LA JOLLA, Calif.–CHI-California Healthcare Institute announced today that Paul Hastings, president and chief executive officer of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, and Ken Berger, president of the Specialty Diagnostics business for Thermo Fisher Scientific, have been elected to its board of directors. CHI is a non-profit public policy research organization, representing leading California academic institutions, biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics and pharmaceutical firms.

“We are pleased to welcome Paul and Ken to our board. Their extensive experience as executives in the biomedical industry in California fit well with our mission to represent the interests of our members in Sacramento and Washington”

“We are pleased to welcome Paul and Ken to our board. Their extensive experience as executives in the biomedical industry in California fit well with our mission to represent the interests of our members in Sacramento and Washington,” said David Gollaher, Ph.D., president and CEO of CHI. “With such pressing issues as healthcare reform, FDA regulation and tax policy, on both the federal and state levels, the guidance of our board developing and pursuing our policy agendas is critical.”

Hastings, who has more than 20 years of experience as a biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry executive, is president and CEO of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining OncoMed, he was president and CEO of QLT Inc. Before that, Hastings served as president and CEO of Axys Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Celera Corporation in 2001. From 1999 to 2001, Hastings served as the president of Chiron Biopharmaceuticals, a division of Chiron Corporation. Prior to that, he was president and CEO of LXR Biotechnology. Hastings also held a series of management positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Corporation, Synergen, Inc., and Hoffmann-La Roche. Hastings was recently chairman of the board of Proteolix (sold to Onyx Pharmaceuticals in 2009), and served on the boards of ViaCell (sold to PerkinElmer in 2008), and Cerimon Pharmaceuticals. He is currently chairman of the board of the Bay Area Biosciences Association (BayBio) and is the incoming vice chair of the Emerging Companies Section of the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO). He received a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island.

Berger has been with Thermo Fisher Scientific, the $10 billion world leader in serving science, for the past nine years. He was recently named president of the company’s Specialty Diagnotics business, which offers clinical diagnostics, anatomical pathology, microbiology and genetic testing products and services used by healthcare laboratories in hospitals, and academic and research institutes. Berger also continues in his previous role as president of the company’s Biosciences business until a successor is named. In that role, he has responsibility for Thermo Fisher’s life science research, bioprocessing, and global chemicals business units. Prior to this position, he was president of the company’s Process Instruments business. In 2004, Berger was appointed the company’s first president of its operations in China and was based in Shanghai. Berger joined Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2001 as president of Real Time Analytics, and later as president of its Materials and Minerals business. Before joining Thermo Fisher Scientific, he worked in a series of sales, operating and general management leadership positions for GE, Dow Chemical and Allied Signal (now Honeywell). Berger has a degree in macromolecular science from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

About CHI

CHI represents more than 275 leading biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical companies, and public and private academic biomedical research organizations. CHI’s mission is to advance responsible public policies that foster medical innovation and promote scientific discovery. CHI’s Web site is www.chi.org. Follow us on Twitter @calhealthcare and Facebook.