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Joshua Baltzell, Venture Partner, SightLine Partners LLC
Josh has spent over 30 years in the healthcare industry working across a broad range of responsibilities and companies ranging from early-stage product development and innovation all the way up to public offerings and mergers and acquisitions for mature companies. Josh currently serves as a Venture Partner at SightLine partners and 10K Lakes Capital where he focuses on sourcing and managing investments in the health care industry.
Buzz Benson, Managing Director, SightLine Partners LLC
Buzz has been an active investor and advisor in the healthcare industry for over 35 years. Buzz is a founding member of 10K Lakes Capital (2020) and SightLine Partners (2004). He led the effort to establish Sightline as an independent firm in 2004 by acquiring the healthcare venture capital operations from Piper Jaffray Companies. In 2008, Buzz led Sightline’s strategy pivot to focus on secondary transactions across multiple healthcare segments and the team has successfully raised six dedicated secondary funds. Prior to SightLine, Buzz established Piper Jaffray’s dedicated venture investing in 1992, serving as President and Managing Director of Piper Jaffray Ventures from 1992-2004. In 1986, he founded and the co-headed Piper Jaffray’s healthcare-focused investment banking activities for six years. Buzz has been actively involved in a broad range of transactions for healthcare companies including mergers and acquisitions, corporate partner agreements, public offerings, and private placements of equity and debt.
Maria Berkman, MD, Director & Head of MedTech, Broadview Ventures
Maria Berkman, MD, MBA, is a Director, and 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 due diligence, negotiation of deal structure, portfolio company board involvement, and overall portfolio strategy. 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, where she specialized in life sciences with a focus on corporate, franchise, and asset-level commercial strategy and competitive strategic planning for BioPharma and MedTech clients. Prior to joining Monitor Group, Maria trained within the Partners HealthCare System at Newton Wellesley Hospital in General Surgery. 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 VC Mentor for the UCLA Biodesign Fellowship, Life Science Committee member at the Boston Museum of Science, member of the AdvaMed MedTech Investment Working Group, and Co-Chair of the NEVCA MedTech Academy; Maria previously served as an 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.
Joe Biller, Managing Partner, American Century Private Investments
Joe is a Managing Partner at 3x5 Partners, a venture capital firm that collaborates with passionate entrepreneurs who are developing solutions in response to global healthcare and climate needs. Previously, Joe was a Managing Director at SightLine Partners, where he helped raise $250M+ over 15 years to invest in the healthcare sector. During his tenure at Sightline, Joe served on numerous boards and completed transactions in over 50 companies with his partners. He began his career at Bremer Asset Management and is based in the Twin Cities.
Raymond W. Cohen, CEO, Axonics, Inc.
Raymond W. Cohen is an accredited public company director and currently serves as the CEO and member of the board of directors of Axonics, Inc., (Nasdaq: AXNX) a medical device company focused on the treatment of bladder and bowel disorders. In January 2024, Axonics agreed to be acquired by Boston Scientific Corp for $3.7 billion. In January 2024, Cohen was named the Businessperson of the Year in Orange County, CA’s health industry by the OC Business Journal. In 2023, in only its fourth year of commercial activity in the US, Axonics generated $366 million in revenue at a 75% gross margin and generated nearly $50 million in positive adjusted EBITDA. November 2021, Axonics was ranked on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 listing at the #1 fastest growing company in North America based on growth of 87,000+ percent from 2017 to 2020. In December 2021, Mr. Cohen received a lifetime achievement award from SoCal Bio for his four decades of work in medical technology. In October 2020, Cohen was named as Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young for the Southwest US. Cohen also currently serves as Chairman of privately held BiVACOR, Inc., a company developing a total artificial heart. For 15 years until mid-2021, Cohen served as Chairman of BioLife Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq: BLFS). Previously, Cohen served on the boards of Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: SPPI), Zurich-based LifeWatch (LIFE.SW) which was acquired by BioTelemetry (Nasdaq: BEAT) and privately held Syncroness, Inc. sold to ALTEN Group, a French multi-billion-dollar engineering services company From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Cohen served as the CEO of Vessix Vascular, Inc., which was acquired by Boston Scientific Corp. in late 2012. Prior, Cohen was CEO of Nasdaq-listed, Cardiac Science, Inc., ranked by Deloitte as the 4th fastest growing company in North America in 2004. In his career, Mr. Cohen has been directly responsible for raising approx. $2 billion in capital. Mr. Cohen holds a B.S. in Business Management from Binghamton University in NY.
