3 January 2020 - - US-based diagnostics and life sciences company Enzo Biochem, Inc. (NYSE: ENZ) has appointed industry healthcare veteran and leader Rebecca J. Fischer to its board of directors, the company said.

Her appointment as a new independent director is effective immediately and follows a search process conducted as part of Enzo's ongoing focus on board composition, refreshment and diversity.

As part of our evaluation, the company as a significant provider of Women's health products and services, believes the representation of such a highly qualified woman on the board would be a valuable contribution to it.

Fischer takes the place of Gregory M. Bortz who has retired from the board. The board had requested Bortz to remain on the board for a period of time to help complete the design and execution of the company's strategic plan of which Greg was a key contributor.

Upon implementation of the strategy, it was understood that Bortz would step down. Dov Perlysky, a member of the board since 2012, will replace Bortz as Lead Independent director of the company.

Fischer has also been appointed to the Audit, Compensation and Nominating/Governance Committees and she will be the chair of the audit committee. She will stand for election at the upcoming 2019 Annual Shareholder meeting.

With Fischer's appointment, the average tenure of independent directors is approximately three years.

Fischer is currently the chief financial officer of Bellevue Hospital, the world-renowned flagship institution for New York City Health and Hospitals (NYCH+H).

Bellevue has over 900 licensed beds and an operating budget of more than USD 950m. She began her career at Bellevue as Associate director in 2003, became Associate Executive director in 2011 and was promoted to Deputy CFO in 2016. She was promoted to CFO in 2017.

She received her undergraduate degree cum laude from Cornell University and her Master of Public Administration in Health Policy and Management from New York University, where she was a recipient of the Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Fellowship.

In her role as CFO of Bellevue, Fischer is responsible for managing a team of financial managers and 400 other professionals.

Her team oversees budgeting, revenue enhancement, utilisation, financial reporting, cash management productivity improvement and affiliate relations with the NYU School of Medicine.

She is also a key advisor to the hospital's CEO and other members of the C-level team on strategic planning and resource allocation.

In both her strategic and day-to-day responsibilities, Fischer is directly involved in guiding Bellevue and its leaders through complex government and private reimbursement practices.

At Bellevue and throughout the HHC, she is viewed as a subject matter expert on optimal ways for hospitals to deliver the highest quality care at a time of enormous technological change and financial pressure.