Host, Keynote & Fireside Chat
Scott Pantel
CEO
Life Science Intelligence
Scott will join his team of exclusive sponsors to host the Emerging Medtech Summit. Scott's mission at the meeting will be to connect the investors, innovators and strategics that are driving the future of medtech.
Scott is the President, CEO and Founder of Life Science Intelligence. He has been in the medtech market intelligence business for over 20 years supporting venture funded startups, major strategics, and life science investors as they navigate the ever-changing medtech marketplace. Prior to founding LSI, he held senior executive roles with renowned life science data providers including Medical Data International, Medtech Insight and Windhover Information. He has held leadership roles as a strategic partner for Elsevier Business Intelligence, Health Research Intelligence, and Informa Business Intelligence. Scott and his team at LSI have conducted numerous market research projects for top medical device manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Abbott, Becton Dickinson, Teleflex, Cardinal Health, GE Healthcare, and Stryker, among others.
David Weild IV
Chairman & CEO
Weild & Co.
David Weild IV is a stock market expert best known for his position as Vice Chairman of NASDAQ. He is currently the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Weild & Co. Inc., parent company of the investment banking firm Weild Capital, LLC (dba Weild & Co.)[1] Weild is also known as the "father" of the JOBS Act, and has been involved in drafting legislation for the US Congress.
Antoine Papiernik
Chairman & Managing Partner
Sofinnova Partners
Antoine Papiernik is Chairman and Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, which he joined in 1997.
“Life Sciences investing is not just about recognizing good science,” Papiernik says, “it’s about people — learning how to interact with co-investors, limited partners, and entrepreneurs. Listening, discerning, negotiating, and finding common interests.”
When you find the right people to invest in, he adds, “you can bank on them more often than you can predict how the science is going to turn out.” He looks for entrepreneurs with the nimbleness to adapt, “even if that means a making a major shift from where one starts out on the journey.”
Antoine actively invests for our Capital Funds. He has been an initial investor and active board member in a number of public companies, including Actelion, ProQR, Shockwave Medical, NovusPharma (sold to CTI), Movetis (sold to Shire), and Pixium Vision. Trade sale success stories include CoreValve (sold to Medtronic), Fovea (sold to Sanofi Aventis), Ethical Oncology Science (EOS, sold to Clovis Oncology) and Recor Medical (sold to Otsuka).
He has also invested in and is a board member of private companies Reflexion Medical, Tissium, Pi-Cardia, SafeHeal, Noema Therapeutics, Ablacare, Highlife and Inspirna (formerly Rgenix).
Antoine has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. He has been selected twice for the Forbes Midas List, an annual ranking recognizing the world’s top venture capital investors. Antoine is one of the few European and life science investors to have appeared on the prestigious list.
Confirmed Investors & Strategics
(prelim sneak peek)
Manny Villafaña, PhD, Sc
Founder of St. Jude Medical, ATS, Cardiac Pacemakers
Currently CEO of Medical 21
At the Emerging Medtech Summit Dr. Villafaña will share the story of Medical 21 (his latest venture) and discuss fundraising goals and strategic partner interests.
Co-inventor of the first lithium powered pacemaker and founder of Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc./Guidant. All pacemakers now incorporate this technology.
Co-developer of the St. Jude heart valve and founder of St. Jude Medical, Inc. This is the most commonly used prosthesis in the world.
Co-inventor of the ATS heart valve and founder of ATS Medical, Inc. (now part of Medtronic)
Co-inventor of the nitinol support and founder of Kips Bay Medical and Medical 21, Inc.
Manny Villafaña is the Founder, Chairman, & CEO of Medical 21, Inc. Dr. Villafaña is globally recognized as a “Living Legend of Medicine.” He is an award-winning USA Master Entrepreneur, a member of the Halls of Fame of Minnesota Business and Science & Technology. He is the past founder of medical device companies that have transformed the industry of cardiac surgery and improved the lives of millions. Manny is also the recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Sciences degree from the University of Iowa.
David Joyce, MD
Associate Professor
Medical College of Wisconsin, Mayo, Stanford, Johns Hopkins
David Joyce was born and raised in the Twin Cities, where his father was a cardiac surgeon at the Minneapolis Heart Institute. He graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and Harvard Medical School and then went on to complete his residency at Johns Hopkins and fellowship at Stanford. During that period, he also spent two years in the lab of Michael E. DeBakey in Houston where he had the opportunity to be involved in some of the first scientific work that was being done with continuous flow left ventricular assist devices. After completing his training David went back to Minnesota where he worked briefly in the Twin Cities before joining his father in practice at the Mayo Clinic. He was recruited to the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2017 as the Surgical Director of Heart and Lung Transplantation, where he has been involved in research and implementation of a wide range of medical device technologies. He is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, co-edited the textbook “Mechanical Circulatory Support: Principles and Applications,” and has published over 100 peer reviewed scientific papers. David completed an Executive MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2020 and is a two-time finalist in the Global New Venture Challenge Entrepreneurship Program. David met his wife, Joyce Sanchez (also known as “Joyce Joyce”) during his surgical residency. They have two children, Lyle and Lucia, ages 8 and 6.
John Babitt
Partner, Life Sciences
EY
John is a Life Sciences Partner at EY with almost 30 years of experience, all in the life science and healthcare industry.
John advises both strategic and private equity life science clients on various projects including M&A, Supply Chain, IT, Financial/Accounting and Tax considerations. John has extensive experience across all sectors of life sciences with a focus on medical technology.
John has also served as a CFO of a publicly traded medical technology company.
Michael Robinson
Managing Director, Healthcare Investment Banking, Medical Devices
Jefferies
Oliver Keown
Managing Director
Intuitive Ventures
Oliver joined Intuitive Ventures in 2019 and leads investment efforts with a focus on identifying future leaders of minimally invasive care, including early stage startups across digital, medical device, therapeutic, and diagnostic domains.
Prior to Intuitive Ventures, Oliver was a healthcare investor with GE Ventures, driving international-startup deal flow and supporting numerous portfolio companies operationally and at the board level. He also spent a number of years advising an array of UK, US, and global healthcare innovation projects across technology, government, commercial, and academic fields. He started his career as a junior doctor and policy advisor in the UK National Health Service and remains dedicated to bringing new technologies, diverse partnerships, and investment to address healthcare‘s biggest unmet needs.
Oliver holds an MD and BSc in pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is a widely published author in the fields of healthcare and surgical innovation, and is an advisory board member of the Newsom administration‘s California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine.
Lisa Carmel
EVP Strategic Partnerships
Veranex
In her role as Executive Vice President, Global Strategic Partnerships, Lisa leverages her experience in global product commercialization to help forge long-term collaboration with a core focus on Veranex’s critical, strategic partners and their portfolio management.
Lisa has 25+ years of healthcare product commercialization with companies in the U.S., Europe, and China, with a special emphasis on MedTech innovation. As an active member of the MedTech and investor communities, Lisa is an advisor to many startups and accelerators including CLSI’s FAST program, MedTech Innovator, and UCSF Health Hub. She also serves as an advisor to the Cleveland Clinic MedTech Advisory Board, the Mayo Clinic’s Executive Steering Committee for the Surgical Innovation Summit, UCLA Biodesign, UCLA’s Technology Ventures Group Advisory Board, and RedCrow Angel Investor platform. She also serves on the Board of Directors for MarinHealth system, a partner of UCSF. In 2021-22 Lisa serves as Co-Chair of MedtechWomen’s Annual MedTech Vision Conference. Lisa has a keen interest in the latest MedTech innovation trends and authors Veranex’s MedTech Pioneers blog, which spotlights MedTech leadership and their groundbreaking work.
Lu Zhang
Founder & Managing Partner
Fusion Fund
Lu Zhang, Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund, is a renowned Silicon Valley based investor, a serial entrepreneur, and a Stanford Engineering alumna. Lu is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (Class of 2018) and was recently selected as a Best 25 Female Investor by Business Insider. She has also garnered other accolades including the Featured Honoree in VC of Forbes 30 Under 30, Silicon Valley Women of Influence, Town & Country 50 Modern Swans – Entrepreneurship Influencer, and Top 10 All America Chinese Youth. Lu is also on the Jury Board of Cartier Young Leader Award. Prior to starting Fusion Fund, she was the Founder and CEO of a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes (acq. 2012). Lu is a frequent speaker at tech events and conferences such as Davos Economic Forum, Future Investment Initiative (FII), Forbes, Web Summit, SuperReturn, etc. and also serves as a mentor and advisor to several tech innovation programs in Silicon Valley. Lu is the board member of the Youth Council of Future Forum and Future Science Award. She received her M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
David Uffer
Senior Partner & VP
Alira Health
David will attend the Emerging Medtech Summit to represent Alira Health's extensive advisory services and to network and meet with other industry insiders.
David joined Alira Health with over 25 years of management experience in the medical device, products and clinical diagnostics field. He has lead strategy development, strategic planning and business development activities in these fields for mid and large cap public companies. David has directed business development deals ranging from M&A, licensing, distribution and co-development for companies such as Medtronic (legacy Covidien) in their respiratory and medical products business, as well as Hologic and Boston Scientific. He has held management roles at Integra Lifesciences and Abbott Labs. David has a BA from Clark University, Worcester, MA and an MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management, Glendale, AZ.
David Uffer joined Alira Health with over 25 years of management experience in the medical device, products and clinical diagnostics field. He has lead strategy development, strategic planning and business development activities in these fields for mid and large cap public companies. David has directed business development deals ranging from M&A, licensing, distribution and co-development for companies such as Medtronic (legacy Covidien) in their respiratory and medical products business, as well as Hologic and Boston Scientific. He has held management roles at Integra Lifesciences and Abbott Labs. David has a BA from Clark University, Worcester, MA and an MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management, Glendale, AZ.
Fiona Mack
Head of JLABS
Johnson & Johnson
As Head of JLABS @ TMC, Fiona is responsible for external engagement, innovation sourcing, company onboarding, portfolio management, operational excellence, educational programming and P&L. In this role, she catalyzes and supports the translation of science and technology into valuable solutions for patients and consumers across the pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer, and healthtech sectors.
Prior to joining JLABS, Fiona was Senior Director of External Innovation at Ipsen, supporting the expansion of the Rare Disease and Neuroscience portfolios. Before joining Ipsen, Fiona was a Director of External Innovation Oncology Discovery at Roche. While at Roche, she led cross-functional teams to identify and evaluate opportunities based on their scientific merit and strategic alignment with oncology/immuno-oncology early discovery and clinical development pipelines. Notable activities include the acquisition of Tensha Therapeutics, Tusk Therapeutics and Ignyta, in addition to early discovery academic collaborations.
Fiona began her career in industry as a Senior Research Scientist at Wyeth Oncology and eventually took on a senior leadership role when the company was acquired by Pfizer. Fiona was able to complement internal early drug discovery expertise with external innovation as a program leader for pipeline projects. She also led external collaborations to support IND-enabling studies for anti-sense therapeutics, bi-specific immunotherapies and antibody drug conjugates.
Fiona earned her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania and her undergraduate degree in Biology from Cornell University. Her innovative work has been published in high impact journals and she also has several granted patents.
Lana Caron
Innovation Lead
Philips Ventures
Lana leads external innovation and business development for Philips Ventures in North America. She has over 15 years of experience at both start-ups and large tech companies, and has an established record of launching successful new ventures, raising capital and expanding business into new markets. She brings a combination of commercialization, product innovation, strategic partnership, venture investing and mergers and acquisitions experience to the team across digital/health IT, consumer health and medical devices.
Lana is passionate about transforming the future of healthcare and delivering breakthroughs that will improve people’s lives with meaningful innovation and doing so at scale. She helps new companies tap into the power of open innovation to turn new ideas into great businesses.
Ramin Mousavi
President & CEO
CathWorks
Mr. Ramin Mousavi has executive leadership and operational experience in general management, marketing, strategy, product development, and commercialization across multiple market segments. Most recently, Mr. Mousavi led the patient monitoring and digital health portfolio at Baxter International. Prior to Baxter, he held various leadership assignments at Edwards Lifesciences. Mr. Mousavi served as CathWorks Vice President of Global Marketing & Strategy and the Chief Marketing Officer from 2019 to 2020. Ramin holds B.S. degrees in Computer and Electrical Engineering from University of California, Irvine. He also earned an M.B.A. from Paul Merage School of Business at UC, Irvine, and received a Healthcare Executive Leadership certificate for Business Innovation in Global Healthcare from Harvard Business School.
Benjamin Glenn
Founder
A Matter of Innovation
Benjamin Glenn is nationally recognized innovation strategist, speaker and coach based in the Silicon Valley. His work is keenly focused on helping entrepreneurs and innovators in enterprises big and small in our regulated industries identify, develop and maintain competitive advantages. Particularly with regard to our rapidly evolving health care sector, Benjamin's work is highlighted in Biodesign: The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies, a program he has served for over a decade.
Omid Akhavan
Managing Director
Anthro Ventures
Mr. Akhavan is attending the Emerging Medtech Summit to identify new investments.
Omid is currently a Managing Director at Anthro Ventures, investing across medical devices, diagnostics, digital health and healthcare services. Previously, he worked as an Investment Principal at MVM Life Science Partners LLP and Becton Dickinson as Director of Strategy and Business Development. Prior to that, Omid was a management consultant at Monitor Deloitte in the Life Sciences and Healthcare team. Omid holds a Masters in Bioengineering from the Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia. He also received a Fulbright Award to conduct research on access to healthcare in the Middle East.
Nikie Becknell
Senior Director, Corporate Strategy
Zimmer Biomet
Versatile Global Product Marketing and Strategy Leader with over 15 years of experience in mentorship, management, and the creation and execution of corporate and business strategy. Specific areas of expertise include: Product Development and Marketing, Product Lifecycle Management, Strategy Creation, New Market/White Space Landscaping, Customer and KOL Relationship Management, Team Development, Change Management, Integration Management, Project Management, and Executive Communication.
Paul LaViolette
Managing Partner
SV Health Investors
Paul built and ran medical device businesses for 29 years before joining SV Health Investors. Most recently he was Chief Operating Officer at Boston Scientific (BSC), an $8 billion medical device leader. During his 15 years at BSC, Paul served as Chief Operating Officer; Group President, Cardiovascular; President, Cardiology; Group President, Endosurgery; and President, International. During his tenure, the company grew revenue over 20 times. Paul integrated two dozen acquisitions and led extensive product development, manufacturing and worldwide commercial organizations. Previously, Paul held marketing and general management positions at CR Bard and various marketing roles at Kendall (Medtronic).
Andrew Cleeland
CEO
Fogarty Innovation
Andrew is a seasoned executive with over 30 years’ experience in the medical device industry. During this time, he has held key leadership positions in organizations ranging from early stage start-ups to large multinationals. In joining Fogarty Innovation he further broadens this range of experience to include managing a non-profit. The versatility required to be effective across such diverse groups is rare and is a testament to Andrew’s strong leadership skills.
After completing his undergraduate degree, Andrew began his MedTech career working for the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. This provided an invaluable introduction to the industry along with an appreciation for the challenges regulators face when balancing innovation with protecting public health. Several years into this role, serendipity presented him with a unique opportunity to work for a company based in the United States. Although he had never lived outside Australia, he saw it as a great opportunity and moved sight unseen to Denver, Colorado to work for Telectronics. He probably didn’t realize it at the time, but this move exemplifies a classic element of Andrew’s personal and professional mindset: think big, set audacious goals, and act boldly. At the time, Andrew expected this to be a two-year position. Thirty years later, he’s still in the US, setting and achieving big goals.
Amy Belt Raimundo
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Convey Capital
Amy Belt Raimundo is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Convey Capital.
Previously, Amy led Kaiser Permanente Ventures as a managing director in 2016. Amy brings over 20 years of experience in healthcare investing, start-up and corporate operations and hospital system consulting.
Amy has spent a dozen years in venture capital including Covidien Ventures and Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV). Immediately prior to joining KPV, Amy was the Chief Business Officer of digital health start-up Evidation Health. Amy has spent close to a decade in venture capital at Covidien Ventures and Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV). Prior to KP Ventures, she led investments in Medina Medical (acquired by Medtronic) and Nevro Corporation (NYSE: NVRO) among others. Earlier in her career, Amy held operating roles at Guidant Corporation and began her career as a management consultant for hospitals at APM/CSC Healthcare.
Amy is a Kauffman Venture Fellow as well as founder and president of MedtechWomen. She holds a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.
Bob D'Acquisto
Managing Director
Trinity Capital
Bob D’Acquisto joined Trinity as Managing Director on their Origination team. His role is to source and evaluate qualified investment opportunities. He has 20 years of tech and finance experience. He is a trusted partner to VC’s, PE’s, Tech Banks, Service Providers and Entrepreneurs.
D’Acquisto has held successful roles in tech banking with Western Alliance/Bridge Bank and Avidbank, along with founding and managing Snowbird Capital. D’Acquisto holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Santa Clara University
Tal Wenderow
Venture Partner
Genesis MedTech
Tal Wenderow serves as a Venture Partner at Genesis MedTech. Tal joined Genesis MedTech in Sep 2021 focusing on expanding Genesis’ portfolio through M&As and investments.
Previously, Mr. Wenderow was the President & CEO of Vocalis Health, a global technology leader in vocal biomarkers developing voice-enabled AI solutions. Prior to Vocalis Health, he co-founded Corindus Vascular Robotics, which was acquired by Siemens Healthineers in 2019 for $1.1B. He served as the Executive Vice President of International & Business Development responsible for global sales and business partnerships.
Mr. Wenderow is also a member of the Board of Directors of Microbot Medical Inc. [NASDAQ: MBOT].
Mr. Wenderow holds a Bachelor of Science, Summa Cum Laude, in Mechanical Engineering from Technion in Israel and completed the Executive Program for Life Sciences at the Merage Foundation, Merage Business School, University of California, Irvine, United States, and has numerous issued patents based on his inventions.
Mike Mogul
President & Managing Director
HealthpointCapital
Mike Mogul is President and Managing Director of HealthpointCapital. Prior to Healthpoint, Mike was last President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of DJO Global, a $1 billion firm in the Orthopedic sector owned by Blackstone, and market leading in non-operative segments including Bracing and Physical Therapy equipment. DJO was also the fastest growing firm in Total Joint implants and Consumer Sports Medicine under his leadership. Prior to joining DJO, Mike served as Group President, Orthopaedics for Stryker Corp. managing Stryker’s global orthopaedic businesses, which represented approximately $3 billion in revenue. Additionally, in his 22 years in the musculoskeletal space at Stryker, Mike served as Managing Director of all of Stryker’s divisional segments in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Mike is Chairman of the Board of Crossroads Extremity Systems and a Board Member of ProSomnus Sleep Technologies. Mike received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Colorado and has attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.
Leslie Trigg
CEO
Outset Medical
Leslie has served as our Chief Executive Officer since November 2014 and was elected Chair in 2022. She joined the Company from Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm, where she was an Executive in Residence from March 2012 to March 2014. Prior to that, she served in several roles at Lutonix (acquired by CR Bard), a medical device company, from January 2010 to February 2012, most recently as Executive Vice President, and as Chief Business Officer of AccessClosure (acquired by Cardinal Health), a medical device company, from September 2006 to June 2009. She also previously held positions with FoxHollow Technologies (acquired by ev3/Covidien), a manufacturer of devices to treat peripheral artery disease, Cytyc, a diagnostic and medical device company, Pro-Duct Health (acquired by Cytyc), a medical device company, and Guidant, a cardiovascular medical device company. Ms. Trigg serves on the board of directors of Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: ADPT) and on the board of directors of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. Ms. Trigg holds a B.S. degree from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from The Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.
Julian Nikolchev
Senior VP Corporate Development & Strategy
Intuitive Surgical
Mr. Nikolchev will attend the event to scout for new strategic partnerships and network with other strategics, investors and innovators.
Julian Nikolchev is Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy at Intuitive. He joined the company in 2019, bringing more than 25 years of experience in the development and commercialization of therapeutic medical devices, including start up formation, fundraising, team building, R&D management, clinical and pre-clinical strategies, operations, and general management.
He is the developer of several novel technologies and products in the field of arthroscopy, orthopedics, women’s health, interventional cardiology, neuroradiology, and minimally invasive access and delivery of devices and drugs. He is named inventor or co-inventor on more than 35 issued or pending patents. Nikolchev founded and co-founded several medical device companies, including Pivot Medical, a hip arthroscopy and sports medicine company; CardioMind, an interventional cardiology and neuroradiology company; and Pro*Duct Health, a medical device company developing technology for the early detection and treatment of breast cancer. He also served on the Board of Directors for Neocis, Neptune Medical Devices, and Escala Medical.
He received B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a M.S. Degree in Technology Management from M.I.T.
Noam Krantz
Vice President, Venture Investments - Medical Devices
JJDC
Mr. Krantz will participate on a panel and will attend Emerging Medtech Summit to scout for new opportunities and network with other strategics, investors and innovators.
Bringing nearly 20 years of experience in mergers, acquisitions and investing in healthcare and technology, Noam is building a portfolio of best-in-class medical technologies investments to compliment the strategic goals of the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices sector.
Noam earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of California Santa Barbara and a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia Business School. He began his career in investment banking, specializing in technology and healthcare companies. He has held various business development roles at Inamed Corporation, Mentor Corporation and Johnson & Johnson.
Noam is driven to help companies by bridging strategy and financial considerations to facilitate mergers and acquisitions, equity investment and collaborations.
Ann Hickey
VP Corporate Development, Medical Surgical
Medtronic
Christopher Cleary
Senior Vice President of Corporate Development
Medtronic
Chris Cleary has led Corporate Development for Medtronic since 2014. During this period, he has led more than 40 acquisitions with consideration of $64 billion, including notable deals like Covidien, NGC, Twelve, Smith & Nephew TruClear, HeartWare, Mazor Robotics and Epix. Chris also led the sale of portions of Medtronic’s non-strategic medical supplies business to Cardinal for $6 billion.
Chris also has responsibility for Medtronic’s venture investing business. In 2018, Ventures sold approximately half of its non-strategic investments to Sightline Partners, resetting Ventures to invest more aggressively in the future through its Boston based team of 7 professionals. Investments have risen past $100M annually since the reset. Most recently, Chris jointly leads Portfolio Management and Business Development, bringing together all facets of new business development origination and execution.
Prior to Medtronic, Chris worked at GE Capital, leading M&A teams that closed acquisitions worth $60 billion of financial assets across more than 200 transactions in the United States, Canada, Chile, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, Thailand and China. Chris also led numerous dispositions while at GE
Capital, including the sale of GE Access to Avnet; HNS Banco to Rabobank; Cantrex and Corbeil to Sears Canada; and the sale of GE Capital’s CLEC businesses to Eschelon Telecom.
Chris graduated from The Colorado College with a degree in Biology. He received the GE Capital Chairman’s Award for M&A excellence and was a member of the General Electric Business Development senior leadership council.
Jeff Peters
Venture Partner
OrbiMed
Jeff Peters is a Venture Partner with OrbiMed. Mr. Peters has over 25 years of medical device experience and currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Cardialen. From 2014 to 2017, Mr. Peters had several financial and operating consulting roles in public and private companies. Previously, Mr. Peters was the Chief Executive Officer of Anulex Technologies, a company developing minimally invasive spine therapies; he also served as the Chief Technology Officer of ev3 (now Medtronic) from 2001 2007. Mr. Peters’ prior financial roles include Portfolio Manager at Black River Asset Management, Entrepreneur in Residence at Foundation Medical, and Stock Analyst at Dain Rauscher Wessels. Mr. Peters received his B.S. and M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota.
Eric Schantz
VP Corporate Development, Cardiovascular
Medtronic
Eric Schantz is a Vice President of Corporate Development at Medtronic, currently focused on mergers and acquisitions in the cardiovascular portfolio, along with other strategic corporate transactions. Eric joined Medtronic in 2008 following several years as a sell-side equity research analyst covering numerous segments in medical technology including cardiovascular, orthopedics, ophthalmology, aesthetics, neuromodulation, and the insurance providers. Eric received a BS and MS in engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
DJ Sardella
Vice President – Corporate Development, Neuroscience & Diabetes
Medtronic
Seasoned M&A and commercial lawyer with 24+ years experience leading legal teams in transactional and business settings (in both private practice and in-house positions). Wide-ranging experience includes large transformational M&A (e.g., sale of part of Medtronic Patient Care business to Cardinal Health for $6.2B, Medtronic-Covidien merger, which was the largest completed inversion transaction in history), public company acquisitions (in the US and abroad), transactions supporting med tech “white space” strategy (value-based healthcare, new business models, etc.), 100's of venture capital transactions (for both issuers and investors), leveraged buyouts, fund formation (including formation of onshore and offshore China focused funds), innovative transaction structures (e.g., acquisition option agreements, incubator/outsourcing of R&D, and external funding of internal R&D, etc.), and commercial transactions (e.g., customer contracting, government contracting, distribution and agency agreements, joint ventures, etc.).
Deep and extensive experience in cross-border transactions and operating in global setting, having closed transactions across the world.
Leadership roles include: managing legal work and legal teams (in-house and outside legal counsel) in support of Medtronic world-wide M&A and strategic investment activities (averaging dozens of closed transactions per year); past role as Covidien attorney with enterprise-wide responsibility for customer contracting organization; and past role as General Counsel for Covidien's Sustainable Technologies business unit.
Tamir Meiri
Director, Venture Investments
Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc.
Tamir is tasked with leading supporting the investment process in Israel and Europe, working closely with JJDC and J&J stakeholders on developing and executing investment transactions across J&J’s sectors. Tamir's main focus is Medical Devices, Digital Technologies and Consumer products.
Tamir has a B.Sc in Chemistry from Tel-Aviv University and has extensive background in Bio-Medical engineering and entrepreneurship, as well as an MBA with focus on Finance, from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
Ali Farahanchi
Managing Partner
DHVC
Ali Farahanchi is Managing Director at DHVC, an early-stage tech and life science fund in Palo Alto. With more than $650M assets under management and 100+ companies in its portfolio, DHVC invests in variety of areas in healthcare including therapeutics, diagnostics and tools, and digital health, with strong emphasis on novel mechanisms and data-driven platforms. Previously Ali has worked in research and in consulting roles in semiconductor and healthcare industries, and has obtained graduate degrees in engineering and management from MIT and University of Chicago.