Andy Danielsen, Chair, Mayo Clinic Ventures
Andrew J. Danielsen serves as chair of Mayo Clinic Ventures in the Department of Business Development at Mayo Clinic, where he oversees the licensing, technology development, venture investment and business development functions. Collectively, these groups work to identify, develop and commercialize Mayo Clinic intellectual property. These activities generated over $100 million in revenue for Mayo Clinic in 2020. Prior to joining Mayo Clinic Ventures in 2002, Mr. Danielsen conducted research at Mayo Clinic where he worked to identify therapeutic targets in breast and ovarian cancer. Mr. Danielsen serves on several committees throughout Mayo Clinic, including the Executive Subcommittee of the Medical-Industry Relations Committee. He is also a member of multiple groups responsible for funding innovative new technologies or startup companies, including the Mayo Clinic Venture Fund Investment Committee, the Discovery Translation Program, and the Department of Business Development Investment Committee. Mr. Danielsen received his B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and his M.S. in molecular biology from Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Mark Domyahn, Partner, JD Lymon
With more than 25 years of experience in the health care industry, Mark helps JD LYMON clients seeking expertise in medical technology, provider reimbursement and health economics. Prior to joining JD LYMON, Mark founded Pursuance Consulting, a reimbursement and health economics consulting practice developing successful reimbursement strategies and implementation plans for medical device, pharmaceutical, and biologics companies, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Mark has also served in market access leadership positions at Medtronic, Restore Medical, CardioMEMS and Zimmer, where he formulated and executed reimbursement and health economic strategies for multiple therapy areas, including heart failure, cardiology, neuromodulation, orthopedics, and sleep disorders. Mark holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Minnesota State University-Moorhead. He is a frequent presenter regarding reimbursement and health economic strategy and implications across the United States.
Nathan Downing, Sr Attorney, Gardner Law
Nathan focuses his practice on FDA-regulated clients. His industry experience allows him to provide actionable legal advice on a variety of health law matters.
Nathan regularly advises FDA-regulated clients on regulatory and compliance matters. He advises clients on their advertising and promotion programs, represents clients in front of the FDA on a variety of matters, and assesses industry initiatives for compliance concerns. Nathan’s extensive regulatory experience allows him to advise clients regarding a variety of medical products, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical foods, and nutritional supplements.
James Eadie, MD, Managing Director, Sante Ventures
James joined Santï Ventures in 2009 and is an emergency medicine physician. Prior to joining Santï, James served in the Air Force and was Vice-Chair of Emergency Medicine at Wilford Hall Medical Center, an academic level-one trauma center. He completed two tours in Iraq as a Critical Care Transport Team Chief and Emergency Department Commander, before separating honorably as a Major in 2008. James is an Oversight Committee member for the University of Michigan’s Michigan Translational Research & Commercialization program, an early-stage granting body for life science companies. He is also a Mentor in the Coulter Program at Michigan and a Board Member of the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care. James is board-certified in emergency medicine and completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He earned his MD from the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST), his MBA from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and his BS in bioengineering from the University of Michigan.
Christopher E. Eso, Vice President, Global Head of Corporate and Business Development, M&A and Ventures, Medtronic
Chris Eso currently is Vice President, Global Head of Corporate and Business Development & Ventures for Medtronic. Chris joined Medtronic in 2011 and has held numerous business development, M&A and strategy positions of increasing responsibility and scope over his tenure at Medtronic in both the businesses and corporate functions, including most recently Vice President of Business Development & Strategy for the Cardiovascular Portfolio. Chris brings more than 25 years of successful professional business and general management experience within the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries, in addition to Medtronic, including Allergan, Watson Pharmaceuticals, Agilent Technologies, and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, as well as he started his career at the Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA). Most of his experience is in a business/corporate development and strategy capacity where he has led and closed more than 60 transactions with consideration of approximately $16 billion, as well as general management capacity running a $50 million dollar revenue-generating contract biologic manufacturing wholly-owned subsidiary of a publicly-traded company. Chris holds an MBA from Concordia University, Irvine and BA in Public Relations, Communications from California State University, Fullerton.
