Gen-Probe Incorporated (Gen-Probe) has appointed Eric Lai as senior vice president (SVP), research and development of the company. Most recently, Lai served as vice president, pharmacogenetics experimental project coordination and analysis, at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). He was earlier GSK's vice president for discovery and pipeline genetics. Prior to joining GSK in 1995, he was an assistant professor in the department of pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“We are very pleased to add Eric’s scientific expertise and leadership to our already strong senior management team,” said Carl Hull, Gen-Probe’s president and chief operating officer. “We believe Eric will play an integral role in helping our R&D team drive short-, medium- and long-term product sales growth for the Company.”
Lai earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology and microbiology from Columbia University, M. Phil. and M.A. degrees from the department of pharmacology at Columbia, and a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.