Matthew Schopp
Director, Business Development
Philips
Collaborative leader known for results-driven, hands-on business partnership and problem solving. Strategic thinker with a passion for utilizing strong analytical skills to challenge and improve the status quo, and a track record of delivering results with integrity and an attention to detail. Highly accomplished professional with experience in driving strategic top-line growth and profitability.
Matthew's professional experiences include work in business development and M&A, corporate finance, valuation and modeling, market strategy, tax strategy and planning, and equity research.
Specialties: M&A Experience; M&A Due Diligence; Strategic Planning; Business Strategy; Financial Modeling; Capital IQ; Microsoft Office: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Visio, Access; Cognos; SAP; Corptax; Accounting; Financial Analysis
Andy McGibbon
Managing Partner
Sonder Capital
Andy McGibbon has worked in the management consulting and life science industries, accelerating innovation across a wide range of company sizes. In 2017, he formed a consulting practice to support large and small medtech companies with defining business processes for identifying impactful unmet needs in healthcare and lead the subsequent efforts to identify, filter, and develop the associated innovations.
Prior to forming his consulting practice, Andy worked with medtech firms across the fields of cardiology, GI, ophthalmology, and pulmonology and worked as a life science strategy consultant with Capgemini Consulting.
Andy is a graduate of the Stanford University Biodesign Fellowship.
Finn Haley
VP Corporate Development
Edwards Lifeciences
Finn Haley joined Edwards Lifesciences as Vice President of Corporate Development in January of 2020. In his role, he is responsible for the corporate development team and the identification and vetting of strategic partnerships and/or acquisitions to continually optimize the company’s ability to provide innovative solutions with maximum patient benefit.
Prior to joining the company, Finn worked for 3M Company in Saint Paul, MN, where he served as the Senior Strategy & Business Development Director of the Medical Division. Also at 3M, Finn held positions of increasing responsibility, including Project Leader for Corporate M&A, Global Business Line Manager for Wound Care, and Strategy and Business Development in the Healthcare Business as well as the Critical & Chronic Care Division. Prior to 3M,
Finn worked in investment banking with Duff and Phelps Corp. and Piper Jaffray & Co, including coverage on the healthcare team before joining industry. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with Distinction from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, and an MBA with Honors from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Oleg Grodnensky
Managing Partner
PRIVETERRA
Founder of Priveterra Capital, focusing on LifeSciences and FinTech investments, and a Sponsor of Priveterra Acquisition Corp. I (NASDAQ: PMGMU), where he also serves as COO & CFO & Secretary.
Prior to launching Priveterra in 2020, Mr. Grodnensky spent over 20 years working in corporate finance, strategic advisory, business development and operations, buy-side and investments within the life sciences industry. Mr. Grodnensky started his career on Wall Street and spent over 10 years at various Healthcare Investment Banking groups, including UBS, ING Barings Furman Selz, Banc of America Securities, and before transitioning to leading operations and later principal investment roles. Most recently, Mr. Grodnensky was a Partner at physician-owned cooperative growth equity firm, Senior Advisor to a leading European generic pharmaceutical company, Founder/ Managing Director of cross-border healthcare advisory and principal investment firm.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Economics/Mathematics degree from Duke University.
Terri Burke
Venture Partner
Epidarex Capital
Ms. Burke will attend the Emerging Medtech Summit to scout for new investment opportunities and to network with fellow investors, strategics and innovators.
Terri is a Venture Partner with Epidarex Capital, where she leads the MedTech investment strategy. She is also co-founder and CEO of Protaryx Medical. Previously, Terri was a member of the Senior Leadership Team at Edwards Lifesciences and held multiple Vice President positions in the heart valve business, including managing a cross-functional technical development program, leading Global Marketing, and overseeing Business Development for several strategic acquisitions and partnerships. Terri has prior experience in health economics and reimbursement as a consultant with Covance and inproduct marketing with Guidant Corporation.
Terri holds a Board Director role with Raydiant Oximetry, is an active member of MedtechWOMEN and is a founding member of the Duke University Women’s Impact Network Athletics Leadership Council. Terri also acts as an Advisor for the Ignite Fire Pitch Competition. Terri holds a B.S. in Biology from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Southern California.
Kyle Dempsey, MD
Partner
MVM Partners
Kyle joined MVM in 2017. Prior to joining, he was a consultant at Bain & Company, working mainly in the healthcare practice to support medical device and healthcare provider clients. During his undergraduate and graduate education, Kyle was a prolific researcher and writer, publishing a half-dozen peer-reviewed papers on topics ranging from homologous chromosome pairing genetics to orthopaedic surgery outcomes. Kyle completed MD studies at Harvard Medical School and MBA studies at Harvard Business School. He also holds an AB in biochemistry from Bowdoin College.
Andy Harrison
Managing Partner
Section 32
Andy is a Managing Partner of Section 32, a venture capital fund investing at the frontiers of technology and healthcare.
Prior to Section 32, Andy was in leadership roles at Verily Life Sciences (previously Google Life Sciences) and X (previously GoogleX). Andy was the Global Head of Business and Corporate Development and a member of the executive leadership team at Verily. His team executed global go-to-market campaigns for a wide range of next-generation healthcare technologies building creative and pioneering partnerships, collaborations and joint ventures with some of the world’s top companies. Andy’s efforts directly contributed to Verily’s rapid scale, multi-billion dollar financing rounds and Verily’s efforts to address the opioid and Covid-19 epidemics.
Andy also co-founded the Verily Ventures program to make early-stage investments at the nexus of advanced technologies and healthcare. Under his stewardship, the program generated top-tier venture returns.
At GoogleX, Andy worked with a variety of projects across automation, quantum computing, life sciences, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other technology disciplines. He continues to serve as an advisor to various teams at X.
Prior to Google, Andy helped build and scale two businesses. One firm was seeded by Stanford University’s Endowment, which was successfully acquired while the second — a health-care oriented private equity and credit firm — is still active in San Francisco. He started his career at RBC Ventures at a fund which was a part of the DFJ Global Network.
Andy is a patented inventor with an Undergraduate Degree in Biochemical Engineering from McGill University and a Master in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Janelle Goulard
Partner, Health Investment
Pangaea Ventures
Janelle is attending the Emerging Medtech Summit to identify new investment opportunities.
Janelle Goulard is the Director of Health Investment at Pangaea Ventures, a world leader in advanced materials venture capital. Janelle has over 12 years of healthcare experience working in private investments, scaling ventures and management consulting. She has spent a large part of her career at GE Healthcare in the US and Europe working with both private and public health organizations. Janelle’s entrepreneurial endeavours include launching a population health technology platform that became a joint venture between GE and Microsoft. Janelle has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelors of Commerce from McGill University.
Pangaea Ventures is the world leader in advanced materials venture capital. Established in 2001, Pangaea has an outstanding portfolio addressing multi-billion-dollar markets in energy, electronics, health, and sustainability. Pangaea’s funds include twenty-four world-leading multinationals as strategic limited partners, including Asahi Glass, Asahi Kasei, BASF, Bekaert, Castrol/BP, CoorsTek, Doosan, Evonik, Henkel, JSR Corporation, Lam Research, Mitsubishi Chemical, Murata, Nitto Denko, PTT Global Chemical, SABIC, Samsung, Sekisui Chemical, Severstal, Solvay, TOSOH, Toyota Tsusho, and Umicore.
Howard Levin, MD
CEO
Deerfield Catalyst
Dr. Levin will attend the Emerging Medtech Summit to identify new investment and partnering opportunities.
A veteran in the field of biomedical engineering and cardiology, with a specialty in heart failure and transplantation, Dr. Levin brings more than 35 years of clinical and commercial healthcare experience to his role.
In 2003, with Mark Gelfand, Dr. Levin co-founded Coridea. His inventions and co-inventions have successfully launched or their patents helped launch companies including Ardian (Medtronic), CHF Solutions (Gambro), Respicardia (formerly, Cardiac Concepts), eValve (Abbott) and RenalGuard/Reprieve Cardiovascular (PLC Medical), Cibiem and Soffio Medical. He has held a number of positions in these companies including President, Chief Scientific Officer, Chief Medical Officer and VP of R&D.
Dr. Levin received his M.D. from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and his training in cardiology at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He also has a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering.
Tiffany Le
Healthcare Investor
New Enterprise Associates
Joining KPV in 2019, Tiffany brings over 7 years of experience working with stakeholders across the healthcare spectrum, including pharma, medtech, provider, and payer. She has conducted research on genomics in precision medicine and synthetic biology, and is particularly interested in the use of AI and technology to improve patient care.
Tiffany began her career as a Senior Life Sciences Consultant at L.E.K. Consulting, where she helped life sciences and healthcare clients tackle major strategic decisions including R&D/pipeline optimization, M&A, pricing strategies, and international expansion. During this period, Tiffany also spent time working in London and was on externship to Amgen working on Customer Experience and Innovation. Before joining KPV, she also obtained venture capital experience at GE Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners in the healthcare and life sciences sectors.
Tiffany holds a B.A. in Business and Economics from UCLA, with a minor in Film and Television Criticism, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Tak Cheung
Partner
New Enterprise Associates
Dr. Cheung will attend Emerging Medtech Summit to scout for new investment opportunities and network with fellow investors, strategics and industry.
Tak joined NEA in 2018 as a Principal on the healthcare team. He focuses on medical device investments.
Prior to NEA, Tak was a Venture Partner at Merieux Development Venture Fund where he led all phases of investment for healthcare startups, including sourcing, diligence and investment approvals. Tak also co-founded Lexington Medical, a commercial-stage medical device startup in the gastrointestinal surgery space. Prior to Merieux and Lexington, Tak was VP of Business Development for the Global Surgical Division at Bausch & Lomb, and was responsible for all business development efforts in the ophthalmic surgical division. Tak has held various corporate and business development leadership roles at Edwards Lifesciences in the Heart Valve Therapy Division and Advanced Medical Optics (acquired by Johnson & Johnson).
Tak received a BS with Honors in Engineering and Applied Science from the California Institute of Technology, an MD from the University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Debbie Lin
Executive Director
Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund
Dr. Debbie Lin is Executive Director at Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in the US and leads the Fund’s North American efforts in Digital Healthcare. She joined Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals in 2008. Within Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma, she worked across various regions and divisions. She has worked in Medical Affairs in the area of women’s health and later in Health Economics and Outcomes supporting all commercial product sales with large payers and providers accounts on the West Coast. She also led the US organization’s social entrepreneurship program in Boehringer Ingelheim’s Making More Health collaboration with Ashoka.
In 2013, she transitioned to Corporate Headquarters in Germany in Corporate Strategy and Development as Director of Corporate Development. There she was responsible for BI’s global development strategy, leading BI’s global venture into stroke rehabilitation. She led multi-country teams to set up the company’s first stroke rehabilitation centers in Shanghai, China and in Lisbon, Portugal.
Prior to Boehringer Ingelheim, she worked as a Public Policy Consultant for Pacific Health Policy Group supporting Medicaid Policy implementation in various states such as Vermont and West Virginia during the Clinton Administration. Her doctorate is in Pharmacogenomics and Bioinformatics from UCSF, she also has a Masters in Engineering from Stanford University and a Masters in Public Policy from UCLA.
Chuck Bush
President and CEO
Great Road Capital
Chuck Bush founded Great Road Capital, Inc. in 2004 and is a Managing Director at the firm. Chuck has over 25 years of experience as an investment banker, consultant, and Chief Financial Officer with a track record of originating complex financial transactions, including senior and mezzanine debt, equity, and M&A transactions. He has originated and participated in over $7 billion of transactions.
Prior to founding Great Road Capital, Chuck worked in JPMorgan’s Entertainment Industries Group, where he advised leading media companies in private and public placements of securities, M&A, and other transactions.
Chuck began his career at consultancy Monitor Group, where he advised Fortune 100 CEOs on strategy, M&A and LBO transactions.
Chuck received a BA in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Megan Preiner
Managing Director
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Megan M. Preiner is a managing director at Thomas H. Lee Partners. Prior to joining THL, Ms. Preiner worked in the Media & Telecommunications Group at Credit Suisse in New York.
Ms. Preiner is currently a director of Adare Pharma Solutions, Agiliti Health, Inc., Autism Home Care Holdings, Inc., Healthcare Staffing Services, Hospice Care and Senior Home Care Holdings, Inc. Her prior directorships include CSafe Global, Intermedix Corporation and Phillips Pet Food & Supplies.
Ms. Preiner holds a B.A. in Political Economy, cum laude, from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Ms. Preiner serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of Friends of Excel Academy, a network of charter schools serving the greater Boston area.
Frederik Groenewegen
General Partner
415 Capital
Frederik has over ten years of experience in investment banking and portfolio management (both equity and debt). He currently serves as a board member at R3 Vascular Inc. Prior to co-founding 415 CAPITAL, Frederik led new business development efforts at Regis Medical GmbH, where he sourced and evaluated new MedTech investment opportunities, leading the due diligence process for several early-stage MedTech deals. Prior to joining Regis Medical in 2016, Frederik worked in HSBC’s Leveraged & Acquisition Finance group in New York City where he structured leveraged loans and high-yield bonds for private equity-backed buyouts and corporate M&A transactions including several mid- and large-cap Healthcare deals. Previously, he was in charge of the day-to-day monitoring of HSBC’s US private equity-backed credit portfolio. Before moving to New York City, he was an Analyst at HSBC in London where he advised clients on cross-border M&A transactions and IPOs. Frederik holds an Hon. B.A. in Economics magna cum laude from the University of Toronto (University College), Canada.v
Matthew Vessa
Vice President, Business Development
Hologic
Passionate Medtech executive specialized in building high performing teams and applying rigorous business principals to identify, develop, and commercialize innovative technologies in high growth markets. Success encompasses diverse environments ranging from venture backed medical technology to Fortune 500 companies with significant board level experience. Well spoken, confident, energetic and personable individual with strong leadership, business acumen and strategic marketing skills.
Expertise in multiple medical device market segments including: cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, electrophysiology, gastroenterology, general surgery, robotics, oncology, and neurology
Specialties:
Market Analysis
Strategic and Tactical Business Planning
Upstream and Downstream Marketing
New Product Development
Business development, M&A
Post merger integrations
Recruiting and Developing Talent
P&L Management
Product Lifecycle Management
Channel Management
Budgeting/Forecasting
Project Management
KOL Development
Cross-Functional Team Leadership
Behram DaCosta
Sr. Director (Venture Capital, Partnerships)
Sony Innovation Fund
Dennis McWilliams
Partner
Sante Ventures
Mr. McWilliams will attend the Emerging Medtech Summit to identify new investment opportunities for Sante Ventures and network with industry executives.
Dennis has dedicated his career to bringing innovative life science ideas to the market. He is the Founder of SparkMed Advisors, a boutique advisory focusing on bringing creative solutions to medical device commercialization. Dennis previously was the Founder of Apollo Endosurgery [NASDAQ: APEN] and served as CEO for nine years from the company’s inception until 2014, where he assumed the role of President and Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to Apollo, he co-founded Chrysalis BioTechnology‚ a development stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel drug therapies for tissue regeneration‚ including bone‚ cartilage‚ and dermal soft tissue. He started his career at the IC2 Institute, a think-tank based in Austin, Texas focused on applied research in entrepreneurship and commercialization. Dennis received a Bachelor of Science with honors from the University of Texas in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Stanford University.
He has served on the Board for the Texas Exes and the University of Texas Men’s Athletics Council. In 2007, he was given the Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award by the University of Texas, in 2016 was named a Distinguished Engineering Graduate from the University, and in 2019 was named to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni for the Aerospace Engineering school. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on entrepreneurship and innovation in medicine and serves as faculty for the B.E.S.T. Innovations Courses taught at the prestigious IHU Institut de Chirurgie Guidée Par L’Image in Strasbourg France, Taiwan, and Brazil.
Rik Vandevenne
Managing Director
River Cities Capital Funds
Rik brings over 17 years of healthcare experience to River Cities, including deep private
and public healthcare company investment experience. Rik focuses primarily on medical
device and healthcare IT investments. He is actively engaged alongside management in the
financing, marketing, product development, operations and identification of bolt on
acquisitions.
Prior to RCC, Rik worked with venture backed companies in the strategy of group of Scient,
an eBusiness consulting firm. Before Scient he worked at Andersen Consulting (Accenture),
first in the healthcare services group and then at the Internet Center of Excellence where he
helped launch several venture-backed companies as well as worked on the team that
developed the online music platform for BestBuy.
Rik serves on the board of Bardy Diagnostics, was on the board at EndoChoice (IPO and
then sale to Boston Scientific) and was an observer at Veran Medical (sold to Olympus) and
Pioneer Surgical (sold to RTI Surgical).
Academic credentials
BE Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University; MBA, Duke
Outside of RCC
Rik enjoys spending time with his wife and three daughters, going to North Carolina
beaches and tinkering on his track car. He is a Boston native but escaped the cold to live in
the Research Triangle Park in NC.
Sean Cheng
Partner
Philips Ventures
Sean is a Partner at Philips Ventures and leads North American investment activities. He is interested in both digital health and medical device investments relevant to the Philips strategic roadmap sitting on boards of early stage companies in virtual care/RPM, cathlab, patient monitoring, and SaaS solutions for providers. Sean has more than 15 years' experience working in healthcare, previously holding positions with Philips corporate strategy, The Boston Consulting Group, U.S. FDA CDRH, and NASA. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he developed algorithms and simulations for medical device applications. He enjoys mentoring the next generation of inventor-founders and sits on the Advisory Council at his alma mater The Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Stephen Ralph
Innovation & Incubator Leader
W.L. Gore & Associates
Stephen K. Ralph, MSc is an award-wining Executive Influencer and Marketer with passion for crafting and delivering strategic solutions that catalyze revenue growth, accelerate sales, and disrupt markets with innovative technology. Stephen brings a wealth of hands-on expertise in exceeding expectations and “moving the needle” within the medical device space in acute care, physician’s office, and day surgery center environments. By leveraging strong clinical insight, Stephen has evangelized cardiovascular, cardiac surgery, heart failure, and digital health device innovations from conception to global commercialization.
Through a series of rapid promotions, Stephen’s career has evolved within the medical device and healthcare industry, focused on innovation and commercialization. Stephen is currently the Divisional Marketing Leader Product Innovation with W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. within the Product Incubator, Medical Products Division. Providing a solid platform for success, Stephen graduated from the University of South Wales with a Master in Science. Through continuous professional education, he has also earned the distinction of having Chartered Marketer status. Stephen has actively participated and excelled in the Executive Education Stanford School of Business in the Biodesign Managing Innovation program as well as Alere’s Executive Leadership Edge Development Program. Rounding out Stephen’s education, he holds a Six Sigma Certification.
Through his evolving and progressive career, Stephen started out as a Cardiac Physiologist where he gained first-hand insight and clinical expertise working at both Brook General Hospital and St. May’s University Hospital, both in the United Kingdom. After leaving the clinical side, Stephen enhanced his skill-sets by taking on sales and marketing roles, first with Baxter Healthcare, then joining Medtronic as European Product Marketing Manager, Corporate Ventures and inevitably as European Business Unit Manager, Heart Failure Management where he drove Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) from clinical through to commercialization within Europe. Following his success, he was recruited to the United Stated to define, develop, and lead integration efforts for GE Healthcare during their launch of world’s 1st integrated electronic patient anesthesia system with patient monitoring and connectivity into Electronic Medical Records into the US and international markets. Stephen catalyzed double-digit growth and solidified GE as an advanced market leader.
Following GE Healthcare, Stephen joined CardioMEMS, now Abbott Laboratories, as first a Director, then Vice President and Program Director, Heart Failure Management. Stephen crafted and executed strategic and tactical business plans to establish the Heart Failure Management and Remote Patient Monitoring program from the ground up. He was instrumental in ascertaining FDA approvals to spike unprecedented growth in net worth representing 90% of the company value, leading to the $425M acquisition by St. Jude Medical.
Stephen then began a tenured career with Alere, Inc., now Abbott Laboratories, in which his career escalated, with rapid promotions based on outstanding success, from Director of Market Development to President of Veterinary Diagnostics. Stephen was instrumental in developing 9 innovative products, driving double-digit growth and global expansion across the US, Japan, Germany, and China. Stephen is currently the Divisional Marketing Leader Product Innovation with W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. working collaboratively and leading cross-functional teams in identifying multimillion dollar market opportunities for sustainable, differentiated solutions. Stephen also regularly attends major accredited scientific conferences and symposiums and strives to continually stay up to date on the latest technologies and innovative advancements.
Balancing out his successful, professional career with over 2500 professional LinkedIn contacts is accomplished with the steadfast support from his wife Sandra. Stephen and Sandra have been married for 16 years, and counting, and together, they enjoy sailing in Pacific coastal waters and dining out at new restaurants, with varied cuisines, especially within the “Gas Lamp” district in San Diego, CA. Stephen enjoys vacationing in coastal Mediterranean countries and has travelled to multiple continents where he immerses himself within the culture, history, and the hospitable people native to the regions.
Daniel Teo
Managing Partner
Hunniwell Lake Ventures
Daniel is a career CFO/COO who has directly led 29 investments, totaling more than $500 million. He has also orchestrated divestments of a similar scale and arranged hundreds of millions of dollars of debt financing for various companies in the US, Asia, South America, and the Middle-East. He was an early innovator in several private asset-backed investment trusts between 2007 and 2011, and the driver behind the establishment of a small $10M in-house venture fund for a Fortune Global 50 company. He has consulted for a number of Silicon Valley venture funds that are focused on commercializing leading-edge US technologies in China.
Daniel has been a CFO for both private and publicly-listed companies, start-ups as well as Divisional CFO for Fortune 500 companies. He has been involved in the medical devices space since 2007 and was most recently, the CFO of Reach Surgical, where he was also responsible for the international business and all its international joint ventures.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences with an emphasis on medical physics from Cambridge University, a Master’s degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, as well as, finance and accounting qualifications from the ACCA in London. While at Cambridge and at Stanford, he was respectively, a Cambridge Commonwealth Fellow and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow.
Nicholas Mourlas
Sr. Director New Ventures
Johnson & Johnson Innovation
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is the world's largest healthcare company, and its group of Innovation Centers is a unique vehicle to accelerate early innovation and enhance opportunities for collaboration and investment across J&J's healthcare businesses. Nick’s role within the New Ventures group at the CA Innovation Center (IC) focuses on medical device innovation in support of the general surgery, orthopedics, and cardiology businesses. His charge is to identify licensing, collaboration, and investment opportunities highly aligned with J&J business strategies by building relationships with entrepreneurs, venture investors, and key opinion leaders. The New Ventures team employs a broad array of deal structures in order to best fit the specific needs of the innovation opportunity, often in collaboration with JJDC [equity investments] and JLABS [incubator]. Website: http://www.jnjinnovation.com
Christopher J. Velis
Founder & Executive Chairman
Miraki Innovation
Chris is a prolific entrepreneur and venture capitalist who has pioneered some of the most innovative medical technologies brought to market in the last decades. As Founder and Executive Chairman of Miraki Innovation, Chris forecasts imminent global health and medical challenges, uncovers technologies at leading research institutions and assembles teams of industry experts to solve these global problems. Chris not only offers investments guidance and critical research and industry connections, but also helps guide each portfolio company along the fund's proven, proprietary process that reduces new venture risk and enhances returns.
Companies developed by Chris have created considerable value. Investments, returns and valuations from seven companies founded, developed and/or brought to exit by Chris have benefited from more than $5.77 billion in returns realized to all investors through exits. A recent example is Auris Health which was recognized by CNBC as one of the 50 most disruptive companies in the world. The Auris transaction was proceeded by a number of ventures by Chris that set gold standard for motion preservation, regeneration of cartilage and soft tissue through the use of novel peptides and regenerative medicine. Throughout his 27-year career, Chris has represented more than 150 medical device companies in a variety of business transactions including licensing agreements, joint venture partnerships and M&A.
Nicholas Pachuda
Senior Vice President
J&J Innovation (former), Peptilogics (current)
Mr. Pachuda will attend the Emerging Medtech Summit to identify new investment opportunties.
Nick was the leader and Worldwide Vice President of Orthopedic Innovation for the J&J Medical Device Group. He was responsible for making J&J the partner of choice for Orthopedic Innovators around the world. He works to find the best external sources of science, technology and talent to bring transformational and clinically translatable orthopedic solutions to patients. He has worked in all segments of Orthopedics including sports, extremities, trauma, joints, spine, digital surgery and tissue regeneration.
Nick was in clinical practice for 10 years specializing in Foot & Ankle Surgery after completing his fellowship in Orthopedic Trauma.
Kevin Cheng
Partner
MVM Partners
Kevin joined MVM in 2016. Prior to MVM, he worked across the life science and healthcare sector as a consultant at Bain & Company. Kevin completed his PhD in Oncology at the University of Cambridge, where he conducted translational research in the field of neural development.
Kevin is a member of the board of Zipline Medical, Inc.
Al Wiegman
Head, Fresenius Medical Care Ventures
Fresenius
Mr. Wiegman will attend Emerging Medtech Summit to network and identify new investment and strategic partnering opportunities.
With over 20 years of experience in venture capital, I have a profound understanding of how challenging it is for entrepreneurs to create and build successful companies, and how vital it is to choose the right partners and investors to successfully navigate the journey.
During my tenure, I have generated a successful track record across the technology and healthcare sectors. I have directly participated in 35+ early-stage venture investments in software, healthcare IT, medical devices and healthcare services. A hands-on board member and an achievement-oriented investor, I am passionate about investment and value-creation processes combined with a unique blend of strategic and operational expertise. I am adept at actively assisting portfolio companies to formulate corporate strategies to facilitate growth, financings and exit opportunities.
Patrick O'Neill
Managing Director, Venture Capital Investments
Connecticut Innovations
Mr. O'Neill is an active early stage medtech investor and is Managing Director of Venture Capital Investments for Connecticut Innovations.
