Outstanding Business Leader Award - 2006

Outstanding Business Leader Award | 2006

Dr. Nova currently serves as Chief Executive Officer, President, Co-Founder and Director of Genoptix, Inc.  Over the past several years she has been involved in the co-founding of several life science companies in the San Diego biotechnology community including Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Nanogen, Inc.  Her current company, Genoptix, Inc., is a venture-backed biotechnology company developing advanced personalized medicine clinical services for the improved management of leukemia patients.

She received a B.Sc. degree with honors in Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, she received her Ph.D. with honors in Biochemistry from the University of California, Riverside, and did her post-doctoral work at New York University Medical School.

Dr. Nova is currently a Director of Arena Pharmaceuticals, San Diego.  In 2005, she was nominated to the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (ICOC) to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) by the Lieutenant Governor of California.  Additionally, she serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of San Diego, and the advisory boards of the University of California Irvine, Division of Biological Sciences and to the College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences at the University of California, Riverside.  

In 2006, Dr. Nova was named “CEO of the Year” by Tullis-Dickerson & Co., Inc. a leading health care focused venture capital firm.  She was also the winner of the 2004 BIOCOM James McGraw Distinguished Contribution Award, the 2004 Distinguished Alumnus Award UC Riverside, the 2003 Distinguished Alumnus Award UC Irvine, the 2002 Outstanding Executive Award UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, and the 2001 Athena Pinnacle Award.