Event Hosts & Leadership
Jordi Valls
Economy Finance and Economic Promotion
Barcelona City Council
Scott Pantel
Founder & CEO
Life Science Intelligence
CEO, Founder, and proud member and connector in the Medtech ecosystem. As CEO of LSI, a global healthcare market research and advisory firm, I support startups, investors, strategics, and professional service companies by providing independent market data/insights to help inform their decisions. I aim to leverage my deep network to connect investors with innovators tackling the world's biggest healthcare challenges. Proud to be the Founder of the US and European Emerging Medtech Summit events which have become the go-to investment & partnering conferences in Medtech. I've managed over 200 consulting and due diligence engagements with companies such as J&J, Medtronic, Abbott, Siemens Healthineers, General Electric, amongst others. Proud and honored to serve as a Board Advisor to several early/growth-stage companies and to advise private investors, family offices, PE firms, and SPACs to identify new opportunities in healthcare.
Henry Peck
VP, Growth & Strategy
Life Science Intelligence
I was told I would never see well enough to drive a car.
My patient journey through a rare optical condition and odds-defying surgery sparked my relentless drive to improve health and medicine.
...and made getting my driver's license pretty damn special.
After developing and marketing medtech from the research lab to venture-backed startups and global strategics, and building thriving medtech communities in Web2 and Web3, I went from LSI's biggest fan to Vice President of Growth & Strategy in late 2022.
Stay tuned, more to come 👀
Select Speakers, Investors & Strategics
Steven Pacelli
Executive Vice President and 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.
Marta-Gaia Zanchi
Founder & Managing Partner
Nina Capital
I support multidisciplinary teams at the intersection of high tech and health care. From 2006 to 2019, I've lived, learned and worked with entrepreneurs, investors, universities, and corporations in Silicon Valley. I am now back in Europe, as the founder and managing partner of Nina Capital, to invest in this sector alongside a stellar international team.
Sectors and Focus:
I am especially committed to innovation in information technology / digital health, and have broader expertise in health technology and medical devices with emphasis on needs and markets identification, product management, regulation (FDA Class I-II), fundraising and growth strategies of early-stage companies.
Personality:
I have a bias towards entrepreneurs and an appetite for continuous learning. Leveraging my technology and business domain expertise, I have the most fun while mentoring young professionals and contributing to the building of products and companies. I thrive in unstructured environments, where the risks are high and success hinges on creative people with high ethical standards to self-organize and work together towards solving a compelling health care need.
Philosophy and Goals:
I believe in a culture of collaboration and giving, and in the ripple effect in all aspects of life or business. Keeping my values close and my loved ones even closer, I am moved by a desire to make positive impact and serve a community of health tech innovators, so that their inspiring ideas become solutions that matter in the hands of those who need them the most.
Background:
I have held roles with vastly different organizations in Europe, Canada and the United States, and developed my operational and creative abilities by contributing to, establishing and growing businesses.
Alexander Schmitz
Partner
Endeavour Vision
Actively investing out of Endeavour Medtech Growth II, focusing on growth stage medical device and digital health companies in Europe and the US.
Specialities:
- Strategic Planning, Forecasting, Budgeting
- Venture Capital & Private Equity
- Medical Devices
- Product Launch Planning
- Strategy Consulting
Diana Saraceni
Co-Founder & General Partner
Panakes Partners
Diana is General Partner and co-founder at Panakes Partners, an investment company focused on Innovative Early Stage Medical companies, all over Europe and more particularly in Italy (www.panakes.it).
Before, Diana was General Partner at 360 Capital Partners which she co-founded as well.
360 Capital is a Venture Capital Fund investing in Innovative early stage companies all over Europe and more particularly in Italy and France.
Before joining the Venture Capital industry almost 20 years ago, Diana was Senior Advisor at Lazard Investment Banking and primarily worked on M&A transactions and IPO in Telecom, Media & Technology .
Prior to Lazard, Diana spent over 4 years at ATKearney in Milan and London.
She graduated from the University of Rome with a degree in Engineering, and received an MBA from LUISS of Rome.
Specialties: Venture Capital financing, Scouting of new investment opportunities, Board member, M&A transactions, IPOs, companies strategic assessment.
Michael Ryan
Vice President, Venture Capital & Business Development
Boston Scientific
Leads the Venture Capital program fro the corporation, and M&A / Business Development for the MedSurg divisions. As VP of Business Development, Led a team of BD professionals and cross-functional partners directing all business development efforts (acquisitions, venture investments, divestitures, distributions, licenses, and other strategic partnerships) across 5 of Boston Scientific’s 7 Divisions: Endoscopy, Urology & Pelvic Health, Neuromodulation, Cardiac Rhythm Management, and Electrophysiology (a combined $6.5B/year revenue business). Closed acquisitions ranging in size from $1.5M to $1.65B. Deployed over $250M in venture capital investments ranging in size from $1M to $50M. Represented Boston Scientific on portfolio companies’ Boards of Directors (two voting and 3 non-voting board seats).
Josep Ll. Sanfeliu
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Asabys
Managing partner, president and co-founder at Asabys. Josep currently serves on the board of directors of Anaconda, Cara Care, Inbrain Neuroelectronics, Medasense, Medlumics and Psious.
Formerly, Josep co-founded Ysios Capital (2008-2018) where he was the partner in charge of Health Technology investments, investing in a total of 9 companies in the areas of medtech and digital health in Europe and in the US. Previously, Josep held positions in the pharmaceutical and home-healthcare industries as Corporate Development Director at Almirall and General Manager of DomusVi. Josep started his career in Cuatrecasas, KPMG and Eurohold.
Josep has a Degree in Law by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Michigan Law School and also an MBA from IESE Business School.
Manish Kothari
Managing Director & Founder
First Spark Ventures
Prior to co-founding First Spark Ventures, Manish was President at SRI International, leading research institute in Silicon Valley and the birthplace of companies such as Intuitive Surgical, Nuance, and Siri. He incubated and invested in over 25 Deep Tech startups, in addition to advising translational programs with the US Government that include agencies such as NASA and Department of Education. Prior to that, he was serial entrepreneur in Medtech and software, including cofounding Mytrus, software startup focused on direct-to-participant clinical trials. It was the first company in the world to have FDA approved electronic informed consent. Manish has a postdoc from UCSF in Medical Physics, a PhD from Cornell in Bioengineering, and undergraduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai in Aerospace Engineering.
Bommy Lee
Head Of Communications
Sofinnova Partners
Head of Communications at Sofinnova Partners, a leading European venture capital firm based in Paris, London, and Milan. Sofinnova manages €2.6 billion in assets across a platform of investments strategies that span multiple healthcare and sustainability domains (biotech, medtech, foodtech, greentech). I am responsible for the company's global communications strategy. If you are looking to pitch a project, please do so via our website: sofinnovapartners.com.
Bart Stulens
Executive Commercial Leadership
Independent Consultant
Executive leader with 25 years of commercial and leadership experience within Medical Devices & Pharmaceutical Industry.
Board member & advisor for VC‘s, start- and scale-ups.
Chief Revenue/Business Officer and Executive Leadership for short-,mid and long term projects.
Mark Slack
Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer
CMR Surgical
Mark Slack is a co-founder and the Chief Medical Officer of CMR Surgical. He is a Consultant Gynaecologist with a strong background in clinical and translational research.
Mark trained as a medical doctor and Gynaecologist in South Africa graduating with the Gold Medal for Obstetrics and Gynaecology for the Fellowship of the College of Medicine of South Africa. He has continued to pursue a combined clinical and academic career with a number of successful innovations in surgery and Gynaecology. In addition, he has a strong interest in basic science research.
He still practices clinical medicine and surgery in Cambridge as well as being on the staff of the clinical school of medicine of the University of Cambridge.
Mark is actively involved in clinical and basic research and participates in student teaching. He also has strong academic links in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and South Africa. His work resulted in him being awarded the Simms Black Professorship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the award of “Leading Clinical Researcher” by the National Institute of Health Research in 2015. He has published over a hundred original peer reviewed articles and contributed to more than 25 textbooks.
His interest in minimal access surgery led him to explore the possibilities of improving uptake of minimal access surgery by the utilisation of more sophisticated surgical tools such as the robot.
Supratim Bose
CEO
CMR Surgical
Supratim is a seasoned executive in the healthcare industry having held several senior regional and global leadership positions in reputed MedTech organisations.
Supratim brings a deep understanding of the medical technology industry, as well as significant knowledge of the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America regions.
Over the course of his career, Supratim has held several senior leadership and growth positions in global MedTech organisations, including ConvaTec, Boston Scientific and J&J. At J&J, he served as Company Group Chairman of J&J Medical Devices and Diagnostics, and as a member of the Group Operating Committee, he was responsible for setting the strategic direction for the US$23 billion Medical Devices and Diagnostics business globally and for all the Medical Devices and Diagnostics businesses in Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining CMR, he was the President & Chief Operating Officer, Global Emerging Markets at ConvaTec. Supratim has also served as a member of the Board of Carefusion (now part of Becton Dickinson), Trireme Medical and Advisory Board of the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University.
Throughout his career, Supratim has been recognised within the industry for his ability to drive growth, expand market reach, and improve operational efficiency in organisations he has served.
Charles Cornevin
Principal
Lauxera Capital Partners
Bio coming soon. Prior to joining Lauxera Capital Partners, Charles Cornevin was a Senior Associate at Eurazeo where he focused on healthcare buyouts. Charles joined Eurazeo in 2017 as an Analyst after several experiences in M&A and Private Equity (Rothschild and Hudson Advisors / Lone Star Funds in Munich, Dublin and London).
Charles started his career as a generalist investor within the Eurazeo Mid-Cap team and has participated in the monitoring of the following investments: Odealim (incl. exit), Redspher, Dessange, and the Rosa Group. He then launched the Eurazeo Healthcare-dedicated strategy from scratch and completed two investments in 2021: Novair Group and PSIH.
Charles graduated from Paris Dauphine University with a Masters in Corporate Finance and Financial Engineering.
Beatriz Volckaert Almansa
Senior Associate
Philips Ventures
Aiming to improve people's quality of life through investing in healthcare innovation.
Philips Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Philips, the multinational health tech leader. Working across 3 global investment vehicles:
• Digital health fund: early-stage venture fund focused on new themes with cross-business alignment within Philips.
• Business-sponsored investments: multi-stage venture fund focused on companies that fits Philips’ core strategy.
• Fund of fund investments: portfolio of strategically aligned venture funds.
Colin Morrison
Director, Business Development, Venture Capital Investments
Boston Scientific
Involved in Business Development, Venture Capital Investment, Mergers & Acquisitions, Sales Management, and Marketing in Medical Device. As the Director of Strategy and New Business Development, he was responsible for development and execution of mergers, acquisitions, and venture stage investment strategy for $1B+ Urology And Pelvic Health division of Boston Scientific.
Specialties: Venture Capital Investment, Mergers and Acquisitions, Market analysis and business plan development for emerging technologies; upstream market strategy, sales management and team leadership; sales team training and development.
Marion Gasperment
Senior Associate
Sofinnova Partners
Marion joined our MD Start team in 2019. She is the CEO of Ablacare, after having managed the execution of the first-in-human study and regulatory approvals in the E.U. and the U.S. for the company.
She enjoys MD Start’s fast-paced, close-to-the-ground approach. “My day-to-day is operational and hands-on, focused on building products and creating value for patients and clinicians with breakthrough innovations,” she says.
Marion also plays a big part in managing the MD Start deal flow, the identification and evaluation of the most promising ideas for incubation. She says that to get a full picture of an idea's potential, the MD Start team taps into collective intelligence, talking to people in different parts of the world who are entrepreneurs, purchasing managers, key opinion leaders and knowledgeable clinicians.
Prior to joining MD Start, Marion was the head of operations of Cardiologs Technologies, a French medtech start-up that uses artificial intelligence and cloud technology to provide advanced screening for atrial fibrillation and other heart rhythm disorders. Philips agreed in November 2021 to buy Cardiologs.
Marion holds a Bachelor in Biomedical Science from Imperial College London, and a Master’s in Management (major in Entrepreneurship) from HEC Paris.
Fernando Pacheco
Investment Director
Endeavour Vision
Fernando is an Investment Director at Endeavour Vision focused on medical technology, digital health and diagnostics investments, with a particular focus on orthopaedics, robotics, dental, ophthalmology, ENT and GI. Since joining the firm, he has undertaken multiple sector reviews, led deal screening efforts and participated in and directed a number of due diligence projects. Fernando represents Endeavour Vision as a board member for Miach Orthopaedics and Virtual Incision Corporation, and has previously represented Endeavour Vision as a board observer for SOPHiA GENETICS (NASDAQ:SOPH) prior to the company’s IPO in July 2021. He was on deal teams for investments in Miach Orthopaedics, Virtual Incision Corporation, InBrace, Lumeon, SOPHiA GENETICS and CeQur.
Prior to joining Endeavour Vision Fernando was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. There, he led numerous business strategy and organisational projects including therapeutic-area strategy, merger management, process optimisation, operating model re-design, corporate due-diligence and market access and launch preparation. Fernando worked across multiple geographies, including Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, UK, US and Brazil and sectors such as diabetes, specialty pharmaceuticals, infectious disease, wound care, surgical instruments, orthopedics and dental. Before McKinsey, Fernando led the development of several orthopaedic trauma solutions at Stryker Orthopaedics R&D in Switzerland – focusing on upper trauma and extremities.
Fernando holds an MEng degree in Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich. His Masters’ thesis was in cardiovascular fluid mechanics of stented arteries.
Shobha Parthasarathi
Advisor
Xontogeny
20+ years of research, business development, strategic partnerships and venture investing experience to development of new medicines and emerging healthcare technologies. Track record of advancing and investing in innovative technologies at public and private companies. Well established extensive global network across academia, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, foundations and investors. Career contributions include FDA drug approvals and marketed products, company acquisitions and IPOs.
Sascha Berger
Partner
TVM Capital
Dr. Sascha Berger is a Partner at TVM Capital, based in Munich, Germany. TVM Capital is one of the transatlantic Life Science Venture Capital pioneers, investing with teams in Europe and North America. Sascha joined TVM Capital in 2016, helped to raise the current $480M fund, and works closely with entrepreneurs and founders to advance promising pharmaceutical assets, medtech, diagnostic, and digital health technologies to the next value inflection points. Sascha is a passionate VC, a Boston Consulting Group alumnus, and has an academic background in chemistry and finance.
Kenneth Nelson
Angel Investor & Partner
MedTech Advantage Fund
Over the past 10 years, I have led commercial efforts for disruptive technologies in the digital health, wearables, and cardiac remote patient monitoring industries, playing a significant role in building the teams and cultures for 3 of the top 4 market share players, including #1 (BioTelemetry), #2 (iRhythm), and #4 (Bardy Diagnostics).
Overall, I’m a 20 year digital health, medical device, and remote monitoring innovator with successful senior leadership experience ranging from a Fortune 500 company (Boston Scientific) to a medium sized #1 market share (Biotelemetry, acquisition by Philips for $2.8 Billion in December '20) to 3 start-ups, 1 of which eventually led to an extremely successful IPO (iRhythm) and another which was acquired by HillRom (Bardy Diagnostics) in August '21 for what will end up being $400M+ after milestone payments.
Along the way I accomplished the following achievements most recently:
• Built the teams, culture, and infrastructure, as well as developed the strategies and executed on the business plans to help drive global commercialization efforts of a disruptive cardiac monitoring patch (CAM Patch), resulting in multiple rounds of venture capital, including a $35M+ round in April 2019.
• Raised significant shareholder value as well as a combined $100M+ in venture capital funding for iRhythm and Bardy Diagnostics, leading successful commercialization efforts for both by focusing on recruiting the right people, building the right culture, and developing strategic plans that led to explosive growth.
• Led Biotelemetry to profitability for the first time ever, and grew them to the #1 market share player, in part by developing a winning team and culture to successfully grow revenue for 18 consecutive quarters from $111M in revenue in 2012 to $208M in revenue in 2016, exceeding quota in all 18 quarters.
• Drove successful acquisitions of competitors and emerging technology, as well as developed impactful strategic partnerships, all of which added to the explosive growth of these companies.
Specialties: Sales and marketing leadership and management, building winning teams and cultures, commercialization and scaling of start-ups, venture capital fundraising, business planning, medical device sales, disruptive new product launches, Cardiology and Electrophysiology implantables and diagnostics, National Accounts, market development, marketing, recruiting and hiring sales talent, people development, contracting (negotiating and deal structuring), finance, strategic operations, strategic pricing, budgeting, and forecasting.
Nathan Harrington
Managing Partner
Philips Ventures
Responsible for managing existing IGT investment portfolio, including board of director seats, and for executing new investments in collaboration with IGT business development colleagues.
Specialties:
• Venture Capital investing focused on medical devices
• Business/Corporate Development (mergers and acquisitions, investments, partnerships) - due diligence, financial analysis, negotiations, integration planning
• Strategy and Portfolio Management
• Product Development Marketing
Josh Berg
Principal Partner
Berg Capital | Kindling Investment Partners
Mr. Josh Berg is an experienced healthcare investment professional with over 26 years of capital markets, investment banking, institutional investor relations and investment management expertise. Mr. Berg is well-versed and skilled at identifying value at all stages of a corporate life cycle and specializes in strategically building institutional shareholder bases for multinational organizations. Mr. Berg’s institutional investor relationships collectively manage more than $300 billion in equity value. Prior to founding Berg Capital Markets, LLC, Mr. Berg developed expertise in institutional equities with bulge bracket and boutique healthcare centric investment banks including Leerink Partners, Wells Fargo Securities, and Pacific Growth Equities. Previous to Mr. Berg’s 11 years of investment banking experience, he facilitated the raise of over $2.0 billion in equity securities for Jurika & Voyles, LP, a value-based institutional equity investment management firm based in Oakland, California.
Through Berg Capital Markets, Mr. Berg and his colleagues successfully deliver a robust, full-service capital markets solution for both public and private Healthcare and Energy companies.
Mr. Berg graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Mr. Berg currently lives in San Diego, California, and enjoys reading, traveling, working, cooking, working out, running, investing, and spending time with his children.
Sandrine Cailleteau
Managing Director, Healthcare
RBC Capital Markets
30 years experience in M&A, partnering, private and public fund raising and strategic planning in the industry and as an investment banker + Board directorships in France and Germany. Experience in big pharma, mid-pharma, biotech, medtech and CRO, and in investment banking in Europe, in the US and in emerging markets, with a large number of transactions closed.
Martin Chamberlin
Managing Director
RBC Capital Markets
Martin Chamberlin is a Managing Director in the European Healthcare Investment Banking team at RBC Capital Markets. Martin advises public and private clients on a broad range of investment banking products including debt, equity and M&A. He focuses upon the healthcare services and medtech sectors and works with clients across a wide range of sub-sectors including clinics and care facilities. The global RBC Capital Markets Healthcare team also has members in North America and Asia and Martin works closely with these colleagues.
Estelle Botbol
Associate
Speedinvest
Estelle is a SeniorAssociate in SpeedInvest's Health Team and looking for exciting companies in the Digital Health space.
Prior to joining SpeedInvest, Estelle worked at Inkef, a VC-fund specialized in Technology and Healthcare. During her time there, she re-designed the investment thesis in Digital Health with a sector-focused approach involving both teams. Before entering the VC world, she co-founded a start-up called Nanoshield developing nanomaterials for medical devices. Estelle completed her Master’s degree in Biotechnology at Imperial College London and her Bachelor’s in Biomedical Sciences at McGill University.
Outside of work, Estelle is a songwriter, piano composer and sings in a Funk & Disco band. From time to time, you can stumble across her band in a small bar or stage somewhere in Paris…
Joël Jean-Mairet
Managing Partner & Co-Founder
Ysios Capital
Joël oversees all operations at Ysios Capital, including management, strategy and day-to-day operations.
Previously, in 2001, Joël co-founded Glycart Biotechnology and was its CEO until its sale to F. Hoffmann La-Roche four years later. Glycart Biotechnology was the originator of the anti-CD20 antibody – obinituzumab/Gazyva® – the first breakthrough designated drug approved by the FDA in 2013.
Joël was elected one of the 50 key players in biotechnology in Switzerland in 2003 and earned several innovation awards for Glycart Biotechnology, including the Wall Street Journal Europe Innovation Award in 2001.
Joël holds a MSc in Biotechnology and a PhD in the fields of Cell Biology and Immunotherapeutics, both from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich).
Hussein Kanji
Analyst
Hoxton Ventures
Hussein is a partner at Hoxton Ventures. He currently represents Hoxton on the boards of Avantia Law, Baseimmune, BeyondRisk, Biocortex, Biotx, DruidAI, Finesse, Fy!, Giraffe360, Kbox, Kitt, Luminary, Peptone, PillSorted, Raptor Supplies, Really Clever, Rensair, Replai, Replan, Skin Analytics, TourRadar and XYZ Reality, and serves as a board observer on Behavox and Karakuri. He previously served on the boards of Babylon Health (NYSE:BBLN), bd4travel (acquired by Dnata), Campanja (acquired by 24/7 Media), Darktrace (LSE:DARK), Deliveroo (LSE:ROO), Panakeia, SOCOS (acquired by Sophos), Yieldify (acquired by Publicis) and Vidya Health.
Hussein serves on the board of UCLB, the commercialization company of UCL and also sits on the advisory board of GTO Partners, a tech mid-market buyout firm, and Landscape, a venture capital review site. Previously he served on the board of Tech Nation, a UK quasi non-governmental organization. In a personal capacity, he is an angel investor in Apex:E3, Builder.ai, Callaly, GoCardless, Mellizyme, MyGlamm, Reachdesk and Signpost.
While forming Hoxton, he helped Eros STX Global develop ErosNow, an online streaming video platform for Bollywood. Prior to Hoxton, Hussein was an associate with Accel Partners. He joined Accel from Microsoft Corporation. Earlier in his career, he worked with three startups, Safe-View (acquired by L-3), Radiance Technologies (acquired by Comcast) and Studio Verso (acquired by KPMG).
Hussein holds an MBA from London Business School and did his undergraduate studies in Symbolic Systems at Stanford University.
Yassaman Salas
Partner, Global Head of Medical Device
Goldman Sachs
Yassaman is a partner in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group and runs the medical device coverage effort. She served as the group's business unit manager in 2008. Yassaman is co-head of the Georgetown University undergraduate and MBA recruiting efforts for the Investment Banking Division. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2005 as an associate and was named managing director in 2013 and partner in 2020.
Prior to joining the firm, Yassaman worked in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley and in the Corporate Development group at Avaya. Yassaman earned a BS in Foreign Service and an MBA, both from Georgetown University.
Pamela Putz
Events and Community Manager
Sofinnova Partners
Austin Sawyer
Associate
Nina Capital
Former startup founder and biomedical engineer turned VC. Investing in early stage Health Tech across EU, UK, US, CA, and IL.
Martin Gershon
Managing Partner
Endeavor Life Sciences Venture Fund and Venture Studio
Dr. Martin Gershon is Managing Partner & CIO of Endeavor Venture Funds & Venture Studio.