Jan Garfinkle, Managing Partner, Arboretum Ventures
Jan founded Arboretum Ventures on the premise that innovation is key to delivering value in healthcare, a principle she developed working in the medical device industry for over two decades. Her investments focus on promising medical technologies that enable meaningful healthcare system savings while maintain great clinical outcomes. Jan has led and held board seats in more than a dozen investments across five funds including notable exits with HandyLab, Esperion (Nasdaq: ESPR), CardioMEMS, nVision, NxThera and NeuMoDx. Prior to co-founding Arboretum, Jan spent 20 years in entrepreneurial healthcare companies. She was previously President & Founder of Strategic Marketing Consultants advising healthcare start-ups and major medical device companies. Jan also held key management roles in marketing, clinical research, and sales for two successful medical device start-ups, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems and Devices for Vascular Intervention. Each of these companies was acquired by Eli Lilly and became the foundation for Guidant Corporation. Earlier in her career, Jan was an engineer and product manager for Procter & Gamble. Jan served on the National Venture Capital Association’s Board of Directors from 2015-2020 and in her last year, was the Board Chair. During her term as Chair, she prioritized VC industry diversity initiatives and was instrumental in driving small business access to CARES Act financial assistance programs early in the COVID pandemic. Jan was awarded the Leadership Award for the USA Top Women Dealmaker (2021), was selected to the MichBusiness Women Leaders Hall of Fame (2020), as one of Crain’s Most Influential Women (2016), and as Crain’s Newsmaker of the Year (2015). She earned a BS in Bioengineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Margot Goodkin, Chief Medical Officer, SpyGlass Pharma
how less Dr. Goodkin is a biopharmaceutical industry veteran with experience throughout the ophthalmic development space. She completed her residency training at the University of Pennsylvania’s Scheie Eye Institute, followed by a glaucoma fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Prior to joining industry, Dr. Goodkin was a Medical Officer in the Division of Ophthalmic, Neurological and ENT Devices at the US FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health, covering clinical trials of ophthalmic lasers and minimally invasive implants for management of glaucoma (MIGS). Dr. Goodkin joined Allergan (subsequently acquired by AbbVie) in 2010, where she served in leadership roles on several successful clinical programs and a number of corporate initiative teams as an Executive Director of Clinical Development. She was a key member of the team that developed Durysta®, the first intracameral sustained-release therapy approved in the US to lower IOP in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension. Dr. Goodkin remains involved academically as an active member of clinical and scientific research societies, and applies her breadth of experience outside of SpyGlass as a member of the Research Committee of the Glaucoma Research Foundation and the Executive Board of the KCNT1 Epilepsy Foundation.
Christopher Kaster, Managing Partner, Cadence Healthcare Ventures
Chris has been actively investing in healthcare since 2000. He specializes in healthcare investments in the medical device, health technology, diagnostics and services sectors. During his investment career, he has served on over forty-five boards of directors and has overseen the deployment of $970 million in equity capital in healthcare companies during that time. Prior to the development of Cadence Healthcare Ventures, Chris was the Founder and CEO of Alhambra Medical, Inc. and 33 BioMedical, Inc. These companies were established to develop products in the peripheral vascular and interventional oncology space. Prior to this, Chris was recruited to establish Boston Scientific Ventures, which he led from January 2012 to September of 2019. During this period, Chris led financings in forty-five companies from seed to commercial stage opportunities and deployed $780 million. Previously, Chris was a General Partner at Medventure Associates from 2003 to 2012. In addition, Chris was previously a Senior Research Analyst with WR Hambrecht + Co., covering the medical device and diagnostic sectors, previously coming from Piper Jaffray.
David Kereiakes, Managing Partner, Windham Venture Partners
David joined Windham Venture Partners in 2023 as a Managing Partner helping to oversee all aspects of the fund. Most recently, David served as a Partner with Providence Ventures where he was actively involved in driving new strategic growth initiatives for Providence, helping to shape the future of one of America's largest comprehensive health care organizations.
