MedTech Innovator LIVE (2022 Archive)

Blythe Karow, Co-founder, President, & COO, has over 20 years of experience in medical device strategy, product development, product launch, and marketing. She has worked in multiple medical device areas including neuromodulation, CRM, orthopedic, wound care, cardiovascular, image-guided interventions, women’s health, dermatology, spinal, and diagnostics. Her prior experience includes work both as a consultant and with medical device companies, ranging from startups to Fortune 100s, including Medtronic, J&J, and Boston Scientific.

Dr Nick Skaer has over 25 years’ research experience and 15 years as a medtech CEO, raising over €20m in investment and grant funding and authoring 35 granted patents and numerous scientific publications. In 2008 he founded Orthox with Prof. Oliver Kessler, securing a major award from Wellcome Trust. Since then he has led the scientific and commercial programs at Orthox, securing €6.5m Series A investment from 2015 and over €10m in grants and awards to develop Orthox’s FibroFix cartilage repair technology. Before this he was CSO, then CEO, of Oxford Biomaterials from 2004 to 2009. During this period he authored 5 patents, secured over £2 million in public grants and private equity finance and formed 3 spin out companies from Oxford Biomaterials to commercialise FibroFix™ technology. Between 1992 and 2003 he studied Molecular Biology at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge (UK) and obtained his PhD from the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg (France).

Tamir Meiri has a B.Sc in Chemistry from Tel-Aviv University and has an extensive background in Bio-Medical engineering and entrepreneurship, as well as an MBA with a focus on Finance, from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. Tamir is tasked with leading and supporting the investment process in Israel and Europe, working closely with JJDC and J&J stakeholders on developing and executing investment transactions across J&J’s sectors. Tamir’s main focus is Medical Devices, Digital Technologies, and Consumer products.

Anne DeGheest pioneered the HealthTech/Digital Health space as a healthcare executive, entrepreneur, angel investor, corporate advisor, and mentor capitalist. She founded MedStars and HealthTech Capital, an ecosystem of angels, venture capitalists, providers, payers, and healthcare industry key players that are dedicated to funding and mentoring new “HealthTech” startups to decrease healthcare cost and empower patients. Anne also organized and moderated the HealthTech Conference on how to successfully build innovative HealthTech businesses and how to change healthcare delivery.
Anne has been a corporate development advisor to large healthcare companies and a mentor capitalist specializing in investing and mentoring early stage companies in healthcare. Her life science portfolio companies have generated over $6 billion exits. Anne provided angel capital, hands-on operating expertise and business strategy in the founding of major venture-backed companies like Pyxis, Aspect Medical, VISX, Thermage, VISICU, and Masimo. She grew new entrepreneurial divisions of large corporations like Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Medtronic, and McKesson. Anne was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence with Canaan Partners and IVP. She has been a speaker at industry conferences, and a guest-lecturer at Stanford Business School, Dartmouth Tuck, and Singularity University.
Anne holds an MBA from Harvard and a Master in Business Engineering from the University of Brussels.

Jason serves as the Director of Emerging Technology at Dexcom. He has a complex understanding of the the technical landscape of next generation diabetes care. He links the business development and technology teams to direct and evaluate investment in enabling technology.