Over the past 23 years Dr. Gershon raised over $1B, is a prominent Investor & entrepreneur, featured on CNBC, personally started & exited 6 startups, has expanded & developed an ecosystem of collaboration partners within Big Tech, Digital Healthcare, Pharma, Biotech, Medtech, world class accelerators Techstars, Plug&Play, MassChallenge, & prominent Ivy League universities & business schools Harvard, Columbia, NYU, leveraging core competencies of the partnerships.
Endeavor Venture Fund is an evergreen Swiss Healthcare and Life Sciences Fund, established in 2009. Endeavor’s companies possess disruptive technologies with strong scalable commercial potential, driven by great entrepreneur/founders who look for coaching & partnerships within our ecosystem to enhance and build their companies into the next great unicorn.
Endeavor Venture Fund I invested in groundbreaking biotech companies like Moderna & 69 life science companies with 55 exits.
Endeavor Venture Fund II & Endeavor Venture Studio-The Alternative to Accelerators-was established June 2022. Unlike an accelerator, the Venture Studio doesn’t fund existing startups. Instead it provides weekly “hands on” guidance & operational & strategic support in an ecosystem of seasoned entrepreneurs, subject matter experts & business leaders dedicated to help grow, scale & commercialize the company’s products over a 4 year period. The most famous venture studio alum Is Moderna.
Endeavor II & Venture Studio particularly target emerging Digital Healthcare Unicorns to develop partnerships to expand AI Healthcare use cases in collaboration with BigTech & Cloud Providers, providing companies with bespoke growth strategies that accelerate commercialization & generate new stand alone revenue streams.
As the Managing Director of Endeavor Dr. Gershon is the architect driving a team of 22 professionals to leverage Endeavor’s ecosystem of collaboration partnerships to provide CEO/Entrepreneurs with bespoke revenue generating Go-to-Market strategies, FDA regulatory services, clinical trial design, reimbursement & coding guidance, and the development of strategic & financial corporate partnerships to grow, scale, & commercialize disruptive new healthcare products & services stemming from technologies like AI and ML.
Dr. Gershon is a designated S&P Healthcare Industry Leader, contributing author Fast Company, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Mayday Fellow neuroscientist, oncologist/immunologist, former FDA attorney.
Maria Tell
Investment Director
Segulah Medical Acceleration
15+ years experience in investment, marketing, strategy, business development and entrepreneurship in the Life Science and Med Tech industry, in senior roles. Master of Science in Molecular Biology and a degree in Marketing and Business Administration from Entreprenörskolan, Uppsala University.
Ashley Seehusen
Venture Partner
Santé Ventures
Chief Operating Officer of Santé Accel, a Santé affiliated company focused on creating and fostering the development of seed stage opportunities as well as a network of entrepreneurial talent. Through incubation, company formation, talent matching, and extensive coaching, I help these medtech, biotech, and healthtech companies grow and prepare for larger investment from Santé’s main investment funds.
Lacy Kolo
Investment Banking, Healthcare and Life Science Practice
Weild & Co.
Dr. Kolo has spent her career working at the intersection of finance and technology, previously as a Director at a global investment bank, a Partner in one of the world’s largest law firms, and as an entrepreneurial executive. Deep expertise in capital raises, mergers and acquisitions, investment in technology and intellectual property, and structuring transactions, with focus on medical device and cyber.
Filip Pintelon
Investment Director
Capricorn Partners
Inspiring Leader & Bridge Builder, combining innovation successes in Healthcare and Technology Business with a passion for transforming ideas into reality - in early-stage ventures and mature businesses.
Sayan Bhattacharya
Executive Director
J.P. Morgan
Sayan joined J.P. Morgan’s healthcare investment banking division in 2022 focusing on advising clients in the MedTech space across Europe.
Prior to this, he was a Vice President in the healthcare investment banking team at Goldman Sachs where he spent almost a decade, across two stints, advising clients in Europe, Middle East and Africa. In between his two stints at Goldman Sachs, he was helping create the healthcare private equity business for Ashmore focused on emerging markets.
Sayan has a masters degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and a bachelors degree with first class honours from Presidency College, Kolkata.
Ken Ho
Investment Associate - Digital Health
LifeArc Ventures
Ken Ho is Investment Associate at LifeArc Ventures, responsible for new investment opportunities with a particular focus on healthtech.
Ken has eight years’ experience in ventures and venture capital in strategic and financial analytics roles. Prior to joining LifeArc, Ken was Senior Financial Analyst at Arts Alliance Ventures, looking across an industry agnostic, tech-enabled ventures portfolio.
With a master’s degree in physics from Oxford University, Ken takes a keen interest in world-positive innovations, engineering, and fitness.
Chris Church
Principal
Kreos Capital
Kreos has committed more than €3 billion in over 600 portfolio company transactions across Europe and Israel.
Janke Dittmer
General Partner, Head of European HealthTech Investments
Gilde Healthcare
Entrepreneurial investor with experience in: Growth Capital, Venture Capital, Corporate Venturing, Entrepreneurship, General Management, Strategic Marketing, Strategy, Business Development, Innovation Management, Research & Development; in the following Industries: Medical Devices, MedTech, (In vivo, In vitro, Molecular, Companion) Diagnostics, Digital Health(care), Healthcare IT, Consumer Health, High Tech, CleanTech / Renewable Energy
Luc Marengere
Managing Partner, Montreal
TVM Capital
Dr. Marengère is responsible for TVM Capital Life Science’s overall investment strategy and global fund operations.
Dr. Marengère joined TVM in 2012 and has 23 years of venture capital experience. He was a key driver of the implementation of the TVM LSI I investment strategy which resulted in a number of investments. He is a Director on the Boards of Emovi Inc.; Acanthas Pharma; Occelaris Pharma; Ixchelsis; PRCL Pharma; Panthera Dental; FAAH Pharma; Kaneq Biosciences; Acer Therapeutics as well as Rapid Micro Biosciences. Luc was on the Board of Colucid Pharma Inc. and Aurka Pharma which were recently sold to Eli Lilly for US $960M and US $575M respectively.
Dr. Marengère brings a significant track record to TVM given his long standing experience as a Venture Capitalist. Very notable deals during Luc‘s previous tenure as Managing Partner at VG Partners include Cytochroma Inc. (sold to Opko for US$ 400M); VisualSonics (sold to Sonosite for US $75M) and CITA Neuropharma (sold to Vernalis Plc for US$ 85M). Prior to joining VG Partners, Luc focused on making venture investments in the life science sector while at La Caisse De Depot‘s venture capital group SOFINOV as well as MDS Capital and MedTech Partners.
Prior to his venture capital career, he conducted commercially-oriented research in the fields of immunology and oncology while at Amgen. Luc holds a Ph.D. from University of Toronto‘s department of Medical Biophysics and Molecular Genetics.
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.
Prior to my career in healthcare, I attended the Berklee College of Music and continued my journey producing music and developing 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.
Howard Levin
CEO & CMO
Deerfield Catalyst
Howard Levin, M.D., a heart failure transplant cardiologist by training, is an expert in creating novel therapies for cardiac, respiratory, neuro, and renal patients.
Roger Zickfeld
Managing Director
Columbia Capital
Roger Zickfeld is a Managing Director of Columbia Capital Advisors, Inc. and Columbia Capital Securities, Inc. He has extensive experience as a senior corporate executive, investment banker and consulting executive with a diverse skill set and domain expertise in the medical device, pharmaceutical and diagnostics industries.
He was previously an investment banker and Managing Director with Salem Partners and B. Riley & Co., Inc., where he was a senior medical device and pharma investment banker providing strategic advisory services, private placements, PIPEs and M&A services. He was a Managing Director with Coldwater Associates, LLC, a boutique corporate strategy and capital advisory firm focused on emerging technology and life sciences companies.
Mr. Zickfeld held several senior executive positions with Karl Storz Endoscopy, including President of the Extracorporeal Lithotripsy Division, Senior Vice President and corporate level Chief Financial Officer, President of a captive sales division and Vice President, Finance and Administration. Karl Storz is a $1 billion+ revenue medical device company.
He also had executive experience in emerging companies as CEO of Gene Connections, a gene discovery technology venture spin-off from UCLA, Executive-in-Residence with Slo Media Incubator and COO of StreamExchange.com. Mr. Zickfeld was Manager, General Management Consulting Group of KPMG. Prior to this he was a Supervising Senior with Ernst & Young.
He received a B.S., Magna cum Laude, Business Administration from University of Southern California and an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Scott Huennekens
Principal
Front Foot Ventures
Scott is a successful Medtech CEO, Chairperson, board member, entrepreneur, and investor, having been involved in one of those roles in 20+ startup, growth and public companies with market valuations that have totaled over $20b and more importantly over 20 million patients that have benefited from the therapies & diagnostics of these companies, including 8 IPOs. Current professional affiliations include Principal Front Foot Ventures, Executive Chairperson Hyperfine (HYPR) IPO 2021, Chairperson Acutus Medical (AFIB) IPO 2020, Chairperson Envista (NVST) IPO 2019, Board Member Nuvasive (NUVA), Exec Chairperson & Invester Elucid, Exec Chairperson & Investor Wondr Medical, Chairperson of the Board & Investor Kardion, Board member & Investor, Q’apel Medical, Board member & Investor Proximie, Board member & Investor Foldax, Board Member Veranex Solutions, Advisor & Investor Genesis Healthcare, Advisor & Investor Cortica, advisor Brightinsight, Board Member & past Chairperson Medical Device Manufacturer’s Association (MDMA), and advisor to Peloton Equity, 8VC, River Cities Capital and Accelmed Equity. He completed his role as Pres & CEO of Verb Surgical in early 2019. Verb was Google & J&J’s Surgical Robotics and Digital Surgery platform start-up to revolutionize the future of surgery which J&J acquired in 2019. Previously, Scott led Volcano Corp. (VOLC), a leader in minimally invasive therapy guidance in interventional cardiology, as its first & only Pres & CEO, from start-up in 2002 to its IPO in 2006 and sale to Philips in 2015. Volcano 2014 revenue was > $400 million and its market capitalization peaked at nearly $2B. Prior to this, he was at Digirad Corp, a coronary imaging solutions provider, from 1997 to 2002, as President & CEO. Digirad went public in 2004 (DRAD). He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Bus Admin from the Univ. of Southern California in 1986 and earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1991. Past affiliations include 12 other public and or VC funded medtech and biotech company boards of which 9 have had significant exits, including Chairperson of Endochoice (GI, IPO 2015, acquired by Boston Scientific), Chairperson Sonendo (SONX IPO 2021), board member Vicarious Surgical (RBOT IPO 2021), board/CEO advisor Digital Surgery/Touch Surgery (Acquired by Medtronic). Scott has also been awarded E&Y’s entrepreneur of the year award in 2010 & was recognized by Goldman Sachs in 2016, 2017, & 2018 as one of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs at its annual Builders & Innovators conference.
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 a BA in Natural Sciences and a 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 Ossio and previously represented MVM on the boards of Zipline Medical and Paragon 28.
Kwame Ulmer
Managing Partner
MedTech Impact Partners
Kwame Ulmer is a venture partner at Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health - the leading Southern-California based, early stage venture capital firm (Seed and Series A) focused on the healthcare industry. He leads the medtech practice and participates in all aspects of fund management (e.g. deal sourcing, diligence, negotiation and advising portfolio company management teams).
Kwame brings twenty years of experience evaluating medical technologies in the government and private sector, and serving in senior operating roles at medical device companies. He has personally evaluated more than 1,000 medical technologies in his career. Kwame spent 12 years at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in progressive leadership roles, including Deputy Director and Branch Chief. He also served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Implant Direct, a Danaher Corporation operating company.
Kwame serves on the board of the University of Virginia Licensing and Ventures Group and the California Life Sciences. He is also a lecturer and researcher in MedTech Innovation at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kwame founded MedTech Color, a nonprofit with a mission to advance the representation of persons of color in the medical device industry. He earned his B.S. in Physics from Lincoln University, and has two Masters degrees from the University of Virginia, in Materials Engineering and Business Administration.
Tracy Dooley
Partner
Avestria Ventures
Raised in the melting pot of the Bay Area before attending USC to major in biomedical engineering, Tracy took to heart Theodore von Kármán’s famous quote: “Scientists discover the world that exists; engineers create the world that never was.” In pursuit of creating a better world, she headed to medical school at Stanford where she quickly experienced firsthand the challenges of getting innovative products into the hands of clinicians to ultimately improve patient care.
Pivoting to industry, Tracy spent several years in healthcare M&A, then moved to Novartis Diagnostics, where she worked with Linda. As Chief of Staff to the President, she led strategy and built out the innovation pipeline, then headed global operations. More recently Tracy has been focused in digital health, where she advised a range of organizations, from early-stage startups to the Novartis Digital Accelerator Lab and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, before joining Avestria. She is also a member of the Women’s Health Executive Committee at Springboard Enterprises.
A classically trained violinist, Tracy believes that art & creativity is a critical underpinning for “STEAM” education. She’s a fan of swimming, baking, and impromptu dance parties with her daughter.
Alessio Beverina
Co-Founder & General Partner
Panakes Partners
I co-founded and manage a new VC firm, Panakès Partners, a Venture Capital firm, based in Milan, which invests in the most ambitious companies and teams, developing revolutionary technologies and products, in the field of life sciences, aiming to improve the lives of people around the world. Panakès has 250 million under management, in two funds.
I have 9 years VC experience in Sofinnova, one of the largest European VCs, grown internally from Analyst to Partner positions, with European and American exposure, focused in energy, IoT, cleantech, hardware and semiconductor sectors.
I am a creative, dynamic and hard worker, able to create business opportunities for the invested companies with his strong network at executive level and for the firm with his strong network of entrepreneurs, VCs, labs, intermediaries.
Josh Makower
Director, Stanford Biodesign | Special Partner, NEA | Chairman
Stanford University Byers Center for Biodesign
Josh Makower is a Special Partner on NEA's healthcare team. Josh is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of ExploraMed.
Notable transactions from the ExploraMed portfolio include NeoTract, acquired by Teleflex in 2017, Nuelle, acquired by Aytu in 2017, Acclarent, acquired by J&J in 2010, EndoMatrix, acquired by C.R. Bard in 1997 and TransVascular, acquired by Medtronic in 2003. On-going ExploraMed ventures include Moximed, Willow, Revelle Aesthetics and ExploraMed V.
In addition to his role at NEA, Josh serves on the faculty of the Stanford University Medical School as a Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering and is Director and Co-Founder of The Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. Josh currently serves on the board of directors for DOTS Devices, Eargo, ExploraMed, Intrinsic Therapeutics, Moximed, Willow, SetPoint Medical and Coravin.
Josh holds over 300 patents and patent applications for various medical devices in the fields of cardiology, ENT, general surgery, drug delivery, obesity, orthopedics, women’s health, and urology. He received an MBA from Columbia University, an MD from the NYU School of Medicine, and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.
Maria Berkman
Head of MedTech
Broadview Ventures
Maria Berkman, MD, MBA, is the Head of the MedTech practice at Broadview Ventures where she manages the firm’s MedTech investment strategy and activity, from identification and screening of new opportunities through diligence, deal structure and syndication, portfolio company board management, and overarching portfolio strategy.
Maria is also the Managing Director of Longview Ventures, an independent investment vehicle focused on clinical-stage opportunities, as a complement to Broadview’s dedication to Seed and Series A financings.
Maria currently serves on the boards of Alleviant Medical, Aria CV, AtaCor, FineHeart, RapidPulse, Vascular Graft Solutions, and Vectorious Medical Technologies, and previously served on the boards of Lyra Therapeutics (NSDQ:LYRA), Apama Medical (acquired), Remedy Therapeutics (acquired), and Capricor (NSDQ:CAPR).
Prior to joining Broadview Ventures, Maria was a management consultant at Monitor Group, and trained at Mass General Brigham’s Newton Wellesley Hospital. Maria earned a concurrent MD from the UCLA School of Medicine and MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, graduating Alpha Omega Alpha.
Outside of Broadview, Maria serves as a member of the Board of Advisors at the Boston Museum of Science, member of the AdvaMed Investor Working Group, and Co-Chair of the NEVCA MedTech Academy; Maria previously served as a VC Mentor for the UCLA Biodesign Fellowship, SBIR/STTR grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation and as a Strategic Advisory Board Member for the RAD BioMed Accelerator in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Assaf Barnea
Managing Partner
Sanara Ventures
Mr. Assaf Barnea is a seasoned entrepreneur and venture professional, with extensive, multidisciplinary
experience in building innovation platforms and leading investments & commercialization processes in healthcare and life science related technologies. He leads, since its inception in 2014, Sanara Ventures, a healthcare innovation fund, backed by Phillips and Teva investing in digital health, medical devices & Bio-Convergence technologies. He is also the Founder & Managing Partner of Sanara Capital, a follow up fund of Sanara Ventures, that focuses on A&B rounds investments in healthcare related technologies.
Parallel to his role at Sanara, Mr. Barnea Chairs also the Life Science Advisory Board at the Israel Export Institute, on behalf of the Israeli government, promoting and advancing the export of Israeli technologies in the medical, biotech, pharma and digital fields in global markets. Previously, Mr. Barnea was also advising the World Bank’s IFC venture capital team and is a co-founder of the IFC’s Tech Emerge program; a unique acceleration platform that connects healthcare startups from around the world with leading corporations and hospitals in emerging economies. In 2018, Tech Emerge Health has won the world bank group president’s award for innovation.
For over a decade, Mr. Barnea was a BOD & co-founder of CardioSense, a medtech startup company.
Assaf served as CEO of Kinrot Ventures, spearheading its acquisition by Hutchison Water in 2012. Prior to this, he headed business development at Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, where he oversaw the establishment of WaTech, the Entrepreneurship & Partnership Center for Water Technologies. For his role and accomplishments in both Mekorot and Kinrot, he received the Cleantech Group’s Innovation Hero Award in 2013 (see video below).
Previously, Mr. Barnea served as a director of business development at Comverse, where he also co-chaired the Mobile Marketing Association.
A unique highlight in Assaf’s story is his former stint as a college basketball player at New Jersey’s Seton Hall University, where he won the Big East championship against Georgetown in 1991. Assaf holds LLB and Business degrees from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzelia, a BA in political science and psychology (with honor) from Tel-Aviv University.
Nicole J. Walker
Healthcare Innovator, Board Director, Venture Investor & Advisor
Multiple Companies
Nicole is a Healthcare Innovator & Connector, Board Director, Family-Senior Care advocate, and a former Managing Partner with Arboretum Ventures, Baird Capital, Abbott Biotech Ventures.
Originally trained as an engineer at Stanford University, Nicole has a career evenly weighted between operating roles and venture investing. She started her career with ACS/Guidant as a process development intern and advanced through multiple R&D and management roles until her final position as Head of Marketing, Asia-Pac, based in Hong Kong. Then moving onto Abbott, Nicole led strategic market activities for Abbott’s OUS discrete glucose monitoring and continuous glucose monitoring brands, with a final role as the Founding Director of the Abbott Biotech Ventures team.
Nicole is passionate about healthtech investing and working with entrepreneurs to transform the delivery of healthcare by focusing on innovations at the intersection of biology & technology.
Imran Hamid
Senior Investment Principal
LifeArc Ventures
Imran is a biotech and healthtech venture capital investor at LifeArc Ventures. He is responsible for both leading new investments and managing existing portfolio companies.
Imran is a former surgeon, digital health entrepreneur, and corporate development professional. He has been integral to over $1.5bn venture, licensing, and M&A deals at digital health, med tech and biopharma companies.
Imran received his medical degree from Imperial College London, where he graduated with joint honours from the Imperial College Business School and is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
He is committed to using his experiences to advance innovation to support the delivery of higher quality care and improve clinical outcomes.
Lu Zhang
Founder & Managing Partner
Fusion Fund
Lu Zhang, Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund, is a renowned Silicon Valley investor, a serial entrepreneur, and a Stanford Engineering alumna. Lu is a World Economic Forum - Young Global Leader. 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 was recently selected as the Best 25 Female early-stage Investor by Business Insider (2021). Prior to starting Fusion Fund, she was the Founder and CEO of a medical device company (acquired in 2013). Lu is a frequent speaker at tech events and conferences such as Davos World Economic Forum, Future Investment Initiative (FII), Forbes, Web Summit, SuperReturn, etc., and 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. Lu is also on the Jury Board of Cartier’s Young Leader Award. She received her M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Debra Netschert
Managing Director
Jennison Associates
Debra Netschert is a portfolio manager for Jennison’s healthcare strategies. She is responsible for overseeing the investment process, strategy implementation, and risk management for all healthcare strategies. Before joining Jennison in 2008, she was with Magnetar Capital as a senior analyst specializing in health care. Prior to that, she worked at Amaranth Advisors focusing on biopharmaceuticals and at Lazard Capital Markets covering biotechnology. Debra began her research career as an associate biotechnology analyst at UBS. She received a BS in health science and MS in physical therapy from Boston University.
John Ryan
Managing Director
Wells Fargo Strategic Capital
John leads the healthcare division of WFSC which is focused on direct equity and debt investments in companies across all subsectors of the healthcare industry. John has been a venture capital and private equity investor for more than 24 years and has participated in the founding, building, and financing of companies, ranging from startups to established industry leaders in a wide array of healthcare sectors. John started his career as an investment banker covering the healthcare industry. John earned a BS with high honors from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and an MBA from Harvard Business School. John is based in San Francisco, California.
Rana Lonnen
Managing Director
dRx Capital, Novartis
Rana Lonnen is a healthcare technology investor, entrepreneur, and molecular biologist. At Novartis, she leads strategic investments in technology companies, on a mission to transform the healthcare ecosystem and make positive impact on people’s lives.
Previously, Rana was Head of Preclinical Development at a UK biotech, Auspherix; investment consultant to IP Group in London; Founder and CSO of a UK based Biotech, Axendos therapeutics. Prior to this she was a Wellcome Trust backed principal investigator in drug discovery in the field of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, author and inventor on high impact peer-reviewed publications and patents; before this, Rana worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb, in sales and marketing.
Rana holds a PhD in molecular biology and an MBA from Imperial College London. She personally cares about equitable healthcare, social justice, sustainability and the future of antimicrobial resistance. In her down time Rana likes to make culinary experiments, be in nature and read.
Rana is a board observer at Aktana, Cota Healthcare, H1 Insights, Koneksa, Mekonos, NuvoAir, and Dopavision. She is based out of Basel, Switzerland.
Konstantina Cindric
Senior Project Manager Strategy
Siemens Healthineers
What drives me? - Innovation, curiosity and the conviction that your mind is your most powerful tool.
What interests me? - I would say many things. However, if you would restrict me to one topic, I would always choose Biomedicine. Biology is a mindblowing technology and we are only starting to realize its full potential. Medicine is the beginning of this journey and my personal starting point.
Who I am? - I am person who needs challenges. As a strategy consultant I am faced with new challenges on every project and they empower me. Also, I like working in teams. The best ideas and solutions are developed during a discussion. I love to work with people who manage to challenge and support you at the same time.
Andrew Pieprzyk
Vice President, Strategic Development - Diagnostics, International
Hologic
With over a decade of experience working in the medical device and diagnostics industry, I've worked across a range of organizations and geographies to achieve my position as the Vice President of Strategic Development for Diagnostics at Hologic.
From starting as a sales representative to becoming a VP, I've progressed in leading organizations across North & South America, EMEA and APAC by learning new skills from a range of colleagues and global experiences over my 17+ year career and by believing that I will never stop learning.
