Lumicell Appoints Kelly Londy as Chief Executive Officer, Announces Additional Financing
Wellesley, Mass., July 12, 2017 – The Board of Directors of Lumicell, Inc., a leader in the field of image-guided cancer surgery, announced today the appointment of Kelly Londy as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. W. David Lee, Founder of Lumicell, has moved into the role of President and Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr. Andrey Zarur, Chairman of the Board of Lumicell, said "We are extremely excited to welcome Kelly to Lumicell. Kelly was chosen as CEO for her passion for innovation, ability to optimize business strategy, and her overarching desire to make the Lumicell technology available to patients around the globe. With over 25 years of experience in the medical device field, the Board is confident in her ability to lead Lumicell on their mission to change the landscape of cancer surgery."
Lumicell also announced an additional closing of its Series C financing, securing an aggregate total of $13.5 million. Londy's appointment, together with this additional funding, will support Lumicell's pivotal trial in breast cancer this year and development of additional cancer applications.
"Our team at Lumicell is developing a truly revolutionary intraoperative margin assessment system that gives surgeons real-time visual feedback of residual cancer in the tumor bed," said Kelly Londy, CEO of Lumicell. "I am honored to lead this team as we strive to greatly improve surgical outcomes and possibly remove the need for repeat cancer surgeries."
Every year approximately 300,000 cancer lumpectomies take place in the United States. More than 60,000 of the patients who undergo a lumpectomy must endure a second surgery, or re-excision, due to positive margins discovered on final histopathology examination. Second surgeries may increase discomfort, add emotional and cosmetic expenses to the patient, and may cost the healthcare system close to $1 billion annually. Londy said "I am passionate about the battle against cancer, and especially breast cancer, where removing the whole tumor the first time can have dramatic impact to the patient, surgeons and health care system. I believe Lumicell will provide a new platform to surgeons around the world that will allow patients to have the highest level of care possible."
Londy was most recently the Chief Operating Officer at Accuray Incorporated, where she provided end-to-end leadership across all customer facing activities, from product development through customer adoption, education, and service. Previously, she held leadership roles at GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare.
Lumicell is a leader in the field of image-guided cancer surgery. The company is developing a revolutionary intraoperative margin assessment system that gives surgeons real-time visual feedback of residual cancer in the tumor bed. Lumicell's surgical system includes a margin-targeted optical contrast agent and a novel hand-held imaging device with exquisite single-cell detection. The unprecedented ability to see and remove all cancer cells during the initial surgery has the potential to significantly improve surgical outcomes and reduce healthcare costs by eliminating the need for repeat surgeries. Lumicell is investigating its cavity assessment system in patients undergoing surgery for breast cancer, sarcomas, and gastrointestinal cancer. Additional future indications may include surgeries for lung, prostate, ovarian, and brain cancers. For more information, please visit www.lumicell.com.