As Vice President of Business Development, Tonja has responsibility for the Johnson & Johnson Vision business.
Tonja joined Johnson & Johnson in 1997 as a manager in New Business Development at Cordis Corporation. Over the years she assumed diverse roles with increasing responsibility throughout the Franchise such as executing Business Development transactions and leading US Marketing for Cordis. Subsequently, Tonja held the position of Director, Strategy and New Business Development for the MD&D Group where she was responsible for supporting the overall strategy of the group and New Business Development activities. Most recently Tonja was the Director of Business Development for Ethicon Biosurgery.
Tonja earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Information Systems from Babson College and Masters in Business Administrations from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Edna brings 15 years’ experience in marketing and business development in the medical device field, both in Israel and in the US. Most recently, she served as the Chief Business Officer at MEDX Xelerator, a medical device and digital health incubator, where she led identifying and assessing projects for the incubator. Edna was previously Director of Business Development at Peer Medical, an Israeli start up in the gastrointestinal field which merged with EndoChoice and was acquired by Boston Scientific. Before that Edna was Director of Marketing at Spring Health Solutions, a company focusing on diabetes. Previously, while based in the US, she was Marketing Manager at LifeScan, a Johnson & Johnson company. Edna holds an LLB from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Sandra Powell Elliott is the Vice President for Life Sciences and Innovation at Hackensack Meridian Health. Her role is to develop not only to foster the internal development of an innovative culture, but to bring innovative and transformative solutions from outside of the organization to the forefront of the organization’s strategic planning efforts. The scope of internal and external innovation spans the breadth of precision medicine, new device development, new product and solution development, new business model development, remote models of care and population health management as well as new more efficient ways to operate the business units within an integrated health network. She has been instrumental in defining opportunities to work with innovative companies and begin to understand how home or person based technology can be integrated into a health delivery system as well as how automation can begin to transform how clinical care can be provided at the bedside. In addition, Sandra is involved in some of the emerging research based entities on the campus of new Seton Hall- Hackensack Meridian Health School of Medicine at the Nutley campus. Sandra received the 2018 NJBIZ Vanguard Award and speaks at National Conferences and has published many articles in developing opportunities for growing business in publications such as Trustee Magazine, Journal of Healthcare Financial Management, FutureAge, Hospitals and Health Networks, and the Health Strategist.

Lisa Prasad is Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit, Michigan. She leads Henry Ford Innovations, a unit that positions HFHS to adapt to the rapidly changing world of technology and consumer-impacted health care. Lisa is responsible for leveraging the System’s intellectual and clinical assets through technology commercialization, venture funding, product development, and corporate partnerships. In this role she also oversees the Davidson Entrepreneurship Program, Henry Ford Health System’s licensing of international hospitals in Asia and the Middle East, and the Global Technology Development Program to identify cutting edge health care technologies in Israel and position them for co-development and launch into the U.S. healthcare market.

Previously Lisa was co-founder and President of a commercial development and advisory firm focused on investment around universities and hospitals. Her expertise was in creating strategies designed to leverage an institution’s intellectual and operational assets.

Lisa served as Associate Vice President at the University of Pennsylvania and, before that, the Chief of Staff to Penn’s Executive Vice President. She came to the University of Pennsylvania from the Coopers & Lybrand Higher Education Consulting Practice in New York City where she led a team of consultants providing advisory services to colleges and universities. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and her Master’s degrees in Government Administration and International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

Emily LaFeir is the Sr. Director of Operations for the Steele Institute for Health Innovation at Geisinger Health. In her role she leads the operations and strategic direction for the 225-employee Innovation Institute under the direction of EVP, Chief Innovations Officer. The Steele Institute’s purpose is to support Geisinger innovators and lead the nation in building transformative, scalable, measurable and sustainable solutions that improve health, care delivery, patient experience and lower costs. Geisinger is a national integrated health system with a clinical presence spanning central and northeast Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.

Emily’s background is in hospital strategy development and clinical operations with an emphasis on digital engagement and clinical integration across acute and post-acute hospital settings. Before joining Geisinger in 2018, Emily served as Corporate Operations Development and Project Manager at Post-Acute Medical, a provider of rehabilitation and long-term acute care based in Enola, PA. She previously worked as Administrative Project Manager at Pennsylvania Nutrition Education Tracks (TRACKS) in State college, PA. TRACKS is the statewide program that provides Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) to low-income individuals and families who are eligible to receive SNAP benefits. Emily serves on the board of Healthcare Improvement Foundation, ACHE of Central Pennsylvania, as well as volunteers at Geisinger Medical Center and United Way

She earned a B.S. in Health Policy & Administration and a Masters’ degree in Healthcare Administration, both from Penn State University.

