Management Team
Marilyn Owens, Ph.D., M.B.A, COO
The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute recruited nationally known lab diagnostics professional Marilyn Owens, Ph.D., M.B.A, to serve as chief operating officer of the OHSU Knight Diagnostic Laboratories, which will offer tests that create a detailed genetic map of a patient’s tumor. Owens has extensive experience in starting and managing successful diagnostic laboratories, leading clinical laboratories and clinical trial testing. Much of her career has focused on cancer diagnostics. She was senior vice president of operations for Caris Life Science and has held senior positions at IMPATH Inc., Genzyme Genetics and the Nichols Institute. She has consulted for many public and private testing laboratories. She earned a Ph.D. in medical microbiology and immunology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her M.B.A. in management and strategy from Pepperdine University.
“The field of personalized medicine is becoming heavily genetic and therefore the most successful testing operations will have a strong base in genetics,” Owens said. “The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute is positioned perfectly not only to compete in that space, but to add new testing rapidly and cost-effectively to benefit patients and physicians in the Pacific Northwest and across the United States.”
Ken Sheckler, Director of Sales and Marketing
Ken Sheckler joined Knight Diagnostic Laboratories in September, 2011 as Director of Sales and Marketing. In this role, he is responsible for all commercial sales activities, market development, branding and messaging for the laboratory. In addition, Mr. Sheckler is also responsible for developing strategic business alliances and collaborations with industry leading partners.
Ken brings to his current position more than 13 years of management, sales and marketing experience in the health care and biotechnology industries. Before joining Knight Diagnostic Laboratories, Mr. Sheckler developed and led several national sales teams in the diagnostic and pharmaceutical marketplaces for Caris Life Sciences, Abraxis Oncology and Johnson&Johnson. Ken holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Colorado.
Forrest T. Graham, IT Manager
Mr. Graham joined the Knight Diagnostic Laboratories in Feb 2011 with more than twenty-five years of management with eighteen years of broad based information technology (IT) leadership experience. Prior to joining Knight Diagnostic Laboratories, Mr. Graham guided IT departments in various progressive and industry-leading global companies in both public and private sector.
In 1994 Mr. Graham changed his efforts towards technology with a keen focus on quality assurance for software validation. Then in the late nineties become the global director of quality assurance and customer support for JDA Software Group. Also, co-founded Smart Product Imaging in 1999 to support clients such as Meon, Pfizer, MasterLock, Lehigh, and etc. for space planning and web images.
In 2006 started working with ESS to provide a series of modules which can be adopted independently or combined to provide a seamless workflow for geographically remote users are able to review and draft documents collaboratively in real-time and to transmit these around the world instantaneously. Supporting the petroleum industry and it related partners in the oil trading for such clients as British Petroleum (BP), Shell, Exxon, and etc. The Exchange is secured with leading commercial cryptographic protection and authentication.
Mr. Graham in 2008 turned his talent to the healthcare industry in efforts to leverage his vast talents for software development life cycle, to performance optimization, procedure/process enhancements, and etc to provided organizational effectiveness and process excellence strategies to support the execution of key strategic initiatives with multiple and diverse internal stakeholders and solutions to appropriately address critical business issues and supported the full realization of the Informatics Improvement Strategic Plans.
Jeff Fossatti, Finance Manager
Jeff Fossatti joined the Knight Diagnostic Laboratories as Finance Manager in March 2011. Prior to joining the laboratory, he worked as a Senior Financial Analyst, supporting OHSU's Information Technology Group. His career has spanned more than 15 years, working in a variety of problem-solving roles. His background includes cost accounting, financial modeling, inventory management, variance analysis and manufacturing finance. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Santa Clara University. He has thoroughly enjoyed his transition into the health care industry after several years working in high tech. A native of the Portland area, Jeff and his wife are the proud parents of three children.
Alisa Ottman, Assurance Coordinator and Safety Officer
Ms. Ottman joined the Knight Diagnostic Laboratories in June 2011 with over ten years of developing and implementing and managing Quality programs in the life sciences industry, including GXP and ISO. By working for a wide breadth of employers in the industry, including biotech at Amgen, testing standards at United States Pharmacopeia, and genomics at Gene Logic, Ms. Ottman has a broad grasp of best practices and customer needs. She has a Bachelor's of Science in biology from the University of California at Davis. She has a Master's of Science in management from George Mason University. Ms. Ottman's core skills are in standardizing processes, building teams with focus and a common-sense approach to compliance. She uses her core skills at Knight Diagnostic Laboratories to build scalable, compliant processes.
