Karsten Schmidt, PhD

Senior Vice President, Ophthalmology

Karsten Schmidt, Ph.D., is a life science executive with more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, as well as academia, having specialized in technology innovation and strategic product development. He most recently served as chief technology officer for the precision medicine company Trovagene, where he developed novel liquid biopsy methods for collection, isolation, and detection of circulating tumor DNA in blood and urine.

Dr. Schmidt previously held several senior management team positions at Sequenom, including vice president, operations and product development and vice president, business development.  During this time, he developed and commercialized Sequenom’s ophthalmic product line (RetnaGene™), which predicts the genetic risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This included in-licensing, product definition, test development, clinical validation, KOL engagement, medical education programs, and a companion diagnostic agreement related to a novel investigational drug for advanced dry AMD.

Dr. Schmidt is a trained pharmacist and pharmacologist, and received his federal degree from the University of Bonn, Germany, where he also completed his Ph.D. thesis on the topic of new methods of metabolic pathway engineering in microorganisms.