Jessica has been conducting evidence-based health outcomes research for 16 years. Twelve of those years have been at the Evidence-Based Medicine Services Unit at Kaiser Permanente supporting evidence-based decision-making throughout the organization. She has experience developing clinical practice guidelines and conducting systematic literature reviews, meta-analyses, and health technology assessments of a wide variety of clinical interventions, procedures, and medical technologies for the diagnosis, screening, management, or treatment of medical conditions. In addition to her role at Kaiser Permanente, she has had previous positions as a Lead Research Methodologist at Doctor Evidence, LLC, Senior Health Economics and Outcomes Researcher at Cerner Life Sciences, Clinical Researcher at the Silberstein Aging and Dementia Research Center at NYU Medical Center, and Health Economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Jessica has previously served as the Project Manager for the Medical Technology Assessment Team at Kaiser Permanente Southern California and routinely conducts medical technology assessments for Kaiser Permanente’s Medical Technology Management Process.

Dr. McGinnis has had a career at the intersection of medicine & technology, but always with a focus on the mission at hand. Trained in internal medicine and aerospace medicine, he has broad experience across the public sector, private sector, and academia. In addition, he has served as a Congressional Fellow in the US Senate, gaining tremendous insight to public policy. During his career, Dr. McGinnis first served as a flight surgeon for NASA and the US Air Force Reserve, and then embarked into the emerging discipline of Healthcare IT. He has held physician executive and leadership positions with Cerner, Memorial Hermann, 2nd.MD and he currently is a Medical Director with Humana Military.

Stephen Levin has spent nearly 25 years covering the life sciences industry, writing and speaking primarily on medical technology worldwide. Before Levin and his partner, David Cassak, launched Innovation In Medtech, LLC, the parent company of MEDTECH STRATEGIST and MARKET PATHWAYS, along with international conferences, Levin formerly was Editor-in-Chief/Medical Devices at Elsevier Business Intelligence (EBI). At EBI, he directed the editorial coverage for the company’s leading medtech publications, including IN VIVO, START-UP, MEDTECH INSIGHT, THE GRAY SHEET, and THE SILVER SHEET, along with the content for the Investment In Innovation (IN3) series of medical device partnering conferences. He is a frequent speaker at medical device conferences and for companies worldwide on a variety of topics related to the medtech industry. Previously, Levin served as Senior Counsel to the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Rachel is the Director of the BARDA Alliance and Interim Head of JLABS @ TMC for Johnson & Johnson Innovation, based at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS (JLABS) in Washington, DC. She is responsible for managing BLUE KNIGHT™, a joint initiative between JLABS and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which aims to stimulate the innovation and incubation of science and technologies that may improve health security and response by supporting companies focused on public health threats and emerging infectious diseases. Rachel leads the strategic direction, alliance management, and oversight of all operational activities related to the collaboration with BARDA, including managing the sourcing and selection of high potential companies for JLABS locations and developing global programming.

Before joining JLABS, Rachel was the Chief of Staff for the National Evaluation System for health Technology Coordinating Center (NESTcc)—an initiative of the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC)—that was established with funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was recognized in September 2019 as one of the first collaborative communities with participation by the FDA. Prior to joining NESTcc, Rachel worked at PCORI, helping to launch the Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet), a national effort to engage patients and leverage electronic health data to improve the speed and efficiency of clinical research in the United States.

Rachel received her MBA from Georgetown University and MPH in global health policy from The George Washington University.

Frank Jaskulke is the VP of Intelligence of the Medical Alley Association. He leads Medical Alley Starts & Global, a global venture platform supporting startup’s and scaleup’s efforts to find capital, customers, and talent.

Tracy Dooley is a Partner at Avestria Ventures where she invests in early stage medtech, healthtech, and life science companies.

Prior to joining Avestria, Tracy was a digital health & innovation consultant for clients including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Novartis, and early stage startups. Previous to that she served as Head of Global Operations at Novartis Diagnostics/Grifols, after leading strategy & innovation efforts. Tracy started her career as a healthcare M&A investment banker.