ZiHan Lin
VP, Business Development
Ronovo Surgical
BD, commercialization and marketing executive with 10+ years of operating experience in medical device industry and proven track record of organizational growth management and strategic market development in Greater China and South Korea. Educational background includes MBA from Harvard and Biomechanical Engineering degrees from Stanford. Bilingual leader well-versed in corporate cultures in the healthcare industries of both Greater China and the United States.
David Sym-Smith
Venture Partner
Mobility Ventures
Mr. Sym-Smith is attending the Emerging Medtech Summit to identify new investment opportunities and scout the future of medtech.
David Sym-Smith, is a Partner at Mobility Ventures who is a 25 year mobile industry veteran with a solid record of building multi-million dollar operations from scratch along with profitable exits. Most recently, David served as Interim CEO at IndoTraq, the developer the fastest and most precise wireless indoor 3-D tracking system.
David has served as senior executive of global corporations as well as at multiple startups. He has a proven record of success in launching new markets, turnarounds, starting new business groups, building sales channels, introducing new products and services, winning market share and exceeding revenue and sales goals.
Prior to joining Mobility Ventures, David served as the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer of Tele Atlas. David managed global marketing, strategic planning, and product development for this leading global provider of digital maps and location content. Company doubled in size and was sold to TomTom for over $3 Billion. Previously David served as the SVP of Global Business Development and Marketing at InnoPath, where he managed global marketing, product development and business development for InnoPath the industry leader in over-the-air (OTA) software updates and mobile device management (MDM) solutions. He Increased market share to 70% and revenue by more than 100%. David also helped launch Command Audio Corporation as Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, successfully leading the company from beta to launch to spin-off, growing the company from 20 to over 100 people with over $80M in funding from Tier 1 VC’s and strategic investors (partially acquired by iBiquity).
David was a member of the founding core management team of Aerial Communications, serving as Regional President; he helped grow the organization from a mobile telecom start-up from early pre-launch phase, to a large entity with a $1.1B market cap within one year and was sold thereafter for more than $3.0B to T-Mobile (VoiceStream). At Sprint Spectrum he led Marketing and Product Development in launching the first PCS network in the country and first GSM network in the Americas. Helping build a startup into an 800-employee, $150M revenue business in only the second year of service, and exiting with Sprint PCS’s purchase of operating control
David has also held senior management positions at CellularOne, AT&T, GTE, Saint-Gobain (France) and The Hay Group. He holds an M.B.A. from Pennsylvania State University – Smeal College of Business.
Jeremy Koff
Vice President, Strategy & Business Development
Tribeca Private Equity
Jeremy works in Business Strategy at Tribeca Companies. With more than 20 years of strategic and marketing medical device experience focusing upon early stage MedTech. Jeremy has worked for companies with combined exits of over $8 billion. Prior to joining Tribeca Companies, he was Head of Clinical Development at Mainstay Medical, a pioneering neuromodulation company. He has also worked at Advanced Bionics Corp., Boston Scientific, MiniMed Inc., Bioness Inc., and Alfred Mann Foundation, among others.
Jeremy holds a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College, a Master’s of Public Affairs from Indiana University, and an MBA from UCLA. He is an active classically trained musician, supporter of the arts, and is a former board member of the Guitar Center Music Foundation and Fender Music Foundation.
Peter Stebbins
Executive Chairman of Board
Nurami Medical
Peter is attending Emerging Medtech as a panelist at pre-conference summit focused on Family Offices and is looking forward to brainstorming with conference attendees about his portfolio of companies and his insights from 30 years at J&J
Peter is a Bus Dev and Operating executive well-established in the medtech ecosystem. After a distinguished run at J&J where he led in diverse roles across the Ethicon (surgical) and Depuy Synthes/Codman (ortho/neuro) markets and evaluated, bought, built, sold, and nurtured companies, Peter has recently begun his next phase.
He is now Executive Chairman of Nurami Medical, a late clinical stage sealant/bio-scaffold company as well as a strategic advisor to AcuityMD, a Benchmark-funded SaaS targeting platform for med device companies, OnPoint Surgical, a founder funded Augmented Reality company and Voluware, a bootstrapped and profitable cloud and API-based system that has solved for the complexity of Prior Authorizations. He is a Chemical Engineer from Princeton and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Richard Fang
Managing Partner
Hunniwell Lake Ventures
Richard is the former CEO at Reach Surgical, a surgical instruments company, where he spent 15 years growing the company into an industry-leading, international brand with presence on six continents. His tenure there culminated in the recent sale of the company to private equity. During his time at Reach Surgical, he was the architect in a series of investments in the US, South America, China and Korea. These investments totaled more than $40 million and doubled the company’s revenues over three years. He also managed the construction and transition to a new 215,000 sq ft manufacturing facility.
Prior to Reach Surgical, he led a variety of R&D projects at J&J in the US. Richard holds a degree in Electrical Engineering, has an MBA from the University of Cincinnati as well as a Ph.D. in Medical Imaging from Purdue University.
He is now the Founding Partner and Managing director of Hunniwell Lake Ventures, where he is using his experience to launch a new fund that will invest in overlooked segments of the medical device space.
Scott Huennekens
Chairman Of The Board
Vida FLaSH Acquisitions
Huennekens has more than 25 years of experience in the medical device industry, specializing in clinical advancement through innovative R&D and technology-based initiatives. He currently serves as Executive Chairman of the Board for Acutus Medical (IPO in 2020). He has held a number of executive leadership roles within the healthcare industry, accelerating the next generation of digital surgery for Verb Surgical and leading Volcano Corporation, an image guided therapy device company, to its IPO in 2006. He holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. Huennekens currently sits on the boards of public companies Viewray and NuVasive.
Allan May
Venture Partner, Medtech Convergence Fund
Co-Founder, Life Science Angels
Allan brings over 30 years of early stage medical device investing to the Medtech Convergence Fund (MCF) and he is also Co-Founder of Life Science Angels.
The Medtech Convergence Fund is a $90M (2020) fund focused on early stage medtech deals.
Life Science Angels is a Bay Area early stage investment group focused on supporting innovative biotech, medical device, diagnostic and mobile health companies. Allan was also co-founder of Emergent Medical Partners, a $70M venture fund focused on early-stage medical device and diagnostic companies. Allan has been Chairman or CEO to 10 start-up medical device and diagnostic companies, and an investor in over 65 medtech, biotech, and diagnostic start-ups since 1995. In addition, Allan co-founded Nanostim, developer of the first Leadless Cardiac Pacemaker, and Hyalex Surgical, developer of synthetic cartilage for total joints.
Robert Davis
Family Office Partner
RD Heritage Group
Robert Davis's passion is to capitalize on unique market opportunities in the medical, real estate, energy, food and biotech markets. Robert worked to provide capital resources for the technology under development at ACTUS Biotechnologies. Robert Davis and his family invest their own money in transactions and/or team up with family offices, private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, pension funds, endowments and wealth advisors. His deep institutional relationships allow him to provide substantial investment resources to nascent technologies. Robert has arranged over $1B of capital.
Robert Davis received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan with a minor in Creative Writing. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with High Honors, 3rd in his class and was a James B. Angel Scholar and member of the University of Michigan President's Advisory Committee, a seat he held for over one year. Medical school training was at University of Miami. Internal Medicine Residency training was at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Robert Davis is Board Eligible in Emergency Medicine.
David Kereiakes
Partner
Providence Ventures
David joined Providence Ventures as a Partner in 2018 where he has helped lead the formulation of the firm’s medical device investment strategy. David also helps support investment strategy and decision processes in software and service focused businesses.
Prior to joining PV, David worked for River Cities Capital Fund (“RCCF”), one of the most active and experienced growth equity funds in healthcare and information technology. David most recently was a Principal on the healthcare team having served on deal teams across all healthcare verticals.
Additionally, David served as President and Board Member of Mid-America Health Investors Network (MHIN), where he represented over 60 active healthcare funds with offices spread throughout Middle America.
David currently or previously served as a Board Director, Board Observer, or co-led financings for TailorMed, MacroHealth, OrthAlign Inc., Bolder Surgical, AVIA Health, Veran Medical (sold), NICO Corp., TissueTech (sold), and Advanced Practice Strategies (sold).
Earlier in his career, David served as a principal, sales associate, and investment advisor with American Financial Group and completed extensive financial, consumer branding, and sales and marketing training programs with Merrill Lynch and Procter & Gamble.
David graduated from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and received his MBA with a concentration in finance from Xavier University’s Williams College of Business.
David and his family remain active in the Seattle and Cincinnati communities supporting various initiatives targeting behavioral health, education and youth programs, veteran affairs, and medical research programs.
J.C. Ruffalo
Venture Partner
Cove Fund
J.C. (Jeffrey Charles) Ruffalo recently joined Cove Fund as a Venture Partner. Prior to joining Cove Fund, J.C. was the Director of LaunchPad and Investor Relations at Octane OC, a top 5 of over 900 SBA funded incubators in the US. During his Octane tenure, J.C. advised and assisted over 300 companies in a wide range of innovative technology industries successfully attain strategic goals. These companies raised over $2 billion in capital and realized over $2.6 billion in M&A. Of the more than 10,000 high paying technology jobs created, 85% were in Southern California. These companies include Hyperice, Bonti, EV Connect, AtaCor Medical and Enevate.
J.C. believes that nurturing and maintaining strong relationships between entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors is key in successful venture partnerships. J.C. received a BS in in Entrepreneurship and Finance, and a minor in Economics from Chapman University Argyros School of Business.
David Hendren
Managing Director
Augmentum Ventures
Seasoned, results-driven leader experienced in identifying, launching, spinning-out, funding, building, scaling, and turning-around opportunities in healthcare and technology; strategy; operations; partnering; commercialization; and exits. Experience from roles including founder, VC, CEO, Board Chair, counsel, and advisor. Specialized in start-ups; enterprise incubation/creation; venture finance; developing/supporting early-stage and growth-stage ventures; turnarounds; and special opportunities.
Jon Soberg
Managing Partner
MS&AD Ventures
Jon Soberg is Managing Partner at MS&AD Ventures, where he and his team invest in early stage investments in companies with great teams who are changing the world. Jon is ranked #13 on Business Insider's Seed 100 list of top seed investors.
Jon is especially interested in companies that are helping to secure a better future, including financial inclusion, risk analysis and mitigation, climate change, and security. Jon has been investing heavily in Fintech throughout his career and especially focuses on finance companies and business models that are helping people.
Jon has been an early stage venture investor for over a decade and has made over 120 investments across 5 continents and has held more than 40 board positions. Many of Jon's investments are worth billions including Addepar, Biocatch, Braze, Clubhouse, DoubleVerify (DV), Fundbox, Hippo, Next Insurance, Nutanix, REEF Technology (ParkJockey), Rubrik, STEM (STEM), Trulioo, and Yotpo.
Jon is a Senior Fellow at Wharton Customer Analytics, and as a Lecturer at Wharton, Jon has advised and lectured on go-to-market and growth marketing strategies, pricing optimization, financial analysis, operations management.
Prior to becoming an investor, Jon was a serial entrepreneur and operator, with an IPO exit at Adforce. He also managed technology and operations for a $70B lending operation at Ditech.com/GMAC Mortgage, leading directly to his expertise in lending investments.
Jon is a Palmer Scholar at Wharton, and holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Brad Murray
Senior Associate
Xontogeny
Bradley Murray is a Senior Associate at Xontogeny where he leverages his diverse skillset to engage biotechnology companies seeking financing and partnership.
Most recently, Brad spent 5 years as a computational biologist and managing the build out of T-cell therapeutics platform capabilities at Intellia Therapeutics. While at Intellia, Brad applied his expertise in genomics, gene editing, and machine learning to enable both in-vivo and ex-vivo CRISPR/CAS9 therapeutics to enter the clinic for the first time.
Prior to Intellia, Brad was a computational associate at The Broad Institute where he developed algorithms for the analysis of cancer genome sequencing data. His work at the Broad Institute led to novel drug targets, clinical trials in new indications, and publications cited over 10,000 times.
Brad holds a BS in Biology and Economics from Georgetown University and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship from Boston College.
Anthony Williams
Partner
HealthQuest Capital
Anthony Williams joined HealthQuest in 2019. Before joining HealthQuest, Anthony spent eight years at Globus Medical, Inc. (NYSE: GMED), a multinational medical device company focused on developing products that promote healing in patients suffering from musculoskeletal disorders. He served in a variety of leadership roles during his tenure at Globus and ultimately spent the last 3½ years as President of the company. He currently serves as a board member on portfolio companies ENT Specialty Partners and 83bar, and as an observer for Magnolia, TigerConnect and Trice.
Prior to joining Globus Medical, Anthony was a partner with Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP, a law firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he specialized in corporate and transactional work for high growth life sciences companies and their investors, including public and private financings, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic transactions, and corporate governance matters.
Throughout his career, Anthony has been a frequent speaker to entrepreneurial groups, such as the Durham, NC-based Council for Entrepreneurial Development. He previously served on the board of directors of SEBIO and is currently a mentor to entrepreneurs through the Philadelphia-based Mentor Connect, a program sponsored by Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT), and Austin-based Texas Health Catalyst, a collaborative initiative of Dell Medical School and the University of Texas at Austin, both of which provide much-needed mentoring to inventors and entrepreneurs.
Anthony holds a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Wake Forest University.
Anthony lives in Austin with his wife and two sons, with whom he enjoys hiking and traveling.
Andrew Meadow
General Partner
Health Innovation Capital
A senior principal investor and healthcare innovation, corporate finance, business development and commercial strategy executive with over 23 years of multinational experience in Venture Capital, large pharma, early to mid-market stage bio/med tech companies, and investment banking. Over his career Andrew has established himself as a proven relationship builder and deal maker across all facets of the healthcare innovation continuum, from product concept development to launching best in class treatment modalities. During this time, Andrew cultivated a successful track record for building blue chip investor syndicates, growing businesses, and originating, negotiating, and executing pharmaceutical licensing, alliances/partnerships, and acquisitions that generated significant shareholder value and tangible financial returns.
His success as a healthcare venture capitalist and senior healthcare operating executive results from a unique ability to combine a strong clinical foundation in the underlying epidemiology of several therapeutic areas and tenured experience in clinical and program management with a successful track record in business development, new product creation, and commercializing innovation. This established track record is in no small part the result of Andrew’s ability to bridge the divide that often exists between these disciplines to create and achieve shareholder value that yields significant Net Cash on Cash exit multiples.
Maxwell Bikoff
Principal
Longitude Capital
Mr. Bikoff is a Principal at Longitude Capital. Prior to joining Longitude Capital in 2016, Mr. Bikoff held a series of strategy, finance, and operating roles at Cardinal Health. While at Cardinal Health, he worked to deploy over $6 billion of capital through M&A and minority investments. Most recently, Mr. Bikoff was the Director of North America Marketing for the Cordis cardiovascular franchise. Mr. Bikoff currently serves on the board of Polares Medical and is a board observer at Ceribell, Endogenex (formerly known as DyaMX), and Nalu. He previously served as a board observer at Amphora (acquired), Eargo (EAR), and RxSight (RXST), and was also actively involved in Longitude Capital’s investment in Axonics Modulation Technologies (AXNX). Mr. Bikoff began his career in Deloitte Consulting’s Life Sciences Strategy practice and holds a BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.
Varun Gupta
VP
Longitude Capital
Mr. Gupta is a Vice President at Longitude Capital. Prior to joining Longitude Capital in 2020, Mr. Gupta was a Consultant in the MedTech practice at L.E.K. Consulting, where he focused on growth strategy and M&A for corporate and private equity clients in the medical device industry. He holds a BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering from the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University.
Eliott Harfouche
Managing Partner
Nodes Advisors
Eliott is the Managing Partner of Nodes Advisors and the Head of Corporate Finance Group. In his role, he oversees the company’s advisory functions globally, and leads the Corporate Finance activities across Europe, Switzerland and China.
Eliott has been an advisor for dozens of clients on early-stage investments since he first joined the Venture Capital industry. Prior to founding Nodes Advisors, he was an Investment Manager at Polytech Ventures, where he oversaw early-stage investments of ~USD 50M across Switzerland.
Before transitioning to Venture Capital, Eliott worked as a Strategy Consultant advising large healthcare and pharma companies on growth strategies, and helping Private Equity firms conduct Due Diligence on companies in the Gulf region.
Mark Bosland
President - Founder
New Harbor Venture Partners
As the founder and president of New Harbor Venture Partners (NHVP), Mark brings over 28 years of experience in raising capital for and investing in healthcare and life science companies. Mark founded and successfully managed Rockport Venture Partners (RVP), an exclusive placement agent operating in that space, from 2001 to 2017. As one of the first and only agents to introduce the new European venture capital community to US life science companies, the firm successfully closed 15 transactions and raised more than $170 million in its first five years. From 2005 to 2014, Mark was also a founder of and general partner at the Rockport Venture Fund, investing exclusively within the life science industry.
Before founding RVP, Mark was a director at Quan Ventures, a Swiss-based technology crossover venture fund, and worked on Wall Street raising capital for both private and public companies from European investors.
Mark holds a BS in Economics from Rutgers University, is a steadfast Scarlet Knights fan and loves to return to Block Island, Rhode Island as often as he can. His lifelong interest in the ocean and connection to New Harbor on the island was the inspiration for the name of his new venture.
Robert Lake
Managing Director
Runway Growth Capital
Rob joined Runway Growth Capital in 2020 as Managing Director and Head of Life Sciences.
Prior to Runway, Rob was Managing Director, Life Sciences with Bridge Bank (a division of Western Alliance Bank), a commercial bank that provides venture debt, where he founded and built the life sciences practice. Prior to Bridge Bank, Rob served as Executive Director, credit and portfolio management for Oxford Finance, LLC, a venture debt lender, where he helped build out the west coast practice. Previously, he has held leadership positions with Silicon Valley Bank, Fifth Third Bank, FINOVA Capital Corporation, and the American Medical Association. In the past decade, Rob has deployed over $1.5 billion of debt to life sciences and health care companies.
Rob graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration from Aurora University.
J. Christopher Mizer
President & CEO
Vivaris Capital
J. Christopher Mizer founded Vivaris in June of 1998. Vivaris (formerly Lake Erie Capital) invests in and acquires middle-market businesses in a broad range of industries that are leaders in their market niches. Mr. Mizer serves as the chairman of each of the portfolio companies and guides key strategic decisions and their execution. He also serves as the operating president on an interim basis when companies are going through periods of ownership succession and new management team members are being assembled.
Mr. Mizer is a former Vice President and Officer of the investment banking division of Key Capital Markets, where he focused on merger, acquisition, and financing projects for Fortune 500 clients, private companies, and successful entrepreneurs. Prior to joining Key Corp., he was Consultant in the Capital Markets practice with Ernst & Young.
He began his career as a Research Assistant with The Center for Economic Issues, a think-tank focused on economic development. He earned the B.S. (biology, applied math), B.A. (economics), M.S. degrees (biology - neurogenetics), and MBA (finance, accounting) degrees from Case Western Reserve University.
Christopher has taught business strategy, finance and entrepreneurship at the graduate level at Case Western Reserve University, John Carroll University, and the University of California, San Diego and at the undergraduate at San Diego State University.
David Hood
Senior Advisor
MTEC
David emphasizes the efficient pursuit of non-dilutive funding to support technology, product and business development. He specializes in helping companies work with the US government, particularly the US military/ DOD medical community.
Sean Freeman
SVP Strategy & Corporate Development
NuVasive
Sean Freeman serves as senior vice president, strategy and corporate development. In this capacity, he oversees global corporate and geographic strategy, leads inorganic and venture initiatives, and manages the integration function.
Prior to joining NuVasive, Mr. Freeman held the same role at the Cole-Parmer Instrument Company and led corporate development at Life Technologies, a global life sciences tools company acquired by ThermoFisher in 2015. Prior to Life Technologies, he was an investment banker in the M&A group at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. Mr. Freeman is a CFA charterholder, holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of the Witwatersrand, and earned a master’s degree in business administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Michael Chen
Senior Director, Strategy, Business Development and Pipeline Marketing
Edwards Lifesciences
Rachel Rea
Director, Business Development & Strategy, Surgical Innovations
Medtronic
David Thompson
General Partner
415 Capital
David has over 35 years of experience in corporate management, audit and finance, the last 25 years in the MedTech sector. He is an experienced MedTech investor and entrepreneur. He has invested in over 20 MedTech companies and co-founded and managed several European MedTech distribution companies over the past 23 years, including Regis Medical GmbH, Ovum Ventures GmbH (sold to Medtronic 2009), and Cardiologic GmbH (sold to Boston Scientific in 2002). Following Boston Scientific’s acquisition of Cardiologic GmbH, he served as Finance Controller for Boston Scientific in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Prior to joining Cardiologic GmbH as Co-General Manager in 1996, David was the CFO of Chiron Adatomed GmbH, a German subsidiary of Chiron Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIR). Prior to that, he worked in Ernst & Young’s Munich office, advising on corporate M&A transactions. David holds a degree in Accountancy from the University of Birmingham, UK and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ACA, ICAEW).
Kazuki Sakamoto
Senior Planner, Strategic Planning Department
Teijin Holdings USA
Kazuki is a Senior Planner of Healthcare Business in Teijin’s Strategic Planning Department and has been developing its healthcare business since 2007. His diverse roles in the healthcare field include engineering for a medical device factory, business development for the CPAP business, and M&A activities to acquire a core orthopedic implant business in Japan. Kazuki relocated to the United States in 2019 to support growth initiatives in the Home Healthcare division through investments in early-stage Medtech.
Academic credentials
BE and ME in Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan.
Neal Mody
Partner, Managing Director
Zoic Capital
In 2014, Neal founded Zoic to address the systematic underfunding of early-stage medical technology startups. He supervises Zoic’s operations as well as providing strategic and operational guidance to Zoic’s portfolio companies.
Neal has over a decade of successful experience in the tech startup space. In 2007, Neal co-founded Ambature, a company which has made meaningful scientific strides towards marketable, large-scale production of room-temperature superconductor material. Neal served as Ambature’s initial CEO and maintained an active managerial role until 2013. To date, Ambature has raised over $20 million and holds over half of the room-temperature superconductor patents in the world.
Neal’s accomplishments at Ambature have made him a valuable and trusted source of advice for other CEOs. He has served on the Board of Directors of seven other startups and has offered guidance to over a dozen more through his mentoring role at Creative Destruction Labs.
Neal is co-host of the Market Meditations Podcast.
Jim Walker
President & Co-founder
Access Strategy Partners
Jim Walker is President and Co-founder of Access Strategy Partners Inc, a key accounts management firm providing proven commercialization capabilities for leading-edge MedTech companies. A visionary leader and healthcare executive, Jim has more than 30 years of global professional experience in Sales, Marketing, Sales Operations and National Accounts management with Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson.
Kevin Donovan
Director, Strategic Partnerships
Access Strategy Partners
Kevin Donovan is a highly trained sales professional with 20+ years’ experience building new markets within IDNs, ACOs and hospital systems, driving revenue growth and improved competitive market position. As Director, Strategic Partnerships for ASPI, Kevin leads Commercial Team support and New Business Development activities including client engagement on progress toward business plan goals plus global customer/client analytics.
Prior to ASPI, Kevin spent 15 years in positions of increasing responsibility with Johnson & Johnson, most recently with the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of J&J.
Robert Phelps
COO & Co-Founder
Access Strategy Partners
Bob Phelps is a business growth and transformation expert with experience in medical device, life science, and high-tech businesses. In his role as co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of ASPI, Bob is responsible for guiding the team to achieve the company’s growth plan, treasury and finance, HR, IT, and quality and risk management while engaging our team members to embrace the company’s culture and values. Bob has a unique background, having led sales, marketing, finance, business development and collaboratively managed investor relations and operations. He is an expert with commercial operations and scaling companies.
In his 20 years with Johnson & Johnson, Bob led both the finance and sales functions for the orthopedic business, where revenues tripled to $300M during that time. He built the revenue platforms for two start-ups - BioSphere Medical (embolic device) to $50M+ revenue and ConforMIS (patient specific knee) to $40M revenue. He has led the Commercial teams for robotic surgery and complex software engineering firms.
Nancy Kerbs
Partner, VP Marketing
Access Strategy Partners
Nancy Kerbs is Vice President of Marketing for ASPI. In this role, she is responsible for the development and execution of marketing strategies and plans to strengthen the value proposition of ASPI clients’ commercialization efforts. Nancy also leads the creation and management of ASPI brand messaging, strategic communications, sales enablement, and public relations activity to accelerate adoption of solutions ASPI offers both medical device companies and healthcare providers.
Nancy’s career spans more than 25 years working with organizations ranging from start-up companies to global brands including Procter & Gamble and Hasbro, as well as Imagitas (now a division of RV) and Linkwell Health.
Antonio Sanchez-Cordero
WW Vice President, Business Development, Peripheral Intervention
BD
Global executive with more than 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry, leading mid-to-large size multinationals in the areas of business development, strategy and M&A. Experienced at leveraging inorganic growth to build sustainable businesses while further developing the organizational capabilities and the innovation pipeline of the organization. Team player used to leading in international multi-decision level environments through a focus on addressing change management, collaboration, and efficient decision-making.
Akhil Saklecha
Managing Director
Cleveland Clinic Ventures
Dr. Saklecha is the Managing Director of Cleveland Clinic Ventures where he leads investments into startup companies for one of the world’s top healthcare systems. He currently sits on the boards of Cardionomic, Cell-X Technologies, Centerline Biomedical, Cleveland Diagnostics, Method AI, Neurotherapia, XII Medical, and Zehna Therapeutics.
Jason Halac
Director, Emerging Technologies, Dexcom Ventures
Dexcom
Jason is the co-founder of Dexcom Ventures where he leads technology scouting and strategic pipeline development. He is a seasoned innovator in the medical device field and a key contributor in Dexcom product development over the past decade.
Committed to Dexcom’s mission of ”Empowering people to take control of diabetes” he has advanced the simplicity, reliability, and comfort of Dexcom’s continuous glucose monitoring systems. Jason has been a prolific inventor and is named on well over 100 worldwide patents and patent applications.
With Dexcom Ventures, Jason is chartered with building a portfolio as value-added strategic investors by leveraging access to Dexcom’s unique industry expertise and technology leadership.
