About Ravgen
About Ravgen
During his residency at Mass General (Harvard University School of Medicine), Dr. Dhallan and his wife suffered two miscarriages. After discovering a lack of information and prenatal testing options available, Dr. Dhallan made it his mission to invent an improved prenatal diagnostic exam – one that did not have a risk of miscarriage or lacked in accuracy. In September of 2000, Dr. Dhallan left his position at Holy Cross Hospital and founded Ravgen (Rapid Analysis of Variations in the GENome), with the primary goal of developing non-hybridization-based DNA sequencing methods to allow rapid and simultaneous detection of hundreds of informative coding sequences.
Ravgen’s mission is to provide state of the art genetic testing that will enrich the lives of its patients. Through noninvasive prenatal diagnostic tests, Ravgen gives patients the knowledge they need to prepare for their pregnancies and treat diseases at an early stage.
After several years of research Ravgen published its first paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2004. The paper described how the company was able to increase the percentage of fetal DNA present in a tube of blood from the mother by adding the preservative, formaldehyde. In 2007, a second journal article was published in The Lancet which presented a study showcasing its ability to use this technology to detect Down’s syndrome from blood. These publications received worldwide press coverage, from CNN to The London Times and Washington Post.
Ravinder Dhallan, M.D./Ph.D., M.B.A.
Chairman and C.E.O.
Prior to founding Ravgen, Dr. Dhallan was a residency-trained, board-certified emergency room physician. Dr. Dhallan earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and his M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to publishing numerous articles on in widely-recognized and internationally accepted peer-reviewed journals, Dr. Dhallan has extensive training in biomedical engineering, clinical research, and medicine. Dr. Dhallan has not only provided leadership for Ravgen’s business strategy but is also the inventor of Ravgen’s proprietary technology.
Advisory Board
Hamilton O. Smith, M.D.
Dr. Smith received his A.B. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1952 and his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1956. He served as a LTMC in the U.S. Navy from 1957-1959 and completed a medical residency at Ford hospital in Detroit from 1959-1962. He joined the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University in 1967 as an Assistant Professor of Microbiology, where he studied restriction and modification enzymes, genetic recombination, and bacterial transformation. In 1978, Dr. Smith received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on restriction endonucleases and their application to molecular genetics. In 1995, Dr. Smith and a team from The Institute for Genomics Research sequenced the first organism, Haemophilus influenzae, which was the same organism from which he purified the first restriction enzyme. From 1998 to 2002, he was Director of DNA Resources at Celera Genomics and participated in the sequencing of the human genome. Since 2002, he has led the synthetic biology and biological energy groups at the Venter Institute.Marian D. Damewood, M.D.
Dr. Damewood attended Wellesley College and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s accelerated B.A./M.D. Program, receiving her M.D. degree in 1978. She served as the first Director of The Johns Hopkins In-Vitro Fertilization Program from 1984-1992. From 1996-2000 she was Director of the Midlife Center and Medical Director of the Women’s Resource Center. Dr. Damewood currently serves as Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at York Hospital, and Director of Women and Children’s Services for the WellSpan Health System. She is an Associate Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and is a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine.Gregory A. Devou, B.S.
Mr. Devou earned a B.S. in Marine Engineering from Maine Maritime Academy and completed the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) program from the International Foundation for Employee Benefits Plans at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. In February of 1995, Mr. Devou joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland where he is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Previously, he was Regional Director of Marketing and New Business Development for The Alexander & Alexander Consulting Group’s Southeast Division. He is a member of the University of Maryland Medical System’s Shock Trauma Board of Visitors, and serves on the Board of Directors for Consortium Health Plans.King-Wai Yau, Ph.D.
Dr. King-Wai Yau received an A.B. in physics from Princeton University in 1971 and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University in 1975. He completed his postdoctoral research at Stanford University with Denis Baylor, and at Cambridge University with Nobel Laureate, Sir Alan Hodgkin (Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1963). He was on the faculty at the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston before moving to The Johns Hopkins University in 1986, where he is currently Professor of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He has received the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics (United Kingdom), the Friedenwald Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Alcon Award in Vision Research, and the Magnes Prize from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Mark D. Adams, Ph.D.
Dr. Adams earned a B.A. in Chemistry from the Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC in 1984. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan in 1990. As a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the NIH, Dr. Adams developed the expressed sequence tag (EST) methodology for rapid characterization of the set of expressed genes in a tissue. As one of the founding scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), Dr. Adams established and managed the large-scale DNA sequencing facility. In 1998, Dr. Adams co-founded Celera Genomics, where he was responsible for the DNA sequencing and genome annotation groups. Dr. Adams joined the faculty of Case Western Reserve University in 2003. He is a member of the Human Genome Organization, the American Society of Human Genetics, and the Mammalian Genome Society, and is an Associate Editor of Genomics.Russell Lewis, B.S., M.B.A.
