CENTOGENE, the worldwide leader in elucidating rare disease genetics for patients, clinicians and pharmaceutical partners, today announced the appointment of Dr. Dirk Ehlers as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President of the Diagnostics Division. With nearly three decades of management experience, Dr. Ehlers joins the leadership team at an integral point in the company’s continued worldwide growth and expansion.
Dr. Ehlers will have overall responsibility for the company´s global and domestic operations, including processes and workflows for the entire genetic diagnostics business of the company. In addition, he will lead the company’s sales and marketing, legal and general administrative functions.
“Dirk’s industry experience and expertise will be invaluable in helping drive continued growth for CENTOGENE, working with us to meet our goals of improving the lives of patients suffering from rare diseases. We are delighted to have him on the team and I look forward to working with him on our continued global growth and success" said Dr. Arndt Rolfs, CEO and founder of CENTOGENE.
Dr. Ehlers joins CENTOGENE from Hill-Rom Holdings Inc., where he held the position of Senior Vice President and President of the Surgical Solutions' Division and served as a member of the Group Executive Team. He also previously worked at life science research and tools company Eppendorf AG, serving as CEO for 4 years. For more than a decade, Dr. Ehlers acted as the COO or President / Business Area Head in medical device and diagnostics companies such as Roche, Fresenius Kabi and Olympus Optical. Dr. Ehlers also acted as CFO and Business Unit Head for the public contract research and biotech company Evotec AG. Ehlers holds a M.Sc. in Physics from University RWTH Aachen, and received his PhD in Physics with distinction, summa cum laude, from University RWTH Aachen.
“I am excited to join CENTOGENE, one of the world´s leading companies in rare diseases. The company´s stable growth pattern is due to its unique business approach, at the intersection of genetic testing and clinical bioinformatics. I look forward to help building a best-in-class organization focused on early diagnosis of patients suffering from rare diseases and help the pharma industry find life-changing treatments for these patients,” said Dr. Dirk Ehlers.
About CENTOGENE
CENTOGENE unlocks the power of genetic insights to improve the quality of life of patients with genetic diseases. We achieve this through knowledge created by our worldwide diagnostic testing services incorporating global diversity, the world’s leading proprietary human genetic interpretation database, CentoMD® and solutions for pharmaceutical companies developing life-changing orphan drugs.
As one of the most diversified and largest genetic testing companies worldwide, CENTOGENE is dedicated to transforming the science of genetic information into solutions and hope for patients and their families.