Over his career, he has led or co-led investments in leading medical device and digital health technologies including Bolder Surgical (acquired), Veran Medical (acquired), TissueTech (acquired), Advanced Practice Strategies (acquired), SurgiQuest (acquiredby), TailorMed, MacroHealth, OrthAlign, and NICO Corporation. Additionally, David currently or previously served on the Board of Directors of TailorMed, DexCare, Wildflower Health, Veran Medical, and AVIA Health.
Patrice Kloss, JD, Partner, Fox Rothschild LLP
Patrice is Co-Chair of Fox Rothschild’s national Medical Technology practice group and serves as Administrative Partner for the Corporate Department in Minneapolis. She advises medical technology companies, digital health care companies, other emerging businesses and venture capital investors in a broad range of commercial and financing matters, including venture capital, financings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, venture debt and credit facilities, and securities compliance. Patrice also guides lenders in commercial loan transactions, including $100 million+ loan facilities, and advises clients on equity financing structures and clinical trial agreements. She frequently counsels boards of directors on fiduciary duties and corporate governance obligations. Prior to joining Fox Rothschild, Patrice was a partner at Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP, where she served as Co-Chair of the firm's MedTech Practice Group and a member of the firm's Policy Committee. Patrice coordinates a weekly lunch service volunteer program involving personnel from the Minneapolis office at Exodus Residence, a short-term living facility for homeless people. She earned her JD at William Mitchell College of Law and a BA from the University of Minnesota.
Garheng Kong, Founder & Managing Partner, HealthQuest Capital
A physician, scientist, and engineer by training, Garheng has over two decades of experience investing in innovative companies in all areas of healthcare and has led over 33 companies to successful exits (IPO and M&A). Garheng is the Founder and Managing Partner of HealthQuest Capital, a private asset firm that provides growth capital to transformative companies that are improving value in the healthcare system. Prior to founding HealthQuest, Garheng was a General Partner at Intersouth Partners and Sofinnova Investments, and has also spent time at GlaxoSmithKline and McKinsey, and as a CEO of two healthcare companies. In addition to serving on numerous boards as an investor, Garheng also serves as the Lead Independent Director of LabCorp (LH), and serves on the board of Xeris Biopharma (XERS), Be The Match, Duke University Medical Center, Dell Children’s Foundation, UT President’s Commercial Advisory Board, and the Austin Healthcare Council. He is an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow, Kauffman Fellows Mentor, and member of YPO/Tiger21/R360. Garheng received undergraduate degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Biological Sciences from Stanford, while on an athletic scholarship, and earned MD, PhD, and MBA degrees from Duke University.
Michael Kujak, President & CEO, Francis Medical
Mike brings over 35 years of broad and strategic healthcare leadership experience in medical devices, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, clinical research, and payer economics. He currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Francis Medical, a start-up medical device company developing water vapor technology for treating prostate cancer. Before Francis Medical, Mike was the Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of International for NxThera, a start-up medical device company purchased by Boston Scientific in 2018. He has also served as Vice President and General Manager of the Prostate Health business unit of American Medical Systems, which developed and commercialized medical device solutions to treat BPH, prostate cancer and stone disease. Mike has been involved with over four strategic exits over his career. Mike received his MBA from the OPUS College of Business, University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Science in physics and chemistry from the University of South Dakota.
Ron Li, Medical Director for Digital Health, Stanford Health Care Clinical Associate Professor of medicine, Stanford school of Medicine
Ron Li is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine and Center for Biomedical Informatics Research at Stanford University School of Medicine. As the Medical Informatics Director for Digital Health at Stanford Health Care, he provides medical and informatics direction for the health system's enterprise digital health portfolio, including expanding digital referral networks and virtual care modalities. He is the co-founder and Director for the Stanford Emerging Applications Lab (SEAL), which helps clinicians and staff build ideas into novel digital products that are prototyped and tested for care delivery at Stanford Health Care.
Shaye Mandle, Exec Director, AdvaMed Digital Health Tech, AdvaMed
Shaye Mandle serves as the Executive Director of the AdvaMed Digital Health Tech. Shaye is an accomplished corporate, association, and government executive with more than 25 years of experience in innovation sectors and public policy, including healthcare, technology, entrepreneurship, national defense, and economic development. Shaye has served on multiple Boards and advisory committees, including major research universities and public sector appointments.
