Paul is the founder and CEO of MedTech Innovator. He created and managed MedTech Innovator as a program within RCT Ventures from 2013 – 2016. In 2016, with the financial support of RCT and other sponsors, Paul left to run MedTech Innovator as a stand-alone company. He spent 11 years as Director and Managing Director at RCT Ventures, the investment arm of Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. Prior to RCT, Paul was co-founder and CEO of startups in the medtech, pharma, and tech sectors.

Kathryn Zavala is COO and BioTools Innovator Managing Director at MedTech Innovator. She earned her PhD in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology from UCLA. Kathryn has been with MedTech Innovator since 2015. She was a Technology Fellow at the UCLA Office of Intellectual Property, where she assisted with the commercialization of university technologies.

Brian Benson is the Senior Vice President at MedTech Innovator. Prior to joining MedTech Innovator, Brian was the director of entrepreneurship and commercialization at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) where he was responsible for all aspects of the Magnify incubator and driving strategic initiatives for the Institute. He brings over 15 years of experience accelerating the growth and success of transformative life science startups to the team.

Fredrik is the Managing Director Asia Pacific at MedTech Innovator, based in Singapore. He was most recently the Founding CEO of Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed). Fredrik brings over 30 years of healthcare industry experience, 25 of which were spent in Asia-Pacific. He has held senior sales/ marketing, general management and strategic consulting positions. Fredrik serves as Board Member and advisor to several healthcare startup ventures and is a frequent speaker on the healthcare industry in Asia-Pacific. He holds a BSc from Gothenburg University, Sweden, and an MBA from Henley Management College, UK.

Branden Morris, Senior Director of Marketing, has been telling stories of medical innovation and patient impact for nearly 20 years. He has built brands, launched products, and developed marketing teams at biotech companies large and small, across several therapeutic areas. Branden is passionate about continuing to grow the MedTech Innovator programs as the premiere life science accelerators in the world, so that our member companies can get novel therapies in the hands of clinicians and patients as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Daphne Radfar is Chief of Staff at MedTech Innovator. She brings more than 20 years of experience in executive leadership, risk management, and operations in health, education, and startups to this position. Prior to joining MedTech, Daphne served as Chief Operating Officer at Speak UP, working to increase access to quality public education across California. Prior to this role, as Chief Operating Officer of Insure the Uninsured Project, Daphne was instrumental in the organization’s efforts to achieve healthcare reform in California. Daphne received her Bachelor’s in Education, Sociology with an emphasis in Business Administration from UCLA.

Ayelet Marom is the Program Director for BioTools Innovator at MedTech Innovator. She earned her Ph.D. in Cancer Immunology from The Weizmann Institute in Israel, and a Postdoctoral Professional Masters in Bioscience Management from KGI, Claremont alongside her post-doctoral research at City Of Hope. Ayelet is experienced in the innovation ecosystem; prior to MedTech Innovator, she was a senior program manager at Larta Institute, where she managed commercialization programs for science-based Innovations, as well as co-founded and led the product development in a digital health Startup. She is passionate about bringing technology and healthcare closer together to make a real impact on human health.

Nicole is the Program Director for MedTech Innovator. Nicole grew up in Michigan before attending Boston University to study Biomedical Engineering as Trustee Scholar. In 2020, Nicole completed her PhD at Harvard University, working on interdisciplinary medtech projects between the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Mass Eye and Ear hospital. After graduating, Nicole launched a startup company, Beacon Bio, based on her PhD work as a Gliklich Healthcare Innovation Scholar. Following Beacon Bio’s acquisition by Desktop Metal, Nicole served as the Vice President of Biofabrication in their Desktop Health division. Nicole’s accolades include the Collegiate Inventors Competition Graduate Winner (2018), the Baxter Young Investigator Award (2020), the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize (2021), and the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 (2023).

Jim is an engineer turned entrepreneur. With a master’s in both Biomedical Engineering Product Development and Entrepreneurship, he blends the business with the technical. Jim previously worked in life sciences and medical devices helping to bring new products to market. He served as Co-Founder and CEO of his most recent company, Clara Biotech, which was founded in 2018 and was acquired by Innovaprep in the summer of 2023.

Glen is Senior Programs Director, Asia Pacific at MedTech Innovator, based in Singapore. He has led successful global programs at Enterprise Singapore’s Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology mega event (SWITCH), helping startups in access the Singapore Market and expand into Asia Pacific. Glen is also the founder of 2 startups and serves as a Venture Partner at Meet Ventures. In his free time, Glen mentors young first time startup founders in Polytechnics and Universities.

Jerry Ciolino is a Director of Operations at MedTech Innovator. He has experience working in multiple accelerator programs with different verticals. He was the Program Manager at Startup UCLA, which caters to undergraduates, graduate students, and recent alumni. More recently, he was the Lead Operations Associate for the Techstars Music Accelerator. He received his degree in Sociology from UCLA.

Ari is currently the Program Manager at BioTools Innovator, where he plays a role in nurturing the growth of cutting-edge startups within the life science tools space. His previous role supporting high-growth venture backed startups at Biocom has shaped his experience and passion in fostering innovation, building partnerships, and advancing biotech startups. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Consumer Sciences from The Ohio State University, during which time he created brand activations for Fortune 500 companies. Ari is dedicated to facilitating connections between visionary founders and the essential resources needed to create technology that have a profound impact on human health.

