Mara Aspinall

Mara is a healthcare industry pioneer with deep experience in leading genetics, genomics and diagnostics companies and commitment to civic involvement. Aspinall is a Partner at Illumina Ventures, an independent, venture capital firm focused on genomics and precision health investing in diagnostics, life science tools and therapeutics. Aspinall was President and CEO of Ventana Medical Systems, now Roche Tissue Diagnostics, a worldwide leader in tissue-based cancer diagnostics. She led her world-class team to new financial success, more than two dozen major 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 a leading provider of diagnostic testing and genetic counseling in the oncology and reproductive markets. She transformed the business from a small, specialized player to one of the top five laboratories in the US while setting the industry standard for quality testing. The business was sold to LabCorp for $1 billion.  Previously, Mara led Genzyme Pharmaceuticals and its transformation to an international leader in specialized pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing. Aspinall is passionate about diagnostics education. She publishes Sensitive & Specific: The Testing Newsletter and the annual Diagnostics Year in Review. This commitment to expanding knowledge inspired Aspinall to co-found the Biomedical Diagnostics Master Degree program at Arizona State University, the only program dedicated exclusively to diagnostics and testing. During the pandemic, Aspinall emerged as a national authority on COVID testing. She was co-author of The Rockefeller Foundation's reports on COVID policy. Aspinall was Arizona Biosciences Leader of the Year by the Arizona BIO and one of “100 Most Inspiring People in Life Sciences” by PharmaVOICE magazine.