For the past 12 years, Shaye has served as a healthcare association executive, including advocacy for medical technology, biotechnology, and digital health organizations. Shaye has served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and as President & Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Alley Association (MAA). Shaye has also served as the Chair of the State Medtech Alliance (SMTA) for AdvaMed.
Ashley McEvoy, Former EVP, Worldwide Chair of MedTech, Johnson & Johnson
Ashley McEvoy is a top Fortune 50 executive and board member with nearly three decades’ experience creating transformational change in health care. She is highly regarded for her track record of driving growth and innovation across Johnson & Johnson and leading many of its most important businesses, as well as her visionary, human centric leadership and passion for improving patient lives. As the former Executive Vice President and Worldwide Chairman of Johnson & Johnson’s MedTech division, Ashley led an organization with 60,000 global employees and revenue of more than $30 billion in 2023. During her five-year tenure, Ashley orchestrated a remarkable turnaround of the MedTech business, increasing revenue growth fivefold from 1.5% in 2018 to 7.8% in 2023. She executed a targeted business transformation strategy to strengthen the portfolio, leading the deployment of $22 billion in capital to push into higher growth markets such as heart failure, vision, and robotics, and increasing investment in R&D, doubling the value of the new product pipeline. As a direct result of her vision and leadership, 50% of the MedTech portfolio is now projected to be in higher-growth markets, compared with 20% in 2018. Prior to leading MedTech, Ashley served as Johnson & Johnson’s Group Chairman, Consumer Medical Devices; Group Chairman, Vision Care; Worldwide President, Ethicon Products; President, McNeil Consumer Healthcare; and held a number of management, marketing and brand management roles in OTC and other consumer health care. Ashley currently serves on the Board of Directors of Procter & Gamble as well as the Board of Trustees for the internationally renowned Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She has been named to several prestigious lists including FORTUNE’s “Future Fortune 500 CEOs,” Forbes’ inaugural “CEO NEXT” list, and in 2019 was named to FORTUNE’S Most Powerful Women list. A Philadelphia native and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Ashley is a mother of five children and one Siberian husky and enjoys staying active with family, friends, and colleagues.
Aabed Meer, MD, Partner, Questa Capital
Aabed Meer, MD is a Partner at Questa Capital focused on growth-stage healthcare technology, healthcare services, and medical device investments. His investments include, Epic Systems, Altruista Health (acquired by Blackstone), HealthPlan Services (acquired by Wipro), Performance Health (acquired by Patterson Medical), AAI Pharma (acquired by CML/Alcami), and Breg. Previously, he was a Director and member of the founding team at Martis Capital, where he focused on private equity investments in the healthcare sector. Prior to that, he was with Capricorn Investment Group and New Enterprise Associates. Early in his career, he contributed to the Human Genome Project, an international research effort led by the National Institutes of Health. He also worked on health economics and policy matters at Kaiser Permanente and the U.K.’s National Health Service. He graduated from Harvard University with an AB in Biochemical Sciences, and from Stanford University with an MD and MBA. He completed his medical residency training at Stanford University and continues to serve as a Clinical Assistant Professor.
Geoffrey Pardo, General Partner, Gilde Healthcare
Geoff Pardo joined Gilde Healthcare in 2011 as a Partner working out of the office in Boston/Cambridge, MA and is focusing on Gilde’s investments in North America. He led the investments in Inari Medical (NASDAQ: NARI), Axonics Modulation Technologies (NASDAQ: AXNX), Eargo (NASDAQ: EAR), CVRx, Ablative Solutions, Vesper Medical, InovaLabs (acquired by ResMed), BionX (acquired by Ottobock) and Vapotherm (NYSE: VAPO) and represents or has represented Gilde as a member of the board of directors for each company. Previously, he was a Partner at Spray Venture Partners where he led investments into Interlace Medical (sold to Hologic), Solace Therapeutics, TearScience (sold to J&J) and Cascade Ophthalmics. He served on the board of Solace, TearScience and Cascade, and was actively involved in Interlace and Conventus Orthopedics. Geoff also served as President & CEO of Facet Solutions, a spinal implant company focused on treating lumbar spinal stenosis until the company was sold to Globus Medical in 2011. He has also worked at Cardinal Partners as an Associate leading their investing activity in the medical device sector. Geoff began his career in medical devices as a product manager with Synthes USA, and he has a BA with honors in History from Brown University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He is a US citizen based in Gilde Healthcare’s Cambridge, MA office.
