V. Suzanne Klimberg

Winthrop P. Rockefeller Institute 外科 病理科 Director

MD，PhDProfessor of Surgery and Pathology, Winthrop P. Rockefeller InstituteOmid Moghadam, Chairman and CEO of Ascendant Diagnostics, recently named V. Suzanne Klimberg, M.D, to the position of Medical Director. Ascendant Diagnostics is in the process of developing the company’s first product, MelodyDx™, a pain-free, low-cost screening test that can detect the presence of early-stage breast cancer using the protein profile of a person’s tears.With many distinguished achievements to her credit, Dr. Klimberg (in collaboration with Larry Suva, Ph.D.) discovered breast cancer protein patterns in tears and is the co-inventor of MelodyDx™. “Early detection of breast cancer is critical for saving lives, and we hope this technology will help us reach even more women for early screening,” says Dr. Klimberg. “While a mammogram is an essential screening tool, we know that many women are reluctant to get mammograms for a variety of reasons, and they’ll either delay getting a mammogram or avoid it altogether.”Dr. Klimberg, a practicing breast surgeon, is the director of the Breast Cancer Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute in Little Rock, Ark. She holds the Muriel Balsam Kohn Chair in Breast Surgical Oncology and is a professor of surgery and pathology at UAMS. Since 1993, Dr. Klimberg has been director of Fellowship in Diseases of the Breast at the UAMS Cancer Institute and John L. McClellan VA Hospital.Research has been an important component of Dr. Klimberg’s career and she has consistently received highly sought after and competitive funding awards from national organizations including: National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen Foundation. She holds a number of elected offices and appointments including President, Society of Surgical Oncology, Board Member, American Cancer Society and Board Member, American Society of Breast Surgeons. Dr. Klimberg has received numerous awards and honors, has produced more than 200 publications and chapters and serves on editorial boards for several professional journals.“Dr. Klimberg will be leading clinical validation studies as well as educating health care providers about MelodyDx,” explains Moghadam. “Dr. Klimberg has made significant contributions to improving outcomes for women with breast cancer and we feel fortunate to have her helping us bring our diagnostic test to market.”Ascendant Diagnostics’ vision is to greatly increase the accuracy of diagnostics of diseases, enable detection of disease at the earliest possible stage, and improve patient compliance through the use of non-invasive, pain-free diagnostic tools. The company's first product, MelodyDx™, is a patent pending, non-invasive, biomarker panel for the detection of breast cancer, which detects differences in proteins present in human tears. The goal for MelodyDx™ is to increase breast cancer detection at earlier stages while at the same time reducing unnecessary exposure to radiation and painful biopsy procedures. Ascendant Diagnostics, LLC is a VIC Technology Venture Development™ portfolio company.