• Richard Lazar has been named president and CEO of Atrus (Portland, Oregon), a developer of emergency response technologies. Lazar is an expert in automated external defibrillator (AED) program design and operations, risk management, law and public policy. He also is CEO of AED Risk Insights, and previously was founding CEO of Fios. Atrus' first products are targeted at expanding the reach of 911 dispatchers to enable faster lifesaving AED response within the community, helping organizations ensure that AEDs remain operational, and enabling AED users to promptly respond to sudden cardiac arrest emergencies.

• Dr. Maria Millan has joined StemCells (Palo Alto, California) as director of the liver cell transplant program. A transplant surgeon, she is on leave from her positions as associate professor of surgery, division of multi-organ transplant and director of pediatric transplant programs, kidney and liver, at Stanford University School of Medicine. Millan has been involved with the company's liver stem cell program as a member of its scientific advisory board. StemCells is focused on stem cell-based therapeutics to treat diseases of the central nervous system, liver and pancreas.

• Ed Orzetti, president of the global lab business of VWR International (West Chester, Pennsylvania), will leave VWR to pursue other opportunities. His resignation is effective Feb. 28. VWR is a distributor of life sciences products.