About Us

Chris Raymond is a cofounder and the Chief Scientific Officer of Salish Bioscience. In 2018, he recognized an acute need to better serve the needs of cancer patients by improving the performance of NGS-based assays used to characterize circulating, cell-free DNA fragments, and so embarked on a multi-year, self-funded exploration of alternative technologies. The resulting inventions from that effort form the basis of the Salish diagnostic platform. Chris is also the cofounder of Ripple Biosolutions, a company that is leveraging his cfDNA purification methods to provide bulk quantities of highly-purified control cfDNA to research laboratories across the globe. Chris cofounded Resolution Bioscience in 2012, a liquid biopsy company that is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilent Technologies. 

Chris’s interest in genomics began in 1999 where he served as a Scientist in the University of Washington Genome Center under Dr. Maynard Olson. With the completion of the first draft of the Human Genome, Chris moved to Rosetta Inpharmatics (Merck & Co.) where he invented technologies for characterization of alternatively spliced of RNA transcripts and for genome-wide profiling of microRNA expression patterns. He is one of the earliest adopters of next-generation DNA sequencing technologies, and he has been continuously active in creating and applying NGS methods ever since. Chris received his BS in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1982 and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Oregon in 1990.

Fenella Raymond is the co-founder and Lab Operations Manager at Salish Bioscience. She is also a co-founder of Ripple Biosolutions, which launched in 2018 as a provider of cell-free DNA products for next-generation-sequencing applications.

Fenella has nearly thirty years of experience in both research science and project management at several biotechnology companies in the Seattle area. She researched the binding of MHC class II peptides at Virginia Mason Research Center (now Benaroya Research Institute), then moved to ZymoGenetics (later acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb) where she joined a team responsible for identifying novel drug targets downstream of bioinformatic analysis. While at ZymoGenetics, Fenella’s interests shifted to Program Management where, amongst other projects, she provided project management support to recombinant human Thrombin from preclinical to BLA approval and assumed a lead role in the transition of interferon-lambda-1 through research into development. Following a career shift into the non-profit world, Fenella was involved in the establishment of the Malaria Clinical Trial Center at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute (now Center for Infectious Disease Research). Fenella received a BS in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1985.

Frank is a corporate lawyer and startup veteran with a passion for building organizations that have the potential to deliver social and economic impact.  Frank started his career in Washington DC as a congressional aide to members of the US House and Senate before attending law school and transitioning into the exciting world of technology startups.  Over the past 25 years Frank has served in leadership roles for companies across a wide landscape of industries, including telecom, e-commerce, alternative fuels, waste-to-value and transportation.  Frank spent five years chairing the startups and emerging companies practice for a mid-sized, regional law firm, and has served as an advisor or on the board of directors of several early-stage growth companies and non-profits.    Frank holds a BS in Social & Decision Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University, a JD from Georgetown University and an MPA from Harvard University.  He is the proud father of three rascally daughters.

Kira brings to Salish more than 15 years of industry experIence in genomics, protein therapeutics and technology platforms.   She was most recently at Lundbeck as Vice President of Scientific Computing, and before that at Alder Biopharmaceuticals as Vice President in R&D.   She worked with both companies to develop technology and manufacturing capabilities for pipeline projects as well as Alder’s first approved therapy.  

Kira has also held scientific, technical and leadership positions at both Amgen and Merck.  She gained extensive experience in biomarker discovery and development as well as discovery and development of protein therapeutics across oncology, immunology and neurobiology.

Kira completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington and received a PhD in Biophysics from Stanford University.  She holds a BA degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Brandeis University.

Paul is an executive with over 25 years of domestic and international experience driving market share, revenue, and profit growth at diagnostic companies. He successfully led a large pharma/diagnostic company from stagnation/decline to growth and leadership in molecular testing. He has assisted organizations identify options related to partnership opportunities, acquisition, or the development of a new strategic direction to accelerate growth.

Paul has held executive level positions at Roche, Qiagen and Bio-Rad. He has supported pharma with biomarker, clinical trial assay and companion diagnostic assay development. In business development roles, he identified and executed multiple collaborations supporting pharma in both oncology and infectious disease. Paul holds a MS in Microbiology from North Carolina State University, an MBA from Pepperdine University, and a JD from Purdue University.

Signe is an experienced global scientific & medical affairs leader and scientist with a passion for oncology, virology and the goal of bringing new therapies and diagnostics to market. 

Signe started her career in Canada working at the British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS before completing her graduate studies in Immunology and transitioning to the U.S. to gain experience with both small and large biotechnology companies.

Signe has over 25 years of biotech and pharm experience, specializing in personalized medicine both relating to HIV-1 drug resistance and oncology.  She has a strong background in virology, molecular biology and immunology.

Signe spent 10 years as a bench scientist at Monogram Bioscience (formerly Virologic), followed by 8 years at Bristol Myers Squibb and most recently 4 years at the early detection/liquid biopsy company, Freenome, where she led the scientific and medical affairs team.

Signe holds a Bachelors of Science from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada and a Masters of Science  in Medical Sciences, Molecular Immunology, Virology from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. She is a proud and busy mother of three, with a daughter and two sons.