Prior to Dexcom, Jason held a variety of engineering and leadership roles as a consultant and with Black and Decker. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from San Diego State University.
Steve Pacelli
EVP, Managing Director, Dexcom Ventures
Dexcom
Steve Pacelli is Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Dexcom Ventures.
In this role, Steve is focused on investment opportunities in sensing technology, data analytics, remote patient monitoring and population health, broadening Dexcom’s commitment to advancing better outcomes in healthcare.
Prior to this role, Steve was Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development from 2012 to 2021. Since joining Dexcom in April 2006, Steve has served in roles of increasing responsibility, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Vice President of Legal Affairs.
Prior to Dexcom, Steve served as a corporate attorney specializing in finance, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters, and in an executive role as general counsel of several privately held companies.
Steve currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Biocom California, the largest and most experienced leader and advocate for California’s life science sector. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Connect, a community nonprofit supporting innovators and entrepreneurs in Southern California by providing access to investors, mentors, and education, and as a member of the Board of Directors of EvoNexus, California’s leading non-profit startup technology incubator.
Steve is also a dedicated philanthropist, choosing to focus his efforts as a member of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego, an organization dedicated to creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Pacific Ridge School, a group of dedicated and informed community leaders who are passionate about the value of education and are committed to building and strengthening the school.
Steve earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a JD from the University of Virginia. He is a member of the State Bar of California.
Tyler Stowater
Partner
Bluestem Capital
Tyler J. Stowater is Partner and Vice President of Bluestem. He graduated from South Dakota State University with a BS Degree in Agriculture Economics (1984) and a MS Degree in Economics (1986). Tyler spent eleven years with the State of South Dakota's Bureau of Finance and Management. During his tenure, Tyler held the position of budget analyst, state economist, and deputy commissioner. In 1997, Tyler left the State to become an Assistant Vice President at Citibank South Dakota with business analysis responsibilities in the North American Cards Customer Service Unit. Tyler joined Bluestem in 2000 and is currently in charge of portfolio management with responsibilities including the evaluation of prospective companies, structuring, negotiating, and performing due diligence for various investments made by Bluestem. He monitors and provides assistance to existing portfolio companies and holds multiple Board of Director positions. In the spring of 2016, Tyler was given the Distinguished Alumnus award at the 62nd Annual Celebration of Excellence in Economics at South Dakota State University. Tyler is married to Joni (Klosterman) and they have two children, McKenzie (Otterberg) and McCord.
Christopher Campbell
DePuy Synthes - Director, Front End Innovation
Johnson & Johnson
Global strategic leadership experience within the health care and biomedical industries with a focus on delivering innovative products and systems that advances patient care.
Sascha Berger
Partner
TVM Capital Life Science
Sascha Berger, PhD, joined the TVM Capital Life Science team in Munich in 2016. He is active in deal flow generation, investment due diligence, deal and exit transactions, investor communication as well as corporate finance aspects of the fund.
Sascha has a strong financial background with almost ten years of professional transaction and strategy experience. He has a track-record of concluding 20 M&A transactions, five of those he led as responsible project manager in his previous role as Senior M&A Manager in a PE backed global corporation. He was a core team member in a successful EUR 2.5bn revenue cross-border merger and successfully coordinated global merger clearance procedures (USA, China, EU, Korea).
Prior to this recent role, Sascha successfully advised multiple renowned clients in corporate finance and strategy projects working as (senior) consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Boston Consulting Group. He was selected for the global leadership development program in his previous role and was named a global high-potential in PwC.
Sascha studied technology management in Munich, Singapore and Boston and holds a Master from Munich University of Technology with majors in entrepreneurial finance and chemistry, magna cum laude. In his master thesis he analyzed the specific challenges of biotech VC financing rounds. Later he completed his PhD studies in banking and finance while already working for PwC. He is a regular speaker on corporate finance topics for German universities and business schools.
During his studies he already supported TVM Capital Life Science part-time; he supported the IPO of a German technology company at Deutsche Bank and advised Private Equity funds at Deloitte in summer internships. He lived in Singapore and New York, co-founded a student initiative on Entrepreneurship in Munich and in his spare time enjoys triathlon and world travelling.
Catello Somma
Associate
TVM Capital Life Science
Catello Somma, MBA, joined the TVM Capital Life Science team in January 2020. He is active in deal flow generation, investment due diligence, deal and exit transactions, investor communication as well as fundraising support.
Catello is biotech start-up founder with more than ten years of clinical development and corporate development experience. Prior to this role, Catello worked for a mid-cap biotech where he supported the development of immuno-oncology assets, both internal and in partnership with big pharma, and the preparatory work for a successful licensing in opportunity.
Catello holds an MSc in Molecular biology and an MBA with major in finance.
Ryan Kaeding
Managing Director, Med Tech Investment Banking
Raymond James
Ryan Kaeding joined Raymond James in 2021 as a managing director focusing on medical technology. Mr. Kaeding brings more than 15 years of health care transaction experience, including the last nine years at Piper Sandler focused on med tech clients. At Piper Sandler, Mr. Kaeding completed over 65 med tech transactions, spanning sell-side and buy-side M&A, IPOs, public and private financings, structured financings, divestitures, spin-offs, converts and debt financings. He previously worked at St. Jude Medical in business development for the cardiovascular division and began his career in audit at Deloitte. Mr. Kaeding has an MBA with honors from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Business and degrees in accounting and finance from the University of North Dakota.
Ben Austin
Director of Business Development
Minnetronix
Jim Gilbert
Executive Advisor
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Mr. Gilbert is an executive advisor to Thomas H. Lee Partners. He brings forty years of experience in strategic and operations value creation for life sciences and healthcare companies as an investor, executive, board member and advisor.
In addition to his role at Thomas H. Lee Partners, Mr. Gilbert works at Flagship Pioneering where he supports the firm’s strategic development, value growth, nutritional health and health security activities. Prior to Flagship, Mr. Gilbert served as a senior advisor to the investment firm General Atlantic and as a senior operating executive at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. Prior to those roles, Mr. Gilbert served as group president of the Global Cardiovascular Group and executive vice president of corporate strategy, business development, marketing and health economics and reimbursement at Boston Scientific. Prior to that, Mr. Gilbert worked at Bain & Company for over twenty-four years serving as chairman on the management committee, and the managing director of Bain’s Global Healthcare Practice with a focus on serving medical technology, biopharmaceuticals and life science tools clients. As a leading member of Global Strategy Practice at Bain, Mr. Gilbert was a published author and speaker, sharing insights on medical technology and pharmaceutical industry strategic trends and issues as well as “profit pool-based” and “strategic principled-based” strategy implementation.
Mr. Gilbert holds a B.S. in industrial engineering and operations research with high distinction from Cornell University School of Engineering and an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Bob Yedid
Managing Director
LifeSci Advisors
Bob has over 25 years of experience as a buy-side analyst, portfolio manager, private equity investor and investment banker. He has extensive experience with health care companies, especially in the medtech, diagnostics and biopharma sectors. Bob focuses on providing CEOs and CFOs with strategic advice on key investor issues in order to enhance stock valuation through effective and compelling messaging and clear, consistent communications with institutional investors. Bob’s experience and perspective as an investor in public and private health care companies informs his strategic investor relations work for companies with market capitalizations from $50 million to over $5 billion. He has worked with medtech, diagnostic and biopharma areas in providing ongoing investor relations advice as well as working on IPOs, follow-on offerings and equity-linked securities. In addition, Bob has advised companies in M&A transactions, dual track processes, and C-suite executive transitions. Before joining LifeSci, Bob was a Managing Director at ICR in Healthcare IR. Prior to ICR, Bob was a Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst at Principled Capital, a fund with $1.5 billion of AUM, for 10 years with responsibility for all health care investing. Prior to Principled, he was a Vice President at Warburg Pincus, one of the world’s largest private equity and growth capital firms, investing in health care. Bob was a member of the Board of Directors of The Medicines Company (MDCO) and Eurand international, which was acquired by Forest Labs. He spent 15 years in investment banking, including serving as Managing Director in Health Care Finance Group at Bear Stearns & Co. (now JP Morgan), having worked on capital markets and M&A transactions in excess of $5.0 billion. Bob earned a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Ken Toda
Sr. Director, Medical Device Unit, Kaneka US Innovation Center
Kaneka Americas
Ryan Kelly
General Manager
Innovation Lab
Ryan operates in the frontlines of health innovation at the intersection of biomedical research, innovation, commercialization, and transformation. His work spans the entire landscape of product and service innovation, from translating unmet needs into products in market, to helping hospital systems foster a culture of innovation. Ryan brings nearly 20 years of experience in research, innovation and commercialization to his role at Innovation Institute’s incubator, the Innovation Lab. At the Lab, he leads a talented team of professionals across the country, and together they manage partnerships with seven major hospital systems and alliances with organizations including the Cleveland Clinic, Boston Scientific, Dell, and Deloitte. They collaborate with 200,000 medical professionals affiliated across those seven systems to develop, commercialize, and bring new products and solutions to patients and the market at scale.
Ryan has amassed a long list of accolades including closed deals, strategic partnerships (industry, academia, venture), grants and fellowships, guest speaker at national and regional industry groups, and published nine peer-reviewed articles. Ryan blends his health, tech, and business mindsets to not only translate unmet needs into implemented solutions at scale, but also advise organizations and their leaders on innovation and transformation. He enjoys the opportunity to guide and empower "frontline" medical professionals to create innovative products and services that will improve the quality of healthcare for all.
When Ryan isn’t working to improve healthcare across the US, he can be found enjoying the sun and surf with his wife and children in Orange County, CA.
Thomas Vogelsong
Angel Investor, Life Science Advisor, and Director of Deal Flow
Kyto Technology and Life Science
I am an Angel investor in MedTech as well as an advisor/investor/consultant with a number of startups in the medtech area. I am a Life Science Advisor and Director of Deal Flow for Kyto Technology and Life Science, and act as a scout for innovative early stage companies in medtech, biotech and tech. I have technical expertise along with business development and executive experience in startups as well as in medium size and large companies. I have helped companies raise capital as well as setting a vision for growth, develop a plan to get there, and helping them execute their plan to achieve success. I have demonstrated these capabilities in growing revenues and delivering cutting edge products particularly in sensors and systems for medical, commercial, consumer, industrial, scientific, and defense applications.
Pierre Olivier
Independent Board Member
Medicalib
Pierre is board member in various medtech and digital health start-ups both in USA and Europe.
He was in charge the acquisition of Medicrea by Medtronic in 2020 for more than $200M
Medicrea has pioneered the creation of artificial intelligence surgical planning combined with personalized implants in spinal surgeries.
Anthony Natale
Managing Partner
Aperture Venture Partners
Anthony Natale, M.D. has over 20 years of experience in healthcare venture capital and entrepreneurship as a physician, inventor, founder, operator, and investor. He blends his extensive investment and start-up experience with a background in clinical medicine. Dr. Natale has been active across a variety of areas in medical technology, life sciences and services. A committed board member, he works alongside management teams to devise optimal clinical and commercial strategies, bring operational discipline to rapidly evolving enterprises and effectively access capital markets.
Dr. Natale has worked closely with his portfolio to drive over $20 billion of highly profitable exits, via both IPO and strategic acquisitions. He has been a founder, investor and/or director of many companies, including Mako Surgical, Inspire Medical, XLumena, Spirox, Devoro, Otonomy, Entrigue Surgical, Channel Medsystems, Neuros Medical, Entellus, Cortica, Avedro, XII Medical and ENT Specialty Partners.
Prior to joining Aperture, Dr. Natale started his career by building MDS Capital’s Medtech practice in Boston and subsequently was a partner with Prism Ventures in Boston and California. He trained in General Surgery and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Connecticut and Hartford Hospital before transitioning into entrepreneurial activities. He received a B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Virginia, an M.D. from the University of Florida and an M.B.A. from Yale.
Irvin Akinseye
Associate
Longitude Capital
Mr. Akinseye is an Associate at Longitude Capital. Prior to joining Longitude Capital in 2020, Mr. Akinseye was an Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs, where he covered financial technology companies. Mr. Akinseye holds a BA in Health and Human Biology, and Economics from Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude.
Nirav Dalal
Divisional Vice President, Global Data Science & Analytics
Abbott
Nirav Dalal leads the Global Data Science and Analytics function at Abbott medical devices. Nirav is interested in methods and tools to improve healthcare and create value using “Big Data” and machine learning. He has published more than fifty peer-reviewed journal articles, conference abstracts and US patents.
Azin Parhizgar
Sr. Venture Partner
415 Capital
Dr. Azin Parhizgar served as Chief Executive Officer, President and Board Member at Claret Medical. She is an experienced and successful medical device industry executive and entrepreneur. Prior to Claret Medical, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of Conor Medsystems which led to the acquisition of the company by Johnson & Johnson, Inc. in 2007. She spent one year post-merger with Johnson & Johnson for full integration of the companies. Between 1996-2000 she held the position of Executive Vice President for Arterial Vascular Engineering, which was acquired by Medtronic. She spent two years at Medtronic post-merger in increasing roles of responsibility leading to her role as Executive Vice President of Emerging Ventures and New Technologies. Dr. Parhizgar has served as an advisor to emerging medical device technology companies including several Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board positions. Dr. Parhizgar received both her Ph.D. in Cell, Gene and Tissue Engineering and her M.Sc. in Biomechanical Engineering and Artificial Organ Design from Brown University.
Dan Galles
Partner
Providence Ventures
Dan is a Partner at Providence Ventures (PV) where he focuses on investments in the healthcare information technology, healthcare services, and medical device sectors. Dan joined PV in 2015 and leads the team’s investments in: Gauss Surgical, Lyra Health, Omada Health, One Medical, Press Ganey, and Twistle.
Dan has been investing in and partnering with management teams of early and growth-stage companies in the healthcare industry for over 20 years. Prior to joining PV, Dan was a partner at HLM Venture Partners where he led or co-led investments in 14 companies including: Confluent Surgical, Redbrick Health, ClearData, Silverlink Communications, and CBR Systems. Prior to HLM, Dan was an associate at venture capital firm J.H. Whitney and Company and an Analyst in the healthcare investment banking group at Alex. Brown & Sons.
Dan has an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and a BS in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dan lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where he and his wife enjoy spending much of their time following the athletic pursuits of their three teenage children. Dan is an avid sports fan and enjoys playing golf and pick-up basketball with his friends and family.
Aliza Ehrlich
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Deerfield Catalyst
Adam Rosenwach
Chief Business Officer
Deerfield Catalyst
Since 2016, I have led fundraising and closing on over $100M of seed/early stage Medtech deals resulting in the formation and development of seven new companies.
I joined the Coridea team in 2014 and currently function as the Chief Business Officer of Deerfield Catalyst, an incubator partnership between Coridea and Deerfield Management. My current responsibilities include innovation management, managing all financial aspects of the incubator and its portfolio companies, and business development.
I am a member of Wharton's 46th Executive MBA class. Prior to my career in healthcare, I attended the Berklee College of Music and continued my career producing music and managing artists through my production company that I began at age 16. During this period of time I also pioneered music technology programs in public schools throughout New York City and founded a travel consulting company to assist clients in acquiring and maximizing credit card points and miles. I am a board member of the Bronx Arts Ensemble, where I sit on the education committee.
Jay Watkins
Partner
Sonder Capital
Jay Watkins has over 30 years experience founding and funding healthcare companies. Jay’s career in healthcare began when he co-founded Origin Medsystems, a venture funded medical technology start-up that was acquired by Eli Lilly & Company and later spun out as part of Guidant Corporation (NYSE: GDT).
He served as president of several Guidant divisions, led its global business development activities, and later served as a managing director at DeNovo Ventures. Jay lectures at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign.
He is widely sought after for his strategic insight and knowledge of structuring M&A transactions and currently serves on the boards of several healthcare companies, including Shockwave Medical (NASDAQ: SWAV), Avail Medsystems, RefleXion Medical, Tissium and Neptune Medical.
John Genova
Senior Vice President
Cambridge Consultants
With over 30 years experience in medical sales, marketing and product development, John leads the Medtech Innovation and Business Development at Cambridge Consultants. John has led various projects involving leading edge medical devices, creating solutions for our client’s needs. John is also the commercial lead for Cambridge’s Smart Implant Development team.
Prior to this, John was the OEM Director for Baxter and Cardinal Healthcare, creating new business ventures that included three manufacturing facilities, various outsource allegiances (domestic and international) and developing intellectual property.
Nick Pliam
Partner
Decheng Capital
Dr. Nick Pliam joined Decheng Capital at its inception in 2011 and is based in its Menlo Park office. Trained as an orthopedic surgeon and endocrine physiologist, he leverages a combination of scientific, clinical, entrepreneurial and investment experience to build and support life science companies. He currently serves on the boards of CardiMED, Centricity Vision, Ketai Medical, Nalu Medical, and Polares Medical.
Dr. Pliam was previously a venture partner at Bay City Capital, serving on the board of Nevro (NYSE: NVRO), which was incubated at Bay City to become a global leader in neuromodulation for chronic pain management. He was also a board member of Aragon Surgical (acquired by Aesculap) and IDev Technologies (acquired by Abbott). Dr. Pliam has served as an advisor to several pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, and as managing director of a New York-based boutique investment banking firm. He co-founded of Pharmagenesis, which focused on drug discovery from natural products, and Guided Delivery Systems (now Ancora Heart).
Dr. Pliam earned his undergraduate degree in German Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, completing year-long studies at Georg August Universität in Göttingen, Germany. He received his MD from Dartmouth Medical School and PhD in Endocrine Physiology from the University of California, San Francisco. Following general surgery residency at UCSF, he completed orthopedic surgical residency at the Stanford University Medical Center. He was a staff physician in orthopedic surgery at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Stanford Medical Center.
David Lewis
Founder, Managing Partner
Gilmartin Capital
David has 25 years of healthcare experience evaluating Medical Device, Life Science Tool, Diagnostic and Digital Health companies and advising boards on strategic and financial direction. Prior to founding Gilmartin Capital, David was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and Head of Morgan Stanley’s medical technology equity research practice for the last 15-years. He was a top ranked analyst at Morgan Stanley and in the Institutional Investor (II) Medical Supplies & Devices annual poll. Before joining Morgan Stanley, David was a partner and top ranked medical technology analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners and a founding member of the healthcare practice. David received a BA in healthcare policy with honors from the University of Pennsylvania.
David serves as an advisor to Equalize Health, a non-profit that is developing medical devices for underserved populations. He lives outside of San Francisco with his wife Lynn, daughter Olivia, son Jack, and dog Tucker. David is a struggling guitar player, recovering a cappella singer, and he loves the mountains in any season.
Justin Norden
Partner
GSR Ventures
Justin Norden is a Partner at GSR Ventures, where he focuses on early-stage investments in digital health. Prior to GSR Ventures, he was CEO and co-founder of Trustworthy AI which was acquired by Waymo (Google self-driving). He worked on the healthcare team at Apple, co-founded Indicator (an NLP based platform for biopharma decision making), and helped start the Stanford Center for Digital Health. As an academic he is an award winning machine learning and bioinformatics researcher with 20+ publications. Finally, Justin is a former professional athlete and 3x world champion in ultimate frisbee. Justin received his MD from Stanford University School of Medicine, MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, M.Phil in Computational Biology from the University of Cambridge, and BA in Computer Science from Carleton College.
Richard Marritt
Chief Marketing Officer
Hillrom
A dynamic and results oriented executive with a unique combination of marketing, P&L management, and business development experience. An entrepreneurial leader with a proven record of building successful biopharmaceutical and medical device businesses in both developed and emerging markets.
Specialties: Business Development,Marketing,International Business,Sales,Medical Devices,Healthcare Services,Negotiation, P&L Management
Diana Saraceni
Co-founder & General Partner
Panakes Partners
Founder of Panakes, Diana has over 20 years of international experience in managing Venture Capital investment funds, through which she invested in over 60 start-ups across Europe. After several years of experience in the strategic consultancy sector at A.T. Kearney, Diana worked as Senior Advisor in the Investment Banking division of Lazard. In 2001 she co-founded 360 Capital Partners, a leading pan-European Venture Capital firm. She is a member of several national and international committees (EU and US) for the selection and promotion of innovative start-ups. She has also co-founded and chaired the International Venture Club, an association that brings together the main European venture capital firms. She is frequently involved as Scientific Advisor to Life Sciences conferences and acting in or chairing juries for the allocation of public funds at Italian, European and US level (i.e. Premio Marzotto, Life Star Awards, EIC H2020 and National Cancer Institute-SBIR initiative).
Eyal Lifschitz
Co-Founder & General Managing Partner
Peregrine Ventures
Eyal Lifschitz, General Partner and Co-Founder of Peregrine Ventures. On behalf of the Fund, Eyal serves on the Boards of many of the portfolio companies, including Valtech Cardio, NLT Spine, and CardioNova. Prior to founding Peregrine Ventures, Eyal co-founded and led the business development efforts of a number of medical technology companies including PharmaSys (acquired by Elan Corp. NYSE:ELN), ECR (acquired by AVX Corp. NYSE:AVX), Visioncare Ophthalmic Technologies, and BioControl Ltd. From 2003-2007 Eyal also served as a Director of Given Imaging (NASDAQ: GIVN).
Casey Tansey
General Partner
U.S. Venture Partners
Casey Tansey joined USVP as a general partner in April 2005. A veteran of the medical device industry, Casey brings over 25 years of entrepreneurial, early-stage medical device and seasoned operating experience to USVP.
Casey’s extensive operations experience brings more to the table than strategic counsel — he adds empathy to that mix.
“As a CEO, it was important to me when board members really shared our passion and understood organization-building focused on improving healthcare for patients. CEOs need venture capitalists that leverage their network of contacts, help identify the best partners, and share the company’s vision. USVP takes this approach.”
Casey’s investment strategy is a lot like his strategy as a CEO: identify unmet clinical needs where patients are in need of new and improved products and services. At USVP, Casey focuses on the trend toward the miniaturization of devices and the development of minimally-invasive technologies that promise innovations in the delivery of medical products and services, especially in cardiovascular products, orthopedics, spinal care and neurology.
Casey’s passion is to strive for delivery of medical services with fewer traumas to the patient and improved quality of life. Innovations shaping this trend include minimally invasive technologies. During his tenure as CEO, President and board member of Epicor Medical from 2001 to 2004, Casey, along with a dedicated team, pioneered a minimally invasive treatment for atrial fibrillation and transformed the Company into a recognized market leader, and he led Epicor’s acquisition by St. Jude Medical.
Prior to Epicor, Casey was CEO, President and board member of Heartport, a public company that helped pioneer minimally invasive cardiac surgery, which is now a Johnson & Johnson company. Before that, he was with Baxter Edward’s Cardiovascular Division for nearly ten years, holding various sales and marketing positions. During his tenure at Baxter, Casey was involved in launching innovative heart valve products that have grown to be the market leaders.
Casey’s recent board activities have included Inspire Medical (IPO), IntersectENT (IPO), AtheroMed (sold to Volcano), Nanostim (sold to St. Jude Medical) and SentreHeart (sold to AtriCure). Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors for Dstillery, HeartFlow, Highlife Medical, Inspire Medical, Intuity Medical, Neochord, Neuros Medical, PlaceIQ, Shiratronics, Shoulder Innovations and Standard Bariatrics. In addition, Casey served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Heart Foundation, an organization dedicated to advancing humanitarian efforts in heart surgery worldwide through education and collaboration.
Casey holds a B.S. and M.B.A. from the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, CA.
Jake Goble
Innovation Leader
W.L. Gore & Associates
Jake Goble earned both his MS and PhD degrees in bioengineering from Arizona State University. After graduating in 2007, Jake moved to Flagstaff, Arizona to work as a Product Specialist within the Medical Division at W.L. Gore & Associates. As a Product Specialist, Jake demonstrated his versatility while contributing at a high caliber across a vast array of areas including clinical trial design, FDA regulatory submissions, product launches, marketing strategy, sales support, litigation depositions, product design, quality control, etc. His leadership role allowed him to influence engineering and business teams toward the development of new medical devices for the treatment of congenital heart defects. After seven years in this position, Jake transitioned to a role within Gore to focus on upstream strategic marketing within Gore’s Aortic business unit. Here, Jake was responsible for the development and execution of brand strategy for the GORE® EXCLUDER® Aortic Abdominal Aneurysm product line while helping to pave the road for market access of developing product iterations. During his two years in this role, Jake completed his MBA with a focus in International Business. Subsequently, Jake accepted a business leadership role in Gore’s Structural Heart followed by Gore's Cardiac Business. Currently, Jake leads Gore's Medical Products Division's Innovation Business where he seeks to define a portfolio of growth opportunities that will contribute to our efforts to improve the lives of patients. Over the years, Jake’s vast experience has yielded multiple peer reviewed publications and patent applications, and various speaking engagements at international interventional cardiology congresses.
Erich Wolff
SVP, Corporate Development & Strategy
Becton Dickinson (BD)
Tiffany Wilson
President & CEO
University City Science Center
Tiffany brings more than 18 years of leadership transitioning innovative medical technologies from benchtop to bedside, building partnerships across academia, industry and economic development organizations.
Susan Windham-Bannister
CEO
Biomedical Growth Strategies, LLC
Susan Windham-Bannister, Ph.D. has been a director at Histogen since March 2021. Dr. Windham-Bannister is an internationally recognized expert in innovation, market access and market optimization strategies. She has been recognized by Biosphere as one of the “10 Most Prominent African American Science Leaders,” the Boston Globe as one of the “10 Most Influential Women in Biotech,” by Boston Magazine as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Boston” and is the President of the National Board of Directors of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). Dr. Windham-Bannister currently serves as the President and CEO of Biomedical Growth Strategies, LLC and as immediate past President and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), a state-funded investment organization charged with administering a $1-billion Life Sciences investment fund created by Governor Deval Patrick in June 2008. These advisory firms and other organizations leverage Dr. Windham-Bannister’s experience as a business strategist.