Tracy holds an MD from Stanford and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

A leader with a uniquely business-minded approach to healthcare, Michael Prokopis is the Senior Vice President, Supply Chain at Steward Health Care System LLC. Overseeing the $1.5 Billion supply chain capabilities of 44 hospitals comes naturally to an executive with more than twenty years’ worth of experience in organizational, process, and digital transformation with a focus towards managing a results-oriented P&L. He leads a team in the areas of Sourcing, Contracting, Purchasing, Data Analytics, Value Analysis, Logistics & Distribution, and Hospital Operations by utilizing advanced knowledge of innovative Information Technology (e.g., Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, Warehouse Management, Logistics Management, Transportation Management, etc.) while delivering transformative solutions. Michael has master’s certificate from MIT and MBA from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Michael is a Veteran of the U.S. Navy and served during Desert Shield / Storm. Currently lives in Dallas, TX.

Dan spent the past 20 years on the front lines of the largest industry transformation in history – the digitization of healthcare. Dan joins Cardinal Health from Phase2 Health, a leading healthcare growth services firm. As its founder and chief revenue officer, in just three years, Dan led Phase2 to achieve seven-figure revenue growth in services year-over-year. Prior to this, Dan served as senior vice president of sales for Syapse, a venture-backed, precision medicine platform and network based out of Palo Alto, California, where he grew the commercial organization to deliver 40-times bookings growth and helped secure enterprise-wide contracts with some of the world’s leading community and academic health systems. Dan has served as a mentor, advisor, investor and board member to dozens of digital health companies and is passionate about applying technology to improve lives and eliminate waste in healthcare.

Alisha Beringer is the Director of Supply Chain Logistics at Northwestern Medicine. Alisha is an enthusiastic and innovative leader who is passionate about driving operational excellence within the healthcare industry through technology and process improvement. As Director, Alisha is responsible for the overall Clinical and Supply Chain experience, leading teams across the organization that provide implementation and change management for Supply Chain. Alisha is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, has her Project Management Professional (PMP), and holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Psychology from Illinois State University.

During her 5 years with Northwestern, Alisha began as a Supply Chain Performance Manager responsible for installing Cardinal WaveMark RFID technology across the organization. After two years, Alisha became a Director responsible for all Supply Chain technology across Northwestern and recently expanded her role to include building a corporate strategy for Lab and Inventory.

Prior to joining Northwestern Medicine, Alisha worked for 7 years in Healthcare Distribution at Owens and Minor.

Kevin Fu is an associate professor of EECS at the University of Michigan. His research vision is a world where science-based security is built-in by design to all embedded systems: medical devices, healthcare delivery, autonomous transportation, manufacturing, and the Internet of Things. His research lab focuses on analog cybersecurity—how to model and defend against threats to the physics of computation and sensing. Fu is most known for his security research on cryptographic and low-power inventions to defend against vulnerabilities in an implantable cardiac defibrillator. His research led to a decade of revolutionary improvements at medical device manufacturers, global regulators, and international healthcare safety standards bodies. Security solutions resulting from this research foresaw the risks of malicious software affecting hospitals a decade before ransomware began to disrupt clinical workflow at worldwide. Fu is presently on leave from Michigan while serving as the inaugural Acting Director of Medical Device Cybersecurity at U.S. FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) and Program Director for Cybersecurity at the Digital Health Center of Excellence (DHCoE).

Joe Saul began his career by working on implementation of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules for the University of Michigan Health System. He then served as the Chief Security Officer of Truven Health Analytics (previously the Healthcare Business of Thomson Reuters), with overall responsibility for the privacy and security of over 200 million lives’ worth of health data. Among Truven’s clients were several state HIEs. Following Truven’s acquisition by IBM for their Watson Health unit, Joe oversaw the safe transition of the data into the larger IBM entity and shifted his primary focus to privacy, including issues such as usage rights and de-identification of data.

