Walter Carney, Ph.D.

Walter Carney received his Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from Thomas Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia.   From 1978-1982, he was a Harvard and NIH Fellow in the Department of Infectious Diseases at MGH where he trained extensively in virology and was one of the early scientists investigating the immunological responses to HIV. In 1982, Walt joined DuPont Medical Products where he managed a group focused on HIV and oncogenes and created a product line known as “TuMark Antibodies.” In 1991, Walt joined OSI Pharmaceuticals where he held various management positions including Vice President and General Manager of the Diagnostics and Research Products Division, President of Oncogene Science Diagnostics and Vice President of Proprietary Drug Development Programs. In 1999, Oncogene Science was acquired by Bayer HealthCare (BHC) where Walt continued as the President of the Oncogene Science Diagnostic business and participated in many programs aimed at developing circulating biomarkers and IHC tests for cancer drugs such as Nexavar at BHC. These programs allowed Walt to gain considerable experience in linking diagnostics with therapeutics with the objective of selecting the right drug for the right patient and thus an early adopter of personalized and precision medicine.   In addition, Walt and his team put in place a GMP manufacturing facility and a quality system at Oncogene Science in order to conduct clinical trials for a blood test that quantitated the circulating extracellular domain of the HER-2 protein.  As Head of Oncogene Science and part of BHC, Walt was not only responsible for discovering the circulating HER-2 protein in blood but was also responsible for obtaining FDA clearance (Class 2 IVD) and the CE MARK for the HER-2 blood test for breast cancer.  The serum HER-2 blood test was able to track patient response or failure to a variety of therapies including HER-2 targeted therapies such as Trastuzumab and Tarceva. In addition, Walter worked with a team of reimbursement specialists to obtain a new CPT code (83950) from CMS for the HER-2 blood test, which received a reimbursement of $89.99. In 2010, Walt joined a company called On-Q-ity as CSO and shortly thereafter assumed the dual role of acting CEO and CSO. On-Q-ity was an innovative diagnostics company developing proprietary technologies for capturing circulating tumor cells and developing IHC biomarkers. In Feb 2012, Walt joined Wilex, the pharmaceutical company that acquired Oncogene Science, where he continued as Head of the diagnostics business. In 2013, Wilex Inc. was acquired by Nuclea Biotechnology and Walt continued as the leader of the business until 2015.  In 2015, he created the Walt Carney Biomarkers Consulting, LLC, to provide advice in areas of cancer biology, immuno-oncology, companion diagnostic development especially with respect to liquid biopsies and tissue based biomarkers.  As a former CEO and CSO, Walt provides high level executive expertise, especially for start-up Diagnostic and Pharmaceutical companies concerning strategies for pre-clinical R&D studies, product development, product commercialization and Companion Dx.  In addition, to being awarded numerous USA and European patents related to the ras and HER-2 oncogenes, Walt has published over 100 full length manuscripts and over 200 abstracts due to his collaborative interactions with many innovative scientists.