Before assuming her role at the MLSC, Dr. Windham-Bannister was a co-founder and Managing Partner of Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions (ABS), a boutique consulting firm of 300 experts serving life sciences companies. She also led the firm’s Commercial Strategy Group, which formulated market access and competitive business strategies for global clients. In her 35-year consulting career, she has been instrumental in the successful launch of numerous well-known therapeutics, medical devices and novel biomarkers, and has supported several high-profile M&A transactions. Her client base has included Fortune 50 life sciences companies (Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, Roche), technology (IBM, GE), large healthcare delivery systems and health plans (Partners, Humana, BlueCross and BlueShield), and financial services companies (CIGNA, Prudential, The Hartford, CitiGroup).
Dr. Windham-Bannister received a B.A. from Wellesley College, a Doctorate in Health Policy and Management from the Florence Heller School at Brandeis University, and a Doctor of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (honoris causa). She completed her doctoral work at the Heller School under a fellowship from the Ford Foundation and was also a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School. Dr. Windham-Bannister also served as a Fellow in the Center for Science and Policy (CSAP) at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
Jennifer McCaney
Executive Director
UCLA Biodesign
Jennifer McCaney, PhD, is the Executive Director of UCLA Biodesign, an early-stage innovation program for healthcare technology and Associate Director of the UCLA CTSI. Jennifer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and a Lecturer at the Anderson School of Management where she leads courses on disruptive technology and entrepreneurship in healthcare. A co-founder of Hourglass Technologies, a Stanford Biodesign company, Jennifer led early product development and also launched the MedTech Innovator Accelerator, which grew from an initial cohort of 20 companies to over 150 alumni with a combined $700M in funding. Jennifer has worked extensively with start-up companies in medtech, digital health and diagnostics, as well as business development executives from leading manufacturers, including J&J, Amgen, Baxter, BD, Olympus, and others in her role as the Director of MedTech Innovator. A Fulbright Scholar, Jennifer completed her PhD in mechanical engineering at Stanford and MS in biomedical engineering from the University of New South Wales. Jennifer holds an MS and BS in mechanical engineering from MIT where she was a Draper Fellow and a BS in management science from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Janani Reisenauer, MD
General Thoracic Surgery/Interventional Pulmonary Medicine Vice Chair, Innovation, Department of Surgery
Mayo Clinic
Dale Koop
Chief Science Officer
MRP
Founder and Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of developing businesses, markets and ideas in the medical device and aesthetics industry. Strong business development professional skilled in medical device start ups, new market development, international business, biotechnology, capital equipment, skin care, biomedical engineering, and optics.
Ilana Lam Gotlib
Senior Director, Business Development
Stryker
I am an energetic and fast-paced healthcare professional, with experience in medical device alliance management, product development, strategic marketing, and commercial strategy. I have a multi-disciplinary understanding of the healthcare industry, with prior experience as a litigation attorney in the life sciences sector.
My recent accomplishments include:
• Establishing strategic corporate alliances and partnerships which produce innovative new products, technologies and business models to best serve patient needs.
• Identifying, assessing and executing business development opportunities for the purposes of inorganic growth, including co-marketing opportunities, licensing, mergers or acquisitions.
• Influencing, communicating and negotiating with multiple stakeholders across functional and business unit boundaries, under sensitive deadlines.
• Receiving the Johnson & Johnson Leadership Award for exemplifying cross-functional leadership and delivering business results during two international product recalls.
• Serving as guest speaker, “Breaking down silos to align product portfolio management”, Q1 Productions.
Jim Corbett
Board Chairman
Alucent Biomedical
James "Jim" Corbett has more than 30 years of leadership experience in the medical device field. Over the course of his career, Mr. Corbett has held the positions of Chief Executive Officer, Alphatec Spine (ATEC.nasdaq) Vertos Medical, ev3 Inc (evvv.nasdaq) Chairman and CEO Microtherapeutics (MTIX. nasdaq) Home Diagnostics Inc.; President, Boston Scientific International; and General Manager Baxter, Japan, as well as a number of executive roles in his 11 years at Baxter Healthcare.
Josh DeFonzo
CEO
Lux Health Tech Acquisition Corp.
CEO and Director of Lux Health Tech Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: LUXA), a $345M Special Purpose Acquisition Corp focusing on generational companies innovating at the intersection of healthcare and technology.
Jean Nehme
VP Strategic Partnerships, Medtronic
Co-CEO, Compute Health Acquisition Corp.
Dr. Nehmé co-founded Digital Surgery in 2011 while training in plastic surgery in London and has continued to serve in his role after Digital Surgery was acquired by Medtronic in February 2020 to be integrated into the MITG Robotics division. Dr. Nehmé earned multiple awards for his research in innovation and application of surgical technology and simulation. He has presented at multiple international conferences and won the Founders Forum Singapore Rising Star award and the London Business School Deloitte Digital Health Award in 2015. Dr. Nehmé completed his masters in surgical technology at Imperial College London.
Greg Madden
Partner
SV Health Investors
Greg brings over 15 years of healthcare transaction experience to SV, including deep private and public healthcare company investment experience. He joined SV in 2002 as an Analyst and later transitioned to the role of Portfolio Manager with both portfolio and lead fundraising responsibilities. Greg was promoted to Partner in 2019 and focuses on medical device and healthcare services investments. He is actively engaged in the financing, strategy, operations and acquisitions of portfolio companies.
Prior to SV, Greg worked at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, in the Business Practice, Emerging Technology and Private Equity groups, supporting both venture capital funds and venture backed companies in business formations and financings, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital fundraising.
Academic credentials
BA, Honors, Colby College; MBA, Honors, Boston University (graduating Beta Gamma Sigma).
Outside of SV
Greg enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, and playing golf (they are learning to enjoy it too). He is a Boston native and a graduate of St. Sebastian’s School.
Bill Dowd
Practice Area Lead-Medical Devices
Triple Ring Technologies
Andrea Varsavsky, Ph.D.
VP, Delivery Operations
Evidation Health
R&D leader with 15+ years of experience in signal processing (DSP) and analysis of biomedical signals, systems, and devices. My mission, motivation and passion is to improve health outcomes through the use of advanced analytics, algorithm design, and system modeling on biomedical data.
Celeste A. James
VP, Equity and Population Health
Big Health
Experienced in Population Health and Communications with a demonstrated history of helping leaders in health care, education, business, nonprofits, and government understand and address socio-economic drivers of health and well-being. Skilled in Philanthropy, Alliance-Building, Nonprofit Capacity-Building, Corporate Communications, Writing/Editing, Public Speaking, and Media Relations. Bachelor of Arts (BA) focused in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services from Cleveland State University.
Yury Rozenman
SVP Business Development
Propeller Health (ResMed Company)
Yury Rozenman is the Senior Vice President of Business Development at Propeller Health. In this role, he leads the company's strategy, vision and oversees execution of all global business development activities. Prior to joining Propeller, Yury was the head of healthcare and life sciences industry partnerships at AWS where he was responsible for the development of life sciences vertical solutions, marketing programs, joint GTM strategy and execution on the global basis. Yury has over 25 years of experience within the industry in pharmaceutical research and development both as a team leader and group research manager. He has worked in diagnostics and medical devices, and has been involved in the development and launch of world-class drugs and diagnostic tests.
Sean Lavin
Founder
Alpha Lavin Advisors
Sean Lavin M.D. began his career as an equity research analyst at Oppenheimer and Co in 2006. He then transitioned to Lazard Capital Markets, before helping build the healthcare group at BTIG. Sean left BTIG at the end of 2019 to form his own advisory firm. Over the past 14 years, Sean supplied some of the most sought after research advice on medical devices and diagnostics to approximately 1000 institutional investment funds. He covered approximately fifty public companies during this time period and helped BTIG be involved in raising ~$25B in new capital for healthcare companies over the past five years. ~$14B went to device and diagnostic companies, which were Sean's lead areas of focus.
John Strong
Co-Founder
Access Strategy Partners
John Strong is co-founder and Chief Consulting Officer for ASPI. In this role, John consults with medical device manufacturers and medical products and technology companies on strategic planning, sales, marketing, national accounts strategy, pricing strategy and more.
John is a 40-year veteran of the healthcare industry with leadership experience in healthcare providers, suppliers and service providers, and group purchasing organizations. In 2011 the Bellwether League (Health Care Supply Chain Hall of Fame) inducted John for “his outstanding contributions over the years to healthcare supply chain management, development, innovation and leadership.” His experience and expertise include healthcare administration, entrepreneurship, national accounts contracting, group purchasing, the roles of President, CEO and board member, and healthcare industry consultant.
Jessica Richter
COO & Head of Business Development, Regulatory, Clinical & Quality Services
Veranex
Confirmed Innovators
Karen Holzberger
President & CEO
SpinTech MRI
Ms. Holzberger is a 20 year seasoned leader in Enterprise Imaging and Radiology. Prior to being appointed as the President and CEO in January 2022 she was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Imaging at Nuance Healthcare (soon to be acquired by Microsoft) leading go to market, product development and product strategy for the $190M Business Unit. Key launches included AI workflow solutions for Radiologist documentation, communication and follow up solutions. She holds an Engineering degree from Steven’s Institute of Technology and many business and leadership certificates from Harvard University’s Business School and the Stern School of Business.
Joseph McGinley
Founder & CEO
McGinley Orthopedics
Dr. McGinley is a board-certified diagnostic radiologist. He holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Physiology from Temple University. He completed his residency and fellowship at Stanford University. Dr. McGinley is the founder and CEO of McGinley Orthopedic Innovations, LLC., as well as President and CEO of McGinley Manufacturing. He is also founder and CEO of McGinley Education, a company focusing on physician education of the latest techniques in interventional sports medicine. He currently holds over 100 patents.
Lishan Aklog, MD
Chairman & CEO
PAVmed & Lucid Diagnostics
Lishan Aklog, M.D. has been the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since its inception. Dr. Aklog has also served as a member of the board of directors of HCFP, Inc., a financial advisory and investment firm, since its inception, and as a co-founding Partner of both Pavilion Holdings Group (“PHG”), a medical device holding company, since its inception in 2007 and Pavilion Medical Innovations (“PMI”), a venture-backed medical device incubator, since its inception in 2009. Dr. Aklog previously served as Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Vortex Medical Inc., a PHG portfolio company, from its inception in 2008 until its acquisition in October 2012 by AngioDynamics Inc. (Nasdaq: ANGO) for $55 million.
Dr. Aklog has been a consultant to Biomet Inc., now Zimmer Biomet (NYSE: ZBH), since 2009. He previously served as a consultant to AngioDynamics, from 2012 to 2016, Edward Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), from 2007 to 2012, On-X Life Technologies Inc. from 2009 to 2012 and Atricure Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRC) from 2007 to 2016. Dr. Aklog also previously served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of numerous leading medical device companies, including Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, Guidant Cardiac Surgery (now, Maquet Cardiovascular) and Cardiovations (then, a division of Johnson & Johnson).
Dr. Aklog is an inventor on 13 issued patents and over 30 patent applications, including the core patents of Vortex Medical’s AngioVac system and the patents for a majority of the Company’s products. Prior to entering the medical device industry full-time in 2012, Dr. Aklog was, from 2006 to 2012, Associate Professor of Surgery, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery and Chair of The Cardiovascular Center at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center’s Heart and Lung Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. From 2002 to 2006, Dr. Aklog was Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Associate Chief of Cardiac Surgery and Director of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. From 1999 to 2002, Dr. Aklog was Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Cardiac Surgery Research Laboratory and an attending cardiac surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Dr. Aklog received his clinical training in general and cardiothoracic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, during which he spent two years as the Medtronic Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School’s Cardiac Surgery Research Laboratory. He was then awarded the American Association of Thoracic Surgery Traveling Fellowship pursuant to which he received advanced training in heart valve surgery under renowned cardiac surgeons Sir Magdi Yacoub at Harefield Hospital in London and Professor Alain Carpentier at L’Hopital Broussais in Paris. Dr. Aklog is a co-author on 38 peer-reviewed articles and 10 book chapters. He has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery since 2006. He is a member of numerous professional societies and has been elected to the American Association of Thoracic Surgery. He served on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery from 2006 to 2009 and as President of the 21st Century Cardiothoracic Surgery Society in 2011. Dr. Aklog was recognized as one of America’s Top Doctors in the Castle Connolly Guide from 2002 to 2013. He serves as Chairman of the Boston ECG Project Charitable Foundation and the New York Executive Committee of Human Rights Watch. Dr. Aklog received his A.B., magna cum laude , in Physics from Harvard University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Aklog received his M.D., cum laude, from Harvard Medical School. The Company believes Dr. Aklog is well-qualified to serve on the Board due to his extensive experience in founding and building successful medical device companies, his distinguished career as an academic cardiac surgeon, his recognition as a thought leader and innovator both as a surgeon and a medical device entrepreneur and his widespread relationships in the healthcare and medical device communities.
Marc Giroux
CEO
Kurve Therapeutics
Kurve Technology's Inventor and Founder. Marc was most recently the President of EES, Inc. - a high tech staffing company placing executives across the USA. EES' main focus was consulting and building executive teams from early stage through exit strategy. Marc is considered an industry expert on the formation and building of teams. Earlier in his career, Marc spent 13 years in high-tech manufacturing where he developed and invented new products and designed efficiency equipment for production manufacturing. A long-time rhinosinusitis and allergy sufferer, Marc invented the proprietary Kurve technology. He leads Kurve's business development efforts with investors and partners and guides the engineering team.
Clementine Gibard Bohachek
CSO
Facible BioDiagnostics
Clém is Licensed in both biology and chemistry, and holds a Masters Degree in Bio-Organique and Bio- Inorganique Chemistry from Université Joseph Fourier, France. She earned her PhD in organometallic chemistry with honors, from Université Blaise Pascal in France in 2014 and spent 2.5 years doing her post-doctorate work at the Scripps Research Institute. Clém's work has been published 14 times including 2 publications in the prestigious Nature Chemistry journal. Prior to joining Facible, she served as Co-Director of the French Biobeach networking organization for US and French biotech communities.
Steven Burden
CEO
Facible BioDiagnostics
Steven is passionate about helping people. For nearly a decade of working as a Medical Laboratory Scientist, Steven grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of widely-available high-quality diagnostic testing that could be used in less than-optimal circumstances. He found a PhD program that allowed him to work on uncovering a better way to diagnose and treat patients in every corner of the globe and under the most adverse conditions. Steven founded Facible with that vision and is leading the way in bringing our revolutionary technology to the world. A member of the Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation, Steven holds a BS from Brigham Young University, Medical Laboratory Technician Certificate from the University of Utah, and a PhD in Biomolecular Science from Boise State University.
Martin Stenfeldt
CEO
MedTrace Pharma
Martin is an experienced leader within business development for life-science and tech companies.
As CEO of MedTrace Pharma he is responsible for commercial development including the continuous funding process as well as being the administrative backbone.
With 20 years of commercial and global exposure in the life-science industry he has obtained work experience from company headquarters and subsidiaries while stationed in Denmark, Germany and The US. During his career he has done business in most parts of the World, South-America excluded.
Nadine Hachach-Haram
Founder & CEO
Proximie
Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram is a surgeon, lecturer and clinical entrepreneur. She drew on her passion for innovation, education and global surgery to co-found Proximie, an augmented reality platform that allows doctors to virtually transport themselves into any operating room, anywhere in the world, to visually and practically interact in an operation from start to finish. From marking up a patient to providing real-time virtual presence in assisting and instructing on an operation, Proximie aims to provide safe, accessible and cost-effective surgery to every patient around the world. Dubbed the "future of surgery" by CNN, Proximie has gone from strength to strength and won multiple awards as well as being the main focus of the Foreign Press Association Science Story of the Year. It aims to revolutionize the delivery and education of healthcare by reducing the cost of that delivery while providing improved quality to the end patient, ensuring that every patient gets the best care, the first time, every time.
Jeff Conroy
CEO
Embody
Jeff is the co-founder and CEO of Embody, a medical device company developing collagen-based implants for tendon and ligament repair. Funded with over $15 million in non-dilutive funding from DARPA and a $3.6 million seed round in 2018, Embody is launching their Tapestry implant for Achilles and Rotator Cuff repair in 2020. In addition, Embody is developing the first collagen internal brace for ACL repair. The BioSpin platform technology is applicable to nerve, hernia, wound and cardiovascular applications.
Tim Moran
CEO
Motus GI
Mr. Moran will attend the Emerging Medtech Summit to share the Motus GI story and discuss strategic partnering interests.
Tim has served as Chief Executive Officer since October 1, 2018. Prior to joining us, from 2015 to September 2018, Mr. Moran served as President of the Americas, ConvaTec Group Plc (LON: CTEC) (“ConvaTec”), an international medical products and technologies company, offering products and services in the areas of wound and skin care, ostomy care, continence and critical care and infusion devices. Prior to his employment at ConvaTec, Mr. Moran held roles in sales, marketing and general management over the course of eighteen years at Covidien plc (“Covidien”), an Irish headquartered global health care products company and manufacturer of medical devices and supplies. While at Covidien, until 2015, Mr. Moran served simultaneously as VP and General Manager of both the SharpSafety and Monitoring & Operating Room divisions. Following the 2015 acquisition of Covidien by Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), Mr. Moran was named the Global Vice President and General Manager of the Patient Care and Safety Division. Mr. Moran also served on the CEO Advisory Council for Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), a medical device trade association. Mr. Moran earned a B.A. in Organizational Communication at The State University of New York at Geneseo. Mr. Moran was selected as a director because of his broad commercial experience and leadership in the medical technology sector.
Per Persson
CEO
Acarix
Mr. Persson, a Swedish native, is a highly engaged and dedicated professional with 30 years of experience in Medical Device Industry. This includes General Management/Senior Leadership, International Sales and Marketing for the entire EMEA region. His commercial career within Medical Devices started regional sales with IVAC Inc. (today within Becton Dickinson). Since 2004 he has been in General Management roles, running direct affiliates in all aspects, including Sales, Marketing, Finance and related operations with companies such as Guidant (Director Marketing), Boston Scientific (GM Nordic Region), St Jude Medical (Director Marketing) Atos Medical (VP Sales and Marketing Europe).
Acarix has developed CADScor® System, a unique device with an acoustic sensor and algorithm to assess cardiac blood flow rapidly, safely and non-invasively. CADScor enables early rule out of symptomatic patients with suspected stable Coronary Artery Disease at point of care. CADScor® is in an early commercial phase in Europe. CADScor® is not approved for sales or commercial use within the USA. Acarix is a European based company with the Headquarter in Sweden, the approval process for the US market has been initiated recently.
Elliot Street
CEO
Inovus Medical
Elliot studied medicine at the University of Manchester before completing his foundation training at the Oxford University Hospitals.
Alongside his clinical commitments, he retains an active role in product development, bridging the gap between clinician and designer as well as running Inovus' sales and marketing operations.
Justin Barad
Founder & CEO
Osso VR
Justin is a board-eligible orthopedic surgeon with a Bioengineering degree from UC Berkeley, and an MD from UCLA, where he graduated first in his class. He completed his residency at UCLA and his fellowship in pediatric orthopedics at Harvard and Boston Children’s Hospital.
Originally interning to become a game developer at Activision-Blizzard, he decided to find a way to combine his passions and use his technology background to solve medical challenges after a personal family health incident introduced him to the world of healthcare. During his residency, he identified what could be one of the most pressing medical challenges of this century: how we are training our surgeons and proceduralists. With a strong interest in gaming and a first-hand understanding of the challenges facing residents and experienced doctors, he co-founded Osso VR with a mission to improve patient safety and democratize access to modern surgical techniques.
Richard Vincent
Founder & CEO
FundamentalVR
Richard has 20+ years’ experience of building international businesses and has throughout his career sought opportunities for positive market disruption through technological application.
It was this desire that led him to co-found FundamentalVR to help address an age-old problem for the medical market; how to create safe, realistic, measurable spaces to learn and develop skills.
In his role as CEO Richard is responsible for building a world class team of medical, learning and technologist who together can realise the company’s ambition of creating the world’s first global, haptically enabled, low cost ‘flight simulator for surgeons’.
Dushyanth Surakanti
CEO
Sparta Biomedical
Dushyanth lead the Acute Care Franchise within Dr. Reddy’s innovation business for several years. His responsibilities included the commercialization strategy of acute care products, which was the company’s highest value portfolio. He has had a proven track record in product conceptualization, invention, development, and licensing of products and devices across a number of therapeutic areas. He was responsible for the entire US branded sales and marketing organization, while also managing the corporate development and M&A function. He also held senior leadership roles across portfolio optimization, alliance management, and strategic planning.
Kevin Rocco
CEO
Biorez
Mr. Rocco will share the story of Biorez at the Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss strategic partnering and capital needs for the company.
Kevin is the CEO of Biorez, an early-stage medical device company, developing bio-inductive implants for the $7B sports medicine market that help restore joint stability and aid in the direct healing and regeneration of new functional tissue. He is an experienced entrepreneur and expert in the field of tissue engineering, having raised $12M in various fundings for Biorez and co-authored 19 peer-reviewed publications with 400+ citations. Previously, he was the first full-time engineer at STR during the first clinical investigation of a synthetic bio-inductive scaffold for ACL reconstruction and was a part of the first clinical investigation of a bio-inductive scaffold as a vascular graft while a graduate student at Yale University.
Berk Tas
CEO
SentiAR
Mr. Tas will share the story of SentiAR at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will provide updates on strategic partnering and investment opportunities.
Berk serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of SentiAR. Berk has led development of emerging technologies and companies in Fortune 500, private equity, venture capital funded and privately held organizations. Prior to joining SentiAR he led the development of a novel Trans-aortic Valve Replacement technology into CE Mark studies at HLT Medical. In 2016, he played an integral role in the acquisition of Sensium, Oxford UK, a novel wireless monitoring technology. Prior to that he served in various leadership roles at Sunshine Heart developing a first of its kind, heart failure therapy and at Boston Scientific developing several novel therapies and technologies focused in Cardiac Rhythm Management. He holds an MBA from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota and a BS in Electrical Engineering and Physics from the School of Engineering at St Thomas University.
Dinesh Kumar
COO
Promaxo
Dr. Dinesh Kumar is a medical devices executive and a serial entrepreneur with twenty years of operations and R&D expertise. Dinesh has brought several Class-II and Class-III medical devices to market.
Sahil Diwan
Co-Founder & CEO
SafKan Health
Sahil is the Co-Founder and CEO of SafKan Health, a medtech startup based in Seattle with a mission to bring ear care into the 21st century. In just a few years, the SafKan Health team has raised venture capital, run successful clinical trials, secured multiple patents, received FDA 510(k) clearance, and brought a new medical innovation to market.
Mohan Frick
CEO
ChemoTech
Mr. Frick will share the story of ChemoTech at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss investment and strategic partnering milestones.
ChemoTech is an R&D oriented publicly listed Life Science company based in Sweden. With more than 30 years of collected research and intellectual properties in the field of Electroporation and clinical research, ChemoTech has developed a new patent pending patient-specific Electroporation platform. A technology platform, called IQwave™, specifically designed to treat patients with larger bulk tumors that is difficult to treat with traditional cancer therapies. The first application built on this new innovative platform is already launched in India, Philippines and Kenya. The treatment protocol for this new device is called D-EECT and is used to treat none responsive Breast cancer, Head & Neck tumors and Sarcomas. Chemotech’s primary markets are India, South East Asia and Africa as patients in these markets often lack the availability to western cancer treatments combined with late diagnoses resulting in a high degree of incidence of large superficial tumor
About Mohan
Born 1974 (Chengalpattu India)
Education and experience: BA, Marketing and Management, Lund University.
Co-Inventor of the D-EECT Technology and IQwave™ Next generation of Electroporation Devices
20 years’ experience as CEO, Marketing Manager and Board Director in life science industry having had positions at SYSMEX, OnMeD International, Arjo AB and Getinge AB.
Current assignments: CEO & Board Director for Scandinavian ChemoTech AB
Non-Profit assignments: Member of the Advisory Board for Billion Minds Foundation 2009-2014.
Osman Khawar
CEO
Diality
Mr. Khawar will share the story of Diality at Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss partnering and investment opportunities.
Osman obtained his MD from the University of Glasgow and his MPH from Johns Hopkins. He is a Board-Certified nephrologist with a passion for Home Dialysis. He is an experienced Clinical researcher and entrepreneur who has run several businesses in the Dialysis industry including a Clinical Research company and several Dialysis Units in San Diego. He currently serves on the Palomar Health Foundation Board.
Kim Vanderlinden
CEO
Early Detection
At Hope Science we supply products that: (1.) Are clinically proven to provide both short and long-term pain relief; (2.) Restore joint health and improve mobility; (3.) Provide whole body immune support.
Hope Science is a unique, natural products company. We offer a narrow range of select products supported by scientific studies and trials.
As Founder and CEO, I had a patient who had three back surgeries and was still in constant agony. His pain was unbearable. During a clinic visit, I rubbed some Active Again Pain Cream on this patient’s back. Within minutes his pain began to subside and the his eyes sparkled. “I actually have hope again,” the man gleefully stated. This sparked the genesis of our corporate name: Hope Science.
My inspiration for natural medicine, and subsequently natural products, originated with my mother who had terminal cancer and was given only a few months to live. She survived the disease by using natural medicine instead of the typical allopathic treatment and chemical-based drugs.
We believe that at the very core of medicine should be Hope. People with health challenges always hope to get better, but need scientifically proven products. Hence our name: Hope Science.
Tej Singh
Founder & CEO
Fist Assist Devices
Dr. Singh will share the Fist Assist story at the Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss partnering and fundraising needs.
Dr. Singh is a vascular/endovascular surgeon and entrepreneur with a strong understanding of current unmet clinical needs in vascular access markets. Founder of the Fist Assist Device which will help vein enlargement and fistula dilation.
Stuart Mitchell
Founder/CEO
Novuson
Dr. Mitchell will share the story of Novuson at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss their financing objectives and strategic partnering plans.
Dr. Mitchell is a graduate of the University of Washington and he has been designing biomedical instrumentation and devices for approximately 20 years. Dr. Mitchell has extensive experience in biomechanics (soft tissue and orthopedic), tissue engineering, instrumentation, electronics, and mechanical design.
While at the university, Dr. Mitchell managed and conducted research in multimillion dollar DARPA projects where he developed relationships with medical industry leaders. He has conducted research in biomechanics, tissue engineering, acoustic hemostasis and high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for tumor treatment. Dr. Mitchell has been involved in helping HIFU gain recognition in the clinical setting and has led research teams in conducting application studies.
