Management Team

Des is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of OncoAssure Ltd.

He has over 25 years’ experience in the diagnostics industry with both early-stage start-ups and international corporations. Des was Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of Biotrin International from the early 1990's through to its acquisition by Diasorin Corporation in 2008. During this time, Des oversaw the development and commercialisation of over 15 new diagnostic tests, two of which (for Parvovirus B19) achieved FDA Pre-Market Approval and captured 70% of the worldwide market. He also oversaw the development and launch of a number of biomarker tests for kidney and liver disease, which have applications in toxicity screening and clinical diagnoses. Des was Managing Director of Diasorin Ireland (2009-2013), where he led the development of a new molecular diagnostics business in Infectious Disease and Oncology. In 2013, Des participated in Enterprise Ireland's Business Partner Programme, a programme which facilitates the involvement of experienced entrepreneurs in the commercialisation of academic research. He joined OncoMark Ltd., a cancer diagnostic spin out from UCD, in 2015 as CEO where he led the development and commercialisation of the OncoMasTR breast cancer test that was CE Marked in 2018. Des led a 2-year Technology transfer collaboration with Cepheid Inc. which culminated in the sale of OncoMark to Cepheid in March 2021 and the founding of OncoAssure Ltd. where he holds his current position of CEO. He has held non-executive Directorships in a number of early-stage start-ups operating in the diagnostic and medical device sectors. Des earned his M.I.Biol in Biochemistry at the Dublin Institute of Technology, his MSc. in Management at Trinity College Dublin, and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors in London.

Prof. William (Liam) M. Gallagher is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of OncoAssure Ltd.

He is also Professor of Cancer Biology at University College Dublin (UCD) and is currently Deputy Director of Precision Oncology Ireland, a large-scale Science Foundation Ireland Strategic Partnership Programme. From 2016-2021, Liam was Director of the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research. From 2013-2019, Liam was the Director of BREAST-PREDICT, which was the first Irish Cancer Society Collaborative Cancer Research Centre (CCRC) to be funded. This country-wide CCRC, which was supported to the level of 7.5 million euro and involved 6 academic institutions (UCD, TCD, RCSI, DCU, NUIG and UCC), as well as the not-for-profit clinical trials organisation, Cancer Trials Ireland. Liam was also a co-PI and Deputy Co-ordinator of a major Science Foundation Ireland-funded Strategic Research Cluster, Molecular Therapeutics of Cancer (2009-2014). He has co-ordinated three Marie Curie Industry Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPPs) projects under FP7, namely TARGET-MELANOMA, FAST-PATH and SYS-MEL. He was also Co-ordinator of a large-scale, multi-million euro, FP7 collaborative project, entitled RATHER. Liam’s research group has also been involved in several other FP7 research programmes as partners, including MEL-PLEX, AngioTox and AngioPredict. Liam has received a number of awards for his research and innovation achievements in the oncology arena, including the BACR/AstraZeneca Young Scientist Frank Rose Award in 2004, the St. Luke’s Silver Medal Award in 2008, the NovaUCD 2011 Innovation Award, the inaugural Irish Association for Cancer Research Medal in 2017, the SFI Entrepreneurship Award in 2019 and the SFI Researcher of the Year Award in 2021. He has filed/been awarded multiple patents and has acted as consultant for a wide variety of industrial parties within the biomedical sphere.