Leadership

John W. Hanna is CareDx’s President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). John brings to CareDx over two decades of executive leadership at the intersection of new technology development and revenue growth in the molecular diagnostics and life sciences tools industries. John previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Apton Biosystems, Inc., where he led the development of a high throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform for liquid biopsy and other clinical applications. Apton Biosystems, Inc. was acquired by Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. in August 2023, where served as Vice President of Corporate Development.

John previously spent ten years at Veracyte, Inc., from September 2011 to March 2021, an oncology diagnostics company in the fields of thyroid, lung, breast, and prostate cancer, where he held numerous roles including Chief Commercial Officer and Vice President of Marketing. Prior to Veracyte, John held leadership roles at Humana and IBM. John received a BS in Political Science from Hampden Sydney College in 2001 and an MBA from the University of Miami in 2008.

Stacey Follon is Senior Vice President, Head of Human Resources. A member of the Executive Leadership Team, Stacey is responsible for leading the human capital strategy for more than 700 employees worldwide. She joined CareDx in February 2022 based in Omaha, Nebraska as a Vice President, HR Business Partner for Digital business, G&A (including Finance, Legal and HR) and Business Development. Her passion and impact were immediately clear as she spearheaded employee engagement efforts, building capabilities for employees and managers, and strategic talent planning.

Stacey brings highly valued experience from Intrado (a Multinational Telecomms Technology Company) where she led Human Resources Mergers and Acquisitions activities since 2019. Prior to this role, Stacey worked at S&P Global Platts and Bloomberg LP in a variety of progressive HR executive leadership roles that included living and working Internationally in the UK, Asia, New York and Omaha. Stacey graduated from Florida State University with a BA in English Literature.

Marica Grskovic is CareDx’s Chief Strategy Officer. Marica has spent the past two decades building and leading high-performing technology and product development teams. At CareDx, Marica has held roles of increasing leadership and management responsibilities and is currently accountable for strategy and operational oversight of the Cell Transplant Therapy business unit and Pharma Partnerships. Earlier in her career, Marica spearheaded the development of AlloSure^®, the first analytically and clinically validated cell-free DNA test developed specifically for transplant patients. Prior to CareDx, Marica was a founding scientist at the stem cell-based drug discovery platform technology company iPierian (acquired by BMS), and its spin out, True North Therapeutics (acquired by Bioverativ).

Marica completed her post-doctoral fellowship on gene regulation in stem cells at University of California San Francisco and holds a PhD in molecular biology and biochemistry from European Molecular Biology Laboratory and University of Heidelberg, Germany.

Abhishek Jain is CareDx’s Chief Financial Officer. Abhishek joined CareDx as Vice President, Corporate Controller in August 2021. Prior to joining the Company, he spent the last 20 years at Agilent Technologies, Inc., a global leader in the life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets, in a series of finance and customer-facing roles of progressing responsibility. In his last role at Agilent as an Associate Vice President II, Controller-Sales and Marketing, he drove above market growth for a $5B business. He has extensive knowledge in driving channel strategy, expanding margins, scaling operations, and leading global teams. Mr. Jain is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Keith Kennedy is CareDx’s Chief Operating Officer. Keith brings to CareDx over 20 years of experience and executive leadership in healthcare including global diagnostics, biopharma services, and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO).

Keith most recently served as Chief Financial Officer at PharmaLogic Holdings Corp. At Veracyte, Keith served as Chief Operations Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary. Kennedy also held key executive positions at MCG Capital Corporation and GE Capital, as well as an Executive in Residence at Arlington Capital Partners. He served as an Officer in the U.S. Air Force. Keith received a BS in Accounting with high distinction from Indiana University and an MBA from the College of William & Mary. Keith is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Public Accountant.

Jessica Meng is CareDx’s Chief Commercial Officer. Jessica brings to CareDx over 20 years of commercial experience including deep expertise in building successful commercial strategies for both established companies and entrepreneurial ventures in the pharmaceutical and molecular diagnostics industries.

Jessica previously served as Chief Commercial Officer at DELFI Diagnostics, and General Manager of Women's Health at Myovant Sciences. She previously held sales and marketing leadership roles at Veracyte and Genentech. Jessica received a BS in Finance and BA in International Relations with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA, Marketing, Strategic Management from The Wharton School.

Jeff joined CareDx in 2021. Before joining CareDx, Jeff served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Investor Protection Bureau of the New York Attorney General’s Office. Prior to that, Jeff practiced at two international law firms and clerked for The Honorable Renée Marie Bumb, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Jeff is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Washington University in St. Louis – Olin Business School.

Kashif Rathore has over 22 years of executive management experience in the healthcare and information technology industry. Before joining CareDx, Kashif was Vice President, Interoperability at Cerner Corporation, a global provider of electronic health records and population health solutions. He headed the expansion of the unit with worldwide growth in its interoperability business. Having served on the Board of Directors for CommonWell Health Alliance and Superscripts Advisory Council, he brings industry perspective that enables him to engage leaders across the industry to build alignment. Kashif holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Central Oklahoma, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from the University of Punjab. Kashif earned an Executive MBA from University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Dr. Robert Woodward is CareDx’s Chief Scientific Officer. Robert has led research and development projects in transplant diagnostics and gene expression discovery for over 20 years. Most recently at CareDx he was responsible for the bioinformatics, biostatistics, and laboratory teams that developed and validated AlloSure^®, an application of cell-free DNA to solid organ transplantation. Earlier in his career, he initiated biomarker discovery efforts with BioCardia and XDx and subsequently led the laboratory development of AlloMap, a gene expression test that has become an integral component of precise patient care in heart transplantation. During a post-doctoral fellowship at the Gladstone Institutes and University of California San Francisco, Dr. Woodward developed unique methods for analysis of gene regulation in vivo to study atherosclerosis. Following a bachelor’s degree in biology from Missouri State University, Dr. Woodward earned his PhD in physiology at the University of Missouri-Columbia where he described the effects of a new transcription factor in the coordinate regulation of gene expression in response to steroids.