Billion-dollar cancer detection startup Grail names new CEO with commercial chops

Come January 2, Illumina-spinout Grail will be headed by Jennifer Cook, whose path to the top job has been markedly different from that of its founding CEO, Jeff Huber. 
Cook has over 30 years experience in the life sciences, a majority of which has been spent at Genentech. Following its 2009 acquisition by Roche, she began managing the two companies’ combined pipeline of around 80 molecules, representing approximately $80 billion in value and $9 billion per year in costs, her LinkedIn states.
Cook continued to move up the ladder, becoming head of pharma region Europe (stationed in Switzerland) and then, most recently, Roche/Genentech’s global head of clinical operations. In 2016, she was named Woman of the Year by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA).
It’s a very different journey than that of her predecessor, Jeff Huber, a Silicon Valley tech leader who headed programs at eBay, Excite Home, and Google.