Frank is a successful entrepreneur, scientist and international biotechnology leader with more than 30 years of experience in research and development in molecular genetics. He is the co-founder and CEO of Ozgene. He successfully runs the company in a very efficient and Lean yet comfortable manner, wearing the traditional Aussie outfit of board shorts and t-shirt, coupled with German Birkenstocks.

Even though he looks like a surfing enthusiast, Frank’s life accomplishments tell a different story. He received his PhD from the University of Freiburg, Germany in affiliation with the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Immunobiology and Roche Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland). His work there culminated in the establishment of the world’s first successful C57BL/6 knockout mouse.

Frank then went on to complete postdoctoral research at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology (RIMB), located in Nutley, New Jersey, USA. After completing his initial postdoctoral research, Frank was awarded a German DFG research fellowship and moved to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne, Australia. His research at the WEHI resulted in numerous peer-reviewed publications in prestigious scientific journals and multiple patents granted worldwide. Frank also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle Campus. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Frank worked closely with the CTMH Doctors Hospital to set up a COVID-19 testing facility in the Cayman Islands.

Frank is very passionate about applying Lean thinking to research environments. He has studied Toyota and many other Lean practitioners in Japan as part of the Shingo Study Tour, and he was appointed a Shingo Executive Advisory Board member from 2015 to 2022. Within his own research organisation, Ozgene’s unique style of Lean transformation drives the company’s new leadership mindset as the very basis for all of its scientific endeavours:

‘to advance humanity – inspire curiosity’