Susan Wood
CEO
VIDA
Dr. Wood has 20+ years of experience championing innovative clinical solutions to the marketplace, from concept to revenue.
Dr. Wood most recently held the position of Executive Vice President of Marketing and Technology for Vital Images, an innovative advanced visualization software company. Prior to Vital Images, Dr. Wood served as VP of marketing at R2 Technology (now Hologic), where she championed the development, regulatory approval and commercial release of the first FDA approved (PMA) software product for the automatic detection of lung nodules in both diagnostic and screening chest CT examinations.
Dr. Wood received her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, School of Hygiene and Public Health. Her Ph.D. work combined quantifying three-dimensional lung structure with changes in lung function using high-resolution CT imaging. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University, and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dr. Wood has been issued six patents in the field of computer-aided detection and quantitative imaging; authored numerous book chapters, peer-reviewed papers, abstracts, and served as a speaker at numerous conferences in the area of three-dimensional imaging of the thorax, quantitative imaging and computer-aided detection.
Mark Forchette
President & CEO
Delphinus Medical Technologies
As President & CEO of Delphinus Medical Technologies, Mark leads a team that has created the SoftVue 3D Whole Breast Ultrasound Tomography System for use in the screening of asymptomatic women with dense breast tissue as an adjunct to digital mammography. SoftVue is a a safe (non-ionizing), comfortable (non-compressing), and reliable (operator independent) patented technology that enhances dense breast screening and identifies more cancers with greater accuracy and potentially fewer biopsies than full field digital mammography alone. Delphinus is a privately held medical technology company headquartered in Novi, Michigan and was founded in 2010 as a spin-off of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI).
Prior to joining Delphinus, Mark was president and chief executive officer of OptiMedica Corporation, an ophthalmic medical device company. He led the start-up venture through development and growth, successfully completed multiple rounds of financing, and oversaw the company’s acquisition by Abbott Laboratories in 2013. He began his career in the medical technology industry as a sales representative at Grieshaber and Company, Inc., where he ultimately became vice president of U.S. sales and marketing and led the company through its acquisition by Alcon. During his tenure at Alcon, he steered the tactical integration of Grieshaber and advanced to Vice President of Global Marketing and Vitreoretinal Sales.
Mark has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Auburn University and completed the Harvard Program for Management Development. He serves as a director on the Auburn University Foundation and is on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Harbert College of Business at Auburn.
Richard Hanbury
CEO
Sana Health
Richard will share the story of SANA Health at the Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss partnering and investment objectives.
With an MBA in Healthcare and Entrepreneurial Studies from Wharton Business School, Hanbury went on to become the founder of Sana, a device that allows anyone to have deep relaxation and pain relief anywhere in an average of 8-10 mintues. Sana has decades of research and anecdotal data and has just complete their first internal controlled trial.
Attila Borbath
CEO
Synergia Medical
Mr. Borbath will share the story of Synergia Medical and the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss business, investment and partering updates.
Attila Borbath's M.Sc. in Business Administration and Engineering from the UCLouvain followed by the CEMS Master's in International Management naturally brought him to pave his professional way in a technological start-up in the finance sector for 10 years.
In parallel, he obtained his Airline Transport Pilot License. He was then convinced by the idea of joining an innovative technology start-up where he had the role of VP Sales and Marketing. In 2013, he moved to Synergia Medical that he co-founded. Well-travelled, multilingual and energetic, Attila has developed remarkable management, entrepreneurial, marketing, and business development skills.
Vadim Gurevich
CEO
GLW Medical Innovation
Vadim Gurevich, CEO of GLW Medical Innovation (“GLW”), will represent his company at the Emerging Medtech Summit to discuss not only GLW’s latest R&D initiatives, but also their investment and strategic partnership needs. GLW is a medical device incubator focused on the design and development of cost-effective, high-margin implant and instrument solutions in various segments of the orthopedic market. They commercialize their products through exclusive distribution and education agreements with carefully selected sales organizations.
Mr. Gurevich has an extensive business career with over 19 years of leadership experience in medical technology. He has a documented record of success spanning a broad spectrum of disciplines, including orthopedic trauma, foot & ankle, urogynaecology, general surgery and neurosurgery with extensive M&A, licensing, and post-acquisition integration expertise. His career encompasses a series of executive and senior decision-making positions at Stryker Orthopaedics, Integra LifeSciences, Synovis Surgical (Baxter BioSurgery), and Gyrus Medical (Olympus).
Mr. Gurevich is also President & CEO of Novastep Inc., a US sales and distribution company focusing on products that treat conditions affecting the bones, joints, and soft tissues of the foot and ankle. He holds similar titles at Innov8ortho LLC, a sales distribution company specializing in musculoskeletal trauma injuries, specifically hip fracture care products.
Matt Vogelhuber
CEO
fluidIQ
Experienced and highly successful global senior executive and board member. Active in sales leadership, marketing, due diligence assessments, competitive analysis and strategy in the life sciences and genetic testing space
Susan Hertzberg
CEO
BrainScope
Susan is an innovative and successful healthcare executive with over 30 years of diagnostics, products, and services experience. She joined BrainScope in June of 2019.
Susan received an MBA from Columbia University and is an EY “Entrepreneur of the Year.” (2014). She serves on the board of directors of BreastCancer.Org and is a strategic advisor to the Founders Affiliate Board of Directors of the American Heart Association.
Ben Lipps
CEO
MagForce USA
Dr. Ben J. Lipps will share the story of Magforce at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss strategic parntering and investment opportunities.
Dr. Lipps studied chemical engineering in the USA and earned his doctorate degree at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] in Boston. Dr Lipps was appointed to the Management Board of MagForce AG in September 2013.His career as manager began in the research departments at various companies, including at DOW Chemical, before switching to the Fresenius group in 1985, where he held various positions at Fresenius USA and Fresenius Medical Care North American until 2004. As Chairman of the Board, he led Fresenius Medical Care from 1999 to 2012 with a great deal of scientific and economic success.
Reinhard Krickl
CEO
Phagenesis
Reinhard Krickl is the CEO of Phagenesis®. He has extensive experience in sales & marketing and new therapy development within the medical device industry, including 14 years as a “corporate entrepreneur” at Medtronic.
Alongside his industry experience he has a MBA and a MSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Lloyd Diamond
CEO
Pixium Vision
Lloyd Diamond, a US citizen, is a seasoned medtech executive and CEO with 25 years of disruptive technology commercialization experience in the life science industry. He most recently served as the CEO of Precise Light Surgical, a commercially ready medical device company in Silicon Valley. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Bonesupport AB, a European orthobiologic company, where he drove rapid market penetration in Europe and the US which led to a successful IPO on the NASDAQ OMX in Stockholm. Lloyd has first-hand experience in the ophthalmology segment as he was responsible for managing Lumenis’ global surgical and vision franchises. He has commercialized many other disruptive technology platforms including at Kyphon and Laserscope. Lloyd received a dual degree in Biochemistry and Marketing from Florida Atlantic University and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
Philip Rackliffe
CEO
Centerline Biomedical
Mr. Rackliffe will share the story of Centerline Biomedical and will discuss strategic partnering and investment opportunities.
As CEO of Centerline Biomedical, Mr. Rackliffe brings more than 20 years of healthcare experience and executive management, spanning both medical device and pharmaceuticals industries, across both public and private sectors. He has successfully led start-ups, as well as company divisions with over $2 billion in annual revenue.
As a growth catalyst, he has successfully launched more than 25 global life science products focusing on the needs of the patient and those that surround the patient/care environment. In addition, he has led and closed multiple global business development deals to drive synergies and growth. He believes that nothing is achieved without a strong team culture and takes pride in building teams that are both highly diverse and value inclusion.
Mr. Rackliffe received his MBA with high distinction from Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh and a duel major BS from Marquette University.
William Altman
CEO
CorInnova
Mr. Altman will share the story of CorInnova at the Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss oppportunities to invest in or partner with the company.
William provides executive management oversight drawing on 25 years' of experience building healthcare companies. Mr. Altman is a former McKinsey & Co. consultant, and co-founded two firms that grew to over $50M revenues, including one healthcare services company that grew to 500 employees. He has served on the boards of five growth companies, including a 7,000 employee NASDAQ listed company which increased its market capitalization from $0.5 billion to $1.5 billion during his tenure, when it was successfully sold. Previously, Mr. Altman served as President & CEO of Kardia Therapeutics, a regenerative medicine company engaged in developing adult cardiac stem cells for use in heart failure therapy. A native of New Ulm, Texas (pop. 500), Mr. Altman earned a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, an M.A. in Politics and Economics from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Bryan Lord
CEO
Pristine Surgical
Bryan will share the Pristine Surgical story at the Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss partnering and fundraising updates.
Mr. Lord works with start-ups and investors to bring new med-tech, high-tech, clean-tech, and software products to the market and to help companies scale. He has experience as an executive, entrepreneur, advisor, deal facilitator, and investor.
John Barrett
CEO
ZKR Orthopedics
John will share updates on ZKR Orthopedics at the Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss the partnering and fundraising interests of ventures.
Mr. Barrett is a seasoned healthcare executive with 25 years of experience in business building, fundraising, product development, sales and marketing, intellectual property, and regulatory affairs in both small and large company settings.
John is currently founder and CEO of ZKR Orthopedics, and early stage company focused on the development of a novel family of knee implants to address patellofemoral osteoarthritis, and Auctus Surgical, another early stage company developing a dynamic vertebral body tethering system to treat pediatric scoliosis with a non-fusion approach.
John previously founded CoAlign Innovations, a spinal implant company acquired by Stryker Corporation in 2014. John led the company from early concept through multiple regulatory approvals and commercialization. John raised $20M in funding and built the team to get through the successful exit to Stryker.
John had previous leadership positions at Abbott Vascular and Baxter.
Matt Ahearn
President & COO
Shoulder Innovations
Matt will present Shoulder Innovations at the Emerging Medtech Summit and share investment/partnering opportunities.
Matt is an entrepreneurial business leader with 15 years of experience building and managing dynamic technology companies. He has a proven track record of successfully bringing innovative products and services to market. Prior to Shoulder Innovations, he was COO of Conpoto, and VP of Finance, COO and President of LeanLogistics.
Matt is also Managing Director at MD Capital Funds and a Director with Genesis Innovation Group where he invests in early stage medical device companies.
Claude Cohen-Bacrie
Founder & CEO
e-Scopics
Mr. Cohen-Bacrie will share the story of e-Scopics at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss capital needs and strategic partnering opportunities.
Claude is an entrepreneur in Medtech and founded two companies in the field of innovative ultrasound imaging. He was co-founder of SuperSonic imagine in 2005, and acted as executive vice president, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer. In that role he brought the company through 4 rounds of funding and IPOed the company in 2014. The company has recently received a binding offer from Hologic.
In 2018, Claude founded e-scopics, a point of care ultrasound company, which aims at democratizing the role of ultrasound to ultimately all healthcare professionals. The company owns and develops proprietary technologies to allow dematerialization of ultrasound imaging architectures in order to put on the market, innovative devices with strong differentiation in the point of care market.
Claude was previously managing ultrasound research within Philips Research in charge of the collaboration with Philips Medical Systems. He is also former board member of Eye Tech Care, which develops High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound technology for glaucoma treatment and act as coach for several entrepreneur within M2Care.
Claude is a scientist by training, who further specialized in Signal and image processing and a thesis in Medical Imaging. His qualifications also includes an MBA from HEC, NYU Stern and the London School of Economics.
Geoffrey Klass
CEO
Sense Neuro Diagnostics
Mr. Klass will share the story of Sense Neuro Diagnostics at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will provide updates on important developments the company has recently made. He'll also discuss investment and strategic partnering interests.
Geoff has spent over 30 years building commercial organizations, from startups to global enterprises. He maintaines a deep healthcare and neuro innovation background.
Nick Delmonico
President & CEO
Strados Labs
Nick will share the story of Strados Labs at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss investment and strategic partnering opportunities.
Nick is the founder of his own healthcare startup, Strados Labs and a startup consultant. He has several years experience in commercialization strategy, startup business planning, and project management.
Ryan Shelton, PhD
CEO & Co-Founder
PhotoniCare
Dr. Shelton will share the story of PhotoniCare at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss strategic partnering and investment opportunities with the company.
Ryan is a passionate problem solver and competent, experienced leader. He is an engineer by training who fell in love with entrepreneurship while at the University of Illinois.
Benjamin Holmes
CEO
Nanochon
Ben received a BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia, where he focused on material science, biomedical engineering, and energy engineering. At the George Washington University, his work focused on new materials and 3-D printing for stem cell growth and orthopedic tissue repair. Dr. Holmes has been awarded several patents, published numerous journal articles, and contributed a chapter to the book Tissue and Organ Regeneration: Advances in Micro- and Nanotechnology (Pan Stanford Publishing, 2014). In addition to research, he has a strong record in entrepreneurship, having participated in the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program on the local and national levels and VentrueWell’s ASPIRE program for medical device companies. Dr. Holmes has also demonstrated a strong early stage funding track record, bringing the company an National Science Foundation I-coprs grant, a Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America research grant and most recently a Phase I SBIR award from the NSF.
Alan Lucas
CEO
Navigation Sciences
Mr. Lucas will share the story of Navigation Sciences at Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss capital and strategic partnering interests.
Alan has served in senior business development and marketing positions at development stage and emerging medical technology companies for more than 25 years. He has global senior management experience enhancing investor value, including execution of successful fund raising, IPOs, private placements and cross border M&A transactions,. His experience includes work at Alira Health, EnlightenVue, Simplicity Orthopedics, Abiomed, and Implant Sciences.
Randy Preston
Chief Business Officer
Centese
Mr. Preston will share the story of Centese and will discuss capital needs and strategic partnering interests.
Randy is Chief Business Officer of Centese Inc. He has over 15 years of experience in the medical device industry working with companies ranging from seed stage start-ups to Fortune 100. He has held key positions in business development, sales, marketing, and clinical research in both the US and EU. Randy holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Allison London Brown
CEO
LUMINELLE
Ms. Allison Brown will present at the Emerging Medtech Summit to share the story of LUMINELLE and discuss strategic partnering and investment objectives.
Ms. Allison Brown has 20+ years of diverse medical device, consumer and pharmaceutical experience in Healthcare. Leveraging her broad background in R&D, Marketing, Sales and Product Development, she has launched over 90 products/services.
Ms. London Brown has a career based in Women's Health divisions of Fortune 50 companies such as Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon Women's Health and Urology) and GE Healthcare. As an entrepreneur, she has founded two previous start-ups, and is an advisor to other entrepreneurs, supporting teams through fundraising , strategic planning, and commercialization. Additionally, she has served as an advisor to CEOs, Corporate Boards, NGO’s, non-profits and government organizations.
She graduated from Auburn University in Textile Sciences, concentrating in Medical Textiles. She earned her Masters of Science Degree at North Carolina State University, in Polymer Chemistry. In addition, Ms. London Brown earned an MBA from Temple University, Fox School of Business. She is the author of three publications and co-inventor of six patents.
Bryce Klontz
CEO
New View Surgical
Mr. Klontz will share the story of New View Surgical at the Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss capital and partnering objectives for 2021.
Bryce is an accomplished global sales and marketing executive, having built and led commercial teams in the US, Europe and Asia. Most recently, Mr. Klontz was the Vice President of Commercial Strategy, Emerging Markets at Covidien, PLC where he led efforts to build commercial capabilities within the $1.5B+ Asia, Latin America, Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa geographies. Mr. Klontz spent 14 years at Covidien in various leadership roles including Marketing Director in both the US and Europe, as well as 3 years as Vice President, Surgical Devices Business Unit, in Asia. Mr. Klontz also served as the global post-M&A integration lead for two of Covidien's most impactful acquisitions. Earlier in his career, Mr. Klontz played a pivotal role in the global launch of The CO2 Heart Laser System. Mr. Klontz received his MBA in marketing and finance from Carroll School of Management at Boston College and a Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University.
Bob Cathcart
CEO
AiM Medical Robotics
Mr. Cathcart will share the story of AiM Medical Robotics at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss strategic partnering and investment status.
Experienced Medical Device executive with a focus on commercial activities for both small and large companies.
Dynamic Sales leader with a strong track record of growth. Start-ups, organizational restructuring, product launches, Capital equipment and Disposables. Excellent relationships in Surgery, Interventional Cardiology and Interventional Radiology.
David Narrow
CEO
Sonavex
Mr. Narrow will be a presenter at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will share the story of Sonavex and discuss investment and partnering goals.
David previously worked with multinational medical device companies to commercialize their technologies and provide long-term business strategy as a healthcare consultant at Health Advances LLC. Narrow earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with Highest Distinction from the University of Rochester before receiving his Masters from Johns Hopkins University. Narrow was named 30 Under 30 in Healthcare by Forbes in 2016 and 40 Under 40 by the Baltimore Business Journal in 2017.
Joseph Muldoon
CEO
FAST BioMedical
Mr. Muldoon will share the story of FAST BioMedical at Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss investment and strategic partnering opportunities.
Joe leverages 30 years of experience, from technology start-up organizations to publicly traded multi-national companies. He has worked with many high-growth entrepreneurial companies, occasionally serving as Angel Investor and CEO. Joe has advised select medical technology companies, including TGX Medical, Vasc-Alert, Trust Bearer Labs, and Geist Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was President and CEO of FirstMile Technologies, a start-up broadband provider he led through its sale. Prior to that, he served as President of Brightpoint North America, a publicly traded Fortune 500 wireless company that grew to $750MM under his leadership. He has also held executive general management positions at MacMillan. He started his career as a CPA in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurial Services practice. Joe has a Bachelor of Science in Business from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, where he is a panelist for various MBA programs.
James Biggins
CEO
Access Vascular
Mr. Biggins will represent Access Vascular at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will be available to discuss investment and strategic partnering objectives.
After shadowing physicians at a Boston Hospital and witnessing complications first-hand, James was compelled to design a better venous catheter. Before founding Access Vascular, James held product development, engineering, and clinical affairs roles at Ocular Therapeutix, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic, bringing over a dozen products from concept to commercialization.
Reid Rutherford
CEO
Melzi
Mr. Rutherford will share the story of Melzi at the Emerging Medtech Summit and provide new information on fundraising and strategic partnering opportunities.
Reid drives Melzi’s strategic vision and manages financial operations. Reid is a successful serial entrepreneur currently serving on the board for: BigRentz, ConnectSV, DSP Concepts and United In Purpose. MBA Stanford.
Tamer Mohamed
CEO
Aspect Biosystems
An entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, Tamer currently serves as our President and Chief Executive Officer. Tamer co-founded Aspect in 2013 and has played a leading role in our overall corporate, business, and technology development. Under his leadership, we have secured significant funding, entered strategic collaborations with best-in-class pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and developed our commercial products. In his previous appointment as Chief Technology Officer of the company, Tamer drove the innovation and development of the company’s core technologies and intellectual property.
As a leader in the field of 3D bioprinting, he has been invited to speak on this topic at venues ranging from TEDx to industry, scientific and executive conferences. In 2017, he was awarded BC's Top 40 under 40 award for demonstrating excellence in business, judgement, leadership, and community contribution. Tamer serves on the Board of Directors for ACETECH, a non-profit training and mentoring organization for CEOs of technology and life sciences companies, and on the Board of Directors for The Stem Cell Network, an organization focused on building Canada’s stem cell and regenerative medicine research sector.
Tamer holds a B.A.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering and M.A.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia.
Vipula Tailor
CEO
Sonix Medical Devices
Ms. Tailor will share the story of Sonix Medical Devices at Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss investment and strategic partnering opportunities with the company.
A seasoned pharmaceutical and medical devices executive and entrepreneur with over 20 years of international business development, licensing, R&D, and commercialization experience in biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices/diagnostics, and healthcare areas. Passionate about improving patient health and developing holistic medical solutions, providing access to medicines and quality care, and fostering sustainable innovations. Deep expertise in strategic and operational aspects of drug discovery and development, commercialization, and in forging successful, synergistic partnerships worldwide. Supported successful global launches of biologics such as PREVNAR 13, Benlysta, Arzerra among other products. Proven track record in developing new businesses, implementing processes, and delivering product innovation. A resourceful, creative thought leader committed to innovation and performance excellence.
Amaan Mazhar
Chief Product Officer
Modulim
Amaan has degrees in Bioengineering, Managerial Studies, and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, where combining SFDI with other modalities was the subject of his dissertation. He has led the R&D efforts at Modulim since 2011 and been the Principal Investigator for most of the company’s grants. Amaan has over 50 publications and several patents. In 2014, he was recognized as alumni of the year by the Rice Bioengineering Department for his contributions to the field of biophotonics. Amaan moved into the Chief Product Officer role at Modulim in 2020 and is committed to delivering technology solutions that will change clinical practice and improve patient lives.
Michael Whitman
CEO
Micro Interventional Devices
Mr. Whitman will share the story of Micro Interventional Devices at Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss strategic partnering interests.
Michael Whitman is the founder and CEO of Micro Interventional Devices, Inc. (MID). Michael has over 30 years of medical device experience at market leading firms including, Johnson and Johnson, Olympus, Synthes and Power Medical Interventions. He previously was the founder and CEO of Power Medical Interventions (NASDAQ; PMII), which was acquired by Covidien Ltd. in 2009. Prior to founding PMI, Michael served in numerous management positions at Johnson and Johnson during his 13-year tenure including Vice President of Sales, Director of Sales and Marketing, Product Development and Product Management. He is the named inventor on over 35 US and foreign patents. He received his A.B. in Business and Economics from Lafayette College and completed graduate work at Wharton, University of Michigan, Harvard Executive Education, and Rutgers University.
Ehsan Jabbarzadeh
CEO
Obsidio
Dr. Jabbarzadeh will share the story of Obsidio at Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss investment and strategic partnering opportunities.
Dr. Jabbarzadeh is an academic entrepreneur with expertise in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. He is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and Director of Engineering Entrepreneurship at the University of South Carolina. His training includes a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University, a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology, and MBA in Finance at the University of Southern Carolina, Marshall School of Business. He has authored over 30 publications, 10 issued and pending patents, and delivered over 50 scientific talks. In recognition of his accomplishments, he has received the South Carolina InnoVision Award.
David Huizenga
CEO
Moterum
Dr. Huizenga will share the story of Moterum at Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss strategic partnering and investment objective.
David is the founder and CEO of Moterum Technologies Inc., a medical device company in stroke rehabilitation. He is an expert in translating groundbreaking science into realistic commercial opportunities. Over the last 5 years, he has focused his efforts on the unique needs of the neural rehabilitation patient. Previously, David was CEO and cofounder of Tao Life Sciences LLC, an early stage life sciences technology development and investment company, which successfully monetized over half of its portfolio. David has been on the founding team of numerous life science companies, and has involvement in successful acquisitions and exits. Mr. Huizenga obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard, in the laboratory of Jack Szostak, Nobel Laureate in Medicine, and his Law Degree from Emory University Law School, where he was a Woodruff Fellow. Mr. Huizenga serves on numerous corporate and non-profit boards.
Ray Liu
Co-Founder, CEO
Vena Vitals
Mr. Liu will share the Vena Vitals story at the Emerging Medtech Summit and will discuss investment and strategic partnering opportunities.
Ray is an executive leader in healthcare technology, with expertise in building, launching, and running products and services for both startups and multinationals. Prior to Vena Vitals, he ran product and operations for Ediom, where he created hospital decision support tools that led to the company's acquisition by Vizient, Inc. Ray also led product for Socialwellth, where he directed the development and launch of a consumer health engagement platform that was rolled out to 15.2M users, leading to the company's acquisition by Cigna.
At Siemens, Ray developed strategies, turnaround plans, and new market entries for the healthcare, energy, and industrial business units, and at GE Healthcare, he led the global launch of patient vital sign monitoring devices from China to the rest of the world. In addition to co-founding and running Vena Vitals, Ray also serves as an advisor to MDstewardship, a telemedicine company focused on antimicrobial stewardship. Ray holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS from the University of California at Berkeley, and a BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
David Kuraguntla
CEO
Alio
Dave was preparing to begin a surgical residency when he was confronted with the need for the GraftWorx device. While researching a possible solution, he invented the GraftWorx technology and currently leads the company.
Ted Bird
Chief Strategy Officer
Dymicron
Ted Bird has over 35 years of global commercial experience in the medical device arena, including 30 years in the spine industry specifically. He led global marketing, medical education, and business development at Medtronic Sofamor Danek, served as VP of Spine Arthroplasty Education at Depuy Spine/Johnson & Johnson, President of Orthofix Spinal Implants Division, and Chairman of the Board at Apifix. Additionally, he served as Chief Operating Officer at the Zucker Institute for Applied Neurosciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, Chief Commercial Officer at Titan Spine and founded Bird Medical Group, a strategic management consulting firm. He graduated from Brown University with bachelor’s degrees in International Relations and Political Science.
Claude Nogard
CEO
Ergosuture
Co-founder & CEO, Claude has more than twenty years of global experience in the Health Care industry in product & market development in pharmaceuticals & vaccines (Merck & Novartis). With extensive sales & marketing experience at the global and market level, including product launch, Claude led HPV vaccine blockbuster Gardasil regulatory, market development & commercial launch efforts. He also developed MenB vaccine, Bexsero, scientific platform, product profile & market development leading global marketing efforts through EMEA filing.
Andrew McDaid
Founder & CEO
OPUM Technologies
Associate Professor Andrew McDaid founded OPUM after years of world leading R&D and market insights. He is an internationally renowned expert and has led a large research team in medical robotics, wearables and AI. To date he has been awarded millions of dollars in research funding over ten years, including from US Department of Defense. As a sports enthusiast Andrew was patient zero after tearing his MCL (not for the first time). His knee was the first set of OPUM patient data collected.
Bruce Lichorowic
President & CEO
Galen Robotics
Bruce Lichorowic is a highly accomplished entrepreneur and chief executive in the medical industries.
Former Positions of Note:
- President & CEO, Trak Surgical
- Managing Director, BlueFire Capital Partners
- President & CEO, Dynaptics Corporation
Carl O'Connell
President & CEO
Catalyst OrthoScience
A visionary and transformational executive with proven success defining strategy and leading organizations to achieve technical and operational excellence and double-digit financial growth.
