Providing innovative solutions to serve the chemistry and toxicology markets

Hanjoon Ryu CEO,MedTest Dx

Professional:
I have been the CEO at MedTest for four years. Prior to that, I served as a Senior Vice President at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics from 2007 to 2012, and was responsible for strategy, business development, strategic partnership, and innovation. I was head of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics’ Point of Care business and Molecular business unit. Prior to Dade Behring’s acquisition by Siemens AG, from 1999 to 2007, I held various leadership positions with Dade Behring, and was responsible for global and strategic marketing, commercial marketing, and strategic corporate projects. Before joining Dade Behring in 1999, I was a consultant with Bain & Company, a management consulting firm.
Education:
I hold an MBA degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, as well as a Master’s degree in Marketing and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Yonsei University, in Seoul,
Republic of Korea.
Personal:
I love reading, eating, playing sports, and traveling with my family. The latest trip I took with my wife was amazing. We went to Croatia and fell in love with Adriatic Sea and coastal towns.
 

If you were explaining MedTest Dx to someone who is not familiar with the organization, how would you characterize its primary areas of expertise? When it comes to the clinical chemistry and toxicology markets, MedTest is uniquely positioned to deliver cost-effective and comprehensive solutions for laboratories as well as for regional and local IVD companies who have missing pieces in their total solution. In addition, what I really want MedTest to be known for is that we are the “customer excellence freaks.” Customers come first for everyone at MedTest.

What are the major categories of solutions that the company provides for the clinical lab? We have two types of customers: laboratory customers and business customers. The laboratory customers are the ones who are performing the tests. We provide them with reagents, instruments, installation, customer training, technical phone support, and field service when needed. But more importantly, we provide them with full implementation support so that they can get their operation up and running quickly and smoothly.

The business customers are the global IVD companies who put together their solutions for their laboratory customers. They can outsource reagents, instruments, and service from MedTest in any way they need. We are very flexible in customizing the solutions to help them be successful.

How and when did the MedTest Dx brand of products come into being? MedTest has more than 30 years’ history of quality products and services in the industry. Many readers might be familiar with our product brands, such as MedTest DX, Pointe Scientific, Medical Laboratory Solutions (MLS), and Clinitox Diagnostix. Each brand brings its own in-depth expertise and innovative ideas.

• The MedTest DX brand provides the latest technology in chemistry and hematology instrumentation, along with reagents for general chemistry and drugs-of-abuse screening testing.
• The Pointe brand is well known globally for its high-quality reagent development and manufacturing, with more than 75 products approved by the FDA. Pointe’s flagship product, an immunoturbidimetric direct HbA1c reagent, is innovative in measuring HbA1c directly, providing the best sensitivity and specificity results. Many well-known IVD companies use our HbA1c reagents.
• The MLS brand is well known in the United States for its high-quality instrument refurbishment program as well as nationwide field service coverage. This enables MedTest to deliver the “best in class” responsiveness and customer excellence to the laboratory. Many IVD business customers who lack a service infrastructure contract with us to provide service to their customers.
• The Clinitox Diagnostix brand brings innovation to the LCMS testing segment. We work with laboratories and help them implement their customized LCMS testing and maintain the quality of operations by providing them with necessaryequipment, reagents, and consumables.

And MedTest brings all four of those brands together? Yes. We can be a “single source supplier” for toxicology laboratories who are performing both drug screening and confirmation testing. We can be a project manager for those who are establishing a new laboratory in chemistry and toxicology, since we provide them with full implementation support above and beyond selling the supplies and equipment. We can be a partner for many IVD companies who need outsourcing options to keep their resource utilization efficient. We can provide them with our reagents, instruments, and service individually or collectively.

People sometimes think there’s “nothing new under the sun” in Chemistry. Why are they wrong? As I think about our health delivery system, disease diagnosis should be accurate and available in a timely manner—that will never change. Many laboratories, outside of the big teaching hospitals and the big commercial laboratories, have been ignored by the big IVD companies. Those laboratories are the ones who are most vulnerable to the consequences of healthcare reform and reimbursement reduction. They need a partner who can bring true cost savings, timely responsiveness, and support. MedTest can be that partner. From that point of view, our strategy and what we are doing is very innovative and new.

As CEO, how do you view the culture and potential of the organization you lead? I am proud of my team and their faith in the company roadmap we’ve created. The roadmap has experienced many turns and changes that have transformed the company into an exciting platform for delivering real value to clinical laboratories worldwide. I have been very fortunate to have met many great minds and hearts who have provided me with the opportunities to experience innovative and strategic development of products, businesses, and customer relationships. Together we have made MedTest a forward-looking company with the vision to become a leading solution company for clinical chemistry and toxicology laboratories.