Most recently Joe is Chief Privacy Officer for Data Security Software company LOKKER, Privacy and Security Officer, at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), a center within the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the world’s largest archive of digital social science data, as well as Adjunct Research Assistant Professor at University of Michigan

Joe has a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, as well as the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), and Certified Information Privacy Professional – Europe (CIPP/E) certifications and is recognized as a Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP). He has extensive experience with legal and regulatory issues related to data privacy and security, both within and outside the United States.

Reise Officer is the Vice President and CIO of Humana Government Business. In this role, he has management and oversight responsibilities for delivering technology enabled business innovations to successfully meet or exceed the TRICARE East contract requirements. He is also accountable for shaping the future platform business model in support of HGB’s convener of care aspiration.

Ray Mead possesses a unique background that includes leading successful entrepreneurial ventures (Founder & CEO – Raymond Anthony International acquired by Photomedex), significant experience as a Human Resources executive tasked with establishing infrastructure to support organizational growth (VP HR – Telephony@Work acquired by Oracle), and more than a decade consulting within the Professional Employer Organization industry (TriNet HR & ADP TotalSource). Currently a Business Consultant / Trusted Advisor with TriNet HR developing the Life Sciences & Technology vertical markets. Active member of the SoCA innovation ecosystem, coach and mentor.

Lauren Celano co-founded Propel Careers in 2009 with the desire of helping people find their way in the life sciences, encouraging STEM careers for women and underrepresented groups, and developing the next generation of life sciences leaders. Lauren founded Propel Careers in order to leverage her life sciences experience, her passion for impacting the development of novel therapeutics, and her interest in developing diverse talent for the industry. By working with emerging leaders in the early stages of their careers, Lauren hopes to make a positive impact across the life sciences sector and to make a difference in the lives of the people who exist within it. Prior to Propel Careers, Lauren spent nearly 10 years in the life sciences sector working for various contract research organizations that engaged with leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies to help accelerate the discovery and development of novel therapeutics. Since its founding in 2009, Propel Careers has expanded to include not just recruiting support for innovative life sciences companies and non-profit organizations in need of talent, but also career coaching, mentoring, and other services designed to support individuals in finding the right career path. Outside of Propel, Lauren is the Vice-Chair on the Board of MassBioEd and on the Board of the National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association. She also serves on the Advisory Boards of the Boston University School of Public Health Pharmaceuticals Program, the Professional Science Masters Program at Framingham State University and New England Graduate Women in Science & Engineering (NE GWISE). Lauren is very actively engaged with mentoring young scientists through groups like the Association of Women in Science and The international center for professional development (http://icpdprograms.org/).

Ingrid Ellerbe is the Executive Director of Diversity by Doing (DxD), a healthtech initiative supported by Fogarty Innovation and Stanford Biodesign. At DxD her mission is to lead the endeavor of being a transformational force for diversity through efforts that span the pipeline from students interested in health technology to start-up healthtech company operations. She has spent the past 30 years working to help underserved communities succeed in the technology and education industries and is frequently asked to speak on issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Previously, she served as the Executive Director of Base 11, a nonprofit workforce and entrepreneur development company that helps women and minorities succeed in STEM. She is a former trustee of the NAACP Foundation, and serves on the boards of Stanford Biodesign, Project Tomorrow, and the Hines Family Foundation. She holds a BA in communications from California State University Dominguez Hills.

Nada Hanafi joined Experien Group in 2017 after working 12 years at FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). Since 2010, she had been a CDRH Senior Science Health Advisor, serving as an expert consultant and senior advisor in the Center Director’s office. Nada combines her deep institutional knowledge with innovative approaches to help companies successfully communicate product information to FDA throughout the total product life cycle. Leveraging her years of reviewer experience and broad FDA exposure, she develops actionable premarket strategies to guide programs through successful submission. She also orchestrates compliance activity. While at FDA, Nada led postmarket investigations for ob-gyn devices, wrinkle fillers, tanning devices, breast implants, negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) devices and metal-on-metal hip implants and she applies this knowledge to help companies effectively manage postmarket requirements. At Experien Group, Nada helps medical device and combination product manufacturers generate regulatory/clinical roadmaps for success. Building upon her strong engineering background, she helps companies devise and position product performance testing and/or clinical studies to achieve major milestones. Nada holds an MS in Biomaterials and a BE in Biomedical Materials Science & Engineering from Queen Mary College, University of London. She earned her MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Nada is a Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) and a Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) from the American Society for Quality (ASQ).