Most recently, revitalize enthusiasm for product and transition in Cerebrotech company from development stage to commercial stage. Engaged investment banker to develop materials and conduct investor presentations to raise new investor capital, with goal of $50M by 2021. Defined pre-launch and full commercialization strategy.
Prior to Cerebrotech, executed a turnaround as CEO of Xtant Medical, a publicly traded Ortho Biologics company focused in the Spine Industry. He also worked as Global Vice President of Marketing for Wright Medical, the industry leader in Extremities Orthopedics and Biologics.
Earlier in my career, ran the healthcare division of the Japanese conglomerate, ITOCHU Corporation, and previously as Global Vice President for Stryker Spine, and President for Carl Zeiss Surgical Inc.
Exceptional skills in the areas of strtaegic involvement in preparing, presenting and negotiating new business opportunities with private equity, venture groups for funding, as well as consulting with start-up ventures and Fortune 500 companies such as GE Healthcare during the business planning and execution phases.
The companies led have been transformed into leaders in their respective markets. Also established leadership platforms in Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics-Spine, ENT and Dentistry.
Jong Lee
CEO & Cofounder
Day Zero Diagnostics
Medical technology entrepreneur. Formerly management consultant at Monitor Group, focused on medtech commercialization, and Senior VP of Marketing & Strategy at ConforMIS. BA from Harvard and MBA from Harvard Business School.
Bill Perry
CEO
Deep Blue Medical Advances
Mr. Perry brings 25 years of experience in medical device start-ups including having led or contributed to multiple exits, venture financings, an IPO, 16+ medical product introductions, and 20+ business development deals.
Angie Conley
CEO
Abilitech Medical
Angie Zavoral Conley has served as Abilitech’s President and Chief Executive Officer since founding the company in late 2016. Under Angie’s leadership, Abilitech Medical has won numerous awards, including both the Tekne Award for innovation from Minnesota High Tech Association and the Grand Prize and Top Woman-led Business at the Minnesota Cup - the largest state-led business competition. Abilitech has also been recognized as a Top 10 Medical Device Startup by MedTech Outlook; a Top 20 Medical Device Startup You Need to Know by MassDevice magazine; and a Top Promising Life Science Company by Rice University. In her role as President and CEO of Abilitech, Angie has raised over ten million in equity funding and nearly two million dollars in non-dilutive funding.
Angie Conley’s work broad work experience in the medical device industry directly translates to her role as CEO of Abilitech Medical. Prior to founding Abilitech, Angie held leadership roles in several different medical device companies, including working with exoskeletons at Magic Arms; peripheral and neurovascular atherectomy devices at ev3/Covidien; heart valves, instruments, telemonitoring equipment, external and implantable pacemakers and defibrillators at Medtronic. She is an alumna of the prestigious Springboard Enterprise and Texas Medical Center accelerator programs. Angie Conley is named as an inventor on two patents.
Howard Leonhardt
Executive Chairman & CEO
Leonhardt Ventures
Howard Leonhardt is an inventor and serial entrepreneur. He has 21 U.S. patents for products for treating cardiovascular disease. His TALENT stent graft developed in the early 1990′s holds a leading world market share for repairing aortic aneurysms without surgery. His inventions have treated over 200,000 patients in 60 countries.
Adam Sachs
CEO
Vicarious Surgical
A 2013 graduate of MIT with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, Adam co-founded Vicarious Surgical in 2014 with Sammy Khalifa. Since 2010, he’s been an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) on an ambulance in Cambridge serving the needs of the MIT community.
Jeff Levine
Founder/CEO
Advanced Scanners
Jeff Levine As CEO, Jeff guides strategy and makes sure his team has everything it needs for success. Jeff has a 30+ year track record of starting and building great companies. Prior companies founded include commercial and consumer electronics manufacturing, from the circuit board to final product, Jeff was responsible for all aspects of business development, marketing, sales, service, and technical support. He graduated from SUNY Stony Brook, BA Economics, and earned his M.I.M. from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Alan Sage
CEO
Vaporox
My career has largely been in startup ventures. I have lead and built sales at a start up from zero to $25 million/year, and managed over a hundred million in enterprise product sales in my career. I have also led and built a company from concept to market leadership and “Series B” VC investment. I have contributed to successful exits, via both IPO, and acquisition. I frequently work with other entrepreneurs and executives to help them grow their ideas and organizations.
Lloyd Mencinger
President & CEO
Aqua Medical
High energy CEO, Sales, Marketing, & Business Development leader with over twelve years as an International expatriate.
Strong track record of delivering results in both blue chip and early-stage companies. Expert at developing new markets, driving growth, executing turnarounds, and creating winning cultures.
History of driving rapid market penetration for new medical device technology, through: 1) field sales effectiveness, 2) strong customer development, 3) clinical economic arguments, 4) targeted physician & referral pathway marketing
Specialties:
- Sales, Marketing, Strategy, New Business Development
- International Growth Execution, Europe, Asia, Americas
- Sales & Field Force Effectiveness
- Physician Adoption, New Market Development
- Marketing to Physicians & Direct-to-Patients
- General Management
- Early-Stage Company Growth, Turnarounds
- Global Product Commercialization
- R&D Product Development & Manufacturing
- Organization Design to Drive P&L Growth
Daniel Powell
CEO
Spark Biomedical
Daniel Powell has over 20 years in developing and selling technology-based products. He has served in multiple leadership roles including software engineering, program management, marketing & business development. Over his career, Mr. Powell launched over 18 medical device products including those for Deep Brain Stimulation for movement disorders and Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Epilepsy. Most recently he co-founded and serves as CEO of Spark Biomedical, developing a novel, wearable neurostimulation solution to address opioid withdrawal and addiction.
John Murphy
CEO
Virtual Incision
A global medical technology and health sciences executive, John Murphy has held leadership roles in large public companies, middle-market private equity businesses, and venture capital environments over the past 20 years. He holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in computer science and a MBA in international finance.
Tim Boire
CEO
VenoStent
Prior to cofounding VenoStent with Geoff, Tim received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and is an inventor of the novel shape memory polymers and SelfWrap technologies. While there, he served as an Entrepreneurial Lead in the 2014 NSF I-Corps Program, a pre-intake company in the Life Science Tennessee Mentor Network Program. Before getting his PhD., Dr. Boire worked at Genzyme Corporation as a Research Associate. He received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University in Biochemistry.
Jim Kasic
CEO
EndoShape
Kasic is a serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in the Class I, II, and III medical device industry. His career includes experience with companies ranging from large multi-national corporations to start-ups with a national and international scope. He holds more than 40 U.S. and international patents.
He has served as the president and CEO of Sophono, Inc. a multinational manufacturer and distributor of implantable hearing devices, which was acquired by Medtronic. He also was the president of OrthoWin, acquired by Zimmer-BioMed, and is the founder and chairman of Boulder IQ.
Kasic received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a Master of Science degree in chemical/biological engineering from the University of Colorado, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix.
Ash Attia
CEO
Bionic Vision Technologies
Ash Attia, PhD, FAICD Ash has more than 30 years of senior executive management experience in implantable devices and biotechnology. Prior to BVT, Ash held the position of Vice President Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Israel, at TransMedics Inc. Ash also held Vice President and Managing Director roles within several other major Australian and International medtech organizations such as Thoratec, St Jude Medical, Micromed, Syncardia, Ventracor, Biotronik, SulzerMedica and Telectronics. Ash has extensive experience in medical technology commercialization, general management, research and development, marketing, market entry strategies, regulatory and reimbursement across multiple geographies (USA, Asia Pacific and Europe). He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has extensive governance experience being a Non-Executive Director on the board of ASX-listed Company DorsaVi for over 10 years.
Michael Peck
CEO
Patheous Health
Michael is CEO and Founder of Patheous Health and it's subsidiary, MBS Envision. Collectively, these healthcare companies focus on building feeding and swallowing health innovations and services across multiple points of care. Prior to this endeavor, Michael served as the CEO of Innara Health and as a partner and venture partner at Open Prairie Ventures. Michael was a co-founder of Flyover Capital and worked at the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation, and managed the firm’s investment fund while assisting with legislative matters. Prior to Flyover Capital and KTEC, he was a senior executive for two early-stage dot-com era technology companies in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Before those two stints, he worked in the Chicago and San Francisco offices of Accenture, in the firm’s strategic management consulting practice advising clients such as Hewlett Packard, Compaq Computer and Nordstrom.
In 2006, Michael was named to Ingram Magazine’s “40 Under Forty” class.
He received a BS degree in Engineering from the University of Kansas, an M.B.A. degree from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and a Master’s of Engineering Management degree from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.
Specialties: - Venture capital, Entrepreneurship, Healthcare Technologies and Services
Olivier Delporte
CEO
Miracor Medical
Olivier Delporte is an international executive with over 20 years of sales, marketing and general management experience, mostly in the medical device industry. Prior to joining Miracor, he was Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, U.S. at PneumRx (acquired by BTG in 2015) and Vice President Commercial Operations, Sales and Marketing of Tryton Medical in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Previously, Olivier held leadership positions at Guidant Corporation and Abbott Vascular. Olivier has studied and worked in the U.S., France, Spain, and Belgium. He is currently a Director of Endotoxins Therapeutics. Olivier earned a Master’s Degree in Business from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, and a Master’s in Business Administration from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Marc Zemel
CEO
Retia Medical
A serial entrepreneur and experienced leader at Fortune 500 companies and startups in the medical device, imaging, and capital equipment markets, Mr. Zemel has a long track record of raising capital and building high-performing teams to develop, launch and sell innovative new products. Prior to founding Retia, Mr. Zemel had several leadership roles in engineering, marketing and sales at a capital equipment startup and Becton Dickinson. He also authored 23 approved or pending patents. Mr. Zemel received his MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Brian Kannard
CEO
PercuSense
Brian is a medical device professional who is passionate about improving clinical outcomes and healthcare costs through smart innovation. He has over 10 years of experience innovating, developing, and commercializing new class II and class III medical device technology. He previously worked in leadership positions in the Research and Development organization of the Diabetes division at Medtronic. Before joining PercuSense, Brian was the Engineering Director, Product Development, responsible for the development and commercialization of Medtronic’s Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) technologies. In this role, he led the product development and algorithm development teams. Brian has significant expertise in the design, development, and commercialization of medical technology. He has managed and led large product development teams and teams focused on algorithm development and analytics. He also has significant experience on the quality, regulatory, clinical, and operations aspects of medical device development. Brian has a bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Master's in Business Administration from Stanford University.
Patrick Treacy
CEO
Onkos Surgical
Patrick is passionate about leading a team and organization dedicated to supporting healthcare professionals in the area of surgical oncology. Prior to Onkos Surgical, Patrick was Executive Vice President of PDI and President of PDI Healthcare where he was responsible for oversight of strategic initiatives as well as financial performance of the Healthcare Division.
Prior to joining PDI, Patrick developed a passion for the advancement of surgical oncology in multiple roles in R&D, Marketing and General Management with Howmedica (division of Pfizer) and Stryker. In his early days at Howmedica, Patrick was responsible for the development of and launch of the company’s first FDA cleared product offering in orthopedic oncology. Patrick also holds implant and instrument design patents in orthopedic surgery.
Barry Allen
CEO
Sonic Incytes Medical
Barry Allen is a serial founder and operator with more than 25 years of executive management and board experience in the medtech, software and digital industries in both public and private companies. Barry’s start-up experience includes Founder, Chair and CEO of Zolo, President & CEO of PureWeb Inc., Founder and CEO of VSM MedTech, Founder and CEO of Urodynamix. Barry’s community involvement includes Associate Creative Destruction Labs West and Rockies, Founder and Chair of the BC Excels Program, Entrepreneur in Residence at Ventures West, and lead mentor with BC Innovation Council. Barry has held a number of directorships in private and public companies and is currently the Chair and Director of Zolo and Orpyx.
Daniel Hawkins
CEO
Avail Medsystems
Daniel Hawkins is the founder and CEO of Avail Medsystems, a medical technology company creating a network where medical expertise sharing can occur between healthcare professionals and experts to and from the operating room anytime, anywhere.
Over the past 25 years in the medical technology field, Daniel’s mission has been to identify and close gaps that prevent patients from getting the best possible healthcare. He is an inventor on over 140 patents and applications, and has held roles in both large and emerging companies, including Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Inc., Endologix, Restore Medical, EnteroMedics, and Intuitive Surgical. Daniel is a co-founder of Calibra Medical, acquired by Johnson & Johnson, and founder of Shockwave Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWAV).
Daniel has an MBA from Stanford University and a BS in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2017, Daniel was honored by Goldman Sachs as one of its Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs.
John Timberlake
President & CEO
Berkshire Biomedical
30+ years of healthcare executive leadership with accomplished track-record commercializing medical devices, drugs, and drug-device combinations
Progressive leadership at private, public, small start-up to multibillion-dollar organizations in the Medical Technology and Pharmaceutical industries
CEO of private and public companies with extensive board management and capital raising experience in the private and public markets
Alberto Rodriguez-Navarro
CEO
Levita Magnetics
Minimally invasive general surgeon with more than 10 years of clinical experience. Medical inventor with multiple patents and clinical researcher with publications in international journals, especially in the field of post-operatory pain.
Susan Trent
CEO
Atlantic Therapeutics
A 20+ year career in Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Healthcare, with extensive International experience gained in the UK, Latin America, Japan, SE Asia and USA. Marketing, sales, business development and strategic planning roles at an operational and above-country level. An agile global business leader, adept at delivering results in diverse environments through strong relationship-building at all organizational levels.
Anna Lisa Somera
CEO
Rhaeos
Ms. Anna Lisa Somera brings over 20 years’ experience working with start-ups in different capacities including biomedical research, venture capital, technology transfer, operations, regulatory affairs, quality management systems, clinical research, grant consulting, and management. Her interest in leading start-ups has stems from OrthoAccel Technologies, a medical device company she co-founded in grad school in 2005. From there, she worked in early stage venture capital and held senior roles in several medical device companies including Diagnostic Photonics, Innoblative Designs, Briteseed, and American BioOptics.
She has led teams through several clinical trial launches, FDA 510(k) Clearances and CE Marks, ISO 13485 Certified Quality Management Systems, and also brought in over $30M in financing to several start ups. She has also served as a start-up consultant to Chain Reaction Innovations at Argonne National Labs, The Polsky Exchange at the University of Chicago, MATTER Chicago, INVO at Northwestern University, and the Illinois University Incubator Network. She has also served as senior personnel on several NIH, NSF, and DOD funded small business grants. She is also on the board of Women in Bio, Chicago.
Ms. Somera is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Rhaeos, Inc., a Northwestern University spin-out developing wearable flow monitoring devices. She holds 3 Masters’ Degrees in Cell Biology (Rush University), Business (University of Illinois at Chicago), and Public Health (University of Illinois at Chicago).
Alan Kersey
President & CEO
CytoVeris
Experienced Entrepreneur and Investor with Strong Business Skills in Research and Development, Life Sciences/Biotech, Industrial Engineering, Business Development, and Corporate Strategic Planning.
Teri Sirset
CEO
Dasi Simulations
Co-founder, President and CEO of DASI Simulations. Teri is a high-level sales executive with 25 years’ senior management experience in Medical Device Sales and Marketing. Her most recent position was Vice President of Sales and New Business Development for a start-up company in the cardiovascular and neurovascular space. Teri has fund-raising (Angel Investment 2M), Quality Assurance, and FDA submission experience.
Len Pagliaro
CEO
Siva Therapeutics
Len Pagliaro, PhD, has 21 years of experience with successful commercialization of biotechnology products, services, and licensing, following an academic career. He has managed R&D and business development teams, and brought product lines from concept through commercialization to acquisition. A small molecule oncology project he led was successfully partnered with TopoTarget, and is now in the clinic. Len managed the P&L for a business unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific selling tools for drug discovery before co-founding Siva. He is responsible for overall corporate strategy and financing.
Aswin Gunasekar
CEO
Zeto
- 14 years in Engineering, Product Development and Management Consulting
- Sales and Marketing Transformation for Fortune 1000 companies.
- PwC, AMD, Cypress Semiconductor
Surendar Magar
President & CEO
LifeSignals
Surendar Magar has over 30 years’ experience in the technology industry. He co-invented the Texas Instruments TMS320, the groundbreaking digital signal processing architecture that launched the DSP industry. Later he co-founded Athena Semiconductors, an early developer of the wireless networking platform that would become Wi-Fi; Athena was acquired by Broadcom Corporation.
Howard Carolan
Co-Founder, CEO
CoapTech
Mr. Carolan has worked for the past 10 years in clinical innovation and patient safety at the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and at the Johns Hopkins Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care. At the Armstrong Institute he served as lead Project Manager for the development of “Emerge,” in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Emerge is a transdisciplinary patient safety program based on Systems Engineering principles that designed and developed applications with clinicians for improving critical care and patient experience in the ICU.
In his 10 years with Johns Hopkins, Mr. Carolan has been involved with a number of strategic and operational projects spanning the healthcare continuum, with a focus on patient safety, quality improvement, revenue enhancement, and information technology. Howard’s interest in these areas was forged at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he earned his MPH, received an NIH grant for Public Health Informatics training, and served as President of the Anna Baetjer Society for Public Health. Mr. Carolan also completed his MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School with a focus in health care. He has co-authored publications in the areas of patient safety, systems engineering, computerized clinician decision support, pay-for-performance, and Venous Thromboembolism prevention. Mr. Carolan is a graduate of Duke University where he received his Bachelor of Science in economics.
George Mahaffey
CEO
Mindera
Mr. Mahaffey brings over three decades of pharmaceutical, biotech, and device industry experience including thirteen years of developing and commercializing dermatological products and services. His prior role was President and CEO of Clarify Medical which commercialized a novel connected home phototherapy device used by chronic skin disease patients. He previously served as President and CEO of Lithera, Inc., later renamed Neothetics, a specialty pharmaceutical aesthetics company, where he successfully completed an IPO in November 2014. Mr. Mahaffey served as CEO of Peplin, Inc. after its acquisition by LEO Pharma A/S in 2009. His prior role at this skin cancer company was Peplin’s Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Mahaffey also served as Sr. Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Cotherix, Inc. where he led commercialization of Ventavis® (iloprost), an orphan drug to treat Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. He was instrumental in the acquisition of the company by Actelion Ltd. in 2007. Mr. Mahaffey worked at Scios, Inc. where he led the commercial launch of Natrecor® (nesiritide) to treat acutely decompensated heart failure. The company was acquired by Johnson and Johnson in 2003. A prior role was Director of Marketing at Neurex, Inc. which was acquired by Elan Pharmaceuticals in 1999. He held various sales and marketing positions at DuPont Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Mahaffey has a BS Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Delaware and an MBA from the University of South Florida.
September Riharb
VP of Corporate Development
True Digital Surgery
Ms. Riharb has over 25 years of senior executive experience with public and private companies in both the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. Her management experience includes global and inline marketing, product management, sales management, business development, strategic planning and operations.
Currently she is the VP of Corporate Development for True Digital Surgery a digital visualization and augmented reality guidance startup. She was responsible for commercialization of an aesthetic neurotoxin in her prior role as VP of Marketing for Evolus. As the VP of Development for Allergan, she was instrumental in the successful divestiture of the Allergan Health business. Prior to that role, she served as the Acting COO of EMKinetics, a clinical stage startup with a novel neuromodulation therapy.
Ms. Riharb has held key management positions with True Digital Surgery, Evolus/ALPHAEON, BAROnova, Allergan/INAMED/McGhan Medical, Computer Motion and Circon Corp. She developed and launched the first national consumer medical device commercial to run on all three major networks. The commercial for the LAP-BAND System won the Direct to Consumer National Advertising Award for Best Medical Device and increased unaided awareness by 30% and sales by 90%. Ms. Riharb was also instrumental in the commercialization of the first surgical robots and voice-activated operating rooms.
Ms. Riharb received her BA in Communications, with a concentration in Advertising, from California State University, Fullerton.
Katarina Hedbeck
CEO
Tada Medical
Katarina is an engineer with an MBA. She has previous work experience from product, organization and business development, personnel responsibility for 150 employees as well as experience of international work from Europe.
James Beckmann
CEO
Dr. Hologram
Jim Beckmann is a talented and proven entrepreneur and start-up professional with a 30-year record of launching, guiding, engineering and fast-tracking successful enterprises in a broad variety of business categories, including education, sports & event marketing, healthcare, financial services, retail and energy.
Jim started his first company at 19, and - in his 20’s - became the youngest partner in a CRM firm that was later sold for over $10 million to a publicly held French company.
Now, with over $200 million in sales and growing, he helps others excel through innovation while overseeing a select portfolio of companies, serves as business consultant/adjunct board member to several start-ups, and speaks at colleges, universities, and economic forums on successful enterprise development, effective networking, and competitive strategies.
Mr. Beckmann has received numerous awards and was selected by the Department of Commerce to serve as a Judge for their Select USA Worldwide Investment Conference and selected to mentor Women led tech companies seeking to expand to the United States.
His continuing success is rooted in skills that drive results and in his experience at growing ideas into profitable businesses.
Ramgopal Rao
CEO
LensGen
Ram is a serial entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical and device industry. Ramgopal is inventor, founder and chief executive officer of LensGen, Inc., a clinical stage medical device company that is developing a novel intraocular lens for presbyopia. The Company has received support from one of the largest medical device companies in the world. LensGen closed a $28.0 million Series A Financing in May 2018.
Currently he is also Chairman of the Board of 2C Tech Corporation, Inc., an emerging medical device company that is developing a novel nanotechnology application for preservation of vision for patients with degenerative retinal diseases. 2C Tech Completed Series B Financing in 2016 and 2019.
Ram co-developed an innovative corneal implant device for presbyopia and licensed the technology to (venture funded) Acufocus, Inc. The company is now commercializing the product on a global scale. Prior to that, Ram founded Tomey Technology Inc., that pioneered the corneal topography imaging technology that is now a standard of care in eye care for LASIK and cataract surgery. This joint venture company was acquired by Tomey Corporation of Japan.
He was Chief Operating Officer and Director of Vitreoretinal Technologies, Inc., a venture funded ophthalmic pharmaceutical company that developed a drug for diabetic retinopathy.
Ram was President of Ophthalmic Group at Premier Laser Systems, Inc.; a publicly held company that developed the first laser assisted cataract surgery technology. He also held various executive positions at Biorad Laboratories, Inc.
Dennis Farrell
President & CEO
Carevature Medical
An accomplished, results-driven, established medical device professional equipped with strong business acumen, entrepreneurial mindset, and 15+ years of documented success in critical roles. Expert in product and market development and launch, clinical studies, regulatory compliance, quality, operations, sales, and marketing within large, global organizations and private start-ups.
Thorsten Waloschek
CEO
NeoPrediX
Thorsten Waloschek, MBA is an experienced executive from industry with a passion for bringing new and innovative products to market that have a positive impact on patients, their families and clinicians.
Murali Padala
CEO & Founder
Nyra Medical
Murali is the inventor of the portfolio of patents that describe the cardiac leaflet enhancer (CARLEN) technology. He led the program from ideation to its current advanced preclinical stage. At Nyra Medical, he acts as both the CEO and CTO of the company, guiding the technology development, and the pathway to human studies. He is the director of the structural heart research and innovation laboratory in Atlanta, which is an incubator for new ideas in structural heart interventions. He holds a PhD in Bioengineering, an MS and a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and was a graduate of the Kauffman Foundation TechVenture Program at Emory University that trains scientific founders to lead technology intensive companies.
Ken Gall
CTO
restor3d
Engineer and entrepreneur with a passion for disrupting the status quo in implants through the creation, modification, understanding, and commercialization of synthetic biomaterials.
John Chi
CEO
Synova Life Sciences
John Chi is CEO and founder at Synova Life Sciences. At Synova, John has authored one issued patent and one pending on the matter of stem cell harvesting. In the lab, John has directed stem cell differentiation to create various cell types. He has also worked with recombinant DNA techniques in bacteria to splice and study genes for antibiotic resistance and drug discovery. He has served in both the private and public sectors and has led in corporate and academic environments. Prior to founding Synova, John led the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Cal State Fullerton as its expert IT analyst from 2004-2010. Before joining the University, John was CTO and co-founder of post-production company, Digital Quest, Inc. until its acquisition in 2004. John received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and his Master’s in Biotechnology (MBt) with an emphasis in Business through an integrated Cal State consortium graduate program (LA, Pomona, Fullerton).
Brett Dines
CEO
OYE Therapeutics
Mr. Dines was most recently the VP of Hospitals and Health Systems at Walgreens. In this role, he led the $9.2 Billion USD business development and strategic initiatives in 340B, transition of care, and integration of healthcare delivery systems for hospitals and health systems. Mr. Dines holds a B.A. in Pharmaceutical Sciences Purdue University, an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Operations Mgmt from DePaul University KellStadt Graduate School of Business, and serves as adjunct faculty at University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Timothy Still
CEO
Sense Biodetection
Timothy I. Still’s background includes over 30 years of experience in medical devices and diagnostics. He has extensive experience in designing and implementing highly focused commercial and business development strategies within both large and small companies. He has been directly responsible for building the commercial viability at many of his previous companies, five of which have been successfully acquired.
Timothy earned a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California at Davis, and an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California.
Tracy MacNeal
President & CEO
Materna Medical
Growth-minded executive creating meaningful contributions to healthcare.
Specialties: Women's health, medical devices, digital health/connected health, healthcare executive, strategy, financing, fundraising, sales leadership, implementation plans, project management, market strategy, new business development, M&A, strategic partnerships in healthcare companies
Vineet Johnson
CEO
IRegained
Vineet Johnson completed his BSc. in Physiotherapy at Christian Medical College, in India, and obtained a Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy, from Queen Margaret University, Scotland, UK. He then went on to complete a Masters degree in Neuroscience at Simon Fraser University in Canada, followed by his Doctoral program at McGill University, Canada. He has worked as a teacher, and a researcher on three continents. His research interests include exploring neuromuscular recovery strategies in individuals post-stroke as well as changes in body composition as a result of inactivity due to disease. The primary goal of his most recent research was to explore the use of goal driven exercise strategies, and to study the mechanisms that mediate neuroplastic changes in the human brain.
