New Directors Elected to California Healthcare Institute Board.

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Robert B. Hance, president, Abbott Diabetes Care; Wyatt R. (Rory) Hume, DDS, Ph.D., provost and executive vice president, Academic and Health Affairs, University of California; Christopher J. O'Connell, senior vice president, and president, Medtronic Diabetes; and David W. Powell, worldwide president, Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP), were elected to the board of directors of California Healthcare Institute (CHI). CHI is a non-profit public policy research organization, representing leading California academic institutions, biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics and pharmaceutical firms.

"These leaders represent the best in academic research, biopharmaceuticals, and medical technology, and they will strengthen CHI's ability to represent the full scope of our state's life sciences industry," said David L. Gollaher, Ph.D., CHI president and chief executive officer. "As we engage with our political leaders in 2007 and beyond, we are fortunate to have their guidance to advance responsible public policies that will influence the next wave of California bioscience innovation."

Hance was appointed president, Abbott Diabetes Care, located in Alameda, Calif., in December 2006. Previously, he served as president, vascular solutions, Abbott Vascular. He joined the company in 1989 as a diagnostic systems specialist in Abbott's Diagnostics Division. He held several management positions in diagnostics, including vice president for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, before moving to Abbott Vascular in 2002. Prior to joining Abbott, Hance was an associate fellow at Harvard Business School and a product development engineer at Proctor and Gamble. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University.

Hume was appointed vice president for Academic and Health Affairs for the University of California in September 2005, and provost and executive vice president for Academic and Health Affairs in June 2006. Previously he was president of the University of New South Wales, Australia; chair of the Australian Research Information Infrastructure from 2004 to 2005; and a member of the Australian Research Council from 2002 to 2005. From 1998 to 2002 he was executive vice chancellor at UCLA. Since 1984, Hume has served in various academic administrative positions at the University of Adelaide and the University of Sydney's School of Dentistry in Australia, and at UCSF and UCLA's School of Dentistry. He earned his dentistry degree and Ph.D. in human physiology and pharmacology at the University of Adelaide.

O'Connell was appointed senior vice president, and president of Medtronic Diabetes, located in Northridge, Calif., in October 2006. Previously he served as president of Medtronic's Emergency Response Systems division, vice president of sales and marketing in Medtronic's Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management division, vice president and general manager of Medtronic's Patient Management Business, and vice president of corporate strategy. Before joining Medtronic in 1994, he worked for the corporate finance unit of Chemical Bank. He earned a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University.

Powell was named worldwide president, Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP), a Johnson & Johnson company, located in Irvine, Calif., in March 2004. He joined Johnson & Johnson in July 2001 as worldwide vice president, operations, for Ethicon, Inc. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, Powell was chief operating officer, Asia, for HAVI Food Services from 1999 to 2001. In the mid-1990s, Powell was president of two subsidiary companies of Jumpin' Jax Corp. He also was vice president, operations at Urologix, from 1996 to 1999, and at Vitaphore Corp. from 1988 to 1991. In the 1980s, Powell held a number of management positions in engineering and operations at Baxter International. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

CHI represents more than 250 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.