Eric Schantz
Vice President Corporate Development
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.
Christopher Campbell
Director, Software and Sensors - VELYS Digital Surgery (Global Strategic Marketing)
DePuy Synthes, Johnson & Johnson
Global strategic leadership within the health care and MedTech industries with a focus on delivering innovative business models, software and solutions that advance patient care & drive profitable growth.
Kevin Rocco
VP Bioinductive Technologies
CONMED Corporation
Ehsan Jabbarzadeh
Venture Partner
IAG Capital Partners
Ehsan is an academic entrepreneur turned investor. A Ph.D. graduate from Drexel University’s Chemical and Biological Engineering, he stumbled into entrepreneurship during his postdoc at the California Institute of Technology. Upon starting his career at the University of South Carolina as a Professor, he led his lab to focus on translational research in biomedical engineering. He concurrently pursued an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, to strengthen his business acumen. Ehsan was the Founder and CEO of Obsidio Inc, a venture-backed medical device company dedicated to developing innovative technologies for interventional medicine. Obsidio was launched in 2019 and acquired by Boston Scientific in 2022.
Julien Michaux
Managing Director
Norgine Ventures
Julien Michaux joined Norgine Ventures from Lazard where as a member of the Healthcare M&A team he advised many European and US clients on merger and acquisition transactions. Julien joined Lazard in 2005 from J&J Pharmaceuticals where he worked as part of the M&A team. Julien has 19 years of experience in the Healthcare industry. He started his career with Procter & Gamble.
Julien holds an MS in Mechanical Engineering from ICAM in France and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.
Tim Rea
Head of Early Stage
BGF
Tim joined BGF in January 2018 after actively supporting BGF on a number of projects over the previous 18 months. He is based in London and Cambridge and his main role is to identify and execute investments with a particular focus on tech-oriented propositions.
He also takes a lead role in developing relationships with partners that can help BGF better support key industry sectors. Tim has been active in the venture capital and start-up ecosystem for over 20 years, initially as an entrepreneur and then as an investor with SoftBank, NEC and DFJ ePlanet Capital. He has been a party to more than 120 investments across a broad range of sectors, stages and geographies. He has recently joined the BGF Investment Committee.
Outside of work Tim spends as much of his time as possible on horseback and, in the interest of combining work with pleasure, keeps a horse specifically for long conference calls. Tim has a science background and began his career in BT’s research labs developing materials for optical switching and amplification. He has an MBA from London Business School.
David Hendren
Managing Director
Augmentum Advisors
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.
Venture Capital/Private Equity: Knowledge from all sides of the table: generating/evaluating deal-flow; investing; building/managing companies/portfolios; structuring, positioning, leading, and executing financing, strategic, and exit transactions.
Leadership: Strategic planning/implementation, financial management, organizational/team development, mentoring, creating/aligning incentives, IP strategy, regulatory strategy, reimbursement, compliance, risk management, partnering, and structuring/executing financing, strategic, and exit transactions.
Technologies/Services: Domain expertise identifying, developing, financing, and commercializing healthcare, biomedical, IT, and convergence technologies; developing, implementing, and managing concepts, structures, programs, and alliances for healthcare delivery, management, infrastructure, service, support, and payment, including population health, ACOs, global risk, and MSOs.
Board Experience: Healthcare, technology, and other areas. Lead/mentor management/boards to develop/implement structure, process, and culture for teamwork, transparency, accountability, and performance.
Melissa Lezameta
Associate
Epidarex
Innovation, licensing and partnering professional with a specialised background in oncology and neuroscience. Ph.D. in Neurobiology. Extensive expertise in the field of cancer stem cells (CSC) and immuno-oncology, CNS and neural stem cells.
Epidarex is a transatlantic venture capital firm led by a diverse team of early-stage investors building breakthrough life science companies in emerging hubs.
Samuel Levy
Founding Partner
Lauxera Capital Partners
Samuel is a physician entrepreneur.
He started his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York before moving to Boston to attend Harvard Medical School. As a second-year medical student, Samuel co-founded Allurion Technologies and built a fully-integrated, global medical device company from the idea stage to commercialization in more than 30 countries.
Samuel is a graduate of Yale College (summa cum laude) and Harvard Medical School. He was a Fulbright Scholar to France at the Pasteur Institute.
Gal Noyman
Partner
LionBird
Gal previously co-founded and served as CEO of NeuroLabs AI, an opioids dependence prevention platform, tackling the opioid epidemic through ongoing assessment of pain and mood symptoms at home. Gal also previously served as VP Business Development and Director of Healthcare at a multinational AI expert firm, and as an investment analyst at aMoon, the largest venture capital fund in Israel.
Gal holds a PhD in Clinical and NeuroPsychology in chronic pain (for which she was awarded the national Wolf Scholarship) and has frequently published in top tier medical journals such as Vaccine and Psychiatry.
Richard Philpott
Partner
Level Eight Ventures
Richard has worked across the innovation-to-business spectrum from biotechnology research to product development, marketing and commerce including company formation and leadership in both large and small organizations. Trained at Imperial College, London, his Ph.D. in microbial biochemistry was sponsored by the UK health service, where Richard worked as a senior scientist before transitioning to industry. He progressed to business and company development while maintaining technical leadership. He was a key member of the executive team that transformed Whatman plc, the UK industrial filtration company, into a global healthcare business that became GE Healthcare. During the last ten years he has worked for investors in diligence and turn-around roles, mostly in the United States. Richard provides pro-bona support to exciting start-ups, judges the annual international Katerva Innovation Awards and candidates for the MedTech Innovator program, and supports Level Eight investments as a board member or advisor. Away from business he loves sailing and intends to cross an ocean or two.
Eli Velasquez
Founder & Managing Partner
Investors of Color
I am angel and venture capital investor who works with an internationally diverse network of accredited investors to create catalytic wealth through early stage investing. My venture advisory firm enables government agencies and large scale organizations to deploy global innovation initiatives that support science based startups and investors.
The Investors of Color (IoC) is a global network of diverse, accredited investors across the capital stack committed to building wealth for and by underrepresented communities through syndicated investments in early-stage companies. The IoC is composed of over 800 investors representing the entire continuum of capital such as angel investors, ad-hoc investment networks, venture capital, revenue-based investment firms, family offices, and other capital providers. The strength of IoC is a commitment to close the funding gap in startup capital.
Barak Singer
CEO
Trendlines Investments Israel
The Trendlines Group is a leading Israeli investor in early stage companies.
Trendlines invents, discovers, invests in, and incubates innovation-based medical and agrifood technologies to fulfill its mission to improve the human condition.
Raf Roelands
Investment Director
Heran Partners
Raf has a decade of operational experience in the biotech sector and holds an M.Sc. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology and an MBA from Vlerick Business School. Subsequently, he spent more than 5 years at Korys, focusing on life science investments. He was involved with several young innovative companies and served as a strategic advisor for European and US-based investment funds.
Michael Vlemmix
Principal
GIMV
Principal at the Gimv Life Sciences team focusing on deal sourcing and execution to build & manage the Life Sciences portfolio of early stage companies. Currently on the BoD of Precirix and SynOx Therapeutics and part of the deal team of iSTAR Medical, FIRE1, ImCheck Therapeutics and Topas Therapeutics.
A personal background in (Epi)genetics, NGS and oncology combined with three years founding a Medtech start-up and two years in investment banking as a biotech/pharma equity research analyst.
Rob Kniaz
Partner
Hoxton Ventures
Rob is a partner at Hoxton Ventures. He represents the firm on the boards of Assetario, Boost Security, Deblock, FabricNano, Flair Impact, Formance, Kheiron Medical, LiliumX, Limbo Revolution, NoMagic, Ordercast, Pear Bio, Phagos, Preply and Spacelift, and previously was on the boards of Babylon Health (NYSE:BBLN), Bother, Campanja (acquired by 24/7 Media), Immunio (acquired by Trend Micro) and Vatic Health. He additionally works on Hoxton's interests in Ochre Bio, Optimoroute and Verb (Poetics).
Having spent most of his career in Silicon Valley, Rob came to London in 2008 to join the investments team at Fidelity Ventures, focusing on consumer internet and software-as-a-service sectors.
Prior to Fidelity, he was on the new business development team at Google and was previously a lead product manager for AdSense's front-end systems. While at Google, he also launched the AdWords pay-per-action (PPA) product and was actively involved in the acquisition of Feedburner in 2008.
Rob began his career in Intel's highly selective technical sales program where he worked to grow their entrepreneurial reseller channel in the Federal Government vertical and later in Latin America from Bogota and Miami Beach.
A dual US/UK national, he holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Maryland and a Masters certificate in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.
Dietrich Aumann
Investment Manager
Helsana HealthInvest
Currently diving into digital health as Investment Manager for Helsana HealthInvest, the CVC we've set up at Swiss health insurance Helsana. We're actively deploying in 2023, doing deals around Series A across Europe.
Roberta Ferrari
Principal
Sony Innovation Fund
Sony Innovation Fund (SIF) is the venture capital arm of Sony Group Corporation and is dedicated to investing in and engaging with promising early-stage & growth-stage companies.
Christopher Shen
Managing Director
CBC Group
Headquartered in Singapore, CBC Group is Asia's largest healthcare-dedicated asset management firm, focused on platform-building, buyout, private credit, venture, and real estate, across the healthcare space, including pharmaceutical, biotech, medical technology, and healthcare services. We are committed to creating lasting value by integrating global innovations and talents. Partnering with the world's top entrepreneurs and scientists, our unique "investor-operator" approach has empowered leading healthcare companies to widen access to affordable medical care, catalyse innovations, and improve efficiency in fulfilling unmet medical needs worldwide.
Susana Amorim
VC&VG Senior Associate
Gilde Healthcare
Gilde Healthcare is a specialized European healthcare investor managing two business lines: a lower mid-market buy-out fund and a venture & growth capital fund. Gilde Healthcare's lower mid-market buy-out fund invests in profitable European healthcare services companies with a focus on the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The portfolio consists of healthcare providers, suppliers of medical products and other service providers in the healthcare market. Gilde Healthcare's venture & growth capital fund invests in medtech, diagnostics, digital health and therapeutics. The portfolio companies are based in Europe and North America. Since 2001 Gilde Healthcare has raised €2.5 billion for its specialized funds.
Aneta Sottil
Director
Andera Partners
- Aneta Sottil joined the management company in January 2018. She is Director within the Andera Life Sciences team, the team dedicated to life sciences and medical technologies.
- Aneta has 14 years of experience in life sciences issues, acquired in the field of M&A (BAML from 2006 to 2008; Rothschild from 2008 to 2013) and Venture Capital (Norgine Ventures from 2013 to 2018) .
- She graduated from Warsaw School of Economics, Singapore Management University and Pierre Mendès France University, in the field of Finance.
- A native Polish speaker, Aneta also speaks English, French and Spanish.
Guillem Masferrer
Partner
Asabys Partners
Partner at Asabys, where he joined in 2018. Guillem is primarily responsible for sourcing, executing, and managing investments, with a major focus in the firm’s health-tech portfolio. He is also leading Asabys’ deal structuring, transactions and negotiations. Guillem currently serves on the board of directors of Amelia Virtual Care and Cara Care, and is an observer on the boards of Koa Health and Sidekick Health.
Prior to joining Asabys, Guillem was the Portfolio Manager of the Life Sciences portfolio at Caixa Capital Risc for four years. Before that, he served at EY within the Transaction Advisory Services primarily focusing on PE and VC transactions.
Guillem holds a BBA with a major in finance from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).
Lien Callens
Principal
imec.xpand
As a tech-enthusiast Lien is captivated by new ideas and innovations. Leveraging her deal making experience she will support imec.xpand's companies with the identification and set-up of impactful collaborations.
Yaowen Yang
Vice President - Healthcare Investment Banking
Houlihan Lokey
Maria Shepherd
President
Medi-Vantage
Since 2007, Medi-Vantage, a strategy consulting firm, has been dedicated to helping medtech, diagnostic, drug delivery & digital health companies disrupt markets, drive share and grow revenues by strategically outperforming their competition.
I build collaborative teams to perform medtech strategy research for our clients, and lead them to superior results.
- Accomplished business leader with a lengthy track record of success.
- Exceptional team builder and coach, with a reputation for finding and developing top talent.
- Strong and authentic communicator, at ease connecting with engineers, business leaders, analysts, investors, or customers.
- Deep expertise drawn from a career-long obsession with medical device product development and commercialization, and customer-centered design thinking.
- Adaptable and coachable. Always striving to learn and improve.
Our research generates strategic plans developed by subject matter experts and highly experienced medical device industry veterans.
Projects since 2007 have resulted in increased client revenues of greater than $1B; include market assessments/adjacent market entry decisions, commercialization plans, pricing strategy, investor pitch decks, five and ten year strategic plans, creation of sales and clinician training materials, VoC, human factors usability testing and market research for developing product and marketing requirement documents.
“We hired MV because a small medical device research firm has low overhead and cost. We hired them again because their work is exceptional, rich in clinical content and their understanding of the medical device industry is unrivaled.” – SVP Marketing, Cardiovascular Products
Marc Subirats
General Partner
Nina Capital
Born in Barcelona, I was raised in an entrepreneurial and international environment. The son of a Swiss mother and a Catalan father, I grew up watching my family build a successful entrepreneurial venture in the textile industry and attending the Escuela Suiza, a local Swiss school and one of the oldest international schools in Barcelona, as a kid.
Speaking several languages and traveling was a gift that opened my eyes to the global world. After studying Economics in Barcelona and in The Netherlands, I pursued an MBA at IESE Business School. The entrepreneurship class awakened my entrepreneurial spirit and led me to co-found Advance Medical.
Starting and growing Advance Medical, which eventually became a pioneering and multinational telehealth company, was a fascinating life experience. For 20 years, my co-founder and I established operations in more than ten countries with a global workforce of over one thousand workers to help tens of thousands of patients every day around the world.
When Advance Medical was acquired by US-based TELADOC, I was ready to move forward to new challenges. One meeting with Marta during one of her first trips from California to Spain was enough to understand that Nina Capital was exactly the next thing I wanted to do: build a Venture Capital firm based in my city, Barcelona, and ready to support European need-driven founders building health tech companies with international ambitions.
That this remarkable concurrence of events--her first landing in Barcelona, my exiting Advance Medical after an adventure two decades long--occurred without apparent causal connection is yet more proof that so much of life is about timing, and is one the ingredients that makes Nina Capital’s origin story special.
Sebastian Anastassiou
Principle, Head of Investments
Nina Capital
I am a genetic cocktail of Norwegian and Cypriot DNA raised in an international environment, which precipitated into what some call a “third culture” identity; a blend of contradiction with Mediterranean and Nordic culture. Barcelona is my latest home and I could not have picked a better place to feed my insatiable appetite for the ocean, paddle boarding in the summers and surfing in the winters (yes, you can surf here on a weekly basis), and generally anything outdoors with some adrenaline sprinkled on top; a couple of hours drive to the Pyrenees for hiking in the summers and skiing in the winters.
I also love music, with a near-criminal collection of obscure instruments from all over the world. I do play on occasion; piano, guitar and trumpet are my forte, with a particular interest in playing jazz and funk. You are just as likely to find me at the Palau de la Música enjoying the works of Chopin, to a Black Keys concert, to a dingy jazz “hole-in-the-wall”, to a Joris Voorn event.
A fascination with what makes us tick led me to study neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh with a focus on the biological basis of cognition and memory. I loved Edinburgh so much I stayed to pursue a masters in innovation and management focused on the bioeconomy as a segway into the healthcare innovation space. I ended up, after a stumble or two, at UCL in London where I stayed for four years working out of their commercialization and technology transfer company, UCLB. My time there introduced me to the world of early stage healthcare commercialization; bridging the realm of lab research to the real world through intellectual property strategy, to negotiating licensing deals, to startup company creation.
A yearning for a smaller city and sunshine led me to Barcelona to pursue an MBA at IESE business school; a two-year life-changing rollercoaster that only those with a similar experience can comprehend. I joined Nina Capital as an MBA summer intern and was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to stay. I could not have found a better place to call home.
Yahel Halamish
Principle, Head of Investor Relations
Nina Capital
I was born in Israel, and here I grew up in a small place tucked away in the mostly empty land between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Life in Tel Aviv was better suited for my personality, and I called this cosmopolitan city home for eight years before the warmth of the weather and of the people of Barcelona caught my imagination.
I have a creative soul with an analytical mind—the very obvious result of growing up in a family made of artists on one branch of the tree, and accountants on the other. My appetite for testing new things led me very early to try any kind of medium in plastic art from oil painting to carving in marble. Growing up with a passion for art, I was certain to eventually become an Architect. This was not a passing phase: I carried this ambition for eight years. All it took was one lecture in the school of Architecture to change my mind, leading me to the resolution that what I really wanted to do is conquer the world. Just kidding.
Jokes aside, I really was increasingly intrigued by the powers that move the world. To study Law and Economics felt a natural choice to satisfy this curiosity. Before proceeding to world domination, however, I had to travel and learn more about it. With a 15kg bag on my back I hiked through the mountains of Chile and chilled at the beaches of Costa Rica, resulting in a new desire to engage in an international environment.
Having returned to Israel and fast forwarding to years later, I began working for a large investment house in Israel, investing in Alternative Assets. Specifically, I was sourcing, analyzing, and negotiating opportunities for investment in private companies, VC/PE funds, and Hedge funds. I love being challenged and creating challenges—and the investment world was filled to the brim with hard problems to solve, new strategies, and ideas predicated on weak assumptions.
However, the desire for an international experience had never truly left me. It eventually led me to pursue a two-year MBA program at IESE business school in Barcelona. My inner architect was also restless, constantly wanting to build. This is what led me to Nina Capital. One email led to an MBA summer internship and eventually to a very fortunate opportunity to stay and work.
When I am not working, I am probably working out in the gym, roaming the streets of Barcelona with my marvelous (and slightly spoiled) rescue dog, or simply enjoying a glass of wine in one of the many breathtaking terraces that Barcelona has to offer.
Ferran Marti Olivella
Senior Associate
Nina Capital
Born and raised in Barcelona, I am the youngest member of Nina Capital but also one of the first to join the firm a few months into its existence.
Like most of us here, my path to venture capital was non linear. My obsession for dinosaurs as a kid almost led me to study paleontology, until I came upon biotechnology—and if there is something better than studying dinosaurs, it is being able to create them! Unfortunately, only later did I learn that we were still a bit far from this scientific milestone. It turned out to be, however, just the right choice for me.
During my studies in biotechnology at one of the leading schools here in Barcelona, Institut Químic de Sarrià, I discovered the world-changing potential that life sciences will have in our lives in the years to come. In less than a decade, my feelings of disappointment about our limited ability to modify only the genome of living systems before they were born left way to the excitement of seeing that, today, we already have gene therapies that rewrite the code of life as it's unfolding. We are rewriting the pages of a book as it’s being read. What the future of life sciences holds for us, we can only find in science fiction books.
With so many possibilities, it did not feel right to go into research and commit to a single one. In the meantime and during my last years of university studies, I had developed a strong interest in finance. This newly discovered passion led me to start working in management consulting for the banking industry, where I learnt a great deal of finance—but missed the spirit of science.
A new mission started forming, to dedicate myself to help with access to working capital all the amazing technologies that will be born in the next decade go from idea to reality. Shortly after, I met Marta and resonated deeply with the idea of Nina Capital. The rest, as they say, is another funding round.
Sylvain Sachot
Partner
Asabys Partners
Partner at Asabys, Sylvain joined the firm in 2018 from Ysios Capital. At Asabys, Sylvain is involved in the sourcing, execution, and management of our investments in the biopharma and medtech segments. He currently serves on the board of directors of Anaconda and is an observer on the boards of Inbrain Neuroelectronics, SpliceBio and Medlumics.
Previously, Sylvain spent a decade in academic labs both in France and the US, working specifically in the fields of gene therapy and regenerative medicine. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York following the completion of his doctoral thesis at INSERM.
Sylvain obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from University of Nantes, holds a master’s degree in biotechnology with honors from University Paris XII, and an MBA from Esade Business School in Barcelona.
Maite Malet
Investment & Corporate Development
Asabys Partners
Maite joined Asabys in 2019 and she is primary focused in the analysis of relevant investment targets within the health-tech industry, carrying on due diligence processes and providing support to portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Asabys, Maite led the Business Development and Digital departments at Sphera Global Healthcare, telemedicine company with operations worldwide. Previously, she was a Business Development Analyst at Antai Venture Builder, conducting market analysis and incubating digital companies. Maite started her professional career at Deloitte Corporate Finance, unit responsible for M&A and debt restructuring operations in Spain.
Maite holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and the University of Florida (Warrington College of Business), and a master’s degree in Digital Marketing by ISDI.
Jordi Ferrer
Investment Director | Healthcare & Quality of Life
Ship2B Ventures
Entrepreneurial-minded executive with over 10 years of increased responsibilities in key management positions in Business Development and Strategy in Europe, USA, Middle East and Africa. As a hard-worker and proven business leader, with both an analytical and strategic mindset and with multi-functional business capabilities, has consistently met or exceeded sales and profits targets by adopting innovative strategies.
Robert Hornby
Venture Capital Investor
Mercia Asset Management
Venture capital investor at Mercia Asset Management, focused on making investments of £1m - £3m (with the ability to follow on up to £20m) into life science and technology focused companies in the UK.
Previously, I held corporate strategy and M&A roles at Verastar, a Vitruvian Partners’ portfolio company, and Grant Thornton UK LLP. I also hold a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Liverpool’s MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science.
Arnaud Autret
Head of European Operations
Illumina Ventures
Arnaud joined Illumina Ventures in 2022 as a Principal and Head of European Operations. Based in Amsterdam, Arnaud brings 15 years of experience in life science R&D and venture investment in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Before joining Illumina Ventures, Arnaud was an investment director for the biotechnology team of M Ventures, the corporate investment arm of Merck KGaA, based in Amsterdam. There he was instrumental in the investment in Scipio Bioscience, Pictor Labs and Nanosyrinx, among other companies. Arnaud started his investment career in Paris at Seventure Partners, where he invested in life sciences companies including Microbiome and Digital Health. Before joining Seventure, Arnaud was a senior financial auditor at KPMG in the healthcare business unit based in Paris.
Arnaud earned his Ph.D. in Immunology from the Pasteur Institute in Paris and continued his scientific career with post-doctoral work in Oncology at the Trinity College, Dublin. He gained his MSc in Finance from ESCP Europe, Paris.
Clara Campas
Managing Partner & Co-Founder
Asabys Partners
Managing partner and co-founder of Asabys. Clara currently serves on the board of directors of Ona Therapeutics, Origo Biopharma, Sidekick Health and Nuage Therapeutics.
Formerly, Clara served as Strategy & Development Director at Kern Pharma and held several positions at Advancell, including being the managing director. Clara has served as a member of the Investment Committee of the venture capital firm HealthEquity (2015-2018), as well as vice-president of CataloniaBIO (2014-2017) and member of the Board of Directors of Biocat (2015-2017).
Clara received her Doctorate in Pharmacy in 2004 and a Master’s in Pharmacy from the University of Barcelona in 1999.
