Leaders in Health Care 2021: Dave Hickey, BD
December 10, 2021
Amazon Prime members have, since October, been able to get one-day delivery of Covid test kits that let them read results on their phones.
Dave Hickey had a lot to do with that.
“For me, being able to purchase the BD Veritor At-Home COVID-19 Test on Amazon and have it in my medicine cabinet — so that if I or a member of my family feels ill we can just take a test without leaving the comfort of our home — that just brings peace of mind,” Hickey said. “Especially now that we’re into flu season, and flu-like symptoms can mirror Covid-19 symptoms.”
Hickey has held his current title at BD since January. Originally from Manchester, England, he spent 22 years with Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics before joining BD (Becton, Dickinson and Co.) in 2014 as vice president and general manager for the clinical microbiology business. In 2016, he was promoted to president of the Diagnostics Systems business and in 2019 to worldwide president of the newly formed Integrated Diagnostic Solutions unit designed to bring together the strengths of BD’s Diagnostic Systems and Preanalytical businesses.
Those strengths were soon put to the test with Covid-19. Under Hickey’s leadership IDS oversaw the development, launch, manufacturing and distribution of molecular and rapid point-of-care tests plus swabs and viral transport systems.
“Our BD associates are so dedicated, passionate and committed to our customers and their patients,” Hickey said. “If it weren’t for their hard work and willingness to go the extra mile, we would not have been able to see the incredible results that we have nor help fight the pandemic in the way we have.”
While Covid testing has been a focus, BD has continued its work in areas like women’s health and cancer with its BD Onclarity HPV assay with extended genotyping to support cervical cancer screening. BD recently launched its BD COR System in the United States. That involves automation for infectious disease molecular testing.
And BD recently announced the U.S. launch of a Urine Culture Application for use with the BD Kiestra lab automation incubation and imaging system.
“Covid-19 also made clear the need for diagnostic services in non-traditional settings,” Hickey said. “And to that end we’re working aggressively with our partner, Babson Diagnostics, to help make accurate, point-of-care-based blood collection and diagnostic testing available in retail locations across the U.S.”
The list goes on.
“We’re very excited about expanding our menu of tests, including more tests that distinguish between different diseases using just one sample,” he said.
Hickey — who serves on the boards of directors for AdvaMedDx, Greater Baltimore Committee, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Maryland, Baltimore Health Sciences Research Park — points to local contributions in the fight against Covid.
“Many of our [BD] teams right here in Baltimore have been giving it their all, day and night,” he said. “From R&D (research and development) to manufacturing and distribution, they see how what they do makes a difference in people’s lives, not only in the laboratory settings, but in their own homes.”