Andrew Friedrich is the Director of Engineering and Product at MedTech Innovator. He has over 15 years of professional experience in software engineering in various domains including PropTech (real estate), Expert Networks, digital media, and consumer websites. Before joining MedTech Innovator, Andrew was the VP, Head of Software Engineering at Amherst Holdings. He was responsible for managing multiple geographically distributed development teams working on custom software solutions and platform customization.

Council is the Contracts & Grants Manager at MedTech Innovator. Prior to joining MedTech Innovator, Council was the clinical research manager for the Institute for Trauma Recovery at UNC-Chapel Hill where she was responsible for managing numerous multi-site clinical trials teams and the Institute’s contracts and grants. She received her BA from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Eve Jimenez is Marketing & Data Specialist at MedTech Innovator. Prior to joining MedTech Innovator, Eve supported Speak UP’s technology and communications work helping to improve kids’ access to quality education. She received her B.A from Dartmouth College and M.S. from UC Davis

Gabriella Dardano is a Marketing and Events Assistant at MedTech Innovator. She obtained her B.S in Business Administration from Pepperdine University, in Malibu, CA. Prior to joining MedTech Innovator, Gabriella gained substantial experience in event management and marketing at C3 Alliance Corp., a Vancouver-based company in the natural resource sector.

Bernice is the Assistant Manager in Marketing & Events for Asia Pacific at MedTech Innovator, based in Singapore. She is a seasoned Marketing & Events Professional renowned for her exceptional expertise in devising and implementing strategic initiatives that fuel growth. Bernice expertly manages various simultaneous events like networking, hybrid functions, and expos, showcasing her exceptional organizational skills and meticulous attention to detail for flawless coordination across all aspects of these diverse gatherings.

Peter Kemper is a full stack software engineer with over 5 years of software development experience in the fintech, energy, and education industries and is based out of San Diego, CA. He graduated from California State University, San Marcos in 2019 with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science.

Nerissa is the Program Manager at Medtech Innovator Asia Pacific, where she fosters the development and growth of medtech startups. Her extensive program management background spans across public, private, and diverse industry sectors, bringing a dynamic range of expertise to her role. Previously, Nerissa led innovation-focused programs at a prominent government agency in Singapore, nurturing the startup ecosystem. Following that, at the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), she designed and managed financial literacy programs for parents and children.

Heather Lukas is a current Ph.D. candidate in the Gao Research Group at Caltech. Her current research interests focus on developing novel techniques for continuous biochemical sensing in sweat with applications in therapeutic and addictive drug monitoring. She received her M.S. in medical engineering from Caltech in 2021 and her B.S. in biomedical engineering with a business minor from Cornell University in 2019.

Aliya is a PhD candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. Before graduate school, she held positions as a Research Associate at UCSF and a Co-Op participant at AstraZeneca. Aliya received her BS and MS from Johns Hopkins University.

Jonathan is a double Bruin and currently an MBA candidate UCLA Anderson. Previously, he has worked in various engineering roles in the medical device industry. Currently, he works in new product development as an engineering program manager focused on product launches and global commercialization. He is passionate about the convergence of medical devices and technology.

Jessica Ding is an MBA candidate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She has worked in various technical and commercial roles in developing and growing innovative products. Jessica earned her PhD in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Connecticut.

Anisha is a second year MBA student at UCLA Anderson (Class of 2024). Prior to business school, she worked at a cancer center helping patients through clinical trials and led project teams as a systems engineer for Arthrex, a medical device company. She obtained her B.S. in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley in 2017.

Lauren Lederer is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, specializing in digital health technologies for remote patient monitoring. She previously held roles as a Program Manager and Engineer at Systems & Technology Research. She holds a M.S. from Duke and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Central Florida.

Anthony Song is a current Ph.D. candidate in the Durr Research Group at Johns Hopkins University. His current research interest focuses on developing novel optical imaging devices and using artificial intelligence for minimally invasive surgical guidance and computational pathology. He received his dual degrees in Chemistry and Data Science from Iowa State University in 2021.

Sylvia Zohrabian is a current Ph.D. candidate in Cell & Developmental Biology at Weill Cornell Medicine performing her thesis research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She studies metabolic liabilities in cancer research. Previously, she received her M.S. from Georgetown and B.A from Franklin & Marshall College.

Netra Unni Rajesh is a Bioengineering PhD candidate in Dr. Joseph DeSimone’s lab at Stanford University. She works at the intersection of advanced manufacturing, materials science and immunology to design new medical devices for transdermal drug delivery.

Scott Whitaker is President and CEO of AdvaMed, the world’s largest medical technology association. He is widely recognized as a top health care advocate and policy expert with experience across multiple health policy sectors, having worked successfully with diverse stakeholder groups – including hospital, patient and physician groups, regulators, public and private payers, and global trade organizations – to advance medical technology innovation and timely patient access to next-generation treatments and cures.

Chris Martin is the President of RCT Ventures, the investment arm of Research Corporation Technologies, which is focused on investing in early-stage biomedical companies.

Biren Mehta is the Vice President, Venture Investments – MedTech at Johnson & Johnson Innovation. He is responsible for existing and new MedTech investments on the West Coast, ensuring targeted strategic options are shaped for success. Biren plays a critical role in building and maintaining networks in the venture capital community, entrepreneurs, startups, incubators and accelerators and other venture organizations that fit the strategic interests of the MedTech sector, sourcing new opportunities for the sector and positioning JJDC as the partner of choice.

Casey McGlynn is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. In 1990, Casey McGlynn formed the life sciences practice at the firm, and today, it has one of the largest practices focused on medtech, healthtech, and biotech companies in the country.