J. Michael Edwards Named CFO at bioAffinity Technologies

bioAffinity Technologies Inc. has officially made J. Michael Edwards a permanent part of its executive team.

After a brief stint as interim chief financial officer (CFO) and a nine-year gig as consulting CFO (2014-2023), the company has named Edwards its permanent finance chief.

Edwards will report directly to bioAffinity Technologies President/CEO Maria Zannes. “We are delighted to welcome Michael back to our executive leadership team. He was key to our successful IPO and instrumental in setting up the financial infrastructure and internal controls of our public company,” Zannes said. “His experience and deep familiarity with bioAffinity make him the ideal CFO to oversee the long-term financial and strategic direction of the Company, including the ongoing commercialization of CyPath Lung.”

Edwards has more than three decades of experience in financial management and business strategy. During his tenure as a consulting CFO to bioAffinity Technologies, he orchestrated the firm’s initial public offering in 2022. Previously, he was CFO of CytoBioscience Inc., which develops and manufactures instruments for disease analysis and treatment, and OncoVista Innovative Therapies Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted anticancer therapies by using tumor-associated biomarkers. Earlier in his career, Edwards held finance positions at BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Ilex Oncology Inc. He is a certified public accountant who began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Edwards earned his MBA from The University of Texas McCombs School of Business in Austin.

“I am very pleased to rejoin bioAffinity as we bring CyPath Lung to market,” Edwards stated. “I look forward to leveraging my experience to provide responsible stewardship and operational excellence, with a commitment to ethics and safety. As the company enters this pivotal commercialization stage, I look forward to collaborating with the team to drive long-term growth, build shareholder value, and ultimately benefit patients at risk for lung cancer.”

CyPath Lung uses proprietary advanced flow cytometry and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify cell populations in patient sputum that indicate malignancy. Automated data analysis helps determine whether cancer is present. CyPath Lung incorporates a fluorescent porphyrin that is preferentially taken up by cancer and cancer-related cells. Clinical study results demonstrated that CyPath Lung had 92% sensitivity, 87% specificity, and 88% accuracy in detecting lung cancer in patients at high risk for the disease who had small lung nodules less than 20 millimeters. Diagnosing and treating early-stage lung cancer can improve outcomes and increase patient survival.

bioAffinity Technologies Inc. addresses the need for noninvasive diagnosis of early-stage cancer and other lung diseases and broad-spectrum cancer treatments. The company’s first product, CyPath Lung, is a noninvasive test that has shown high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for detecting early-stage lung cancer. CyPath Lung is marketed as a Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) by Precision Pathology Laboratory Services, a subsidiary of bioAffinity Technologies.