Danica Eliott is the Director of Human Capital on the Frazier Life Sciences team. Danica joined the Frazier Life Sciences team as Director of Human Capital in 2019. She focuses on executive-level talent assessments, organizational diligence, development programs, and alignment of talent strategies and resources that accelerate growth for Frazier’s investments. Danica originally joined Frazier as Director of Human Capital on the Frazier Growth Buyout team in 2018. Prior to Frazier, Danica worked in management consulting, leading extensive interviews and special initiatives with executive teams, board members, employees, and external partners followed by specific strategies for membership, portfolio, and funding growth. Danica also ran a marketing consulting company for many years that provided solutions for growing businesses at all stages.

Jim Warren joined Jabil in 1998 after graduating from the University of Florida with a Finance and Economics degree and continues his education with ASQ as a Black Belt. Jim started as a Manager in Training, as part of the Jabil Emerging Leaders (JEL) Development program. During his time in the JEL program Jim was rotated through cross-functional positions in Operations, Inventory Control, Supply Chain, Planning, Workcell Management, Design, Quality and Business Development in our St. Petersburg, FL Manufacturing site.
The JEL program provided Jim experiential learning of our core competencies that serve as the foundation for his ability to create differentiated solutions for his customers.

After completing the JEL program Jim transitioned into a Supply Chain Development role in 2005. During that time Jim lived in Malaysia as well as China as he supported Jabil EMS and Jabil Green Point as a Director of Supply Chain. In each of his customer engagements Jim was able to create significant relationships and opportunities in de-risking our customer’s supply chains.

In 2015 Jim joined the Jabil Healthcare division as a Business Unit Director and now leads business teams in the US, Mexico, Ireland, Singapore and China. Over the past year Jim’s scope has increased to add additional customers and a larger footprint in Asia. With view to extend his experience in other divisions, Jim is a contributor to Jabil’s website with insightful commentary on how medical and consumer behavior guide our development and design efforts at Jabil.

As Marketing Manager at Fujikura Medical, Joshua Magnuson is responsible for leveraging the technical expertise and market leadership of Fujikura in semiconductor manufacturing, miniaturization, fiber optics and CMOS for a diverse number of applications within the medical device and medical diagnostic fields.

Eric Johnson is the CEO and co-founder of REV.1 Engineering® and has been professionally engaged in medical device development since 1995. After working for Stryker Instruments, Guidant Corporation, Boston Scientific and running various entrepreneurial ventures of his own, Eric teamed with Phil Burke to create REV.1 Engineering. Eric has expertise in every stage of Medical Device Product Development, from concept to manufacturing. Starting in medical device manufacturing and transitioning through advanced manufacturing project management, research and development, and early product research, Eric progressed into specializing in recognizing new product concepts, creating intellectual property and working with physicians and key opinion leaders to develop early market-leading concepts. Eric is named on over 30 patents and numerous applications related to orthopedic tools, angioplasty, pacemaker leads, wound closure, electrophysiology devices, and catheter delivery systems. In 2019, Eric led the successful sale of REV.1 Engineering to ASAHI Filmecc, setting the stage for the next phase of development and growth for the REV.1 team.

Chris Neil is an experienced venture & angel investor, senior executive, and start-up advisor. He was Senior VP at Maxim Integrated (running their $1B revenue Industrial & Medical Solutions Group) and for the past seven years Head of Maxim Ventures – investing in medical devices & life sciences. In addition, he is an active participant in Life Science Angels as Device Screening Committee Co-Chair, active participant in MedTech Innovator, advisor / mentor to several other medical device start-ups, and served on the Board of Spire Health (COPD monitoring company).

