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AdvaMeDx Adds two Executives to its Leadership Team

Appointments occur as organization experiences robust membership growth.

By: Michael Barbella

Managing Editor

AdvaMeDx, a division of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) that focuses solely on in-vitro diagnostic technologies, has rounded out its top management team with two key appointments.

Becton Dickinson and Company President and CEO Vince Forlenza has been named chairman of AdvaMeDx and Andrew Fish has been appointed executive director. In addition, Fish was named senior executive vice president of AdvaMed.

Forlenza promised to work with AdvaMeDx members to promote innovation of in-vitro technologies that help improve patient care.

“I am honored to represent the in-vitro diagnostics industry as chairman of AdvaMeDx,” Forlenza said in a news release. “As chairman I will work with our membership to seek payment and regulatory policy changes that promote continued innovation of advanced diagnostic technologies that help physicians detect disease earlier, reduce healthcare costs, facilitate evidence-based and personalized medicine and, most importantly, improve overall patient care.”

A longtime member of AdvaMed, Forlenza had chaired the agency’s diagnostics sector before AdvaMeDx was formed last December. At Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based Becton Dickinson, Forlenza has led the Biosciences segment—which focuses on flow cytometry—and the Diagnostics division. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“Vince Forlenza’s commitment to improving patient care is evident through his leadership and advocacy efforts on behalf of the in-vitro diagnostics industry,” AdvaMed President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl said in a prepared statement. “Over the past several months he has provided valuable insight as we’ve worked through the strategic planning process for AdvaMeDx.”

As AdvaMeDx chairman, Forlenza will lead industry efforts to provide timely patient access to safe and effective tests by establishing a modernized risk-based approach to in-vitro diagnostics regulation, according to an AdvaMed news release. He also will concentrate on reforming Medicare’s payment system for clinical laboratory diagnostic tests (which AdvaMed considers antiquated) to fully recognize the value of new tests, particularly the new generation of molecular diagnostic exams.

The appointments of both Forlenza and Fish were made at the AdvaMed 2010 annual meeting and conference in Washington, D.C. “We are delighted to have a senior executive with Andy’s background in both the government and the private sector to lead AdvaMeDx,” Ubl said.

Before joining AdvaMeDx, Fish was senior vice president, legal and governmental affairs, general counsel and secretary at the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) in Washington, D.C., where he advised the agency’s board of directors and member companies on legal, regulatory, legislative and policy matters. He also built consensus on key issues and directed advocacy campaigns. Prior to his stint at CHPA, Fish was the senior director of federal government relations at the American Cancer Society and worked for several years in private practice, focusing on biotechnology, food and drug cases.

Earlier in his career, Fish was assistant secretary, Congressional Relations and Intergovernmental Affairs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also served as deputy chief counsel for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee. Fish earned his undergraduate degree at Yale University in New Haven,Conn., and his law degree from Stanford Law School inStanford, Calif.


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