Key Staff Members
David A. Wagner, Ph.D., President and Director of MSI, is a recognized expert in stable isotope tracer technology with over 40 publications using stable isotope probes and mass spectrometry. Dr. Wagner has conducted stable isotope research for 24 years. He earned his doctorial degree in Nutritional Biochemistry and Human Metabolism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, under the direction of Dr. Vernon Young, a leader in stable isotope technology. From 1984 to 1990, he directed the Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at the Shriners Burns Institute in Boston and was on the scientific staff in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1990, Dr. Wagner founded Metabolic Solutions, Inc., the first company offering comprehensive stable isotope analyses for the biomedical community. In addition, Dr. Wagner is the lead inventor on six U.S. patents using stable isotope technology. Dr. Wagner has received 10 phase I NIH SBIR grants and 8 phase II NIH SBIR grants to develop diagnostic stable isotope breath tests. Dr. Wagner is the Study Director on all Good Laboratory Practice Studies.
Martin A. Baker, MBA, Vice President and Director, has a strong corporate strategy background from over ten years as a management consultant and is director of the Company's operations. Mr. Baker earned a BA in Economics and an MBA in Finance from State University of New York at Buffalo. Mr. Baker is an experienced executive who oversees a broad range of operations including strategic planning, product manufacturing, sales & marketing, accounting and personnel.
William E. Ottinger, Ph.D., Clinical Laboratory Director, is an expert in clinical laboratory operations. Dr. Ottinger received his Ph.D. in Clinical Pathology from the University of Maryland. Prior to Metabolic Solutions he held teaching positions at University of Texas Health Science Center and laboratory director with Quest Diagnostics. Dr. Ottinger is responsible for ensuring that the clinical laboratory is compliant with CLIA and State requirements to maintain licenses and certification of compliance.
Daniel Bolt, M.S., Director, Quality Assurance, is responsible for quality control/assurance of the device and drug components of the products, MSI laboratory and isotope ratio instruments. Mr. Bolt has been a staff member of MSI since 1998. Prior to joining MSI, Mr. Bolt was the Product Development Manager at Cambridge Isotope Laboratories in Andover, MA. He has significant clinical and research laboratory experience from prior jobs at Quest Diagnostics (formerly Bioran Laboratories) and the Shriners Burns Institute, Boston MA.
Knut Greulich, B.S., Laboratory Manager, is responsible for the analysis of all clinical samples and the maintenance of good laboratory practices. He has more than 20 years of mass spectrometry experience. Mr. Greulich has been a staff member of MSI since 1990.
Scientific and Research Advisors
Paul Watkins, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pharmacy, and Director of the Hamner - Center for Drug Safety Sciences at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He is an internationally recognized expert in drug metabolism, drug transport, and drug toxicity. He invented and validated the 14C erythromycin breath test as a means of estimating liver CYP3A4 catalytic activity in patients, thereby obviating the need for liver biopsy. He is one of the most highly cited authors in the field of pharmacology according to ISIhighlycited.com and he has received many honors for his research, including the Therapeutic Frontiers Lecture Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, honorary membership in the Society of Toxicologic Pathology, and an NIH MERIT award. He has served on multiple national advisory committees including the Toxicology I Study Section and the National Academy of Sciences' Committee for the Comparative Toxicity of Naturally Occurring Carcinogens. He is currently chair of the scientific advisory committee for two FDA Critical Path Research Initiatives: The Liver Toxicity Biomarker Study and the Virtual Liver Model of Drug Induced Liver Injury. He also serves as chair of the Steering Committee for the Drug Induced Liver Injury Network that is supported by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Watkins serves as chief scientific advisor to MSI. He assists in study design and data review. He also provides assistance in recruiting leading researchers and opinion leaders to participate in the clinical studies.
Phillip Toskes, M.D., Professor of Medicine, University of Florida at Gainesville, is the past president of the American Gastroenterological Association and inventor of the 14C-xylose breath test. Dr. Toskes has extensive experience with stable isotope breath testing. He has many published papers and book chapters on vitamin B12 absorption and metabolism, bacterial overgrowth and pancreatic function. Dr. Toskes has collaborated with Dr. Wagner on several research projects including 13C-xylose and 13C-sorbitol for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and a vitamin B12 breath test.