He founded Maxim Ventures to discover and support new growth opportunities in medical devices with electronic content. We have made over 15 investments and a few technology development agreements.

Prior to that he spent 25 years in operating roles at Maxim Integrated, including running the Industrial & Medical Solutions Group ($1B revenue, 600 employees).

He served as observer / advisor on several other start-up boards, including Unaliwear, Ontera, toSense (now part of Baxter), and Profusa. He was Board Member at Spire Health – which makes a respiratory monitoring system focused on COPD – through their Series-C funding.

He is active in Life Science Angels (LSA), the largest angel organization in the U.S. focused solely on early stage medical device and life science start-ups, and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Device Screening Committee.

He is an active participant in MedTech Innovator, which is the largest med tech focused accelerator with a mission is to improve the lives of patients by accelerating the growth of companies that are transforming the healthcare system.

He graduated MIT with BSEE and MSEE in 1990.

Eric Hsu is a corporate and securities partner in the life sciences practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He represents emerging growth companies in areas such as medical devices, digital health, and biotechnology. Eric advises public and private companies on general corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, public company reporting, strategic partnerships, venture capital financings, and private equity and debt financings.

During law school, Eric served as an extern with the UC Davis Technology Transfer Office, Innovation Access, where he performed threshold patent analysis and drafted contracts and licenses. He also assisted service members in the Armed Forces as an extern for the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General at Travis Air Force Base, and worked as an extern for Justice Nathan Mihara of the California Court of Appeal for the Sixth District on a wide variety of civil and criminal appeals.

Prior to attending law school, Eric worked in flu vaccine research and development for MedImmune Inc.

John Hyung-Jun Kim serves as Principal at Aphelion Capital. Dr. Kim completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Stanford University Medical Center, his undergraduate studies in biochemistry from Harvard University, and is a graduate of Duke University’s School of Medicine and the Fuqua School of Business, where he concentrated on health sector management. Dr. Kim has worked as a medical consultant in biogenetics, and was previously with Bear Stearns & Company as an Equity Research Associate. Dr. Kim continues to practice part-time as a hospitalist, keeping Aphelion Capital current with medical trends. He also sits on the Board of Directors at Siesta Medical.

Cynthia Yee is a Principal at Vensana Capital. Cynthia brings over a decade of investing, operating, and public equities experience to Vensana. Prior to joining Vensana, she served as a Principal at Windham Venture Partners, where she led the firm’s investments in Cartiva Medical (acquired), ClarVista Medical (acquired), and NeuSpera Medical, and was previously an Associate at NEA focused on investments in medical devices and healthcare services. She also gained operating experience as Director of Business Development & Strategic Marketing at Epix Therapeutics (fka Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics, acquired) and medtech incubator D3DC. Cynthia began her career in public equities, covering medical devices at Piper Jaffray and biotechnology at Pacific Growth Equities. Cynthia currently serves on the board of directors of SpyGlass Ophthalmics. She graduated with a BA in Integrative Biology and a BS in Business Administration at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Kelli is a marketing and communications strategist specializing in digital health and SaaS B2B marketing. She has a proven track record of developing and executing integrated marketing programs that increase revenue, market share, and brand engagement. She’s a creative leader and team builder with 15+ years of hands-on expertise in all facets of healthcare technology marketing and communications. She has built marketing teams and scaled two high-growth digital healthcare start-ups in addition to leading marketing teams at public and fortune 500 companies.

In his 19+ years in branding, Bill has managed projects ranging from naming strategy, tagline development, USAN name development, portfolio strategy, brand architecture, brand positioning, ideal brand development, logo design, package design, brand equity research, focus group management, name validation, logo validation, and global linguistic evaluation, with clients in pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer, and industrial markets.