Antonio Limatola
Senior Associate
Asabys Partners
Antonio joined Asabys in 2022 as a Senior Associate. He is responsible for evaluating novel opportunities across multiple therapeutic areas in Biotech and HealthTech.
Antonio joined Asabys after working as Investment Analyst at Inkef Capital where he supported the Healthcare team with deal sourcing and the analysis of investment opportunities. Prior to Inkef, Antonio was an Innovation fellow at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Biomedical Design Programme in Copenhagen, where he co-founded a digital health start-up.
Antonio has 9 years of scientific research experience, working at the interface of drug discovery, biology and biophysics. He earned a Ph.D. in Drug Discovery from the University of Naples Federico II, and was a postdoc at FMP-Berlin and at Stanford University.
Isabel Jimenez
Investment Associate
Asabys Partners
Isabel started at Asabys in 2022 as an Associate. She is responsible for evaluating novel opportunities from a scientific and strategic perspective focused on the biotech sector.
Isabel joined Asabys after working at Ysios Capital where she screened and analyzed deal flow while conducting due diligence on companies developing novel therapeutic approaches. Previously, Isabel spent 7y+ as a researcher in immunology and oncology. She completed her doctoral thesis at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in hemato-oncology.
Isabel earned a Ph.D. in Medicine from the University Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), a MSc in Advanced Immunology from the University of Barcelona (UB), and a BSc in Biochemistry. She also holds an Executive MBA from ESADE Business School.
Anna Bellmunt
Investment Associate
Asabys Partners
Associate at Asabys, Anna is responsible for sourcing and assessing opportunities from the scientific, development and business perspectives.
Previously, Anna was Investment Analyst at LSP where she was responsible for the initial deal flow screening and in-depth scientific and clinical due diligence on investment opportunities. Anna also served as Innovation Manager at the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and its Research Institute IDIBAPS where she advised entrepreneurs on intellectual property protection and commercialization strategies. Before, Anna was a researcher in the Growth Control and Cancer Metastasis group at the IRB Barcelona.
Anna was awarded a PhD in Biomedicine from the University of Barcelona (UB), a master’s degree in Biomedical Research from the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and two bachelor’s degrees, in Chemistry and Biochemistry, by the University of Barcelona (UB). Anna combined her studies with scientific research training in several research groups in Paris and Barcelona.
Anke Cassing
Principal
High-Tech Grunderfonds
Dr. Anke Cassing has many years of experience in strategic marketing and business development in medical technology, biotechnology and in pharmaceutics. She holds a doctorate in biology and studied economics. Before joining the HTGF, she developed the product portfolios of international companies ensuring their future growth.
Jakob Lilienweiss
Investment Analyst (Healthcare)
High-Tech Grunderfonds
Born in Germany, raised biculturally in Portugal, Jakob is fluent in four languages (German, English, Portuguese, Spanish). Outside of work, he is a passionate surfer and sports enthusiast. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with a semester abroad in the US and recently completed a double Master’s degree in Management, specializing in Innovation and Strategy. His first real contact with venture capital was during his Master’s thesis on ‘Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) investment relationships from the perspective of Tech-oriented Start-ups’, where he analyzed the motivations, concerns and protection mechanisms for start-ups when accepting CVC investments. In addition, he worked as a teaching assistant in strategy and entrepreneurship courses for Maastricht University and prepared an industry-specific target market analysis on ‘E-Health in Portugal’ for German companies wishing to enter the Portuguese market on behalf of the BMWi.
Montserrat Vendrell
Partner
Aliath Bioventures
Montserrat Vendrell is founding partner of Aliath Bioventures SL and a partner at Alta Life Sciences SL. She is Board Director at Peptomyc, Accure Therapeutics (Chair), Ona Therapeutics and Board observer at Inbrain Neuroelectronics and is involved in multiple startup mentorship programs. Dr. Vendrell has over 10-years of experience in biomedical research both at Spanish institutions (CSIC) and international companies (Roche Institute of Molecular Biology), and +20 years in supporting entrepreneurs in life sciences. Montserrat was part of the founding team of Barcelona Science Park, its bioincubator and technological platforms (Deputy CEO and later, CEO). Dr.Vendrell was also founder and CEO of Biocat, Catalonia biocluster, one of the most successful in Europe. She was CEO of Biocat for 8 years. Additionally, Dr. Vendrell chaired since its birth until 2015 the Council of European Bioregions. Dr. Vendrell holds a PhD in Biology from University of Barcelona, a master’s degree in Science Communication from Pompeu Fabra University and an Executive Degree in General Management from IESE Business School, Dr. Vendrell currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation (Alzheimer’s research) and the Board of Trustees of UPF (Pompeu Fabra University).
Liliane Chamas
Health Tech Principal
Oxford Science Enterprises
Liliane joined Oxford Science Enterprises in December 2019, bringing over a decade of experience across genetics research and digital innovation in health systems.
At OSE, Liliane focuses on uncovering early-stage ideas and building new businesses at the intersection of healthcare and technology.
Previously, Liliane worked for the World Health Organization, evaluating technologies to improve access to care in indigenous and refugee communities, and co-ordinating global guidance for the use of digital health in diabetes, hypertension and smoking cessation.
As a Global Health Policy Fellow at Imperial College London, she advised on the reform of undergraduate medical education in Myanmar. As Deputy Head of the NHS/Foreign Office joint unit for the UK Prosperity Fund, Liliane led on a global strategy to facilitate exchange of technology and healthcare best practices with countries in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
Liliane completed her PhD in Human Genetics at the University of Oxford as a Canadian Rhodes Scholar.
Heather Roxborough
Partner
Oxford Sciences Enterprises
Heather joined Oxford Science Enterprises in March 2022, a highly experienced venture capitalist, with over 20 years investment and company building experience.
At OSE, she leads the Health Tech team to identify new opportunities, catalyse the creation of transformational new businesses, and scale up the existing portfolio, covering digital health, diagnostics and medical devices.
Heather started her career in operational roles, creating new healthcare-related businesses and spin-outs for Unilever. She transitioned to investing while at Unilever, and subsequently spent the next 15 years in venture capital, more recently with J&J, leading J&J’s consumer Health Tech investment and partnering across EMEA.
She joined OSE from Optum Ventures where she was a Partner, responsible for establishing and leading the Global Health Tech investment fund on behalf of Optum, a leading technology-enabled US health services business, part of UnitedHealth Group.
Heather holds a PhD in Clinical Biochemistry from Queen’s University of Belfast.
Enric Claverol
Head of the Medical Technologies Programme
European Innovation Council (EIC)
The new European Innovation Council (EIC) is the first VC-inspired performance-driven tech investment vehicle set up by the European Commission.
We invest at seed, early-stage or Round A. My role is similar to that of a partner at a private VC, in that I identify technological areas with high potential, direct focus of our investment efforts towards these areas, participate in the selection of target companies and manage the portfolio post-investment.
Hemal Desai
Venture Partner
Nina Capital
Internationally experienced senior executive, medical doctor, venture partner and Board member passionate about improving access to high-quality healthcare and delivering better health outcomes. Extensive experience across the health sector including medical insurance, health services, population health and digital healthcare. Worked across the world in UK, US, Middle East and Asia taking on clinical, strategic, operational, and consulting roles. Over 20 years experience as a doctor specialising in family medicine including mental health. Led large multi-functional global teams, advised business and government, and founded global ecommerce businesses. Board adviser to start-ups and Non-Executive Director at BMJ Publishing Group.
Philipp Lechner
Senior Associate Venture Capital
TVM Capital Life Science
Philipp Lechner joined TVM in 2020.
Prior to joining TVM, Philipp worked for the Global Healthcare Team at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking. In this role he worked on several cross border M&A transactions in different healthcare industries.
He holds a Master degree in International Finance and Economics from the Nuremberg Institute of Technology with a focus on Financial Markets and Corporate Finance and did additional business and finance studies in London, UK and Nuertingen, Germany. During his master thesis he has already worked closely with TVM analyzing financial decision making in life science VC investing.
Kelly Krajnik
Senior Director Business Development
Mayo Clinic
Kelly Krajnik is a senior director for business development with Mayo Clinic Ventures (MCV). Prior to joining MCV in 2006, Krajnik worked at Mayo Clinic as a senior research technologist in the microarray core facility, was a member of the Institutional Review Board, and worked in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology to develop new molecular diagnostic assays. Krajnik is a senior member of MCV’s management team. Among her responsibilities, Krajnik leads business development efforts for the Center for Individualized Medicine’s Microbiome Program, including Mayo Clinic’s engagements with companies in the microbiome space.
Alex Cogut
Head of Healthcare Equity Research
Bryan, Granier & Co.
Alex was previously Co-Head of Life Sciences Research at Kempen & Co, with extensive experience in European biotech and medtech.
Alex will lead Bryan Garnier’s team of seven healthcare analysts based across Europe and the UK. In addition to traditional equity research, the team’s focus will be on developing differentiated thought leadership that identifies long term trends shaping the future of the healthcare sector.
Maria Vara
Equity Research Analyst Healthcare
Bryan, Granier & Co.
Heidi Osmundsen
US Marketing Leader - Health Sciences & Wellness
Ernst & Young
Top-performing marketing leader with expertise in creating, launching and fostering successful initiatives. Clear communicator with a proven track record of executing marketing strategies to achieve business objectives. Demonstrated ability to work effectively cross-functionally and internationally with internal and external partners. Known for building strong relationships and effective project management.
Biren Mehta
Vice President, Venture Investments
Johnson & Johnson
Create strategic growth options for Johnson & Johnson MedTech by investing in emerging health care businesses
Murielle Thinard McLane
Director
Intuitive Ventures
Seasoned healthcare executive with successful track record at establishing strategy, securing resources and executing both in the corporate and venture backed world. Expert in analytics applied to commercial and clinical operations in biopharma and health systems. Unique breadth of experience across the healthcare eco-system: payor, provider, supply chain, biopharma and health IT companies. Deep understanding of stakeholder dynamics and value creation opportunities
Julian Nikolchev
Sr VP Corporate Development & Ventures
Intuitive Surgical
A strong technical and commercialization leader with broad general and start-up management experience in life sciences and medical device industries. Proven track record of identifying and addressing significant unmet clinical needs with innovative technology solutions. Over 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. Over 35+ issued and pending U.S. patent applications.
Founder of Conceptus, ProDuct, CardioMind, Pivot Medical
Specialties: New company formation, new technology commercialization, fund raising, IP strategy, commercialization and development strategies, pre-clinical and clinical investigation strategies, thought partner and mentor of individuals and teams.
Joe Mullings
Chairman & CEO
The Mullings Group
Joe Mullings has been building companies and careers since 1989. He is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Mullings Group, including TMG Search and Dragonfly Stories. The search firm, with over three decades in the industry, is responsible for more than 8,000 successful searches in medtech / healthtech / life sciences with clients ranging from multi-billion-dollar companies to emerging high-tech organizations worldwide. TMG’s international presence and work with over 800 companies allow them to provide solutions with the clients they partner with across the globe.
As the first search firm to integrate media and talent access, Dragonfly Stories was launched as a media production company, complete with a state-of-the-art studio, for use by clients and partners for attention and awareness. Dragonfly is the media machine behind the 7-time Telly Award Winning video docuseries, “TrueFuture,” of which Joe is the host. He is also the founder of TMGPulse, a MedTech news and opinion website. He holds an engineering degree from The University of Dayton, Ohio.
Maruicio Benavente
Sr. Director Business Development & Licensing
Baxter
Strategic thinker and versatile corporate development professional from a unique cultural background (Born in USA, raised in Bolivia & Germany, currently living in Spain), who seeks challenging opportunities in corporate portfolio revitalization via expansion into adjacent and whitespace healthcare markets. Extensive experience, strong skills-set, and acumen in securing leadership team consensus around strategy recommendations and executing deals to transform existing business boundaries and thereby increase enterprise value.
Bhavesh Barot
Operating Partner & CBO
Truffle Capital
As a seasoned healthcare executive with over 18 years of experience in the MedTech industry, I have a proven track record of leading and managing commercial teams across diverse markets and segments. My core competencies include sales, strategy, marketing, product development, key account management, and new business development, with a focus on delivering sustainable, profitable growth and innovation.
At Medtronic, I was responsible for driving sustainable, profitable, growth and innovation; managing a team of cross functional experts with a revenue of over $880M. I successfully launched several new products, secured multiple large contracts, and established strategic partnerships with key stakeholders and customers. I also championed a culture of collaboration, diversity, and excellence, aligned with Medtronic's mission and values.
Tyler Wanke
Private Investor
Heartland Angels, MedTech Connect, Wanke Family
Alejandra Palomino
Investment Associate
Ship2B Ventures
I´m a passionate scientist. I have a PhD in Pharmacology, an MSc in Management and Development of Biomedical Technologies, and a Graduate in Biology. In the last years, I have focused on neurological disease, concretely in stroke. I have worked in translational research projects, focusing on preclinical drug R&D and clinical research. Previously, I have been woring on clinical research projects on the benefits of mediterranean diet products in patients with metabolic syndrome.
I am a person with initiative, strong management and communication skills. I have critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and the ability to work well in a team environment. Throughout my professional career, I have developed and acquired skills that allow me to adapt easily to new challenges.
Anne Osdoit
Partner
Sofinnova Partners
Anne has been running Sofinnova's in-house MedTech accelerator, MD Start, since she came on board as a partner in 2015.
She embodies the MD Start team’s hands-on approach: Anne is the founding and current CEO of both Gradient Denervation Technologies and Moon Surgical. She is a Board member of both SafeHeal and May Health — two companies where she was also founding CEO.
“What I like about this job is that it is about building products and companies,” Osdoit says. “It is very diverse. It is in different therapeutic areas, in different spaces with different technologies.”
Prior to joining Sofinnova, Anne held several key positions at Mauna Kea Technologies, a Paris-based medical technology company with global presence, developing a disruptive “optical biopsy” technology. She was closely involved in multiple financing rounds, including the company’s initial public offering on the Paris Euronext, a highly successful operation and the largest public listing for the sector that year.
Anne is an active angel investor and an independent board member of FeetMe and Cardiologs Technologies, two Paris-based e-health startups. Cardiologs was purchased by Philips in 2021.
Anne is a trained biomedical engineer from Ecole Polytechnique of Paris, France and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She holds additional degrees in Biostatistics and epidemiology applied to clinical trials (Université Pierre et Marie Curie), as well as Corporate Finance (London School of Economics).
Vijay Barathan
Partner
Optum Ventures
Vijay offers a unique perspective as our only medical doctor turned investment banker and VC.
Before Optum Ventures, Vijay was a life science partner with Catapult’s GM&C Life Sciences Fund leading and managing investments across life sciences with a specialist focus on digital health. Vijay has invested in data driven companies targeting respiratory health, complications of diabetes, patient safety, consent and education.
Prior to this, he was chief investment officer at a health care IP commercialisation company focused on digital health, diagnostics and therapeutics investments. He was previously a health care investment banker at Peel Hunt and Piper Jaffray, looking after listed health care clients as well as undertaking IPO, M&A, private placement and secondary fundraising transactions.
Vijay began his career in medicine and worked as a doctor for the NHS. He qualified from Guy’s Kings and St. Thomas Medical School in London and holds a MBBS in Medicine and a B.S. in Development Neurobiology.
Cecile Dupont
Partner
Sofinnova Partners
Cécile joined the Sofinnova MD Start team in 2019. She is currently CEO of BrightHeart, a Sofinnova MD Start III portfolio company. She also brings her operational and strategic expertise to Endoron, another investment from MD Start III, to accelerate the development of the company's highly disruptive technology.
Prior to that, she was CEO of HEPTA Medical, COO of Gradient Denervation Technologies, and director of clinical, regulatory and market access at SafeHeal, the first company created by MD Start II, where she managed the execution of the first-in-human study and regulatory approvals in the EU and US.
Unofficially, she is MD Start’s regulatory expert.
“We need to make sure we start with the right strategy from the get-go because the regulatory strategy is one of the key drivers of the entire project,” she says. “It will drive the clinical strategy, but also the R&D strategy. This is really a key entry point for the project.”
Prior to joining MD Start, Cécile held various clinical, marketing and regulatory positions in both mature and start-up medical device organizations in the fields of endoscopy, pulmonology, dermatology, surgery and diabetes care; for single and multi-use disposable products and capital equipment.
Cécile holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from UTC (Université de Technologies de Compiègne) in France, Dalarna University (Sweden) and Favoloro University (Buenos Aires) in Argentina. She also has a degree in corporate finance from HEC in Paris.
Zoar Engelman
Founder & CSO
Deerfield Catalyst
My professional goal is to use my expertise and passion for medical science in the identification and development of new technologies that improve patient care.
Evan Castigila
Partner
Thujia Capital
Evan joined Thuja Capital as an investment director and partner in early 2023. Prior to that, he was Partner and Head of European Investments for Philips Ventures, the corporate venture capital group of Philips. During his tenure, Evan led and managed numerous investments across healthcare sectors, including medical device and digital health, and across investment stages from early to growth. Before joining Philips Ventures, Evan was the Chief Business Officer of the U.S.-based venture backed precision biology company, RareCyte, which he helped lead from product concept to international commercialization. Evan holds an M.B.A with Distinction from the University of Oxford.
David Uffer
Managing Director
Trinity LifeSciences
Specialties: Business Development, M&A, Strategic Planning and Corporate Strategy, Strategic Marketing, Medical Technology and Startup Assessment and Evaluation, Due Diligence, Integration, Licensing and Partnering
Chris Eso
Vice President, Business Development, Strategy & Portfolio Management
Medtronic
Chris joined Medtronic as the Senior Manager of Business Development in August of 2011. He oversaw Medtronic’s global inorganic growth strategies and opportunities for Coronary business, and was promoted in June of 2012 to expand his Business Development responsibilities to include the Renal Denervation business. In April of 2013, Chris was promoted to Director, overseeing Business Development functions and leading a team of professionals. In September of 2014, Chris was promoted to Senior Director, Business Development for the Coronary and Structural Heart business unit for Medtronic, and in February of 2016, Chris was promoted to Vice President of Corporate Development.
Chris has more than 18 years of successful professional experience, of increasing responsibilities, with the majority of his experience in a business/corporate development and strategy capacity within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, in addition to Medtronic, including Allergan, Watson, Agilent Technologies and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, where he was Vice President of Business Operations.
Chris holds an MBA from Concordia University and BA in Public Relations, Communications from California State University, Fullerton.
Mano Iyer
Venture Partner
Sofinnova Partners
Mano Iyer, a serial entrepreneur whose ties with Sofinnova Partners stretch back more than 15 years, rejoined the firm in October, 2022. As a Venture Partner, Mano investigates global medical device investment opportunities across the Sofinnova Partners platform of strategies, with a particular focus on helping the firm’s in-house medtech accelerator, Sofinnova MD Start, incubate world-class companies.
Raul Martin-Ruiz
Partner
Ysios Capital
Raúl oversees and coordinates the identification and evaluation of investment opportunities from both scientific and business perspectives at Ysios Capital.
Prior to joining Ysios in 2008, Raúl first worked in corporate business development (Licensing In and Licensing Out) at Laboratorios Almirall. He was subsequently responsible for developing and managing the business of the Company in the Americas and Africa through licensees and distributors.
Raúl was initially trained as a researcher in central nervous system pharmacology within the Department of Pharmacology of the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), and in neurochemistry within the Department of Neurochemistry at the Institute for Biomedical Research of the Barcelona–Spanish National Research Council (IIBB-CSIC).
Raúl holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from UPV-EHU, and a PhD in Neuroscience from UPV-EHU and the CSIC.
Kai Worrell
EVP, Corporate Development
Veranex
Kai’s is a seasoned medical device leader and digital health entrepreneur. Over the last 18 years, Kai has driven the global expansion of the healthcare focused design and innovation firm Worrell Inc (now part of Veranex), and has created significant returns for investors after successfully exiting a venture backed digital health firm Geneva Healthcare.
Kai currently serves as Veranex's Executive Vice President of Corporate Development leading the M&A activities for the firm and sits on the Corporate Leadership Team.
Gina Melchner
Venture Partner
NLC - The European Healthtech Venture Builder
Venture Builder in the healthtech industry, bringing early stage innovation to the patient by founding startups. Background in genetic engineering, cell and molecular biology. Experience in strategy consulting and venture capital. Passionate about innovation, sustainable impact, tech solutions.
Julie Coles
Associate
iGan Partners
Julie is an Analyst at iGan Partners. As a member of the investment team, she is responsible for deal origination, due diligence, and research activities. Before joining iGan Partners, she worked in marketing within Janssen’s (J&J) portfolio of oncology brands, and in corporate strategy at a Toronto hospital.
Julie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Queen’s University, and an MBA from McMaster University.
Maryline Marquet
Partner
EY
Maryline is a MedTech and Life Sciences expert with 20+ years of business and digital transformation experience. She focuses on improving patient outcomes by designing healthcare solutions that prioritize patients and digital tech. Maryline previously held sales and marketing management positions at Becton Dickinson and Janssen, led commercial operations at Singapore-based health tech start-ups, and was responsible for 31 countries' patient engagement strategies and new partnerships at Novartis. She holds a double master's degree in European business and management from EDHEC Business school, an MBA from INSEAD and executive certification in AI from MIT.
Zhong Lin
Managing Partner
Mednovation
Specialize in the areas of international commercial law, with a focus on private equity, foreign direct investment and cross-border M&A, antitrust, and capital market. Admitted to the Chinese bar in 1992. LL.B. from Peking University in 1990, and an LL.M and PhD from Xiamen University in 1993 and 1996, respectively. Was a partner in two other prominent Chinese law firms, a manager of the international headquarters of a Big 4 firm’s legal practice in Paris, and a lecturer of law at Xiamen University.Joined EY Chen & Co.in 2006. In 2012, appointed by the All China Lawyers Association as the vice director of the Antimonopoly Law Committee. In 2010, the Shanghai Bar Association appointed me to serve as the vice-director of its International Investment & Antimonopoly Research Committee, and in 2011 it promoted me to serve as director of this committee for a three year term. The author of numerous works on international economic law and dispute resolution. In 2009, invited to serve as a guest research fellow at Xiamen University’s International Economic Law Institute, and in 2010, appointed to serve as guest professor.
David O'Flynn
Director, Corporate Finance
Goodbody
I am a Corporate Finance Director at Goodbody. I have over 20 years of healthcare business development and corporate finance experience focussed mainly on the medical device and pharma sectors, advising on capital funding, M&A and strategic development.
Anthony Vallance-Owen
Investment Manager
WE Venture Capital
Anthony is a Senior Investment Manager at We Venture Capital, with 17+ years of experience in business and transactional advice, including M&A, debt and Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).
Anthony was with PricewaterhouseCoopers for 14 years, gaining global experience in the UK, North America and Asia. Anthony qualified as an ACA chartered accountant and completed his MBA at ESADE, Barcelona.
Esther Reynal de saint-Michel Richardot
Founding General Partner
THENA Capital
As an investor and business-outcomes focused professional with over 12 years of experience in consumer insight and growth strategy consulting, I have a strong track record as a trusted advisor to large brands and investing in and mentoring start-ups in the healthtech space.
My passion lies in scaling-up and supporting companies seeking to transform the lives of patients, consumers, and HCPs, driving impact, problem solving, and building effective strategies.