Mr. Lewis earned his B.A. degree in Economics from Haverford College and his M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School. He is a past Chairman of the National Association of Business and Educational Radio (NABER) Users Association. Mr. Lewis served as President and Chief Executive Officer of TransCore, a leading transportation systems integration company supplying electronic toll collections systems and advanced traffic management systems. Mr. Lewis is currently Executive Vice President and General Manager of Naming and Directory Services at VeriSign, Inc. His earlier responsibilities have included executive positions at Syntonic Technology, UGI Corporation, and E.F. Hutton & Company.Daniel I. Weber, M.D.
Dr. Weber received his B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College in 1976 and his M.D. from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, Mexico in 1980. He completed his residency in OB/GYN at the Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University, where he served as Chief Resident in 1985. At Pinnacle Health System, he served in multiple roles: Chair of the Dept of OB/GYN, Co-Founder and Director of the Family Practice OB/GYN Fellowship Program, Director of Medical Education for the Dept of OB/GYN, and President of the Medical Staff. Dr. Weber was the founding partner of Weber OB/GYN Associates, Harrisburg, PA (1986-2004) and served as Director of OB/GYN Education at Lancaster General Hospital until 2013. He has repeatedly earned recognition for excellence in clinical teaching, including the 1999 Blockley-Osler Award for Excellence in Teaching Clinical Medicine from MCP Hahnemann University School of Medicine. Dr. Weber currently serves as the In-house OB/GYN Medical Expert for the Pennsylvania Dept of State and continues to provide high-risk prenatal care for underserved communities in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.Anil K. Gupta, Ph.D.
Anil K. Gupta earned a Doctor of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School in 1980, an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad in 1972, and a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur in 1970. Professor Gupta is the Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Strategy and Organization, Chair of the Management & Organization Department, and Research Director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, The University of Maryland at College Park. He has served as a member of the advisory panel for “The Knowledge Trade Initiative” sponsored by the US-India Business Council. Professor Gupta is the co-author/co-editor of three books and has published over 60 papers in major journals. Professor Gupta has consulted with corporations including IBM, Marriott, Lockheed Martin, and Norrell Services. He is an elected member of the board of directors of NeoMagic Corporation and TiE-DC, is a member of the board of advisors for VennWorks and iPark Boston, and formerly served on the boards of directors of Omega Worldwide and Vitalink Pharmaceutical Services Inc.Board of Directors
Ravinder Dhallan, M.D./Ph.D., M.B.A.
Dr. Dhallan is the inventor of Ravgen’s proprietary technology. Prior to founding Ravgen, Dr. Dhallan was a residency-trained, board-certified emergency room physician. Dr. Dhallan earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and his M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Dhallan has extensive and diverse training in biomedical engineering, clinical research, and medicine, and has published numerous articles on genetic research in widely recognized and internationally accepted peer-reviewed journals.Philip Bayliss, M.D.
Dr. Bayliss is a specialist in Maternal/Fetal Medicine with nearly twenty years’ experience in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Bayliss currently serves as Medical Director of Perinatology at Lancaster General Women & Babies Hospital in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His previous experience includes serving as Division Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine at York Hospital in York, Pennsylvania, and Chief of Perinatology at William Beaumont Army Medical Center. Dr. Bayliss earned his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Hampden Sydney College and an M.D. degree from the Medical College of Virginia.Edward K. Mottern, B.S.
Mr. Mottern has had a twenty-five-year career in creating successful manufacturing and technology-based businesses in Maryland. From 1987 to 1999, Mr. Mottern co-founded and served as President of F&M Manufacturing Company, Inc. He was directly responsible for company evolution by creating strategic alliances within the industrial base on the East Coast and with local, state, and federal governments. F&M was acquired by General Dynamics in 1999 and has grown to $125M in annual revenues. Previously, Mr. Mottern was employed by Bausch & Lomb. Mr. Mottern holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Industrial Management from Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2002, he became President of General Dynamics Robotic Systems.Narender Dhallan, B.S.
Mr. Dhallan earned a B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Maryland at Baltimore and a B.S. in Education from the University of Maryland at College Park. Mr. Dhallan has several years of experience as a pharmacist. Currently, Mr. Dhallan is a teacher, instructing high school seniors in AP Physics and AP Chemistry in Germantown, Maryland.Kamlesh Miller, R.N., B.S.
Ms. Miller earned a B.S. in Pharmacy as well as a B.S. in Nursing from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. Ms. Miller served as a staff nurse at the AMI Doctors’ Hospital in both the Medical Surgical Unit and Intensive Care Units, before receiving her B.S. in Pharmacy in 1990. She has since served as a staff pharmacist and consultant in various area hospitals, most recently with Pharmacy Corporation of America.