Mara is a healthcare industry pioneer with a commitment to civic involvement and deep experience in leading genetics, genomics and diagnostics companies. Aspinall is a Partner at Illumina Ventures, an independent, global healthcare venture capital firm focused on genomics and precision health investing including diagnostics, life science tools and therapeutics. Aspinall has roots in venture investing, having co-founded and managed BlueStone Venture Partners. Mara was President and CEO of Ventana Medical Systems, a billion-dollar division of The Roche Group, (now Roche Tissue Diagnostics). She led her world-class team to success with more than two dozen instrument and assay launches, as well as global leadership in companion diagnostics.  Mara spent 13 years at Genzyme Corporation as President of Genzyme Genetics and Genzyme Pharmaceuticals. Genzyme Genetics, was leading provider of testing and genetic counseling in the oncology and reproductive markets. Aspinall transformed the business from a small specialized player to a top five lab in the US while setting the industry standard for quality. Aspinall reshaped Genzyme Pharmaceuticals into an international leader in specialized pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing.  Throughout her career, Aspinall has spearheaded initiatives to educate policymakers and payers on genomics and personalized medicine. She publishes the weekly Sensitive & Specific: The Testing Newsletter and the annual Diagnostics Year in Review. This commitment to expanding knowledge inspired Aspinall to co-found and create the Biomedical Diagnostics master’s degree program at Arizona State University, the only program in the world dedicated exclusively to diagnostics, genetics and genomics. During the pandemic, Aspinall emerged as a national authority on COVID testing. She was an advisor to The Rockefeller Foundation and co-author of the Foundation's policy reports. Aspinall was named Arizona Biosciences Leader of the Year by the Arizona Biotechnology Association and one of the “100 Most Inspiring People in Life Sciences” by PharmaVOICE magazine. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a BA from Tufts University, and is certified in Cybersecurity Oversight from Carnegie Mellon/NACD."ACD.