Montserrat Puig Ponsico
CEO
Barcelona & Partners
Finance and Technology executive with over 20 years of experience with a leadership style that inspires teamwork and excellence to manage complex and new situations.
Proven track record of driving organisations to growth using extensive technological and digital industry experience in addition to a clear business vision which has resulted in demonstrable increased company value year on year.
Experience working collaboratively with sophisticated investors building relationships and synergies with senior stakeholders. Broad range of management experience, knowledge of finance, risk and global operational strategies, M&A, multilingual (fluent English and Spanish) and highly motivated by new challenges.
Luca Binda
Managing Partner & Investment Director
TechWald Holding
Alessandro Piga
Managing Director
TechWald Holding
Senior-level Executive with extensive international experience in leadership and board positions at public and private companies within the Health Care and Medical Technology Industry.
Highly analytical decision-maker with proven track record in building, turning around and operating companies, along with proven history of increasing productivity, delivering profitable growth and developing talents
In-depth understanding of Health Care market access dynamics, emerging medical technologies assessment and related commercial applications.
Motivated self-starter with an authentic and engaging leadership style focused on patients, customers and employees.
Devon Bream
GM & President Invasive Cardiology
GE Healthcare
Experienced Global Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry. Skilled in Executive Management, Medical Devices, M&A, Sales Management, and Global Management. Strong information technology professional with a Master's Degree focused in Healthcare Administration- School of Public Health from University of California, Los Angeles. Fellow American College Healthcare Executives.
Neil Rosewell
Associate Director, Medical Technology
Cambridge Consultants
Technical leader in Medical Device development; turning new ideas into life-changing products.
I am a Chartered Engineer and member of the IET with over twenty years' experience in developing electronics and embedded systems ranging from low-cost consumer devices to highly-specialized sensor and instrumentation products. I have worked in a wide variety of industries including medical technology, inkjet printing, laboratory instrumentation and automation, utility metering, and cryptography.
Since 2014 I have been developing Medical Devices ranging from connected inhalers and smart implants to complex diagnostic instruments and surgical robots. My particular areas of expertise are in technical leadership of multi-disciplined project teams, systems thinking, formal verification testing, and product development for regulatory compliance, especially IEC 60601.
John Genova
Senior VP
Cambridge Consultants
Growing the Global Medical Technology Group of Cambridge Consultants, one of the world's leading technology companies, providing Research, Design & Development Services, and Management Consultancy to the Healthcare Industry. I lead the Business Development for a team of experts focused on Surgical, Interventional, Medical Wireless and Hospital Product Development. Strong client relationships are key to our success. Disruptive Technology, Human Factors and the Front End of Innovation is where we excel and provide value.Client goals are managed and accomplished, often within aggressive cost and time constraints.
Oleg Grodnensky
Managing Partner
Priveterra
Extensive background in business transformation & development, principal investing and organizational leadership.
Steven Gottlieb
Board Chairman & Founder
The Gottlieb Family Office
Steven M. Gottlieb, M.D., is a physician executive and healthcare serial entrepreneur who seeks innovative companies in which he can invest, add value and accelerate growth. Dr. Gottlieb has more than 30 years of senior leadership experience in the healthcare industry, and has founded, managed, funded, grown and exited several successful healthcare companies.
Dr. Gottlieb served as CEO of TeamHealth Anesthesia, the national anesthesia division of TeamHealth (NYSE: TMH)—one of the largest providers of outsourced physician staffing solutions for hospitals in the US.
He was co-founder, CEO and president of Anesthetix Management—a leading national provider of anesthesiology and pain management service solutions to hospitals and surgery centers. Dr. Gottlieb successfully led the company through its growth and development, including a private equity investment by Summit Partners in 2006, its acquisition by TeamHealth (a Blackstone company) in 2009, and an IPO in 2010.
Dr. Gottlieb has led or participated in a range of successful investments in a variety of early-stage growth companies, both inside and outside of the healthcare industry. Among other things, Dr. Gottlieb currently serves as Chairman of J10x, an organization which functions as a strategic operating partner to early-stage entrepreneurial companies and helps accelerate their launch, growth and success in the US market.
Pierre Socha
Partner
Amadeus Capital
Pierre joined Amadeus in 2012 and is a Partner in the Early Stage Fund. His current focus is on the Health and Bio sectors.
He led our investments in and is on the boards of portfolio companies such as advanced wound therapy specialist Natrox, cell and gene therapy manufacturing platform OriBiotech, protein degradation leader PhoreMost, imaging biomarker pioneer Quibim, patient review leader Doctify, computer vision platform V7, and Parkinson’s therapy developer Charco. He also oversees whole-genome interpretation platform Congenica, care pathway optimization leader Lumeon, cell manipulation platform Sphere Fluidics and organ transplantation leader Organox.
Prior to joining Amadeus, Pierre was first an analyst at Natexis in France, before becoming an entrepreneur with PE backed biotech Avesthagen in India where he joined the founding team and helped grow the business over a decade. During his tenure, he became CEO of its Bionutrition division (350 employees) before taking over as Chief Strategy Officer for the group, with research activities spanning from medical nutrition and agri-tech to population genetics.
Pierre holds a MSc in Maths and Econometrics from Aix-Marseille University, France and graduated from executive programs at Stanford, MIT and Harvard. Pierre is fluent in French and English.
Howard Kim
Managing Director
Asahi Kasei
Howard Kim joined Asahi Kasei America in 2016 and is based outside Boston, MA. He is a Managing Director, focusing on healthcare investments. Prior to joining Asahi Kasei, Howard worked at Advent International, a global private equity firm, and Hambrecht and Quist Capital Management, a healthcare investment firm. His operational experience includes working as Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Business Development at a venture-backed medical device company. Howard received his BA from Harvard College and his MD from Tufts School of Medicine.
Steve-Maxence Benchetrit
Healthcare Analyst
Agile Capital Markets
I would like to pursue my career in venture capital in the healthcare sector. Indeed, I wish to use my dual skills in identifying and supporting high-potential startups that can represent both investment opportunities and significant improvements in healthcare. Bilingual, analytical, sociable and a good listener, I am eager to take on new challenges.
Sophie Baratte
Partner
Agile Capital Markets
Sophie spent 20+ years in General Management roles in Blue chip companies and in Start-ups. As CEO, Sophie was CEO of CIT, the largest preclinical company in France, that she rebranded as Citoxlab, after acquiring additional businesses, and served as CEO of Cellnovo, developing and commercialising and e-connected insulin micro-pump. As CEO, Sophie raised around €80m and listed a company on Euronext in 2015. Amongst other key roles, Sophie served as GM for the in-vitro Diagnostics business of J&J France, as VP North EU for Sorin Group (now Livanova) across 5 BU in the cardiac sectors and Dialysis and as VP Sales and Marketing EU, Lifecell, in reconstructive Breast, Abdominal, Pelvic floor surgery. Along the years, Sophie has driven product development, industrialisation, market access and commercialisation in all geographies. Sophie's education is Engineering in Biotechnology, PhD in Immunology and MBA.
Alexander Marcantonio
Principal
Madryn Asset Management
Mr. Marcantonio is a Principal of Madryn Asset Management, LP where he works with the firm’s investment team to source, evaluate, and manage investments in the healthcare industry. Prior to Madryn, Mr. Marcantonio was an Analyst at Lombard Odier Asset Management, as a member of the 1798 Global Partners fund, a long short equity fund, where he was responsible for investments in the biopharmaceutical industry, from 2015 through 2017.
Prior to Lombard Odier Asset Management, Mr. Marcantonio worked at Orchard View Capital, a long short equity fund, where he was responsible for investments in the healthcare industry. Prior to Orchard View Capital, Mr. Marcantonio worked at Citigroup in the healthcare investment banking group, where he worked on various public and private financings and mergers and acquisitions transactions.
Mr. Marcantonio graduated with honors from Lehigh University with a BS degree in Finance & Accounting.
Jacob Komenda
R&D Manager
Conmed
An inventor of BioBrace, a novel reinforced bioinductive scaffold for soft tissue healing. Medical device engineer with well-rounded experience suited for a variety of projects/tasks. Proficient in designing, executing and documenting experiments, project management, operations, drafting and reviewing manufacturing documentation, quality assurance and implementing controls, performing literature research and reviews, performing prior art searches and reviewing intellectual property, and assisting in fundraising through research and by understanding the key players in the industry. If you need something to get done, I'm your guy!
Rebecca Wolf
Executive Director
Centponts
Cenponts is a global cross-border boutique investment bank specialized in healthcare investment & partnering, based in Paris, Berlin, Basel, Shenzhen. Our key competences are our expertise in cross border healthcare transactions and top level network with leading healthcare funds and companies in China/Europe/US. Cenponts has closed >7B$ global cross border healthcare transactions. For example: Genfit/Terns 228M$, Avilex Pharma/Simcere 175M$, Pharnext/Tasly 50M$, Domain series A 40M$, Skymedic/Wondfo 20M$ etc.
Allan Fisher
Founder
Holmes Place
Allan Fisher's entrepreneurship spans over 50 years covering a wide range of sectors from hospitality, fitness, bio-tech, fin-tech, and property. Allan has served as CEO and Chairman of publicly traded health and fitness companies, and, as founder of Holmes Place 40 years ago, is regarded as one of the industry veterans that established the sector in the UK. Currently Allan holds the role of Chairman in Holmes Place Brands, as well as a variety of non-executive director positions.
Harold Mennen
Investment Analyst & Sourcing Representative
TheClubDeal Capital Advisors
Nicolas Roberti
Executive Partner
TheClubDeal Capital Advisors
I’m passionate about helping companies grow, especially by supporting them from a financial perspective. I very much appreciate working, discussing and exchanging with entrepreneurs about topics ranging from strategy to finance, management, business models and corporate governance.
In addition, I’m also a fan of organisations and processes.
More specifically, as an Investment Manager at TheClubDeal, I’m helping the management of companies like YUST in their growth projects:
- preparation of the next fundraising
- coordination of investor relations
- contribution to financial planning, business model optimisation and definition of strategy
In my Executive Partner and associate role, I might qualify as an organisation freak. I like to set up pragmatic processes in order to continuously collectively improve and support the transformation of TheClubDeal from a rather small investment company (back in 2016) to an investment powerhouse. This process orientation is most probably the heritage of my 5 years spent at UBS in different managing roles (project manager and sales manager) before I joined TheClubDeal at its inception.
Jonathan Fisher
CEO
Holmes Place
By combining decades of experience as an entrepreneur and CEO in the health and fitness sector with an inspiring holistic worldview, I undertake activities that promote health and happiness.
Holmes Place, the leading premium European fitness chain, was founded 40 years ago by my father, Allan Fisher, and represented a ground-breaking approach at the time. Holmes Place continues to focus on innovation that best supports its members to improve and enjoy their health and fitness. Holmes Place Brands, leverages the experience and network built by Holmes Place to identify and partner with exciting and innovative health and fitness offerings globally, these currently include: TRIB3, Evo Fitness and !CON.
Scott Frushour
Director of Strategic Technologies, Surgical OU
Medtronic
10+ Years of tangible clinical research & innovation in general thoracic disease management (Lung & Esophagus).
8+ Years of Cross-Functional Team Leadership, solving problems in surgical thoracic disease management.
7+ Years of Demonstrated Product Development Team Leadership in Surgical Device Design.
12+ Years of demonstrated growth and progressive technical responsibility in Electrical Engineering Design.
Jose Pedro Almeida
Chief AI Strategist (various companies), Advisory Board
Intelligence Ventures
José Pedro was named World's Top 70 Health AI Brains and Top 20 Portuguese World-Changer. He's globally recognized for having transformed some of the most complex healthcare organizations by leveraging Data & AI across large hospitals and retail health diagnostics. He pioneered a clinical 560 billion data points platform that monitored 1100 beds in real-time and could predict up to 30% of ICU admissions 7 days earlier, while helping to reduce Hospital Acquired Infections. His groundbreaking work in several institutions was awarded the Microsoft U.S Global Health Innovation Award (MSHUG) and HIMSS Outstanding Digital Healthcare award, recognized with an INSEAD Case Study on Data Intelligence for Medical Diagnostics, and highlighted by the European Commissioner as an exceptional use-case of leveraging Machine Learning to impact patient care. He won Harvard's Competing in the Age of AI competition and was the Health AI Keynote speaker at the leading GenAI conference in Boston, gaiworld.com.
Confirmed Innovators
Ilan Uchitel
CEO
CAPS Medical
Ilan, CEO of CAPS Medical, has nearly 20 years of experience in the medical device and defense industries, having held executive management positions in multiple biomedical device companies in the fields of electrophysiology, invasive cardiology, and minimally invasive implantable maxillofacial solutions. He has served in leadership positions at OSSIO, Maxillent and Perifect, contributing to these companies’ continuous growth through a deep understanding of the medical device market, strategic product development, regulatory road-map building and execution, including CE and FDA compliance and successful product rollout/launch in US and European markets. Earlier, Ilan held R&D and project management positions in Unit 81, Israeli military intelligence’s elite technology unit, where during his tenure, his teams delivered numerous technologically and operationally complex projects, playing an important role in winning the top Israeli defense prizes. Ilan holds a BSc degree in mechanical engineering, an MSc in biomedical engineering, and an MBA – all received from Tel Aviv University.
John von Benecke
CEO
Locate Bio
John has a strong track record as an executive in a range of Life Sciences and healthcare companies, covering both pre-revenue and commercial high growth companies. He has raised more than $130m of venture capital to date and taken two start-ups through to successful exit events, including the $330m acquisition of ApaTech Ltd by Baxter. John has gained strong operational experience across a range of business functions and organisations, including fulfilling combined CFO and COO roles for two private companies previously.
John holds a Bachelor’s degree in Organisational Psychology and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
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.
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
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.
David Kuraguntla
CEO
Alio
Dave is the co-founder and CEO of Alio, a wearable medical device company dedicated to improving the lives of those living with dialysis and other chronic conditions. After serving in the Air Force, Dave was selected for a fellowship which allowed him to attend medical school. He received his medical degree in osteopathic medicine (D.O.) and was preparing for a surgical residency when he experienced first hand the need for better technological solutions for those with chronic conditions. Drawing on his experience as a former NIH researcher, Dave began to explore the potential of noninvasive wearables for conditions like End Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD). Since then, Alio has secured $53 million in funding to-date and formed key strategic partnerships with organizations like the NHS in the UK and US Renal Care. For more information visit www.alio.ai or follow us on Linkedin.
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.
Laurence Marsteller
CEO
Radiance Therapeutics
Dr. Marsteller is a serial medical device entrepreneur and co-innovator of the RadianceTx technology. He previously founded Salutaris Medical Devices, Inc. – invested in by ophthalmic market leader HOYA (7741:Tokyo, Market Cap $21B, $4.5B in annual sales). He is a Medical Doctor (University of Arizona College of Medicine), and physicist (Yale University Graduate School). Dr. Marsteller has Investment Banking experience as an Analyst at Lehman Brothers, and subsequently Morgan Stanley.
Todor Jeliaskov
Chairman & CEO
inHEART
Todor Jeliaskov brings over 20 years of experience solving customers’ needs and generating returns for investors and shareholders at large, multinational enterprises and startup organizations across continents and various industries. Before inHEART, Todor Jeliaskov was CEO of NuVera Medical, acquired by Biosense Webster (Johnson & Johnson) in November 2020. NuVera developed the next-generation intracardiac imaging technology for cardiac interventions - NuVision. Todor Jeliaskov previously served as VP at GE Ultrasound - the worldwide market leader in diagnostic ultrasound. Todor Jeliaskov started his career at Siemens Medical Solutions. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and an MBA degree.
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’.
Youssef Helwa
CEO
FluidAI Medical
Youssef is the CEO and cofounder of FluidAI since its origin back in 2014. The company was founded as an extension to the novel nanotechnology research that he was involved in and the exposure to the medical needs through his family. During this period Youssef has led the companies through its different stages, from its early R&D stages all the way to the commercialization of the product across multiple markets. His efforts combines the advances in AI & nanotech to support NERv’s mission in data-driven patient recovery, with a focus on building systems and products that integrate seamlessly with the existing medical practice.
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.
Jeffery Alvarez
Chief Strategy Officer
Moon Surgical
My expertise is in identifying, defining, and creating significant clinical value through a holistic design thinking approach that delivers high impact products.
I am intrinsically curious, passionately creative, and sometimes, stubbornly obsessive. This combination helps me solve complex problems at the right level, where solutions have the greatest impact.
Over the past 22 years, I've been an operator in building companies from pre-formation through commercial activities, including coordinating financing activities. Across that timeframe, I have helped define, design, manufacture, or launch over 24 different medical devices.
This includes leading early product development Auris Health as employee #1 and Hansen Medical. I have led teams through need-finding, definition, development, human clinical trials, and full commercialization.
I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute & and MBA from Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.
Amir Danino
Founder & CEO
INNOVENTRIC
The founder and CEO of Innoventric and the inventor of the company’s technology. Amir has 15 years of experience in the medical device field, mainly in structural interventional cardiology, bringing aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve projects from concept to clinical application. Amir served in some of the most exciting structural heart projects and has a broad experience in R&D, clinical affairs, regulatory affairs and business development.
Amir holds a B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University and a M.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University.
David Thompson
CEO
Osteal Therapeutics
Business leader and healthcare entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in organizations of all sizes developing new technology and new markets in the U.S. and internationally with a particular focus on medical devices, digital health and diagnostics.
Particularly passionate about early stage ventures and intrapreneurial opportunities that require market analysis, needs assessment, product and business model discovery and definition, corporate strategic planning, and go-to-market execution.
Christian Haller
CEO & Co-Founder
CorIT Medical
Mr. Haller is a Serial Entrepreneur and Angel Investor who has spent the past 35+ years building startups, as a founder, investor, and inventor.
Neel Patel
Co-Founder & CEO
ZiO Health
VC-backed Medtech that has developed an AI-driven hand-held point-of-care device for therapeutic drug monitoring. It facilitates a proactive approach to dosing life saving medications by providing immediate data on patients’ drug concentration through instant point-of-care testing, maximizing drug treatment efficacy and minimizing toxicity.
Lawrence Obstfeld
CEO
Image Navigation
Lawrence is responsible for setting objectives, building the organization, monitoring performance and designing the long-range strategic plan. He studies expert performance learning methodology and presents findings to Dental Educators.
Christopher Bullock
CEO & Co-Founder
QV Bioelectronics
Christopher is a biomedical engineer with expertise in medical device design, biomaterial, and bioelectronics. In 2018 he completed a PhD in regenerative medicine at The University of Manchester where his research focused on the development of novel graphene bioelectric devices and the use of electrical stmuli to control cell behaviour. A passionate entrepreneur, Chistropher now acts as the CEO of OV Bioelectronics and oversees the business and technical development aims of the business. He is an associate member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
Josef Christensen
Chief Business Development Officer
StemMedical
Currently Chief Business Development Officer in StemMedical.
PhD in stem cell biology, formerly globally responsible for commercialization of Novo Nordisk’s cell therapy assets, 5+ years in McKinsey & Co, former partner at Apollo Health Ventures.
Mike Karim
CEO
Oxford Endovascular
Over 30 years of international experience in medical devices including endovascular products. Leadership roles in general management, sales & marketing and mentoring. Success in fund raising, driving business growth in large corporations, SMEs and start ups, developing and bringing new products to market.
Angela Liedler
CEO
PRECISIS
Angela Liedler, MD, is a serial entrepreneur. After selling her healthcare agency in 2011, she transitioned to the MedTech sector and took over majority at Precisis. She is one of the inventors of EASEE® and raised capital for a Series A round. Under her leadership EASEE®, world´s first minimally invasive brain pacemaker for the treatment of focal epilepsies, developed from an idea into a product gaining CE approval under MDR. Next steps for EASEE® and Angela include entering various European markets and achieving FDA approval.
Nora Nseir
Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Nurami Medical
Experienced Inventor with a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry. Skilled in Regenerative Medicine, Tissue Engineering, Cell Culture, Biomedical Engineering, and Research and Development (R&D). Strong business development professional graduated from StarVision.
Hamed Hanafi
President & CEO
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.
Allen Ruszkowski
President & CEO
CVAC Systems
Allen has more than 40 years of experience within the health care industry. During his 11 years at GE Medical, he led the then-new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) service business. Allen’s strategy helped create a $400m per year revenue business with 80% market share and 70% margins within two years after product introduction. Allen was Vice President of Global sales and marketing for Imatron, Inc. a public company where he returned 25X to investors in less than four years and stewarded the company through the initial stages of its acquisition by GE Medical for $200M. BSEE, (cum laude) Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Terre Haute, Indiana; MBA, San Jose State University.
Rafael J. Veraza
CEO & President
Vascular Perfusion Solutions
I am a Translational Scientist with over 15 years of research experience. I have worked with universities and organizations all over the world translating lab research into life-changing products and therapies for patients.
I am the CEO & President at Vascular Perfusion Solutions. There, I lead our company in commercializing organ preservation devices for transplantation such as the VP.S Encore® device – a new technology that will increase the life of organs for transplant and has been recently granted FDA’s Breakthrough Device Designation.
I am passionate about using translational science and business to help people where they are, and I truly believe that the technologies our research at Vascular Perfusion Solutions is perfecting will change the world for the better.
Steven Mickelsen
CEO
Field Medical
Dedicated to finding new and better treatment options for patients that have challenging cardiovascular problems. My efforts have focused on developing medical devices and technologies that impact treatment of heart rhythm and other important health problems. My inclination is to work on projects where new therapeutic technologies are evolving from the preclinical into the clinical phase while maintaining a presence on the front line of clinical cardiology.
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.
Almog Aley-Raz
CEO & VP R&D
CorNeat Vision
Almog Aley-Raz has over 25 years of experience managing complex, multi-disciplinary projects. He has spearheaded the development of several business ventures, including their foundation, growth and expansion, fruition and ultimate success. Aley-Raz is CorNeat Vision co-founder and has been the CEO and VP R&D since its inception in 2016.
Mr. Aley-Raz has hands-on technological and managerial experience at several startup companies, as well as established corporations. He has handled diversified aspects such as engineering, professional services, product management, marketing, finance, legal, compliance, mergers and acquisitions. Previously, Mr. Aley-Raz served as GM and VP Biometrics and Security Solutions at Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN), directing an international team, which consisted of dozens of members. During his tenure at Nuance, he was able to grow its biometrics business line from several million USD to over $80 million/year. Nuance was recently acquired by Microsoft for ~20Bn. Mr. Aley-Raz joined Nuance in 2010 through the acquisition of PerSay, where he served as CEO. He joined PerSay in 1999 as a system engineer when the company was still a part of Verint Systems Inc. – formerly Comverse Infosys. As part of his work, he successfully raised over $11 million from the Israeli Venture Capital industry.
Before joining Verint in 1999, Mr. Aley-Raz served as a project manager – managing a strategic mission-critical 150 man-year government software project, including software and network infrastructure deployment in multiple physical sites. The project met its targets in all aspects (budget, timeline, performance) and is operational since 1999. Previous assignments included managing 35 engineers and field engineers who handled complex airborne communication and optical systems.
Almog Aley-Raz holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering and Digital Signal Processing from Ben-Gurion University and is an MBA graduate of the Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration at Tel Aviv University. He completed a continued education course at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) in managing the development and regulation of medical devices.