It all started in an accidental rhetoric class. That’s where Laura Nobles found herself as a UC Berkeley freshman many years ago. There – and in subsequent courses – she learned to argue a case, tell stories with power, and move audiences to act. And she’s made that passion her life’s work ever since.

Today, Laura is a trusted C suite advisor who offers clients strategic thinking and communication programming designed to drive market adoption, sales growth and, when appropriate, successful exit strategies.

With more than 20 years of experience, Laura is steeped in healthcare and adept across virtually all communication disciplines. Since opening Pazanga (previously Nobles Global Communications) in 2006, Laura has overseen growth-focused public relations and integrated marketing programs for U.S., European and Israeli clients ranging from emerging venture-backed companies to mid-size and Fortune 500 organizations. Her knowledge spans clinical segments.

Laura was previously senior vice president/managing director for FischerHealth, a subsidiary of global PR firm Porter Novelli. There she provided senior counsel to medical device, health information technology, health services and life sciences clients and led the execution of numerous strategic public relations and integrated marketing programs. Over her five-year tenure, Laura’s many clients included Boston Scientific, Medtronic, DePuy Orthopaedics, Thoratec Corporation, CSL Behring, Elsevier and Epocrates.

Laura wasn’t always in healthcare, even though it’s where she was destined to be. Her earlier leadership roles were in the high tech, industrial manufacturing and consumer products segments.

Dr. Nicholas Pachuda serves as the SVP of Portfolio & Development at Peptilogics and has approximately 28 years of clinical and industry experience in life sciences including orthopedics/medtech and biotech. These included senior R&D, Clinical, Innovation, BD and Commercial P&L leadership roles. He was involved with several successful startups, midcaps and multinationals, including 10 years at Johnson & Johnson. He has led multiple global organic and inorganic development programs with diverse technologies and teams. Dr. Pachuda was trained as a foot and ankle surgeon and completed an international orthopedic trauma fellowship.

Tiffanie a distinguished executive who adds value through her unique and broad experience touching almost every part of the organization including commercial, sales, marketing, product development, working with R&D, strategic development, mergers & acquisitions, clinical, research, medical affairs, market access and reimbursement.

Tiffanie has held the role of Vice President of Clinical & Medical Affairs at Apollo Endosurgery since 2019, and oversees Global Clinical and Medical Affairs, including regulated studies and strategic planning of all global reimbursement processes as part of the executive team. She was also credited with successfully developing and expanding the Clinical and Medical Affairs department from scratch as well as revolutionizing surgical and endoscopic procedures. From 2012 to 2018, she held the position of Senior Director of Global Medical Affairs, Director of Global Medical Affairs. She also has contributed to the development of a bibliography of 1100+ publications from key opinion leaders, for the company through relationship building and strategic vision. Tiffanie has also spent the last 12 years as the Managing Principal of her own consulting company. Here, she provides strategy and direction for commercialization, marketing, evidence development, as well as clinical and medical affairs to various companies at all stages of development.

Chris’ experience in medical devices spans 20 years, including a stint at an owner-operator of medical practices in the US and overseas.  He has held sales, sales leadership and multiple healthcare economics, reimbursement and strategy roles. Currently he serves as Director, Healthcare Economics and Reimbursement for Impulse Dynamics, a company dedicated to transforming the treatment of chronic heart failure.  Chris earned his undergraduate degree from Penn State University and his graduate degree from the University of Michigan.  

Adi Renbaum, President of ANR Consulting, is a seasoned and trusted business advisor to executives of advanced medical technology companies, specializing in health policy, medical economics, and reimbursement strategies. For more than 22 years, Ms. Renbaum has designed and implemented market access strategies for advanced medical therapeutics and diagnostics using a consultative problem-solving approach. Applying her keen understanding of healthcare financing dynamics, she leverages and influences health policies to create access to novel technologies in existing treatment pathways. She helps her clients highlight their technologies’ clinical merits and impact on patients’ functional improvements, and the economic benefits that follow integrating a new technology into the treatment pathway – keys to products’ value propositions for stakeholder adoption, diffusion and payment.