Crystal R Icenhour, PhD

In 2014, I was recruited to serve as founding CEO of Aperiomics, Inc. Aperiomics is a service laboratory specializing in harnessing the power of next-generation sequencing to improve world health. I am also an adjunct assistant professor at Duke University Medical Center’s Division of Infectious Diseases in their Department of Medicine.

Previous to Aperiomics, I was President and Chief Science Officer for Phthisis Diagnostics in 2006, located in Charlottesville, VA. Phthisis was a research and development company focused on development of easy-to-use molecular diagnostics for various infectious diseases.

Since my undergraduate student days and throughout my career, I have been heavily involved in leadership and business skills in addition to my scientific capabilities. My overall career goal is to bridge the translational gap between the two worlds of business and science.

While a postdoctoral fellow at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, I was the first to identify and characterize Pneumocystis melanins. I have authored seven patents, hold two issued patents, authored and co-authored 13 research articles and theses, and I have been a prolific speaker and presenter at scientific conferences. I have served on review panels for National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants.

Following my undergraduate degree from the University of Tulsa Department of Biological Sciences, I received my doctoral degree from the University of Cincinnati Medical School of Graduate Studies in Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine. I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Thoracic Diseases Research Unit at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and was a senior postdoctoral fellow at Duke University Medical Center’s Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.

February 2016