{"id":3055,"date":"2023-02-02T13:03:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T18:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?p=3055"},"modified":"2023-02-02T13:03:56","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T18:03:56","slug":"reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Reg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Reg Seeto. Photo by Chloe Jackson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

In one of the top biohealth regions in the country, Reginald Seeto sits atop one of the top companies. Seeto is the CEO of Gaithersburg-based CareDx Inc., whose research and products aim to improve the lives of transplant patients.<\/p>\n

A native of Australia, Seeto, 51, also has had executive leadership roles at Ardylix and AstraZeneca\/Medimmune. He lives in Gaithersburg with his wife and three children. Montgomery Magazine spoke to him via Zoom while he was visiting Australia.<\/p>\n

Montgomery Magazine: How can everyday people relate to the work you\u2019re doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reg Seeto:<\/strong> Almost everyone knows someone who\u2019s pre-transplant or someone who\u2019s had a transplant. As recently as a month ago, [Mississippi State football coach] Mike Leach passed away, unfortunately, and he donated one of his organs. We had Anne Heche, who passed away and donated one of her organs. Last June, the University of Maryland did the first pig living organ transplant into a human patient.<\/p>\n

Q: You\u2019re working on non-invasive testing of post-transplant patients. Why is testing needed and how does non-invasive contrast with standard testing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: For many years, what was done was an invasive procedure called a biopsy to assess the organ post-transplant or monitor organ rejection. The failure rate of organs is still very high \u2014 at five years it is estimated that one in two transplanted lungs will fail, which means patients will need a new lung transplant at five years. One in three heart transplants will fail at five years. And one in five kidney transplants will fail at five years. So it\u2019s an area that requires monitoring.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there is an organ shortage so our tests are critical because they monitor the health and rejection of the new transplanted organ so the patient\u2019s doctor can intervene earlier to help prevent rejection.<\/p>\n

When you do these biopsies, they\u2019re really invasive procedures. For example, our head of sales \u2014 his daughter is a heart-transplant recipient. Normally they access the biopsy through a vein in the neck. They go down to the heart and they take four to six pieces of tissue \u2014 not one \u2014 and it is very common for doctors to do 10 to 12 biopsies in the first year. That could be over 50 pieces of your heart taken out. She\u2019s actually now moved over to non-invasive testing, which is what we offer.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also complications associated with this invasive procedure. For example: In heart patients there may be blockage of the vein, which results in subsequent biopsies being performed through another vein, such as in the groin. There is often a lot of bruising and discomfort after these procedures.<\/p>\n

We believe we can offer an alternative of a non-invasive test. We think we can keep improving these tests so they then become the standard.<\/p>\n

Q: CareDX has a headquarters in the Bay Area as well as Gaithersburg. What do the two sites do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: We\u2019re actually worldwide and we also have sites in Australia and Europe. San Francisco is where we have the lab, R&D, and where we have corporate functions.<\/p>\n

What we have in Gaithersburg is the head of our products business. We have the head of business development. And we have the head of marketing and program project management. About 25 percent of the leadership team is based in Gaithersburg.<\/p>\n

Q: You\u2019re in close proximity to biohealth companies like AstraZeneca, Emergent BioSolutions and Novavax. Are you a close community?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: The reason I\u2019m excited about what Montgomery County can offer, and also Gaithersburg \u2014 I led the effort to make Maryland, D.C. and Virginia to be the Top 3 by 2023. [The Biohealth Capital Region is currently rated fourth.] There\u2019s always been a goal to make this region a Top 3, and so I led this initiative. So I created the slogan \u201cTop 3 by 2023\u201d \u2013 which is this year, by the way [laughs]. It\u2019s been a decade since I started this through AstraZeneca.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s a lot of camaraderie here. You\u2019ve also had success stories like Novavax, which was quite prominent during the vaccine period. There\u2019s a lot of smaller companies and they all have some linkage back to Medimmune.<\/p>\n

Q: If you have a life outside work, what do you like to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: When I do get time off, it\u2019s all about family. My kids are, a daughter, 15; and two boys, 12 and 10. For me, any spare moment I\u2019ll be with them. And we do have a ritual. We have a small beach house in Delaware, so we\u2019ll often go down there on the weekends. My wife does the driving, so I get another six hours of work done.<\/p>\n

