WALTER P. CARNEY, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer, Interim President, On-Q-ity
Walter Carney, PhD is Chief Scientific Officer and Interim President of On-Q-ity Inc., an innovative diagnostics company focused on informing and transforming cancer treatment cycle management and improving the quality of life for cancer patients. Dr. Carney is running the day to day scientific and business operations at On-Q-ity as it continues to optimize its CTC diagnostic platform. He comes to On-Q-ity from Oncogene Science, where he was Chief Executive Officer.
Dr. Carney received his Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from Thomas Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia, PA in 1978. Dr. Carney spent 1978-1982 as a Harvard and NIH Fellow in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Mass General Hospital, Boston, MA where he trained extensively in virology and in particular the Herpes Virus family as well as being one the pioneers in HIV research. In 1982, Dr. Carney joined the DuPont Medical Products Department where he managed a research group focused on HIV and oncogenes. These efforts resulted in a series of patents covering both tissue based tests and circulating tests for the ras and HER-2/neu Oncogenes. Dr Carney was the first to discover and patent the circulating extracellular domain for HER-2/neu which is currently used in the management of women with metastatic breast cancer. In 1991, Dr. Carney joined Oncogene Science as Vice President for R&D and in 1993 he was appointed to the Oncogene Science Executive Management team. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Carney was Vice President and General Manager of the Diagnostics and Research Products Division which developed, marketed and sold over 800 RUO and IVD products. In 1997 Dr. Carney was appointed President of Oncogene Science Diagnostics and Corporate Officer for OSI Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Carney also held the position of Vice President of Proprietary Drug Development Programs and managed a scientific team that searched for small molecule stimulators of the erythropoietin (EPO) gene.
Oncogene Science joined Bayer HealthCare (BHC) in 1999 and Dr. Carney continued as Head of the Oncogene Science organization, which became a Center of Excellence for Oncology. During the years with BHC, numerous oncology biomarker programs were initiated to identify Companion Dx with targeted drugs in development at BHC. In addition to BHC, several biomarker programs were started with GSK, Incyte, Wilex etc to link tests with targeted therapies. In 2007, Oncogene Science became part of Siemens Healthcare as a result of the Bayer Dx acquisition. Dr. Carney was responsible for the development, manufacture and commercialization of numerous soluble biomarkers to guide targeted oncology therapies such as HER-2/neu, EGFR, CAIX, and uPA. By an extensive network of collaborations with medical, academic and pharmaceutical investigators, Dr Carney has lead the way in integrating the FDA cleared serum HER-2/neu test into clinical trials for HER-2 Inhibitors as well as into the management of Breast Cancer Patients. The circulating HER-2/neu test has become a specific biomarker for HER-2 positive breast cancer and a model for integrating biomarkers into clinical trials as a potential companion diagnostics. In addition, Dr. Carney was responsible for obtaining FDA clearance for the serum HER-2/neu test as well as a new CPT code called Oncoproteins and a reimbursement of $89.99. Dr. Carney has been a leader in integrating the FDA cleared test into the clinical management of women with HER-2 Positive Breast Cancer. Dr. Carney has published over 250 articles and abstracts, has been awarded over 30 patents and has numerous pending patent applications. In addition to being the inventor of the circulating HER-2/neu protein test, Dr. Carney was the first to discover and patent monoclonal antibodies to the family of ras oncoprotein mutations at position 12 and 13. Recently, Dr. Carney was awarded 3 patents for the clinical use of circulating EGFR, circulating uPA and circulating PAI-1. Dr. Carney is also frequently invited to speak at biomarker meetings on the topic of using Dx tests to guide the use of targeted therapies.
Dr. Carney also served on the Board of Directors and was Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for Signet Laboratories, Dedham, MA until the sale of the company to Covance in 2006. Dr. Carney has been an assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Pathology at Tufts Medical School in Boston, MA since 1985. Dr. Carney currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Vermillion.