Nicolas Gausserand
Co-Founder & CEO
Medinbox
After more than 10 years managing medical events at Europa Organisation (PCO) and medical film production at Next Media Factory, Nicolas Gausserand decided to create Medinbox. His goal was to facilitate the transmission of medical knowledge, technological innovation and the human approach. Keen on medical and educational technologies, he joined forces with the Clinique Pasteur in Toulouse. Together they designed a turnkey solution for medical video collaboration to record and broadcast procedures for live education, remote proctoring and support.
Benjamin Merewitz
Co-founder & CEO
Agile Devices
Ben Merewitz brings over 15 years of experience launching and managing businesses in industrials, biopharma and medical technology. Prior to Agile Devices, Ben spent most of his career advising management teams and launching products in high tech sectors with strong regulatory oversight. From building and scaling the first solar inverter market research practice to advising global publicly traded biopharma companies on multibillion dollar decisions, Ben has consistently delivered strategic value to the C-suite, either as an external consultant or an internal advisor or Chief of Staff. As an operator, Ben has designed, built, and scaled products and services ranging from aviation mobile applications to APAC-focused biotech consultancies, consistently delivering 7+ figure revenue in the first year following launch. Ben has excelled in emerging/midsize companies (PureSense, PHOTON Consulting, Sentient Jet) and large multinational companies (Wellington Management, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, DRG and Clarivate), with functional responsibilities primarily in corporate development, product management, and management consulting. Ben holds a BA in Psychology from Amherst College and MBA in General Management from MIT Sloan.
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.
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.
Kambiz Behzadi
President
BMD
Dr. Kambiz Behzadi is an orthopedic surgeon in Pleasanton California. His practice is primarily focused on adult joint reconstruction and sports related injuries. He has particular interest in physical sciences. His research interests include efforts to improve surgical techniques and to produce novel medical devices to enhance reliability and safety of orthopedic procedures for the ultimate goal of improving outcomes.
Jeff Cambra
CEO
SpinaFX Medical
As a veteran medical device and therapeutics industry executive, I have expertise in interventional spine procedures, biologics and devices including kyphoplasty, vertebroplasty and bone ablation. Throughout my career, I have managed product development, commercialization, product portfolios, mergers and acquisitions with a strong focus on interventional spine technologies and biologics.
I am honored to lead SpinaFX Medical in bringing a novel medical treatment for back pain to market. With my passion for the interventional space, I constantly assess and monitor multiple promising technologies, and I recognized the breakthrough potential of SpinaFX’s technology over a decade ago. With SpinaFX, I am leveraging my experience in the medical device field to deliver value for our patients, customers, and shareholders.
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.
Stephen Cox
CEO
InVera Medical
CEO & co-founder of InVera Medical (formerly Venari), a medical device company developing a less-invasive, effective and pain-free device for the office-based treatment of varicose veins and venous ulcers, known as chronic venous disease, a condition that affects one in four people worldwide.
Recipient of a first class honours degree in Computer Science, MSc in BioInnovation and an Executive MBA from UCD Smurfit Business School. BioInnovate Fellow 2016/2017, an affiliate of the Stanford BioDesign specialist medical device innovation programme.
An accomplished technologist and leader of innovative high-growth startup organisations. Experienced in successfully building complex products and leading large teams across international locations.
Ana Maiques
CEO
Neuroelectrics
Ms. Maiques will share the story of Neuroelectrics at the Emerging Medtech Summit and discuss strategic partnering and investment opportunities.
Ana is the CEO of Neuroelectrics, a company aiming to change the way we interact with the brain; developing innovative technologies to monitor and stimulate the brain. She was nominated by IESE as one of the most influential entrepreneurs under 40 in Spain in 2010, she was the only woman on that list. She received the EU Prize for Women Innovators from the European Commission EC in 2014. Also in 2014, she was an award recipient of the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge. In 2015 & 2016, she was named one of most inspiring women on the Inspiring Fifty list in Europe of women technological leaders and innovators. As a company, Neuroelectrics received the Best Start-up in Health Award in 2015 by Wired UK magazine and in 2016 was recognized as one of the “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America” by Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur 360™ List, the most comprehensive analysis of private companies in America. Ana continues to break the barriers for women and entrepreneurs bringing together science and technology in an impactful way.
Wouter Markus
CEO
Haermonics
Marketing and Operations professional in the medical device and health care industry. Hands-on entrepreneur and manager. My goal is to broaden my vision and experience on a professional level.
Richard Simmonds
CEO
OrthoSon
Rich brings more than 25 years of Med Tech experience ranging from start-ups to large corporate organisations. Since graduating with a BSc in Physics, he has held commercial leadership and General Management positions, leading teams and commercialising complex medical devices. Notably he has launched a novel device into the US orthopaedics market, taking annual revenue to $30M. He has established then led a new team of 12 based in Shanghai China. Before joining OrthoSon, Rich led the EMEA business for Terumo’s Pharmaceutical Solutions Division based in Leuven, Belgium.
Michael Ebner
CEO & Co-Founder
Hypervision Surgical
Michael is an entrepreneur and a scientist focusing on the development and commercialisation of computational hyperspectral imaging for real-time surgical guidance.
He is a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellow and CEO & Co-Founder of Hypervision Surgical Ltd where he develops an AI-powered imaging system to equip surgeons with intelligent vision to improve surgical precision and patient safety during surgery.
He received his PhD degree in medical image computing from University College London, UK, for his work on volumetric MRI reconstruction from 2D slices in the presence of motion. His developed framework NiftyMIC is used as a clinical research tool at numerous hospitals and leading academic institutions in various countries including the UK, US, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Spain, and China. Prior to this, he was at the Advanced Development group at Medtronic, Louisville, Colorado, where he worked on image fusion techniques for improved interventional navigation in spine surgery.
Nicolas Foin
Founder & Managing Director
DHENIN
Passionate about HealthTech & SaaS Ventures. My mission is to bring to market and grow disruptive SaaS/ AI value propositions. Currently focusing on solutions reducing costs and addressing large pain points in healthcare.
Founder & Managing Director @Dhenin Management
Deputy Managing Director @Medinbox
Board Member @CoreAalst
Shahram Sharif
CEO
Liva Healthcare
Passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, health & well-being.
Venturing and innovating at the intersection of technology and health.
On a mission to create and lead ventures and innovative products to help people and organizations improve health and well-being.
20+ years of professional and entrepreneurial management experience.
Driven by a purpose: "Doing well, by doing good".
Phil Marron
COO
Sharpview Ophthalmology
30 years of pharmaceutical, med device and healthcare sales, marketing and commercial experience at local and national management level.
Extensive experience in launching products into the market in pharma, med device and nutraceuticals.
Strong commercial focus, coupled with a compliance background enables risk mitigation in a complex marketplace.
Experience out of the pharmaceutical sector has broadened my skill set and equipped me for more complex challenges.
A strong focus on return on investment ensures full and profitable utilisation of resources.
Specialist market experience has exposed me to market access challenges which have been overcome by strong networking and leadership skills.
Organised and focused, my background in compliance is extensive giving me structure, focus and measurable outcomes.
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.
Claartje Ypma
CEO
Augmedit
Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry. Skilled in Clinical Research, Medical Devices, Business Development, Clinical Trials, and Strategy. Strong business development professional graduated from Universiteit van Amsterdam.
Maysa Mustafa
CEO
Ceretrieve
With over 15 years of experience, I specialize in developing innovative medical device technologies, taking them to market and leading the entire product life cycle from ideation through design verification to product commercialization. Harnessing my technical background and product management expertise, I have managed multidisciplinary teams in startups and global companies developing cardiovascular and neurovascular devices, drug delivery systems, and vital signs monitoring systems. Well versed in quality management system, regulatory requirements and submissions.
Thomas Brichart
CEO
MEXBRAIN
I have focused my research on nanomaterials synthesis as well as on coordination chemistry. I am currently the general manager of MexBrain since its creation in 2017. Before that I was chief technical officer of another startup (Glincs) for 3 years, a company specialized in the research, development and production of fluorescent tracers based on chelates and their associated detectors. I have co-authored 14 papers and 12 patents.
Upma Sharma
President & CEO
Arsenal Medical
I have dedicated my career to study of the intersection of materials science and medicine with the goal of creating products to improve patients’ lives. At Arsenal Medical, I have led the development of our in situ forming foam platform. This exciting technology platform has commercial application in treating severely injured patients with abdominal hemorrhage through our ResQFoam product. I have managed ResQFoam from concept through development, securing $25M from the DOD (through DARPA and ARO). I was also the PI and inventor of an Arsenal technology that has enabled the scale up of electrospinning fibers, supported by $2.3M from NIST.
At 480 Biomedical, I was on the team that developed a novel bioresorbable scaffold technology to treat peripheral arterial disease. Through this novel composite design, we were able to achieve properties similar to metal stents, with a stent that is fully absorbable. I drove initial materials selection and oversaw preliminary drug delivery formulations. I also spearheaded the submission of a Fast-Track SBIR, resulting in a $1.7M award and initiating the development of our stent for pediatric pulmonary artery stenosis. Additionally, I oversaw our application for funding from Broadview Ventures, resulting in an additional $1.2M for the pediatric stent program.
My key areas of expertise:
--Grant Writing: Directed ideation and led the submission of government proposals resulting in over $27M of funding from DARPA and NIH
--Product Development: Led development and execution of our ResQFoam product including regulatory strategy and submissions, design control process and contract manufacturing, project timeline and budget, and establishment of a world-class advisory board
--Technical Management: Managed R&D group of up to 10 engineers & technicians
--Intellectual Property: Inventor on more than 25 pending or issued patents
--Publications: Authored 18 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 30+ presentations
Pete O'Heeron
Chairman, CEO, & Founder
FibroBiologics
Pete O'Heeron is one of the preeminent Biopharma inventors of his generation with over 300+ patents issued/pending in biologics, cell therapy and medical devices. As the Founder and CEO of FibroBiologics, he brings 25 years of entrepreneurial experience in developing therapeutics to treat chronic diseases and regenerative medicine using fibroblasts. With a history of working in the biotechnology industry, Pete is skilled in Business Start-ups, Intellectual Property, Focused Product Development, Biologics, Medical Devices and Patient Centered Healthcare Delivery. He is a strong business development professional.
Ran Sela
CEO
Healium Medical
Over 15 years of experience in the development of medical equipment and project management from the prototype stage to regulatory certification stage with leading cardiology companies. Has extensive experience in the development of catheters for the treatment of atrial fibrillation arrhythmias, integration of minimized electronics within medical devices, mechanical development and preclinical trials.
Prior to this role, Ran managed medical device development projects for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias with St. Jude Medical, a global leader in the cardiology market space (now part of Abbott). Holds a Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from CCNY University in New York State, USA.
Manisha Shah-Bugaj
CEO
Activ Surgical
I have a long-standing career track record as a successful global medtech executive, key influencer and transformational leader, both globally and domestically. I’m proud to be an accomplished leader, specializing in the advancement of life-changing medical technologies. Currently, I am the CEO of Activ Surgical, a company with a vision to transform the collective surgical experience by leveraging emerging technologies and data into insights that make world-class surgery accessible for all.
At Activ Surgical, we are focused on the commercialization of the ActivSight™ enhanced visualization imaging module and the implementation of the surgical visualization technology at established pilot hospital sites.
Prior to joining Activ Surgical, I architected the gynecology unit at Olympus from the ground up in the U.S., ultimately serving as General Manager and Global Vice President for the company and played an integral role in expanding the gynecology business internationally. I have more than two decades of medtech experience, including building and implementing corporate business plans, directing regional and global businesses aligned to financial and operational targets, hiring and establishing new teams, and managing product portfolios.
As a leader, I feel strongly that the team comes first, and an empowered, well-supported team is crucial for success. I'm dedicated to the growth, development and well-being of our team in the service of our mission.
Keith Warner
CEO
NeuraLace Medical
Proactive and engaging leader with expertise in advanced strategy development and implementation driving outstanding corporate growth. Over 25 years of senior level business acumen gained through key executive positions with leading large cap to venture stage startups within the life sciences and medical technology sectors. Experience in organization-building geared to achieve near and long term milestones both in domestic and international settings. Ability to deliver significant transformation and growth in financial performance, product development, investor fundraising, capital restructuring, P&L management, and strategic planning. Recognized successes in the distressed business turnaround process. Key achievements included:
As Public Company COO:
• Extensive background in P&L management; restructured world-wide commercial operation while achieving Wall Street revenue target of $6M, while producing all-time best quarterly revenue performances overall and in high-growth China market; successfully gained entry into the $1B molecular blood typing market by partnering with a prestigious U.S. independent blood bank.
As CEO:
• Rebuilt organization around re-focused value proposition in medical oncology while restructuring Board and raising new capital; generated key large CAP pharma partnerships based on compelling milestones to support transition through court process; arranged Series B financing with credible investors following court approved sale.
As VP of Global Marketing:
• Delivered and implemented new marketing strategies through market focused tactics and tools, along with overall product and market positioning for large cap industry leader supporting growing revenue results over a two-year period (up to 16%) along with operating income above 20% on total product revenues exceeding $400M; key driver was geographic expansion through key xUS studies, KOLs, and tender strategies.
Franz Bozsak
CEO
Sensome
Franz obtained his Ph.D. from Ecole polytechnique in Biomedical engineering and is a graduate of the Stanford Ignite-X business program. He has brought together a world-class team of scientists, engineers and doctors, renowned experts in their respective fields, to help him realize his vision of innovative connected medical devices.
Toon Overbeeke
Co-Founder & CEO
Vitestro
Toon Overbeeke is co-founder and CEO of Vitestro. He finished his master’s in mechanical engineering with distinction at Delft University of Technology. Toon worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company in Amsterdam, where he primarily focused on strategy topics and private equity.
Thereafter, he traveled the world on his motorcycle, visiting 30 countries. Upon his return, an acquaintance experienced problems with blood drawing. Toon directly realized that this procedure could be transformed with technology. He teamed up with Brian and together they founded Vitestro in 2017. Toon has led the team from the start.
Evelina Mikaelson
CEO
Biomedical Bonding AB
Evelina Mikaelson has an M.Sc. from Uppsala University in business, economics, and law and she has extensive experience and excellent track record regarding management, business development, sales and profit improvements from previous positions as Head of Business for various companies and business units within the Adlibris group. Most recently she holds an executive position within explorative digital development and innovation at The Agency for digital Government.
Katarina Hedbeck
CEO & Co-Founder
Tada Medical AB
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.
Fabrice Paublant
CEO & Co-Founder
Orixha
Fabrice Paublant holds a B.A. from ESSEC Business School in Paris and a M.B.A. from MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, USA. Mr Paublant has been Export Director at Ipsen group for Eastern Europe. He has been consultant at Boston Consulting Group at Boston. During his 3 years at BCG, he mostly worked with pharmaceutical and biotech companies on strategic and operationnal aspects. En 2004, he founded Narval Laboratories for developping medical innovatives solutions for respiratory and sleep disorders.
Rich Linder
CEO & Chairman
Xenter
Prior to founding Xenter, Mr. Linder served as the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of CoNextions Medical, a company he founded to specialize in the development and manufacture of medical devices for Orthopaedic Surgery in tendon re-construction and tendon to bone anchoring. Prior to CoNextions, Mr. Linder served as President of the Cardiovascular Division of Remedy Informatics, a company providing medical registries of Electronic Health Record (EHR) data. Before Remedy, Mr. Linder served as President/CEO of Coherex Medical, Inc., a Salt Lake City, UT based medical device company specializing in the development of Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closure devices and Left Atrial Appendage (LAA) occlusion devices for use in patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) and Stroke. Mr. Linder negotiated and entered into agreements with Johnson & Johnson/Biosense Webster to invest in and acquire Coherex Medical.
Prior to Coherex, Mr. Linder served as Vice President of Vascular Protection for Boston Scientific/Rubicon Medical, and he served as President/CEO of Rubicon Medical, a company he Co-Founded. Mr. Linder Co-Founded Rubicon Medical in 1996, took the company public in 2000, and invented the underlying medical devices for the Rubicon Vascular Protection Filter for patients undergoing Carotid artery and Saphenous Vein Graft stenting.
Mr. Linder began his career at Merit Medical Systems, Inc., a South Jordan, UT publicly traded (Nasdaq) global medical device company. Mr. Linder is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of BioUtah, Utah’s independent life science association representing Utah’s medical device companies, drug development and drug discovery companies, and diagnostic companies. Mr. Linder was appointed by the Utah Speaker of the House of Representatives to the Governing Authority of the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR), and Mr. Linder participated in the oversight of The James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building A USTAR Innovation Center which houses the Nano Institute of Utah, many Utah Technology Commercialization Grants, and other activities. USTAR’s Governing Authority oversaw $430M in Utah taxpayer money and assisted the University of Utah and Utah State University in recruiting world class research programs to the State of Utah’s major public universities.
Mr. Linder has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Boy Scouts of America (Salt Lake City, UT) and was the Executive Vice President of Finance. He has served on the Board of Directors for many private and public companies including Rubicon Medical, Coherex Medical, CoNextions Medical, Juneau BioScience, Vital Access Corp., and Dynatronics. He has been an invited speaker, meeting faculty, panelist, and Keynote speaker at Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT), American College of Cardiology (ACC), Dartmouth 3D, BioUtah Life Science Summit, and many other conferences and meetings. Mr. Linder attended both Brigham Young University and the University of Utah where he studied Business Management and Organizational Behavior. Mr. Linder is the inventor of many medical devices in Interventional Cardiology, Interventional Radiology, Neuro-Interventional Radiology, Orthopedic Surgery, Female Reproductive Medicine, and a Percutaneous Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD). He holds more than 100 patents and patent applications in the United States for medical devices, and many more international patents. Mr. Linder has been in many countries around the world and has overseen several multi-center clinical research trials for medical devices. Mr. Linder is the recipient of the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science & Technology.
Luca Ravagnan
CEO & Co-Founder
WISE
Luca Ravagnan PhD MBA is CEO and co-founder of WISE s.r.l., a medtech company having the mission of developing and marketing the new generation of minimally invasive, highly ergonomic, and conformable Neuromonitoring and Neuromodulation electrodes.
In 1997 he achieved the International Baccalaureate at the United World College of the Adriatic. In 2002 he graduated in Physics at the University of Milano and he then achieved in 2006, at the same University, the degree of Philosophy Doctor in Physics, Astrophysics and Applied Physics. From 2006 to 2011 he has been a post-doc at the University of Milano, developing and patenting the “Supersonic Cluster Beam Implantation” technology. In 2011 he founded WISE s.r.l. together with 3 partners and a seed investor Agite! SpA. In 2018 he achieved the degree of Executive MBA at SDA Bocconi.
In 2012 he has received the “Sapio Prize for the Italian Research” (Junior section), one of the most prestigious prizes awarded in Italy for applied research.
In 2011 he has received the prize “TR35-Young Innovators” (awarded by Technology Review Italia and RIE Forum), the 2nd prize “Medical Bisiness Idea 2011” (awarded by Stiftung Charité in Berlin), the “Isimbardi – Young Talents” prize (awarded by the Province of Milan) and the "What's Up - Young Talents" Prize (awarded by the What's Up Magazine).
He led WISE in receiving several national and international prices, among which the “Start Cup Milano Lombardia” and the “Nanochallenge” in 2011, the “European Venture Contest” in 2012, the “Up Start Paolo Traci Award by Confindustria Salerno 2013”, the “Bocconi Start-up Day Award 2015”, the "Medtech Innovation Challenge Award 2017” by Assobiomedica and the “Italian Startup of the Year 2020” at the StartupItalia Open Summit.
Since 2019 he is member of the Management Board of the Lombardy’s Life Sciences Cluster.
Since 2020 he is an Endeavor Entrepreneur.
Eric Berreklouw
Founder & CMO
AnchorValve
Eric Berreklouw (Chief Medical Officer) is the inventor of the AnchorValve technology. Dr Berreklouw practised as a cardiac surgeon for 40 years, holds several patents related to heart valve prostheses, and has extensive experience with research into sutureless heart valve prostheses.
Brian Hess
CEO & Founder
RevBio
Brian is currently the CEO and Founder of RevBio, which is a clinical stage medical device company. RevBio (formally know as LaunchPad Medical) was founded in 2014 to commercialize Tetranite™, a revolutionary bone adhesive technology that is poised to transform bone repair. Mr. Hess is focused on advancing company operations and building the product pipeline as they raise additional rounds of investment capital. Past achievements include RevBio (formerly known as LaunchPad Medical) competing and winning the "Gold Prize" in 2015 at MassChallenge, which is a global start-up accelerator program in Boston. Prior to this, Brian gained executive leadership experience serving as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for a start-up medical device company while graduating in June 2014 with an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. As CTO, Brian developed an R&D organization with science and engineering capabilities to develop a Neural-Scaffold device from concept through FDA regulatory approval to start a First-in-Human clinical trial to treat patients with a devastating spinal cord injury. Brian's previous ten years of experience at Stryker led him to numerous corporate innovation awards as he developed novel medical technologies and products while leading global, cross-functional teams. Brian's passion is to lead innovation at the cutting edge of the healthcare space and to create organizations as they develop products to treat patients with unmet needs. His leadership style is to promote collaboration and distribute responsibilities across multi-disciplinary teams. He does so by building environments where people are highly engaged, aligned, and motivated to come to work everyday and to share in their discoveries. Outside of work, he enjoys outdoor activities such as running and playing sports while spending time traveling with his friends and family.
Stefano Di Lullo
CEO
GreenBone Ortho
Stefano Di Lullo has vast international experience in the international Medical Device industry with over 35 years’ experience in the field. He has held senior global leadership positions in the US, Canada, and various European locations as well as serving on Strategic Committees of various startups.
Prior to joining Greenbone Ortho as CEO, Stefano was Global President of the Cardiac Rhythm Business Unit at LivaNova . Stefano has held senior Executive Positions with Corin Group LLC, Boston Scientific as Vice President of the Peripheral and Neurovascular Business Europe and Global General Manager of the Heart Valve business at Edwards Lifesciences in Irvine California.
Stefano also was the Vice Chair of the Cardiovascular Sector at MedTech Europe.
He holds an MBA from the University of Toronto - Rotman School of Managementand a BSc from McGill University. Stefano is fluent in English, Italian and French.
John Wong
CEO
Fluid Biomed
Dr. John H. Wong is an associate professor in the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Radiology at the Cumming School of Medicine. He serves as Director of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Neurosurgery and maintains a busy clinical practice almost exclusively dedicated to treating brain aneurysms and stroke. Dr. Wong received his medical education and neurosurgical training at the University of Alberta. After a one-year fellowship in neurovascular surgery at Yale University and further two-year specialization in interventional neuroradiology in New York City, he was recruited to Calgary in 2001. Since then, he has helped develop one of the most collaborative and productive neurovascular and stroke units in North America with colleagues in neurology, radiology, and neurosurgery.
Dr. Wong has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts and has served on several grant review panels including for the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. He has held numerous local and national leadership roles including the provincial past president of the Alberta Neurosurgical Society for over a decade, previous Division Head of Neurosurgery at the University of Calgary, and is the current Vice President of the Canadian Neurosurgical Society. Dr. Wong received his MBA from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a double major in Finance and Entrepreneurship & Innovation and was conferred the Dean’s Leadership Award.