I also like watching Netflix, or some of those HBO TV shows.<\/p>\n

Q: What are your favorites?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Recently I saw on HBO \u201cWhite Lotus,\u201d which I thought was quite a good show.<\/p>\n

Q: Technology is moving so quickly. Can you project ahead \u2013 in the future, what is something we\u2019re going to look back and wonder how we did without it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: With transplants there were two things that I think were transformative. The first is xenotransplants; that is, creating genetically modified organs for the organ shortage that exists today. In a five- to 10-year period, I think you may see more routinely transplants that do not come from human sources.<\/p>\n

Number 2 is we\u2019re a big fan of artificial intelligence. We\u2019re one of the few companies that has invested heavily in algorithms. There are a couple of algorithms that we\u2019re working on to be either predictive or prognostic \u2014 that is, how can you predict the outcome of the organ based on some tests that we do. Can you tell if the organ needs some intervention. And how is it looking in three, four, five years\u2019 time? Those two are fairly disruptive and innovative approaches.<\/p>\n

dholzel@midatlanticmedia.com<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In one of the top biohealth regions in the country, Reginald Seeto sits atop one of the top companies. Seeto is the CEO of Gaithersburg-based CareDx Inc., whose research and products aim to improve the lives of transplant patients. A native of Australia, Seeto, 51, also has had executive leadership roles at Ardylix and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":3058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,61],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nReg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients - Montgomery Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients - Montgomery Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  In one of the top biohealth regions in the country, Reginald Seeto sits atop one of the top companies. Seeto is the CEO of Gaithersburg-based CareDx Inc., whose research and products aim to improve the lives of transplant patients. A native of Australia, Seeto, 51, also has had executive leadership roles at Ardylix and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Montgomery Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-02T18:03:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reg-Hands-in-Pocket-scaled-e1675361026957.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Holzel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Holzel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/\",\"name\":\"Reg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients - Montgomery Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reg-Hands-in-Pocket-scaled-e1675361026957.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-02T18:03:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-02T18:03:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/503b816e38d0ea283f0f97e389184b67\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reg-Hands-in-Pocket-scaled-e1675361026957.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reg-Hands-in-Pocket-scaled-e1675361026957.jpeg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":536,\"caption\":\"Reg Seeto. Photo by Chloe Jackson\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Montgomery Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/503b816e38d0ea283f0f97e389184b67\",\"name\":\"David Holzel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2677589a4c7b76b2ec300183ab76aee1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2677589a4c7b76b2ec300183ab76aee1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Holzel\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/author\/dholzel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients - Montgomery Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients - Montgomery Magazine","og_description":"  In one of the top biohealth regions in the country, Reginald Seeto sits atop one of the top companies. Seeto is the CEO of Gaithersburg-based CareDx Inc., whose research and products aim to improve the lives of transplant patients. A native of Australia, Seeto, 51, also has had executive leadership roles at Ardylix and […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/","og_site_name":"Montgomery Magazine","article_published_time":"2023-02-02T18:03:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":536,"url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reg-Hands-in-Pocket-scaled-e1675361026957.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Holzel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Holzel","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/","name":"Reg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients - Montgomery Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reg-Hands-in-Pocket-scaled-e1675361026957.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-02-02T18:03:56+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-02T18:03:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/503b816e38d0ea283f0f97e389184b67"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reg-Hands-in-Pocket-scaled-e1675361026957.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Reg-Hands-in-Pocket-scaled-e1675361026957.jpeg","width":700,"height":536,"caption":"Reg Seeto. Photo by Chloe Jackson"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/reg-seeto-and-the-lives-of-transplant-patients\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reg Seeto and the Lives of Transplant Patients"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/","name":"Montgomery Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/503b816e38d0ea283f0f97e389184b67","name":"David Holzel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2677589a4c7b76b2ec300183ab76aee1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2677589a4c7b76b2ec300183ab76aee1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Holzel"},"url":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/author\/dholzel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3055"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3060,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions\/3060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montgomerymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}