Martha Townsend, Founder
Ms. Townsend is a seasoned diagnostic marketer with more than 25 years of medical diagnostics industry commercial go-to-market experience, specializing in personalized companion diagnostics. In 1998, she launched the first companion diagnostic HercepTest, to identify women with end-stage breast cancer who were likely to benefit from Herceptin. In 2006, after several successful global IVD systems launches, Ms. Townsend created the Market Ready Rx consultancy to serve clients in the evolving field of precision diagnostic medicine.
As the founder of Market Ready Rx, she and the team successfully support pharma and in vitro diagnostic companies with planning and implementing strategic commercial market entry of molecular PCR, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), tissue and companion diagnostic tests.
Ms. Townsend has held management positions at Siemens (previously Chiron Diagnostics) and Agilent Technologies (previously Dako), leading teams in complex commercial launches requiring an integrated launch of both diagnostic and therapeutic. She also has had key responsibility roles in international marketing, sales and service in the European and Latin American markets, implementing numerous export market objectives, analyzing sales activities and market conditions, while engaging distributors.
As the founder of Market Ready Rx, Ms. Townsend successfully supports in vitro diagnostic companies in planning and implementing commercial strategies for novel IVD diagnostics. Capabilities include market strategic planning, Voice of Customer (VOC) market surveys,advisory board as well as tactical and commercial launch programs for diagnostic marketplace success.
In 2007, Ms. Townsend was named Startup Woman of the Year by Women’s Economic Ventures to honor her successful debut of Market Ready Rx, Inc. In 2009, Market Ready Rx was awarded Business Plan of the Year by Cal Lutheran University Entrepreneur Roundtable Forum.
Ms. Townsend holds a BS in Biology from Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles, CA, and a certificate in Medical Marketing from UCLA Anderson School of Business.
Kathy Morgan, Marketing Consultant Analyst
Kathy Morgan is a customer centric professional with more than 17 years of experience within the tissue-based diagnostics sector. In her Professional Services role at Market Ready Rx, she supports a wide variety of projects including market research, Voice of Customer interviews, data analysis and companion diagnostic product launches. Ms. Morgan brings her technical acumen to all commercial programs providing depth and accuracy to client deliverables.
Previously, she managed a diverse team of technical specialists in a high-paced technical support call center at Agilent Technologies ( previously Dako) supporting in vitro diagnostics (IVD), instrumentation platforms, and companion diagnostics. She has worked on global, cross functional teams supporting Sales, Marketing and R&D groups with end-user technical design input. Her experience with FDA compliance and Quality Systems Regulations (QSR) enables her to deliver content in a highly regulated global environment. Kathy received a B.S. in Biology from University of Colorado at Boulder.