Rudolf Schulze Vohren
CEO
Nano4Imaging
Entrepreneur highly experienced in building new ventures and business development.
Rudolf founded and co-founded five companies in deep technology areas. He is Managing Director of BBM VOHREN GmbH, which he founded in 2004. BBM VOHREN is active in the area of building new ventures and international business development. During previous 18 years Rudolf worked for BAYER AG on international assignments in Asia/China, Africa/Middle East, Europe and Latin America.
Industries served include Non-Profit-Organisations, Pharma/OTC, Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Diagnostics/IVD, Life Science Research, Medical Devices/MedTech, Fine Chemicals, Agrochemicals and Agriculture.
Mark Koeniguer
CEO
ScreenPoint Medical
Executive Commercial Leader with extensive experience scaling and growing transformational technology companies. More than 30 years in the healthcare industry leading high performance teams in domestic and global markets. Imminently successful track record developing both established and emerging companies. A strategic leader known for growing revenue and managing the bottom line.
Pierre Lemire
CEO
Kent Imaging
A technology commercialization expert with over 30 years’ experience in the high-tech world of imaging, holding past roles as a CTO at Autodesk Inc and Co-Founder of Calgary Scientific.
Bill Hunter
President & CEO
Canary Medical
Founder, President and CEO, Canary Medical (2012-present)
President and CEO, Cardiome Pharmaceuticals (2012-2019), Board Member (2006-2020)
Chairman, Soundbite Medical (2019-2022)
Founder, President and CEO, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (1992-2011)
Current Board Member: Adherium, Canary Medical
Previous Board Positions: SoundBite (Chairman), Rex Medical, Summatix, Aspriva Pharmaceuticals, Anormed Pharmaceuticals, Active Pass Pharmaceuticals (Chairman), Neuromed Pharmaceuticals (Chairman), Michael Smith Foundation, Zalicus Pharmaceuticals. Epirus Pharmaceuticals, West Point Grey Academy, Vigil Health, Canadian Arthritis Network.
Ben Hertzog
CEO
Intelligent Implants
Medical Device Engineer-Entrepreneur with experience in Venture Capital / Private Equity, Management Consulting and Technology Start-Ups.
I enjoy working with small companies, especially in the start-up and growth phases. I have spent a lot of time working on the start-up of life science technology-based companies as well as corporate strategy development for more well established companies in the healthcare field. I pride myself in being able to roll-up my sleeves and take medical devices from ideas to functional prototypes, build and execute a commercialization plan, and communicate a compelling "story."
Specialties include Healthcare and Life Sciences Investing, Corporate Strategy, Technology Commercialization
Laura Indolfi
CEO
PanTher Therapeutics
Laura Indolfi is the Co-Founder & CEO of PanTher Therapeutics, an early stage spin-out from MIT and MGH that provides superior technologies for revolutionizing the treatment of locally advanced solid tumors. Her scientific expertise covers a broad range of therapeutic areas (cardio, cancer, regenerative medicine) and approaches (drug delivery, cell therapy, implanted devices). Together with her strong technical background, Laura has hands-on business and managerial know-how developed during her biomedical business training at Sloan and Harvard Business schools, combining the science and business knowledge to drive the company’s vision.
Prior to PanTher, she was a research associate at the Harvard-MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the MGH Cancer Center. She strongly believes in the power of outreaching initiatives to promote research awareness and foster the public audiences discovery of the beauty of science. In 2014 the line of clothes Cytocouture, created in collaboration with Colombian designer Carlos Villamil and inspired by her cell-therapy research, won the global competition Descience.
In 2016, she was named a TED Fellow, one of 21 people chosen annually by the TED organization who are considered to be the most disruptive and transformative change-makers in the world. In 2017, she attended the prestigious conference “Fortune: Most Powerful Women – Next Gen”, an invite-only summit hosted by Fortune gathering a stellar group of game-changing executives, entrepreneurs and innovators in business. Laura is also one of the 5 women selected by Massachusetts Life Science Center and Takeda for their inaugural class in 2018 of MassNextGen program, honoring exceptional leaders in the biotech industry.
André Burch
Co-Founder & CEO
Sedivention
28+ years in global leading medical device companies
•Board of Directors, VP Finance & Admin at BIOTRONIK Vascular Intervention
•VP Clinical/Regulatory Affairs, VP New Businesses (startup approach)
•Director R&D at BIOTRONIK VI
•Director R&D, Boston Scientific and Pfizer/Schneider Worldwide
•ETH Zurich / IMD Lausanne, Switzerland
Matthias Egger
COO
EP Solutions
Matthias joined the company in June 2019 as COO. He served as CEO from January 2020 to June 2022. After successfully proving the clinical value of the technology, he has been focusing on the operational management of the company as COO since July 2022. Trained as a physicist with experience in medical imaging, Matthias spent nearly 20 years with Philips in various international and local business and sales leadership roles.
Liz McGloughlin
CEO
Tympany Medical
Having studied Medicine in UCD, I undertook training in Anaesthesia and Critical Care. Following a trip to South America, my interest was peaked in the interface between innovation and Medicine. I undertook the BioInnovate Fellowship. Currently building @TympanyMedical, a MedTech Start-Up focused on delivering cutting edge endoscope technology to ENT Surgeons.
Gulam Khan
CEO
Centerline Biomedical
Gulam has experience as a president, CEO, Board Member, and Global Operating Executive
He is a Medical Device Executive with proven track record of driving growth through organic initiatives and acquisitions.
Roya Khosravi-Far
President & CEO
Innotech Precision Medicine
Roya Khosravi-Far, Ph.D., PLD, InnoTech, co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officeris passionate about translating bench-side discoveries to bed-side realities. She is an experienced entrepreneur and has led successful translational programs in research and development over the last 30 years in both academia and industry. She received her [Ph.D. in Genetics and Molecular Biology from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and carried out her Postdoctoral Fellowship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cancer Immunology. She has a graduate certificate from Harvard Business School on Program in Leadership Development. She was a Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School (17 years) and is an Emeritus Pathologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. She has served as VP of R&D at ZioPharm (Alaunos) and President and CTO at Accurome Health. She has certificates in Translational Medicine from Harvard Medical School, Biopharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs from Northeastern University. She has had an early exit in a device company.
Dr. Khosravi-Far is leading the research and development team working to develop and commercialize a high performance diagnostic platform, RecognizeTM,based on simultaneous detection of multiple classes of macromolecules from one specimen to improve accuracy and allow early detection of complex diseases. She works with in-house experts and external partners, and consulting groups to align the development, validation and commercialization of RecognizeTM. She has been the PI and awardee of many NCI, NHLBI, DOD, ACS, and others. Her published scientific work and discoveries have been cited close to 14000 times and she has co-authored seventy-nine publications in peer-reviewed journals, co-edited three books, and has several issued patents. She is the PI of a RADx-rad and RADx-rad supplement awards from the NIH for the initial development of RecognizeTM. With her leadership InnoTech has been selected to various incubator and accelerator programs and received multiple awards and prizes including MassNextGen, MassMedic Ignite, M2D2/BARDA Impact, Barracuda Bowl (Finalist), EPPICON (Fist prize), PxDx (Finalist), etc.
Boaz Manash
CEO
Cardiac Success
Experienced R&D leader in start-ups and at large medical device companies. Previously leader of the promising Mitral program in Edwards Lifesciences, the Sapien M3.
Ofer Halbreich
CEO
CardiaCare
Mr. Ofer Halbreich serves as Chief Executive Officer at CardiaCare. He has over 25 years of diverse professional and leadership experience including business development, global operations, strategic partnerships. Prior to CardiaCare Mr. Halbreich served as Vice President of Commercial and Corporate Development of MeMed Diagnostics Ltd. Before joining MeMed's team, Mr. Halbreich led the global operations activity of MediaMind Technologies Inc., and following its purchase by Digital Generation Inc. (Nasdaq: DGIT), he led the international operations integration process of the companies. Before that, Mr. Halbreich was the COO of Neuronix Medical, an innovative medical device company in the Alzheimer's disease treatment field. Mr. Halbreich also served as a commercial lawyer for some of Israel's most prominent law firms, handling large-scale commercial activities including M&A, joint ventures, licensing, and investment agreements. Mr. Halbreich holds an LLB from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MBA (Finance) from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
Mihalis Boutaris
Co-Founder & CEO
IntraCross Catheter
Mihalis is an entrepreneur. He has previously led two tech startups developing along with industry leaders several pioneering projects in ag and clean tech. Prior to founding Athroa, he established a vineyard in China with local partners, while growing Greek wine exports in Asia Pacific. After college at Harvard, he got his MSc from UCDavis to pursue his family business as a fifth-generation winemaker, where he currently serves as a non-executive Vice President. Mihalis is also an independent non-executive director at Performance Shipping (Nasdaq: PSHG). He has worked as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and as a tech-transfer advisor to NCSR “Demokritos”.
David Webster
CEO
Body Vision Medical
David joins the executive team with decades of extensive experience in medical device, imaging, and healthcare technology innovation. He is a passionate leader with a demonstrated track record of leading cross-functional teams from early clinical development to M&A through global commercialization in 60 different markets and geographies. He comes on board at a pivotal time in the company’s journey, bringing the wealth of knowledge and expertise necessary to take Body Vision’s business to the next level. David holds an MS in Business Administration and Management from Troy University and a BA in Psychology from The Citadel.
Leo Smit
CEO
Hy2Care
Ir. Leo Smit graduated as a chemical engineer at the Delft University of Technology in 1986. He joined DSM in 1988. Following a 11 year career in R&D, he joined DSM’s Dyneema® Business Unit, where he became responsible for New Business Development.
Here he developed and launched DSM’s first implantable polymer material Dyneema Purity®, currently used worldwide and the golden standard for use in orthopedic reinforcement textiles. He served 4 years as Management Team member in the then newly installed Business Unit Biomedical Materials, responsible for passive biomaterials in orthopedic applications. Subsequently he acted 4 years as Director of Communications at the DSM Innovation Center, responsible for DSM’s (corporate) communications on science and innovation.
In 2016 Leo left DSM to found his own businesses. He started insightfully Innovate, advising and supporting companies both large and small in the field of medical devices. In 2019 Leo joined Hy2Care as CEO, responsible for the company & team development, strategy and financing of the company.
Personal quote:
“Hy2Care is a wonderful company to lead. We have a solid team of strong experts and above all great drive and commitment. Together we can bring forward the injectable hydrogel platform, delivering on the promise of better cartilage healing and much improved outcomes for patients all around the world!”
Vincent Keereman
Founder & CMO
XEOS
Vincent holds a Master in Electronics Engineering and a Master in Medicine (MD) from Ghent University. He obtained a PhD in Biomedical Engineering on the topic of PET-MR imaging in 2011 and board certification in Neurology in 2018.
He has a track record as a serial entrepreneur: in 2015 he co-founded Molecubes, a preclinical imaging company that was a acquired by Bruker in 2021. He is also a co-founder of Clouds of Care (previously Epilog), a SaaMD company mainly active in epilepsy and other neurological diseases.
In his clinical practice as a neurologist, he has a specific focus on treating headache patients. He also currently holds a position as Assistant Professor at Ghent University, teaching biomedical engineering students.
Vincent combines his medical and technical experience with a strong sense of entrepreneurship. This provides him with an ideal background to develop clinical strategy and validation paths, distill new applications from clinical need and support development from a clinical point of view.
Ludovic Le Meunier
CEO
THERYQ
I’m an experienced executive with a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry, and specifically medical imaging. I’ve always been fascinated with how the human body works and from a young age, I knew I wanted to do something meaningful, to change people’s lives for the better.
Rob Krummen
CEO
Vektor Medical
For nearly two decades, Rob has served in a variety of roles, leading and advising corporations, nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and state entities. Before being appointed CEO he served as president and chief operating officer at Vektor, where he led clinical, regulatory, engineering, and operations. Rob is a former partner at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP and a former Deputy Solicitor General for the State of Ohio. He had the privilege of clerking for the Honorable R. Guy Cole of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Rob earned his JD from Harvard Law School.
Alberto Rodriguez
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.
Angel Alberich-Bayarri
CEO
Quibim
Angel Alberich-Bayarri is a biomedical engineer, researcher and entrepreneur, father of 3. He completed his PhD on advanced MRI post-processing in the Technical University of Valencia (ES) in 2010. He is the founder of Quibim, a world recognized company designing pioneering tools that unlock imaging data to improve patient outcomes, with a focus in diagnostics and drug development. Quibim sells best-in-class products to top hospitals and creates AI models in partnership with pharmaceutical companies, accounts today for more than 80 employees and has raised more than €20m in funding from public and private entities and investors. He formerly worked as Biomedical Engineering coordinator at Quironsalud, the biggest private healthcare provider of Spain, and as the scientific-technical director of Biomedical Imaging Research Group at La Fe Polytechnics and University Hospital in Valencia. He has published more than 80 scientific papers and is editor of several books and lectures in different universities and postgraduate programmes. He is actively involved as a board member of scientific societies such as the European Society of Medical Imaging Informatics (EUSOMII). He has received an important number of awards, including the 'MIT Innovators Under 35' recognition.
Paul Derly
Partner
DIP235
Paul Derly is a serial entrepreneur with more than 26 years’ experience in the field of IT and Telecommunications in France and Sweden (Mondial Telecom, Ylang, Devicom). Paul has successfully developed and managed entities from the start-up phase through to international growth, change and turnaround, within extremely competitive international marketplaces, in addition to the launching of an IPO in Sweden (Devicom).
He also held Senior Executive positions in US IT startups (Ursus, Quios, e-Wings Systems).
His fields of expertise for Dip235 are Go-to-market strategy, fund raising and global business development. Paul also has good skills in understanding technologies and combining them in order to create partnerships and value-added services.
At Dip235, Paul is primarily in charge of raising the necessary funds to pursue the preclinical trials (Phase 1 to 3) and clinical trial Phase 1 for various cancer types.
Paul holds a MS in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an MBA from INSEAD.
Michal Jaworek
CEO & Co-Founder
Approxima Medical
Michal has a background in biomedical engineering with strong focus on cardiovascular field. He began his career in 2012 as an R&D engineer in ventricular assist devices field. In 2018, Michal successfully obtained his PhD from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) as a Marie Curie fellow where he dedicated his research to tricuspid valve therapies. It was during this time that the concept of the Approxima device began to take shape. In 2020 he co-founded Approxima assuming the role of CEO. Today, he leads a dedicated team in the mission of developing a novel device for tricuspid valve repair.
Dana Le
CEO & Founder
Wander Health
Dana is currently building Wander Health, a startup helping travelers get access to high quality healthcare.
Her expertise has been in launching new internal initiatives from 0 to 1, forming strategic partnerships for healthcare organizations, creating digital health accelerators, designing startup pilots for hospitals, strategizing go-to-market plan with startups, and training community members to become innovators. She's been a part of two founding teams.
Previous speaker for TEDx, SXSW, HIMSS, BIO, Hurun, Press Ganey, Columbia University, etc.
Kevin Kelleher
CEO
Ostoform
Ostoform has developed, patented and commercialised a range of innovative ostomy products that are proven to improve skin health. With a commercial presence now established in Europe and the US, the company is now in the process of launching a second product range that will improve patient confidence and quality of life.
Yosef Safi Harb
Founder & CEO
Happitech
Cum Laude Aerospace engineer with double degrees. 7 year mechatronic experience with 2 patents.
Yeshwanth Pulijala
CEO
Scalpel
As the founder and CEO of Scalpel, I lead a passionate team of engineers and medics who build AI tools to enhance patient safety in the operating room.
Trained as a dentist, I have over eight years of interdisciplinary experience in healthcare and technology (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Computer Vision). I previously built a startup (Open Simulation) to provide low-cost surgical simulation using Augmented Reality. In my doctoral research, I have designed and evaluated one of the first immersive virtual reality training tools for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Idgar van Kippersluis
CFO
AMT Medical BV
Idgar van Kippersluis is the Chief Financial Officer of AMT Medical B.V. An experienced entrepreneur, investor and manager, his current focus is on strategy and ultimate commercialization of the company’s ELANA Heart Bypass Technology. This includes attracting financing for the anticipated CE-marking and FDA-approval of this innovative medical device – which enables safer and less invasive heart bypass surgery.
Idgar held several senior management consulting roles (McKinsey and Bain) before becoming the founder and Managing Partner of Standard Investment - a hands-on private equity investor. He holds an INSEAD MBA Degree and a Master's Degree in Econometrics and Economics from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Srinivasan Murali
CEO
SmartCardia
Entrepreneur with experience in business planning, management, strategy, research and innovation in system design for medical devices and software. Hands on experience in team building, product conception, innovation and launch. Ability to be creative and a team player. Experience in building medical devices, sensor systems, multi-core solutions and automation algorithms. Authored a book, authored/co-authored several book chapters and over forty publications in leading conferences and journals.
Todd Usen
President & CEO
Minerva Surgical
Currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Minerva Surgical, a commercial-stage medical technology company focused on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing minimally invasive solutions to meet the distinct uterine healthcare needs of women.
Executive leader skilled in building, restructuring and growing commercial and operational organizations in both top and bottom line. Responsible for developing and directing both short- and long-term strategic vision, product development, logistics, distribution, go-to market strategy, and M&A activities. Management development advocate. Experience managing multi-billion-dollar P&L's. Current board director of Alesi Surgical, Mass Medical and Surgical Disruptive Technology Summit.
Barry Allen
President & CEO
Sonic Incytes
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.
Jaume Amat
Founder & CEO
Rob Surgical Systems
Rob Surgical was created with the aim of universalizing precision surgery and bringing its benefits to all hospitals, surgeons and patients around the world.
The technology company offers an open, flexible and versatile platform consisting of a column of four arms, which allow the movements of the surgical instruments to be controlled with sub-millimetre precision.
Rob Surgical’s value proposition is based on three pillars: high precision and safety that benefits the patient, superior usability for the surgeon and a significant reduction in the total cost per surgery that benefits hospitals, as it does not require a dedicated operating theatre, it needs fewer staff, no prior training is required, and it allows for hybrid surgeries.
The differentiating factor lies in this last point, the possibility of performing hybrid surgeries, alternating between manual and high-precision robot-assisted manoeuvres. All this thanks to the use of the same instruments and flexible robotics that allow the robot to intervene only in the most delicate parts, which reduces the time and the cost of each operation.
The company, a spin-off created 12 years ago by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and the Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC), has raised over 20 million euros between private investors and public funding. The founding team is made up of Dr. Josep Amat, Dr. Alícia Casals, Dr. Manel Frigola and the entrepreneur, Jaume Amat.
Doron Carmi
President & CEO
Open Stent Solution
Doron Carmi is Founder, President and CEO of Open Stent Solution, an innovative company dedicated to the development of a unique transcatheter heart valve, supported by a ribbon-shaped stent structure. A strong believer in innovation and teamwork, Carmi fosters a culture of creativity and collaboration within the company.
A cardiac and interventional surgeon, Carmi holds a master's degree in bioengineering. With over 20 years' expertise in heart valve disease and innovative cardiac medical devices, he is constantly pushing the boundaries of cardiovascular medicine, introducing new, cutting-edge solutions for complex heart conditions.
Prior to Open Stent Solution, Carmi co-founded Invalv Laboratories, developing a transapical mitral valve replacement solution. This previous venture reflects his unwavering dedication to advancing cardiovascular care and improving patient well-being worldwide.
Open Stent Solution remains at the forefront of innovation, ready to revolutionize cardiovascular care and positively impact the lives of countless patients worldwide.
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.
Declan Soden
CEO
Mirai Medical
Declan is CEO and founder of Mirai Medical. He has spent over 20 years working in cancer research working in medical device and immunotherapy research. Dr. Soden has published extensively on electroporation and its development in cancer treatment leading to a number of clinical studies which have assisted in validating this exciting technology.
Ofer Sharon
CEO
OncoHost
Dr. Ofer Sharon is a physician and entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in clinical and commercial product development for startups in the health tech, biotech, and medical device industries. Prior to joining OncoHost, he served multiple roles in global pharmaceutical companies including Medical Director for AstraZeneca (Israel), new technolgoies scout for MedImmune, and Medical Director for MSD (Israel). He co-founded several healthcare companies, mainly focusing on bioinformatic and machine-learning platforms for clinical deterioration detection and early intervention. Dr. Sharon is a Major (res.) in the IDF and a medical company commander specializing in disaster relief. He rceived his MD cum laude from Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Hikmat Hojeibane
CTO
Open Stent Solution
Expert medical device R&D Leader with experience in early stage device development, clinical applications, regulatory submissions (US and EU) and clinical trials. Solved significantly challenging technical problems to bring disruptive and innovative devices from ideas to commercialization. Managed teams supporting product development and timely product launches of complex transcatheter delivery systems and implants for drug delivery in the fields of Interventional Cardiology, valvular diseases and electrophysiology.Expert medical device R&D Leader with experience in early stage device development, clinical applications, regulatory submissions (US and EU) and clinical trials. Solved significantly challenging technical problems to bring disruptive and innovative devices from ideas to commercialization. Managed teams supporting product development and timely product launches of complex transcatheter delivery systems and implants for drug delivery in the fields of Interventional Cardiology, valvular diseases and electrophysiology.
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.
James Greene
CEO
MedLumics
Jim serves as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors for MedLumics bringing 30 years of extensive operational experience in medical device design, development, and commercialization.
Prior to joining MedLumics, Jim served as Partner in Seroba Life sciences Limited, a Dublin based venture capital firm. Jim is a serial entrepreneur founding multiple medical device start-ups in the cardiovascular field serving as CEO of Verso Technologies, Inc., Apica Cardiovascular Ltd., Advanced Medical Technologies, Inc. (APK), and MitralSolutions, Inc. Earlier in his career, Jim held Director level positions at global medical device companies such as Medtronic, AVE, and Guidant.
Jim holds a B.A. degree from Furman University, Greenville, S.C. and served in the United States Military following graduation for 7 years.
Rob Hill
CEO
TAE Life Sciences
Robert Hill is Chief Executive Officer, with a deep background in technical and clinical development of radiation oncology systems.
Prior to joining TAE Life Sciences, he was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Accuray Incorporated; Senior Vice President of R&D; and the company’s Chief Product Officer. During his tenure at Accuray, he was responsible for product strategy, innovation, and design and development. Rob was also responsible for mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and intellectual property development.
He previously served as Vice President of Engineering at North American Scientific; and held various R&D leadership and software development roles at NOMOS Corporation, where he was an early innovator in the fields of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT), serial tomotherapy, and Monte Carlo dose calculation.
Rob earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Matthew Hoskin
CEO
Nirtek
Experienced executive for both small companies and large multinationals, with 25+ years in medical technology sector.
Peter Weiland
CEO
NGMedical
Peter Weiland is CEO of NGMdical GmbH with +30 years of experience in the spine industry. Peter used the background of his business administration degree combined with the early professional experience in building a spine portfolio to found his first company Advanced Medical Technologies AG together with his wife Dagmar. He developed a wide expertise in the spine industry with a deep technical understanding.
With AMT he developed a state-of-the-art portfolio of interbody fusion cages, which were sold to Medtronic in 2012. His broad market knowledge and network was the basis for his new company NGMedical GmbH together with his wife Dagmar. Focus, dedication and strategic thinking are the drivers for continued improvement of patient driven solutions.