Travis Bond
CEO
Altoida
Travis is an award-winning digital health disruptor with over 20 years of experience in building and leading technology and services companies for B2B and B2C healthcare markets. He has built products and services that have impacted the lives of millions of people and have dramatically enhanced both the way organizations do business and how people experience their care.
Dr. Margaret Kalmeta
Founder & CEO
Rapid Nexus
Dr. Margaret Kalmeta is a Doctor of Dental Surgery with extensive training in oral surgery. She built and successfully exited several startup practices, subsequently went on to develop and patent novel tissue and bone growth technologies. Learning that daily amputations measured in the hundreds because of poor technologies, Dr. Kalmeta transferred her oral surgery wound healing technology to the wound care industry and founded Rapid Nexus, Inc in order to address this critical unmet patient need.
Brett Naglreiter
CEO
Poseydon Medical
Brett Naglreiter currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of NaglreiterTM MDDO, a bleeding-edge medical device development organization, and two incubated client companies, Poseydon Medical, which creates tools to improve the outcome for stroke patients, and EMBolic Acceleration, a company focused on solving the unmet vessel occlusion needs of the Interventional Radiologists. At the helm of NAGLREITERTM MDDO, Brett has been involved with the creation of products in numerous specialties such as Neurovascular, Peripheral Vascular, Cardiovascular, GI, Arthroscopy, Orthopedics, Robotic Surgery, and more. Being previously involved with Apollo Endosurgery as Co-Founder / VP of Engineering, Brett took an estimated investment of $40M and turned it into an estimated market value of $393M today via IPO. Additionally, Brett held leadership positions at both Stryker and J&J for almost a decade. Brett has over 27 years of experience in the medical device space with companies such as Orthosensor, Motus GI, Titan Medical, Pulsar Vascular, SafeStitch Medical, TriSalus Life Sciences, Surpass Medical, Sharklet, and more, supporting multiple stages of development, fundraising, IPOs, reverse mergers, and acquisitions. As CEO of both EMBolic Acceleration and Poseydon Medical, Mr. Naglreiter has seen numerous successes in all phases of the company lifecycle. Brett holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science in Medical Engineering from Clemson University.
Gabriel Jones
CEO
Proprio
Gabriel Jones is the CEO of Proprio, which he co-founded in 2016 with Seattle Children's Hospital neurosurgeon Dr. Samuel Browd, University of Washington Professor Joshua Smith, and computer vision specialist James Youngquist. The team set out to create a system that makes surgeons more precise and exponentially increases surgical accuracy and efficiency.
Jones is a well-known and experienced technology leader with a passion for helping others and bringing innovation to life. Jones has more than a decade of leadership experience in emerging technology and intellectual property law, with specific expertise in AI and healthcare. He began his career in international trade in Japan and Washington, DC, and worked in large-scale mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street. Prior to founding Proprio, Jones helped clients like Bill Gates and the leadership of Microsoft evaluate and develop emerging technologies while working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on global initiatives in health and technology. Seeking to create a more direct, positive societal impact, his work led him to technology ventures. He has assisted several successful startups on their commercialization path, from biotech and med tech, to AI and prop tech. Gabe has held seats on several boards including the Washington Biotech and Biomedical Association and the Group Health Foundation through its acquisition by Kaiser.
Bernhard Gilbey
CEO
11 Health & Technologies
Chief Executive Officer with 20 years experience of successfully developing and implementing global strategies and personally leading critical client relationships. Expert in healthcare and particularly the US healthcare reimbursement system.
Victor Gura
CEO
Wearable Artificial Organs
Dr. Gura is a nephrologist with more than 50 years of clinical and research experience. He is a worldwide expert in dialysis technology and a clinical professor at UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine.
Carla Spina, PhD
CEO, Co-Founder
Exciton Pharma
Carla Spina, Ph.D. Chem, has been involved in various projects including nanomaterials, crystallography, organic synthesis, and formulation. After graduating with a B.Sc. from the University of Calgary where she specialized in inorganic and analytical chemistry, she completed her Ph.D. at McGill University with Dr. D.S. Bohle, the Canadian Chair in Bioinorganic chemistry. The main topic of her thesis focused on colloidal zinc oxide nanomaterials and their bio-sensing and photocatalytic applications resulting in a communication and several publications in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the Journal of Physical Chemistry, and Bioconjugates. Recognizing her interest in the commercial sector, in her last year of graduate studies, after being awarded a DAAD-Rise Pro scholarship she completed an industrial internship at BASF in Germany. During this internship she investigated the formulation and stabilization of non-aqueous solutions and foams for pharmaceutical and petroleum applications. Under a constrained timeline she was successful in emulsion theory and preparation, mentoring, and filing a record of invention. Returning to Canada, Dr. Spina directed her research efforts toward the biomedical technology field, working for Exciton Technologies Inc. in Edmonton Alberta. As Lead Research Scientist, she and her team successfully developed, tested and marketed a series of advanced silver antimicrobial wound care products. Currently her efforts are directed towards the growth and development of the R&D department at NutriAg Ltd. as Senior Research Scientist. With her innovative team, she is dedicated to the formulation and commercialization of fertilizers, bio-pesticides and environmentally responsible antimicrobial technologies towards food and agricultural applications.
Jeff Amacker
CEO
TibaRay
Jeff is a successful general manager who retired from Varian Medical Systems after 28 years to start his own consulting and financial planning business. He blends 17 years of engineering experience and 16 years of successful business management to provide unique perspectives on strategy, business leadership, new product development, partnerships and financial planning.
Dr. Femida Gwadry-Sridhar
Founder & CEO
Pulse Infoframe
Dr. Femida Gwadry-Sridhar is the founder and chief executive officer of Pulse Infoframe. Dr. Gwadry-Sridhar is a pharmacist, epidemiologist and methodologist with over 25 years of experience in clinical trials, health analytics, clinical disease outcomes, and registries.
Jan Hunik
CEO
ATRO Medical
Dr. Hunik graduated at the University of Wageningen, where he also obtained his PhD on bioprocess technology. After which he started working at Unilever for four years as project manager biotechnology. Next, he worked at DSM where he fulfilled several roles in B2B marketing and innovation, where he developed patented technology into commercial products. From 2010-2016, he worked as director of strategy at DSM Biomedical Materials. In 2016, he co-founded ATRO Medical, and he acts as CEO ever since. He is responsible for the project management, attracting investors, team building and the financial management.
Bora Chang
CEO & Founder
KelaHealth
Physician passionate about impacting healthcare systems through innovation and cutting-edge technologies. Long-time health policy and patient advocate. Currently dedicated to turn artificial intelligence into actionable intelligence in surgical care at KelaHealth.
Joseph Skraba
President & CEO
Entvantage Diagnostics
Joe Skraba has 30 years of experience in commercialization and sales of a broad range of medical devices, in-vitro diagnostic devices and biotech products. He has engineered products, managed development teams on complex medical device projects and led large multinational R&D teams. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and is inventor on four patents. Products that he has developed have achieved sales of more than $5 billion and has recently raised significant venture funding for several organizations in the past few years. Joe also has a MBA and a Master’s in Technology Commercialization.
Craig Misrach
President & CEO
UpLyft
Craig Misrach is a 20+ year business executive with escalating levels of C-level experience throughout his career. From 2006-2014, Craig was the Founder, Chairman & CEO of Freedom Meditech, Inc. a diabetes medical device company he led from concept through FDA 510(k) clearance and global commercialization. Freedom Meditech completed a cross border M&A sale in November 2016 to Sinocare, LTD after Craig had helped secure ~$15M in Series A-C Financings for the company. From 2004-2006, Craig was the President & COO of EyeChem, a start-up ophthalmic diabetes medical device company he led while obtaining his full-time MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Prior to EyeChem, Craig was the Controller for Silvergate Bank where he was responsible for $500M in assets and primary financial reporting responsibility to executive management. Craig is an active CPA in the State of California and started his career at Deloitte & Touche, where he audited various middle market businesses and assisted in the preparation of S-1, 10K, and 10Q filings for public companies.
Hamed Hanafi
President & Director of R&D
NovaResp Technologies
PhD in Biomedical Engineering, currently involved in research, development and commercialization of medical devices, with focus on monitoring of lung health specifically on anesthesia/ventilation circuits with application in diagnosis and treatment of disease.
Thomas Muehlbauer
CEO
AVACEN Medical
Fortune 500 senior executive experience with over 25 Years of CEO and start-up skills including acquisitions, capital formation and public market transitions.
Prior to founding AVACEN in 2008, Mr. Muehlbauer started an Internet company which was sold to a publicly traded company bringing a return to founding investors of over 180% in 2 years. As a hands-on investor, he engineered the start-up growth and sale of World View, International, providing multimillion dollar returns to shareholders in less than a three-year period.
Mr. Muehlbauer developed his expertise in corporate management working for “Fortune 500” companies. Management positions ranged from Worldwide Data Center Manager, to President and CEO for three mid-sized corporations. He holds a Bachelor of Science, University State of New York.
Pierre-Alexandre Fournier
CEO
Hexoskin
Pierre-Alexandre Fournier is co-founder and CEO of Hexoskin, a Montreal-based company focused on clinical-grade wearable sensors and AI software for health and clinical research. Hexoskin launched in 2013 the first iPhone compatible smart shirt for health monitoring, which won several international awards and was used in over 120 scientific publications. In 2018 Hexoskin launched a remote health monitoring system for astronauts to the International Space Station.
Pierre-Alexandre has been involved in health sensor development and artificial intelligence projects for over 15 years, and advises many public and private organisations on these topics in the US, Canada and Europe. Pierre-Alexandre is also an advocate for transparency in healthcare, patient empowerment, and healthcare innovation through design.
Benjamin Freedman, PhD
President & CEO
Limax Biosciences
Dr. Benjamin Freedman received his PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. During his postdoctoral fellowship at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, he received several grants (NIH F32 and K99; NSF iCorps) and was a lead inventor on two patents of the Limax technology. He has published 36 manuscripts in several top journals and has presented over 60 conference abstracts. Dr. Freedman has mentored over 30 students that have since pursued careers in industry and advanced degrees in academia. In May 2019, he led Limax Biosciences as a finalist in Harvard’s President’s Innovation Challenge for this technology. Limax has completed the MassConnect (MassBio), ActivateBio, TRANSCEND (Harvard Catalyst), and Creative Destruction Labs accelerator programs and won first place in the ActivateBio pitch competition.
Barry Keenan
CEO
Nervonik
Engineering Scientist and medical device technology leader with over 18 years of experience in medical device research, strategy, market development, product development and commercialization. Broad expertise in a number of class I, II & III medical device technologies including: sensing, drug delivery, neuromodulation and patient monitoring.
Aditya Ingalhalikar, PhD
Founder & CEO
INDIUS Medical Solutions
A well published R&D professional with multiple patents to his credit, Dr. Ingalhalikar has had a 16 years long experience in the global spinal implants industry. Prior to founding INDIUS, Dr. Ingalhalikar was Director of Product Development at Globus Medical, the 5th largest spinal implants company in the world. He has extensive experience in taking products from concept to commercialization in the highly competitive and innovation driven global spinal implants market.
Dr. Ingalhalikar has received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering with a specialization in Spine Biomechanics from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
Sanket Chauhan
Founder & CEO
Surgical Automations
Dr. Sanket Chauhan is a physician and entrepreneur who is extensively published in the field of robotic urology and surgical simulation with more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and over 100 presentations in various conferences. He is also an innovator and entrepreneur with 20 pending patents all over the world. Dr Chauhan has completed multiple fellowships including Advanced Robotic Urology at AdventHealth Global Robotics Institute, the Department of Defense Telerobotic Surgery & Robotic Surgery Simulation fellowship at AdventHealth Nicholson Center and ACS-AEI Surgical Simulation fellowship at University of Minnesota. He has also graduated Beta Gamma Sigma from Executive MBA program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.
Danny Goel
CEO
PrecisionOS
A practicing surgeon and surgical educator, Dr. Goel currently practices in the Vancouver, B.C. area and also serves on the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. He received his medical degree from the University of Manitoba, pursued his residency training in orthopedic surgery at the University of Calgary, and completed fellowship training in shoulder surgery at the University of Western Ontario and Harvard University. Goel has co-authored more than 30 publications, and is widely sought as a presenter on surgical techniques.
James Hugg
CEO
SmartBreast
Medical Physicist. 11+ years in academic research, 11+ years at GE Healthcare as Six Sigma Master Blackbelt and Physics Manager; 4 years as VP and CTO at Gamma Medica (MBI startup, sold to CMR Naviscan), and 5 years as Senior VP at Kromek (formerly eV Products, a company that manufactures MBI detectors).
Chris Kaufmann
CEO
iotaMotion
Dr. Chris Kaufmann brings over 14 years of experience in medicine, engineering, and business and is responsible for iotaMotion’s corporate and technology development. As a co-founder and co-inventor of the company’s technology, he has built and led iotaMotion from product concept and development, through manufacturing development, clinical studies, and regulatory submission. Prior to leaving surgical training to join the company full-time, Dr. Kaufmann was an Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery resident and NIH research fellow at the University of Iowa and a General Surgery resident at UT Health San Antonio. He has previous medical device concept development experience at 3M/KCI and the Advanced Implant Materials and Systems lab at UT San Antonio. Dr. Kaufmann’s work has resulted in numerous patents and over 20 peer reviewed articles and proceedings in the fields of Otolaryngology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Biomaterials, and Material Science. His combination of market, technical, and clinical perspectives, and engineering expertise is instrumental in iotaMotion’s success.
Mina Fahim
CEO & President
MediView
Medical device leader with experience in surgical navigation, data analytics, cardiovascular and orthopedic implantables, diagnostics, and atrial fibrillation ablation.
Brent Fawson
Chief Operating Officer
Facible BioDiagnostics
A serial entrepreneur for the past 20+ years, Brent specializes in helping companies operationalize their product offerings and take them to market. Brent has extensive experience with companies in Real Estate/Construction, SAAS, Consumer Goods, Educational Tools & Media. Brent joined Facible because he saw an opportunity to leave a lasting impact on the lives of people who needed it, something he came to appreciate as the Co-Founder of Saalt. Brent has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Brigham Young University and an MA from TSHK.
Caitlin Morse
CEO
BrainSpace
I am passionate about impacting global health by leveraging my medical device and international experience to improve access, efficacy, efficiency and affordability. I believe this all starts with meaningful communication: understanding the needs and priorities of patients, practitioners, payers, governments, device creators and distributors is key to creating targeted solutions with lasting impact and financial sustainability. In addition to being an entrepreneur, I also enjoy empowering other entrepreneurs.
Gabriele Niederauer
CEO
Bluegrass Vascular Technologies
Gabi joined BVT in September 2014 as CEO & President. Previously, she was Senior Vice President of Technology & Development and a founding officer of ENTrigue Surgical, Inc. Gabi was also on the management team of Concept to Market Medical. Gabi’s research and development expertise has been critical to the successful acquisitions of three medical device companies where she also led regulatory, quality, clinical and intellectual property functions. At OsteoBiologics, her team developed a suite of sports medicine products while actively participating in raising $20 million in funding. The company sold to Smith&Nephew for more than $72 million in 2006. Concept to Market Medical developed a unique shoulder anchor, which was acquired by Tornier. At ENTrigue Surgical, her team developed commercially viable products for otolaryntology. The company was acquired in 2013 for $45 million by ArthroCare Corporation, which was subsequently purchased by Smith&Nephew.
Gabi has more than 25 years of experience in the development and commercialization of medical technologies. Her research has led to over 20 peer-reviewed articles and numerous presentations/abstracts. Gabi is also a co-inventor on nine patents and seven applications for devices and methods used in orthopedic surgery, tissue engineering and ENT procedures. She serves on the advisory boards of several medical/biotech companies (Bio2 Technologies, PuraCath Medical, StemBioSys, and Cardiovate). Gabi completed a Post-Doc in the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory at UTHSCSA. She earned a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and a MS in Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering from Iowa State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Ceramic Engineering from Clemson University.
Howard Edelman
CEO
VahatiCor
As a Senior Operations and Product Development Executive, I have a record of success in generating multimillion dollar outcomes within medical device, medical equipment and orthopedic markets. I’m known for my expertise in operations, product development, marketing and sales within startup organizations and global entities, having founded and led several organizations to profitability.
My experience includes multi-market, multi-disciplined technical environments focusing on innovation, product development, market strategy, all phases of execution, operations, global supply chain development and management, manufacturing lifecycle, marketing and sales development.
In these leadership roles, I’ve directed the development of a broad range of medical and biotech instrumentation projects to market, generating +$200 million in sales. These successes are underpinned with hands on involvement in strategic R&D, IP development, manufacturing process improvement and building strong multifunctional teams.
I’m known as a hands-on multi-dimensional leader who delivers market leading products, communicates vision with clarity and establishes industry leadership through innovation, smart marketing strategy and process improvement.
Iris Wedeking
CEO
iDentical
Experienced entrepreneur and visionary leader with a demonstrated history of building and leading organizations that deliver results and make a positive impact at scale. Currently serving as the CEO and Co-Founder of iDENTICAL, an early stage company that is revolutionizing tooth replacement with drill-free dental implants.
Laura Yecies
CEO
Bone Health Technologies
Experienced CEO, Marketer and Strategist with proven ability to develop and market award-winning products, build teams, create profitable business models, scale businesses as well as profitably exit. Over 25 years of experience leading the design, development, launch, and commercial growth of high profile, successful global technology products and services. Public spokesperson and recognized industry thought leader frequently sought out by the media in the health technology, neuroscience, cloud, mobile, security, and collaboration areas. Deep functional leadership in global sales, marketing, product development and delivery, and business partnerships. Strong ability to partner with technologists and scientists and build teams to accelerate results and capture market value. Passionate, multilingual internationalist with expertise in building global business.
Agnieszka Janeczek
CEO
Renovos Biologics
Agnieszka has a PhD in Biomedicine and MSc in Medical biotechnology with a proven regenerative medicine track record, including stem cells, drug delivery systems and nanomaterials, and so brings over a decade of technical expertise to the company. Agnieszka has been supported by the Innovate UK/SETsquared ICURe and Southampton Science Park Catalyst Programmes, enabling her to gather relevant market research, co-found Renovos and define the development and commercialisation pathways for Renovos’ different products. She is passionate about commercialising novel medical technologies. Agnieszka is leading on the business development activities and operations, and oversees the commercial development of our product portfolio.
Jeffrey D'Agostino
CEO
206 Ortho
Jeffrey D’Agostino founded 206 Ortho, Inc. in 2011. He is veteran of over 19 years in medical devices/pharmaceuticals including working with Pfizer, Immedica, Integra, Micro Therapeutics, and ev3. For the decade prior to founding 206 Ortho, Jeff gained extensive experience with several successful high growth/early stage medical device companies in neurosurgery and interventional neuroradiology focusing on marketing and sales. He also holds several pending patents related to medical devices.
Jeff’s educational background includes a bachelor’s of science with a major in psychology and a minor in biology. He earned an MBA at Babson College F.W. Olin School of business.
Andrew Hull
VP Marketing & Sales
Telesair
Andrew is a strategic healthcare commercialization executive with 10+ years of sales and marketing experience in Respiratory (Hospital/Home), Cardiac Rhythm Management, Neuromodulation, and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Prior to joining Telesair, he was the Director of Marketing for the US Respiratory and Acute Care (Hospital) at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, and before that held positions at Boston Scientific and St. Jude Medical Cardiac (now Abbott). Andrew received his master’s degree in business from the Anderson School at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a Fulbright scholar to Montevideo, Uruguay.
David Giarracco
CEO
Noninvasix
I am a medical device executive with over twenty-five years of leadership experience spanning quality, engineering, and operations including product line, business integrations and new product launches, six-sigma implementations for both operations and business process, and US and global marketing in surgical and monitoring environments.
My marketing experiences span business development (target identification, business case development, diligence), product development (concept through commercialization), into tactical commercial execution bringing innovative solutions to new sites. Market segments span the "admit to discharge" care continuum including the highest acuity in the OR/ICU through terminal chronic care and home care environments.
My experiences are built upon a four years foundation of basic science research at a premier international research institution.
Drew Taylor
CEO
Acorn BioLabs
As a researcher in Toronto, Acorn founder Dr. Drew Taylor saw an urgent need to prepare people for the future of medicine. He struggled to accept the scenario where we have to tell patients that “there is a stem cell therapy available for your condition, but unfortunately your cells are too old and damaged to be leveraged.” To solve this, he founded Acorn Biolabs in 2017.
Prior to founding Acorn, Drew spent several years as Chief Science Officer at Epic Capital Management working across the flourishing biotech start-up community. Prior to Epic, Drew was part of Mount Sinai Hospital’s BioEngineering of Skeletal Tissues Team.
Drew completed a bachelor’s degree in Biology and master’s degree in Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto.
Drew also enjoyed a successful career in professional minor league baseball as a pitcher for both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies. A career-ending injury spurred personal motivation to help unlock the future of regenerative medicine for everyone.
Piush Vidyarthi
CEO
CrossBay Medical
Piush has been working in women's health since 1997. More than a biomedical engineer, he has spent much of his career on developing game-changing medical device products, bringing them to market and globalizing them. Realizing the long-standing need for technology that genuinely improves the overall patient experience in women’s health, Piush founded CrossBay to effect change and provide a product platform entirely focused on providing patient comfort and enhanced outcomes.
Hillary Pierce
CEO
Total Flow Medical
With key experience working in start-ups in the design and development of structural heart implants including transcatheter replacement heart valves (aortic, mitral, tricuspid), working across Canada, the US and Europe for the past 13 years, I am deeply inspired by building, growing and supporting teams while developing elegant solutions to improve patient's treatment options, quality of life and care.
James Lancaster
CEO
Solenic Medical
James Y. Lancaster, Chief Executive Officer, is a seasoned entrepreneur and business development executive with 30 years of experience across multiple industries. He was most recently the Founder and Managing Director of the Innovate Family of Companies with client technologies including a variety of software, innovative materials, internet-of-things, robotics, autonomous vehicles, drone technologies, medical device, biological control, and waste recycling technologies. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, he worked for Deloitte Consulting in Dallas with Fortune 500 and held other executive positions in business software and services, medical technologies, and IT solutions.
Peter Vranes
Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Nutromics
Peter Vranes is a Chemical Engineer and serial entrepreneur. Peter is the co-founder of Nutromics, an Australian MedTech company revolutionising healthcare through continuous real time molecular monitoring. The company’s innovative Smart Patch biosensor platform will solve some of the biggest healthcare challenges we face today in the fields of chronic disease prevention, chronic disease management, acute diseases and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring.
Prior to Nutromics, Peter founded Biocore Technologies and lead the team with the development and commercialisation of several natural cosmeceutical skincare brands that were distributed in 1,500 retailers throughout Australia. The company was successfully sold in 2013.
Eric Goslau
CEO
Transverse Medical
Eric Goslau will attend the Emerging Medtech Summit in-person and provide a Digital Presentation that will stream throughout the conference. Eric is attending the conference with the primary goal to seek out a lead investor and form a syndication around the interest for the company’s present Series B Round of financing as well as network with other strategics, investors and innovators.
Eric is a medical technology executive with signature skills in leadership, product & business development, fundraising, and entrepreneurship of privately held early-stage Medical Device Company, Transverse Medical Inc (TMI) and the POINT-GUARD™ Cerebral Embolic Protection medical device. In addition to his experience as President and Chief Executive Officer and Board Director with TMI, for over the past 25 years Eric has a demonstrated history of success and accomplishments in the industry with several Medical Device Companies.
Prior to joining Transverse Medical, Eric’s professional experience within the medical device industry has been specialized and focused on representing disruptive and game-changing technologies for both surgical and interventional related clinical procedures in Director and Management level leadership roles for companies such as Everest Medical, Pare Surgical, Johnson & Johnson Medical Inc., Cordis Endovascular, Spectranetics, and IDEV Corporation. Eric has actively “carried the bag” and specialized in the clinical areas of Cardiovascular and Peripheral Intervention, Vascular Surgery, Gynecology, General Surgery, and Interventional Radiology.
Eric’s mission of introducing a game-changing solution for complete cerebral embolic protection to safeguard and protect the patient’s brain from unwanted debris (Particles) that otherwise would result in a risk of stroke during Cardiovascular procedures has been a key driver behind his passion in developing POINT-GUARD™.
Eric received his B.S. in Business Administration with a degree in Marketing from the University of Colorado. Eric has also earned a Professional Certificate from UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Business in Medical Device Marketing.
Jeff Pompeo
President & CEO
Caretaker Medical
Serial entrepreneur, Angel Investor, and Board/Advisor with a proven track record leading, growing and monetizing technology-driven companies across the full life-cycle of inception & funding to product-launch & exit. Twenty-five years of success building world-class organizations and executing "idea-to-implementation" hyper-growth strategies for FDA-regulated MedTechs, University spin-outs, Tech-company turnarounds, IoT businesses, and Disruptive Technology Innovations.
James McGlone
President & CEO
Vitara Biomedical
Results-driven Executive with experience in successfully starting, growing and improving the profitability, performance and value of companies in the therapeutic, diagnostics and biotechnology markets. Brings global perspective with new-product introduction expertise, extensive Board of Directors and P&L experience, and restructuring skills.
Sam Owen
CEO
Otolith Labs
Sam Owen has spent over six years working with acoustics and acceleration sensors, leading to the development of Otolith’s patented non-invasive Vestibular System Masking (nVSM) technology. His work has played a key in developing the underlying science and initial prototyping as well as the development and execution of clinical testing to validate the technology at Otolith Labs. Sam was a Fellow at the Halcyon Incubator and earned his Master’s in Physics from Georgetown University.
George Aliphtiras
CEO
Synapse Dental
Mr, George Aliphtiras is a senior executive with specialization in commercialization of medical technology in North America, Europe and Asia. He serves as a Director at VANTEC Entrepreneurs Fund VCC Inc. He has over 10 years of experience in early stage company development from inception through fundraising and commercial validation, in various roles including: Board Member, CEO, Co-founder, VP of Business Development, Operations and Product Development.