Sue Siegel, one of the leading venture investors in the field of personalized medicine, is leaving her gig as a general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures to join GE as the CEO of its $6 billion healthymagination unit, which is seeking to foster innovations that lower healthcare costs.
Siegel, 52, was the president of Santa Clara, CA-based Affymetrix (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AFFX]]) before joining MDV to help lead its push in molecular diagnostics and digital health. At MDV, she participated in the firm’s investments in Menlo Park, CA-based Pacific Biosciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PACB]), Foster City, CA-based Navigenics, Lexington, MA-based RainDance Technologies and Waltham, MA-based On-Q-ity among others.
The healthymagination program is a sizable one, even by GE (NYSE: [[ticker:GE]]) standards. The industrial giant has said it plans to invest $3 billion in R&D to foster at least 100 innovations to lower health care costs by 2015. The rest of the money is set aside for financing and technology development to bring health IT to rural and underserved areas. Mohr Davidow, along with other VC firms like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Venrock, and MPM Capital, has been involved with GE in figuring out ways to put that money to work, partly through a $100 million global open innovation challenge, which will award prizes to innovative startup teams.
Siegel replaces Mike Barber at healthymagination, as he will be moving on to a new role as vice president and general manager of molecular imaging at GE Healthcare.
“Sue Siegel’s great passion for advancing healthcare is matched by her keen understanding of innovation, her sharp business sense, and her proven leadership,” GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said in a statement. “As we continue to work with our partners to revolutionize health, we need a leader to connect GE with new healthcare businesses, thought leaders and governments.”
“We are very happy for Sue and believe her move to GE is a positive both for her and for us,” Pamela Mahoney, a spokeswoman for MDV, said in an email. “Her new role at GE will allow her to continue to pursue her deep passion for personalized medicine and the technologies that enable it on perhaps the world’s best platform for doing so.”
