Management Team

Gary Jacobs – Chairman and Acting CEO

Mr. Jacobs is Managing Director of Jacobs Investment Company, LLC. In addition, Mr. Jacobs serves on the boards of Next Generation Technologies and Fallbrook Technologies and is Chairman of Nutrina, Ltd., a biotechnology company focused on bioactive supplements for infant formulas. Mr. Jacobs is also actively involved with education and philanthropy, serving as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of High Tech High in San Diego and Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council for Social Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. Mr. Jacobs received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Management Science from the University of California, San Diego.

Sherman Chang, PhD - Senior Director, Molecular Biology

Dr. Chang joined DermTech in June 2006. He received his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Pittsburgh and his MS in Biochemistry and BS in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University, Taipei. Following completion of his PhD, he received postdoctoral training in cancer biology in the Department of Regulatory Biology at the Salk Institute. His second postdoctoral training was in cancer biology at the University of California, San Diego, where he was the recipient of an NIH-funded research fellowship. Dr. Chang has more than eight years experience in the microarray field as well as extensive experience in assay development and technology improvement. Prior to joining DermTech, Dr. Chang was Staff Scientist II at Diversa in San Diego, where he worked on enzyme-based product development using microarray-based genomic tools. Prior to Diversa, Dr. Chang held a position as Staff Scientist at Torrey Mesa Research Institute, a subsidiary of Syngenta, where he developed a high throughput method for expression profiling, a method for microarray-based SNP detection and managed collaborative microarray projects for Syngenta.

Jennifer Larson – Director, Business Development

Ms. Larson joined DermTech in 2007. She previously was managing partner of Labfive, a biotechnology consultancy specializing in investor relations. Early in her career she was in the marketing department at Bristol Myers-Squibb, focusing on women’s health care products and analgesics. She then joined Chiron Corporation as part of a three-person communications team responsible for all corporate, media and investor relations. Ms. Larson then became vice president of the Health Care Practice at Porter Novelli in London leading accounts for clients including GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Boston Scientific and the World Cancer Research Fund. From 1996-1998 she worked at Ciba in Basle where she led media relations activities for the Novartis merger.