CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Thrive Earlier Detection Corp., a company dedicated to incorporating earlier cancer detection into routine medical care, today announced it has strengthened its leadership team with key appointments. Sam Asgarian, M.D., has been appointed to chief medical officer and Frank Diehl, Ph.D., as executive vice president of product solutions. Dina Ciarimboli, former general counsel at Third Rock Ventures, has joined Thrive full time as chief legal officer following her interim role as general counsel since the company’s launch.
Thrive is leading a new era in earlier detection of multiple types of cancer to empower longer, healthier lives. In April, the company published the results from its DETECT-A study, the first and only prospective, interventional study of a blood test used to detect multiple cancers in an asymptomatic population. DETECT-A advances the entire field of blood-based multi-cancer screening, as it doubled the number of cancers found by screening methods in a real world setting, the majority of which were earlier stage disease. Most recently, Thrive announced a $257 million Series B financing which, among other strategic initiatives, will enable the company to develop additional real-world evidence and seek approval of its blood test, CancerSEEK, through a registrational trial. The appointments of these key executives strengthen Thrive’s leadership team, bringing product development, medical and legal expertise to advance the company’s bold mission.
“Since our founding in 2019, Thrive has made significant progress on our mission to save lives by making earlier detection of cancer a routine part of medical care. We published the first-ever prospective study of a multi-cancer blood test in the journal Science, completed our second financing, and now we have further strengthened our leadership team to advance our mission,” said David J. Daly, chief executive officer of Thrive. “As our first chief medical officer, Sam brings deep experience from Aetna and CVS Health, where he introduced new innovations into the healthcare system. Frank is a foundational pioneer in blood-based cancer detection and a proven R&D business leader. Dina has been integral since the launch of Thrive, and her strategic counsel will continue to be instrumental to our success.”
Each of these executive leaders bring significant experience to Thrive:
- Dr. Sam Asgarian, chief medical officer, will lead medical strategy, including the integration of CancerSEEK into routine medical care. Prior to Thrive, Dr. Asgarian was vice president of CVS Health’s Transformation Health Product organization, where he was responsible for the modernization of clinical products and implementation of new solutions to improve consumer convenience and personalize health and wellness. Dr. Asgarian joined CVS as part of the Aetna acquisition, where he served as the chief medical officer of the clinical services organization, overseeing medical management and clinical policy operations across Aetna’s commercial and Medicare businesses. Dr. Asgarian holds a B.A. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. in medical sciences from Loyola University Chicago, an M.D. from Tulane University and an MBA from Cornell University.
- Dr. Frank Diehl, executive vice president of product solutions, is a globally recognized leader in cancer biology and detection who has pioneered the use of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to detect and track the progression of cancer. He will lead product development and innovation at Thrive. In 2008, he co-founded one of the world’s first liquid biopsy companies, Inostics, where he served as chief scientific officer through its acquisition by Sysmex and ultimately became CEO of Sysmex Inostics. Dr. Diehl completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University and worked in the laboratory of Thrive co-founders Drs. Bert Vogelstein and Kenneth Kinzler, where he developed the first quantitative DNA blood test for colorectal cancer screening. Dr. Diehl holds a Ph.D. in molecular pathology from Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg, Germany.
- Ms. Dina Ciarimboli, chief legal officer, will continue to advise on corporate and legal initiatives, company strategy and implementation. Prior to joining Thrive full time, Ms. Ciarimboli was general counsel at Third Rock Ventures, where she was responsible for advising the firm on all legal matters related to fund and firm management and provided legal support to its company creation platform. Prior to joining Third Rock, Ms. Ciarimboli served as general counsel to several venture capital firms focused on early stage investing in various industries including biotech, diagnostics, medical devices and healthcare services. Earlier, she served as an associate at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP and as a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ms. Ciarimboli holds a B.A. in accounting and philosophy from Boston College and completed a J.D. at Boston College School of Law.
About Thrive Earlier Detection Corp.
Thrive Earlier Detection Corp. is a healthcare company focused on incorporating earlier cancer detection into routine medical care to extend and save lives. Thrive is developing CancerSEEK, a liquid biopsy test that is designed to detect many cancers at earlier stages of disease. CancerSEEK will serve as the core of Thrive’s integrated cancer information offering. For more information, please visit www.thrivedetect.com.
