After more than six years at the helm of the Argentine and Brazilian subsidiaries of altona Diagnostics based in Buenos Aires and São Paulo, founding managing director Hans Kuhn handed over responsibilities to Mariela Aranda and Julianna Shibao on April 1, 2024. Having set up the operations both in Argentina and Brazil, built the teams and established strong customer relations in the molecular diagnostic market in the two countries, it is now time for Hans to return to Hamburg, Germany, to take on a position at the altona headquarters.
“I am leaving with a full bag of incredible experiences having steered the companies through the past 6 years – including a pandemic! And I know that both successors are the perfect fit to lead two dedicated teams of professionals pushing altona Diagnostics Argentina and Brazil to the next stage of their development,” concludes Hans.
The new General Managers Mariela Aranda for altona Diagnostics Argentina and Julianna Shibao for Brazil both have extensive experience in the national IVD industry and market. Mariela Aranda is a pharmacist and biochemist with a career in the pharmaceutical industry and a master in regulatory affairs of medical products. Among other things, she led the service of medical products for in vitro diagnostics at ANMAT (Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología Médica).
Julianna Shibao has been working for altona Brazil since September 2022 as a sales representative for São Paulo. She is particularly well experienced in molecular diagnostics, having had sales and marketing positions in various Brazilian and international diagnostic companies in the past. Juliana looks ahead: “It is truly an honor to be entrusted with this responsibility. I am confident that we will achieve great things. We will continue to collaborate, innovate, and strive for excellence in everything we do, focusing on our customers. I am incredibly excited about the journey ahead.”
The altona subsidiaries in Latin America: Founded in 2017, the subsidiaries are currently employing 12 people (4 in Brazil and 8 in Argentina) in sales, marketing, tech support, distribution, administration, and finance. altona’s presence in the Brazilian market focuses on large private laboratories, with an emphasis on transplant panels. In Argentina, altona products for respiratory diseases, tropical fevers, and emerging diseases (especially dengue, chikungunya and chagas) are in high demand in addition to the altona transplant panel. They are mainly used by private laboratories and hospitals as well as public healthcare providers.
altona Diagnostics GmbH
Mörkenstr. 12
22767 Hamburg, Germany