When Peter is not thinking about implants, he loves to spend time with his family and travel the world.
Jon Hoem
CEO
Pacertool
Jon joined Pacertool in March 2022 with more than 30 years’ Class IIb/III medical device experience in cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology filling various positions in product development, sales&marketing, and management.
He holds a master’s degree in microelectronics and organizational development from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTH, now NTNU).
Ehud Almon
CEO
TendoMend
Ehud Almon, Co-founder and Director of Business Development – Ehud is a veteran of the Israeli medical device industry. He has served as CEO of several public and private start-ups in the biotechnology and medical device industries, raising millions of dollars in seed capital. Among the companies he has co-founded and managed are Deliverance Ltd., NovoSurge Technologies Ltd., F.D. Cardio Ltd., Microvascular Eye Technology (MET) Ltd., and CardioSafe Ltd. which was acquired by Xtent Inc.
Mary McGovern
Managing Director
Adtec Healthcare Ltd
Experienced Managing Director in UK and Director of Japanese company with a demonstrated history of working in the semiconductor and medical device manufacturing industries. Founder of Adtec Healthcare. Skilled in Sales, Disruptive Innovation, business development in new markets & new regions , Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Strategic Partnerships, International Sales, and Management.
Antony Odell
CEO
Echopoint Medical
Antony is a professional with an extensive career spanning three decades in the field of medical technology. His journey began with multinational powerhouses like Johnson & Johnson (J&J), where he held senior business roles.
As his career evolved, Antony's focus shifted towards nurturing innovation and pioneering advancements in the medical technology landscape through early-stage start-ups. With a diverse background and expertise in various fields, including vascular medicine, orthopaedics, and regenerative medicine, he showcased his adaptability and forward-thinking approach.
One of Antony's key achievements came with his tenure as CEO of Tissue Regenix, a remarkable AIM-listed company. Under his leadership, the organization expanded its operations beyond borders, establishing a strong presence in the UK, Germany, and the US. The company's growth trajectory was further solidified through strategic acquisitions, such as CellRight Technologies Inc in 2017, positioning Tissue Regenix as a global player in regenerative medicine.
Currently, Antony is at the helm of two promising spin-out companies, Echopoint Medical Ltd and Tandem Nano Ltd, where he serves as CEO. Leveraging his commercial experience, he has devised focused and strategic business plans that meticulously consider the clinical, regulatory, and reimbursement landscapes. Furthermore, Antony prioritizes crafting sustainable exit strategies that ensure optimal returns for investors.
Throughout his career, Antony's understanding of the medtech landscape and his ability to navigate complex challenges have earned him a reputation as a thought leader and industry expert. His contributions have not only pushed the boundaries of medical technology but also positively impacted patient care and outcomes worldwide.
Dominic Griffiths
CEO
Alesi Surgical
Dominic has extensive experience in the creation, commercialisation and management of Life Science companies and products. This was gained through investment, commercial and strategy roles with Fusion IP PLC, Phoqus Pharmaceuticals PLC and Gemini Consulting. He co-founded Alesi Surgical whilst he was Portfolio Investor Director of Fusion IP PLC (since acquired by IP Group PLC).
Andrew Glass
CEO
Vivasure Medical
Andrew has extensive leadership, commercial operations and product development experience in the medical technology and cardiovascular fields. Previous to Vivasure he held senior leadership roles at Abbott Laboratories for over fifteen years, most recently as regional director at Abbott Vascular where he was responsible for the commercial operations for thirteen European countries. Andrew also served in senior leadership positions in general management, business development, and marketing in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the United States. Andrew has an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.
Laurence Blazianu
CFO
PreciHealth
Laurence Blazianu worked in large and small size pharma-medtech-Dx-I-health companies (Roche, Kenta, Softhale) and at investment banks (Cukierman&Co LifeSciences, CreditSuisse), with a long-time experience supporting executive mission leading to value creation to investors /industry and market visibility. With 23 years of experience, Laurence in raising funds, attracting and managing partners, installing and improving the finance function, corporate reporting and closing of transactions. She started her carreer in strategic marketing and corporate analytics & strategy and sales at Roche UK, Roche US, Roche HQ before moving to finance industry.
Szilvia Endrenyi
CEO & Co-founder
Rethink Medical S.L.
Szilvia is the CEO of Rethink Medical, a Spanish startup company focused on the development of novel medical devices, based on nursing experience.
She is an economist, with a Masters degree in Pharmaceutical Marketing and wide experience in business development, market access and operations roles in the healthcare sector. She has worked during her career for a multinational company too, gaining experience about the multitude of success and failure factors in project development.
She co-founded Rethink Medical in 2014, after she met her business partner at an “Innovation in Healthcare” course at Harvard Medical School.
Under the leadership of Szilvia, the Company managed to develop its first device, an innovative urinary catheter that reduces infections and at the same time improves the quality of life of the patients and the efficiency of the healthcare personnel. This project allowed her to improve her skills further and to gain more recognition and contacts in the innovation ecosystem at international level.
She has been supported for the last 8 years by expert mentors within Horizon 2020 and EIT Health Programs too.
Nowadays, she also collaborates as an evaluator at CIMTI, a Healthcare accelerator program operating in Catalonia, Spain.
Matt Ginn
CEO
IQ Endoscopes
With more than 20 years’ experience of commercial and executive leadership across medical device and medical technology companies, Matt has been hugely successful in launching disruptive technologies on a global scale throughout his career. Having previously held senior leadership positions within Proximie, Molnlycke Healthcare and CR Bard, he joined IQ Endoscopes in October 2020 bringing his extensive medical device, product development, regulation and commercialisation knowledge to the team.
Jaume Sanchez
CEO
3dthinks
I'm an engineer dedicated to driving social progress througt innovation. My commitment to practical solutions and collaborative work is shaping a more sustainable and technologically advanced future, with focus on benefiting society as whole.
Iván Martínez
CEO & Founder
Robopedics
Transformational leader and entrepreneur with +20 years of experience in Operations (Supply Chain E2E and Customer Service) in retail companies (ecommerce, B2B), automotive and IoT; 12 of them as a member of the Board and director of a logistics center. I have experience in acquisition, restructuring and digital transformation processes.
I am passionate about the 4.0 revolution, I have developed digital skills and I have worked with agile methodologies and tools: Scrum, Kanban, Slack, Trello, BMC.
I contribute to the development / transformation of Organizations
- forming high performance teams, motivating and making people grow
- devising innovative / disruptive solutions (tools, processes, organization)
- Being a key actor in the stages of analysis of the situation, conception of the vision, formulation of the strategy to achieve it and its execution.
Henry Pinchbeck
CEO
Insight Surgery
With facilities in both UK and USA, Insight Surgery’s FDA cleared and ISO certified platform "EmbedMed" provides surgeons with easy access to Personalized Surgery. The Platform automates and streamlines the design and manufacture of Patient-Specific Medical Devices with delivery times in under 5 working days. Devices include Digital Surgical Planning, Anatomical Models, Surgical Guides and Implants for Orthopaedic, Oncology, Pediatric and Cranio-Maxillofacial surgery.
Henry Pinchbeck is a Founder and the CEO of Insight Surgery. A scientist by training, he is an experienced businessman and a UK qualified lawyer. As CEO, Henry is responsible for all Insight Surgery’s global activities but particularly concentrates on the development of the Personalized Surgery sector in the UK and USA.
Emiliano Lepore
Co-founder, CEO and Chairman
Recornea
Emiliano Lepore is a biomedical engineer, PhD in Structural Engineering with 2 successful exits in previous medtech startups through IP licensing agreements with business experience in Europe, Japan and Singapore.
Cristiano Fontana
Board Member- Head of Business Development
I-VASC
Cristiano is a co-founder of CrossBay Medical, Inc. and has 20 years experience in the Healthcare environment. He began his career as a product specialist for Cremascoli Medical, a distribution company for important international medtech brands in Italy. By the end of his tenure there, he had advanced to the position of General Manager. In addition to his role at CrossBay Medical, Inc., Cristiano serves as a partner of IStarter, one of the top European angel-led accelerators, created by 100 top managers and entrepreneurs. He is also a partner of ClubDealOnline, an equity crowdfunding portal that connects growth-ready entrepreneurs (startups and SMEs) with investors (HNWI). In 2018 he founded Three Bridges M&C, a consulting firm that provides business development advisory services for startups, distribution companies and SMEs in the global medtech market, through which he holds several advisor positions. Born in Milan, Italy, Cristiano studied economics and business at the Catholic University of Milan. He later earned a master’s degree in Corporate Management (CEGA), an Executive MBA and an Executive in Corporate Finance at SDA Bocconi
Danaë Delbeke
Founder & CEO
Indigo
Loves to share her passion to transform science into products that will improve the life of millions of people. She has a successful track-record in business management and entrepreneurship that is blended with innovation. She successfully launched 7 photonics high-tech companies during the past 12 years. She received her Ph.D. degree in Applied Sciences from Ghent University in 2002, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Bachelor and Master of Applied Sciences/Engineering in Photonics.
Tim Jacobson
CEO
NOxy Health Products
Leading the team aiming to bring to market the solution to end the chronic wound epidemic. This devastating condition affects the elderly and those who suffer from comorbidities such as diabetes and vascular disease. Many patients with chronic wounds not only bear the physical pain of their medical condition, but also are often isolated and sequestered to their beds due to off-loading protocols. Their lives are severely disrupted and patients often spend hundreds of dollars a month out of their own pocket to cover materials needed to care for their wounds. The psychological pain and fear of amputation are the silent companions of their suffering.
The statistics point to injustices as African-American patients receive amputations at twice the rate of their white counterparts. For patients with vascular disease and chronic wounds, their 5-year mortality rate rivals the five-year mortality rates of cancer patients. Yet, because chronic wounds are not a branded disease and receive little fan fair, few research dollars flow to solve this crisis that is at epidemic levels.
Previously a founding member of Pearl Capital Advisors LLC—an award-winning investment management firm specializing in volatility-based investments where, as CIO, I led investment research, risk management, and marketing efforts for Pearl’s investment strategies.
Max Ostermeier
CEO & Founder
Implandata Ophthalmic Products
Max G. Ostermeier (MBA), is a medical device serial entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Implandata Ophthalmic Products. Prior to that Max was CEO and founder of Cranium Telemetrics, a start-up which has developed the first implantable intracranial pressure sensor for better management of hydrocephalus patients. He also founded and managed Odicrain, a medical device company with a portable device for early detection of critical brain injuries. For both companies, a successful exit was accomplished with large medical device companies. Previous to starting his own companies, Max was responsible to establish Proligo LLC in Boulder Colorado, which became a leader in DNA/RNA synthesis reagents for the biopharma, pharma and diagnostic industry. The company was acquired by Sigma Aldrich in 2004.
Mohamed Sadeq Ali
Co-founder and COO
AccurKardia
Sadeq is a serial entrepreneur and founder of 5 companies, 4 of which are currently active. In the 4 years since founding AccurKardia, he has been able to help AccurKardia obtain its first FDA clearance, do cutting edge research as part of the Mayo Clinical Platform Accelerate, and obtain close to $5M in funding. He is currently working on commercializing the company's core product offering (AccurECG), conducting prospective clinical research with world class organizations, and building an AI-platform that can achieve planetary scale in analyzing ECGs originating from both clinical-grade and consumer devices.
Bruce Lichorowic
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
Andy Hill
CEO
NuVision Biotherapies
A life-sciences graduate and MBA with 30-year track record in international sales, marketing and general management in the health technology industry to CEO level. I have worked with US and European healthcare systems, including their regulatory and reimbursement agencies.
My experience includes creating and implementing strategies to support the introduction of new and disruptive medical technologies across a diverse range of clinical applications.
Bill Niland
CEO
ReGelTec
Experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry. Strong business development professional skills in Startups, Early Clinical Trials, R&D & picking winners.
Claire Masterson
CFO
Caresyntax
Experienced CFO with experience of working in Digital Healthcare, venture/PE backed businesses and Alternative Investments. Skilled in all aspects of Financial management including Fundraising, Listed and private company financial reporting, budgeting, cash management, restructuring, SaaS businesses, KPI reporting, Investor relations, FP&A, mergers and acquisitions and Valuations.
Frans Cromme
CEO
ViCentra
Executive with 20+ years of experience in global marketing & sales roles in the diagnostic, pharmaceutical and medtech industry (P&L responsibility up to $1.3bn and 1100 staff).
Combines an R&D background with knowledge of digital transformation, commercial leadership and international experience. Achieves results by maximizing team potential, efficiency in interdisciplinary execution and relentless optimism.
Jonathan Sackier
Non Executive Director & CMO
AiM Medical Robotics
Experienced executive, physician, entrepreneur and inventor with dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom. Trained in Britain as a pilot and surgeon. Helped pioneer the laparoscopic surgery revolution. Founding partner of several successful start-ups. Recognised as an industry leader bringing innovative products from “bench to bedside,” such as AESOP, the world’s first operating room robot with Computer Motion.
Gabriel Jones
Co-Founder & CEO
Proprio
Entrepreneur and business leader in technology and medicine with 20+ year track record in strategy, business development, marketing and product development. ~$40M raised from Seed to Commercialization stages.
Cecile Dupont
CEO
BrightHeart
Cécile joined the Sofinnova MD Start team in 2019. She is currently CEO of BrightHeart, a Sofinnova MD Start III portfolio company. She also brings her operational and strategic expertise to Endoron, another investment from MD Start III, to accelerate the development of the company's highly disruptive technology.
Prior to that, she was CEO of HEPTA Medical, COO of Gradient Denervation Technologies, and director of clinical, regulatory and market access at SafeHeal, the first company created by MD Start II, where she managed the execution of the first-in-human study and regulatory approvals in the EU and US.
Unofficially, she is MD Start’s regulatory expert.
“We need to make sure we start with the right strategy from the get-go because the regulatory strategy is one of the key drivers of the entire project,” she says. “It will drive the clinical strategy, but also the R&D strategy. This is really a key entry point for the project.”
Prior to joining MD Start, Cécile held various clinical, marketing and regulatory positions in both mature and start-up medical device organizations in the fields of endoscopy, pulmonology, dermatology, surgery and diabetes care; for single and multi-use disposable products and capital equipment.
Cécile holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from UTC (Université de Technologies de Compiègne) in France, Dalarna University (Sweden) and Favoloro University
Fergal Ward
CEO
Capri Medical
As founder, Fergal is responsible for the company’s overall commercial. He led the company’s funding efforts, raising over €10M to date in a mix of grant and equity funding. Fergal is also a named inventor on 12 patents and the leader in bringing the company’s primary product to clinical trials.
Avi Hirsch
Director of Business Development
Vigor Medical
20 years of global experience in medical device industry, emergency medicine and academic leadership driving business growth. Established partnerships and driving revenue growth in >30 countries
David Zakariaie
CEO/Founder
Senseye
David is the CEO and Founder of Senseye. In 2012, Google selected him as one of 100 Google Glass Pioneers. He is also the recipient of an Office of Naval Research Award for research in DNA Computing. When not in the lab, he is an Instructor Pilot & Check Airman in the Civil Air Patrol.
Sarah Worrell
CEO
Melodi Health
Chemical Engineer with 15+ years in medical device and drug delivery product development. Focused on identifying pronounced unmet market needs and producing surgical solutions from concept to commercialization leveraging efficient start-up methodologies. Passionate about improving patient outcomes and reducing cost in the healthcare system through innovation in medical devices and surgical practice.
Sarah Worrell
CEO
Melodi Health
Chemical Engineer with 15+ years in medical device and drug delivery product development. Focused on identifying pronounced unmet market needs and producing surgical solutions from concept to commercialization leveraging efficient start-up methodologies. Passionate about improving patient outcomes and reducing cost in the healthcare system through innovation in medical devices and surgical practice.
Ryan Van Wert
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
Stanford University
Nick Hoffman
Business Development Manager
Minnetronix
Today, I make quality happen for patients & customers by continuously improving all things Minnetronix. Previously, I was an experienced Program Manager with demonstrated history of working in the engineering aviation and aerospace defense industry. I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Finance major from Duquesne University and a Master's Certificate focused in Applied Project Management from Villanova University.
Vaughn Schouten
Global Head, MedTech Advisory and Innovation
Salesforce
Driven Sales Leader known for Passion, Energy, Growth, Development, Continuous Improvement and Results
Robert Benkowski
CEO
Opsin Biotherapeutics
CEO and co-founder Bob Benkowski has been developing medical devices for over 25 years including ventricular assist devices, a butane powered blood warmer for the military, minimally invasive blood pump life test fixtures, adipose transplant system, and artificial heart system and components. He was the supervisor of the surgical engineering lab at Baylor College of Medicine and prior to the medical device field, he worked for McDonnell Douglas in the Space Station Program office at NASA Johnson Space Center. He is an assistant professor at the Burnett/TCU Medical School as a mentor to medical students.
Neal Koller
CEO
Alphyn Biologics
A founder of Alphyn, Neal has served as the company’s CEO and Chairman of the Board since the company started in November 2019. He has been President & CEO, and Director for six life science businesses, guiding them to milestone achievement or exit. Before Alphyn, Neal was President & CEO and board member of Perthera, Inc., preceded by the same positions at PluroGen Therapeutics, Inc. Neal established Plurogen’s manufacturing, research and development, and operations facility and launched products into U.S. & international markets, exiting to a multi-national. Additionally, Neal held positions as President of PDA, CEO of Sound Diagnostics Inc., President & CEO of Dovetail Technologies Inc., and President of WellCare International Corp. He began his career at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he achieved notable successes in both large division and early stage business roles. He has a B.S. in biology from the University of Richmond.
Diego Cheja
Co-Founder
CloverLife
Large Experience in the medical device industry. Medical Doctor. Skilled in Medical Devices, Team Building, Capital Equipment, and Mergers & Acquisitions. Strong business development professional.
Mads Matthiesen
CEO
CathVision
Mads Matthiesen co-founded CathVision in 2010 and currently serves as the company’s CEO. He has extensive experience in the field of cardiology as both a business leader and biomedical engineer and has spent more than a decade involved in the development of innovative medical devices and research in Europe and the U.S. Under Matthiesen’s leadership, CathVision achieved FDA clearance of the company’s first technology – the ECGenius™ System. He also has led efforts for the product’s commercial launch in the U.S. Matthiesen is a graduate of the Technical University of Denmark and holds a degree in biomedical engineering. He has completed additional education training at MIT and Harvard in the areas of medical device and implant design. Prior to the incorporation of CathVision in 2013, Matthiesen worked as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, Copenhagen.
Rafael Permuy Martínez
Founder Partner & Chief Business Officer
Neuroscience Innovative Technologies (Neurostech)
Innovative mindset professional with background as business director and access to market roles within different industries (Biotech, Pharma, Vaccines, Medical Devices, Consultancy) and markets (Spain, Portugal, UK, Italy, France, Latam, etc). Founder partner and senior entrepreneur adding business acumen to promising startups in biotech. Visiting Professor at Master in Biotechnology of Environment and Health at University of Oviedo (Spain). |
Umut Karadeniz
Biomedical Engineer
ICFO
I am a biomedical engineer working on the neuroscience and muscle physiology applications at ICFO Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain.
As a technical background, I have been at medical companies and hospitals from Turkey, the U.S. and China for over 7 years and experienced in Medical IT, digital health, and diagnostic imaging systems (MRI, DXI, CT, PET), and laboratory diagnostics.
Currently, I am working as a project leader for a spin-off initiative that has an innovative high-tech biomedical solution detecting the microvascular hemodynamics & metabolism in human tissues.
Yves Dubreuil
CEO & Founder
Dip235
Yves is CEO and founder of Dip235. He has spent his entire career as a project manager in the fields of medical equipment and various laboratories dedicated to medical research and health biology.
Yves is one of the leading specialists in automation and the design of complex systems.
He directed the design and construction of various equipment more particularly in the field of industrial vacuum reactors, alternating plasmas in photo nitrosation at very high powers, automation, the creation of specific control equipment for the manufacture of polyethylene high pressure (2500 bars), safeties related to programmable logic controllers, centralized technical management and regulation of complex systems, power electronics, AC and DC electricity, high frequencies, microwaves, high power magnetic fields and digital systems.
Yves has held various management positions in large French groups such as deputy director of the electricity laboratory at Elf Aquitaine or director of industrial automation at Spie Batignoles. He joined the University of Bordeaux, Faculty of Medicine, Science and Health in 1991, and has since held the position of special level Research Engineer. He mainly directed the design, construction and installation of major research real estate projects for medical laboratories: laboratory of parasitic immunology and biology, specific animal facilities (rats, mice, monkeys and type L2), imaging laboratories (MRI), clean rooms, confined laboratories, types L1, L2, L3, cyclotron, neurosciences, culture rooms, radioactivity and chemistry rooms, sports and pharmaceutical laboratories.
Yves holds a MS in Engineering from Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, with a specialization in industrial automation and electronics.
He was also named “Officer of the Order of Academic Palms”.
Dr Jorge Enrique Diaz
CMO
Dip235
Dr Jorge Enrique Diaz is a physician and an entrepreneur located in Madrid, Spain. Dr Diaz has served multiple roles in the pharmaceutical industry as Medical Advisor and Clinical Research Coordinator for Upjohn Farmoquimica, Medical Director for Astra in Spain, Medical and Regulatory Director for Janssen Farmacéutica, Medical Director for SmithKline Beecham, Farmasierra and Sigme Tau.
Since 1998, he is the founder and CEO of CABYC S.L, a clinical research organization focused on providing clinical monitoring, biostatistical analysis, bioequivalence and quality assurance services to the pharmaceutical industries and Biotech companies.
Dr Diaz has already performed more than 300 clinical studies in various therapeutic areas including oncology (terminal cancer, breast cancer, uterus cancer, ovarian cancer, small cell lung cancer).
Dr Diaz joined Dip235 as CMO in 2017. He is in charge of leading the pre-clinical and clinical tests with a medical team based in Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Madrid.
Dr Diaz has been trained in Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and gynecology at Hospital Clinico de Madrid. He holds a MD degree and a Degree as specialist in Occupational Medicine from the School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He has also completed a post-graduate degree in Clinical Pharmacology in the School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Markus Strecker
CEO & Founder
Teiimo
Markus Strecker is the CEO and Founder of Teiimo and a renowned expert in the fields of wearable electronics and smart textiles.
He holds both - a German and a French Engineering degree in solid state electronics.
Markus Strecker is behind of over 30 industrialized products in the smart textile market.
He developed the first CMOS compatible micromachined silicon microphone at the University of Darmstadt in 1994. Before starting Teiimo Markus Strecker was Director for Electrical Engineering at adidas in the USA where he headed the development of the miCoach Elite Team System for professional soccer clubs. The system was the most advanced Sports Training System worldwide and produced till 2020. It is used all over the world by elite leagues and teams as well as by and national soccer teams (e.g. Germany, Japan,…) for training. Before he worked for Infineon (former Siemens Semiconductors) and carved out the Interactive Wear AG (Founder and CTO until 2009). His expertise besides the smart fabrics is in semiconductor technologies, electronics and sensors.
As one of the pioneers in the wearable technologies market, ten years ago he developed “the Hub” the first mass produced wearable electronics jacket for O’Neill as a project within Infineon Technologies. It was the first communication and entertainment jacket worldwide.