director of research and product development, brings to Cylex more than 15 years experience in biomarker research and the in vitro diagnostic industry. With three awarded U.S. patents and several patents pending, Dr. Lou is a sought-after guest speaker for international conferences and seminars.

Serving in various technical leadership and management positions, Dr. Lou focused on development of molecular diagnostics products and contributed to the launch of several FDA-approved in vitro diagnostic assays and instrument platforms. His accomplishments include the establishment of an independent biomarker research program for cancer prevention and companion diagnostics using genomics and proteomics technologies. 

Dr. Lou received his doctorate from the University of Kentucky and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology and oncology from Johns Hopkins University.

 

Dena Meagher, director of human resources, is responsible for the oversight and management of Human Resource policies, programs and practices for Cylex. This includes critical business functions such as recruitment and talent management, organization development, employee development and training. She also develops and maintains the Company benefit, compensation, recognition and reward programs and leads our community outreach initiatives. She assists the management team in sustaining a Company culture that emphasizes quality, continuous improvement, and high performance.

Ms. Meagher brings more than 15 years experience, primarily from the Life Sciences and Healthcare Industries, as a strategic business partner aligning business objectives with human talent to create positive and productive work environments.

Ms. Meagher has a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts and has been certified as a Human Resources professional since early 2000.