J.P. Peltier, Managing Director, Global Head, Healthcare Investment Banking, Piper Sandler
J.P. Peltier is a managing director and head of healthcare investment banking at Piper Sandler. Peltier has more than 25 years of healthcare investment banking experience at Piper Sandler. He leads a global team of more than 130 healthcare investment banking professionals in offices across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Peltier has extensive experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, public and private equity options, and other strategic alternatives. Peltier’s prior experience includes five years at HomeServices of America, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, where he served as vice president of corporate development and president of the mortgage banking division. Peltier graduated from the University of St. Thomas and received a Master of Business Administration degree from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Jeff Peters, Venture Partner, Healthcare, OrbiMed Advisors LLC
Jeff joined OrbiMed as a Venture Partner in 2018 and currently serves as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of evanesce Medical. Jeff has over 25 years of medical device experience with executive and strategic roles in companies including Cardialen, ev3 (now Medtronic), Anulex, and Boston Scientific; and financial investment and analysis roles at Black River Asset Management, Foundation Medical, and Dain Rauscher Wessels. Jeff received his B.S. and M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota.
Mario Prohasky, Director, Baker Tilly
Mario is an experienced risk management professional and advisory services leader focused on the unique challenges of the life sciences industry. His experience has a strong emphasis on the global risk, compliance and commercial operations challenges of the life sciences industry. Prior to joining Baker Tilly in 2022, Mario held several positions supporting the industry including EMEA compliance consulting practice leader at a global life sciences focused advisory firm in London, and senior manager at a boutique life sciences advisory firm in New York.
Mario’s experience includes assessing, designing, implementing and operating solutions designed to mitigate various risks spanning legal, healthcare compliance, commercial operations as well as broader strategic risks. Leveraging his global experience, Mario advises clients to ensure that compliance and broader enterprise risks management enables the effective implementation of commercial objectives. |
Stacey Pugh, CEO, Endogenex
Stacey Pugh is the Chief Commercial Officer at Butterfly Network. As a leader in Medical Technology, she has more than 20 years of experience in medical device research, development and commercialization. Stacey joined Butterfly in 2021 and will lead the company in the planning, organization, and implementation of all sales and marketing activities. Prior to Butterfly, Stacey was President of Medtronic’s Neurovascular Operating Unit, where she provided overall global strategic leadership, guided marketing and business development and was responsible for revenue growth. Prior to this role, Stacey was Vice President and General Manager of Neurovascular & Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) businesses and was responsible for leading the company’s European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) business programs and developing trade strategies to support the global revenue and market share growth of Medtronic Neurovascular products. In addition, Stacey held various leadership roles in Covidien’s Neurovascular division as Vice President of Global Medical Affairs where she provided strategic direction for all medical affairs activities and executed strategic market access plans. As a registered nurse, Stacey spent the early years of her career in research, critical care and trauma nursing, and nursing education.
Sam Roosz, CEO, Crescendo Health
Sam Roosz is co-founder and CEO of Crescendo Health, a healthcare technology company focused on bridging the gap between clinical research and clinical care. This is achieved through providing researchers with access to comprehensive and longitudinal data from study participants' routine care. Sam previously co-founded Datavant, the leading provider of de-identification and linking solutions for health data. Sam received a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard and holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Paul Rothermel, Sr. Attorney, Gardner Law
Paul’s practice is focused on interpreting and applying privacy and cybersecurity laws, regulations, and standards, as well as general health care compliance matters. He gives clients confidence through his practical experience and deep knowledge of privacy laws including HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, among other state and federal laws.
Paul advises clients routinely on data privacy, technology, and cybersecurity issues impacting device and drug manufacturers. He is experienced in counseling on innovative health care technologies, clinical research, cybersecurity, contracting, and third-party risk management. He works regularly with clients to assess and implement privacy and data protection programs. Paul is also deployed as a contracted privacy and data protection officer for a variety of clients.
Renee C Ryan, Independent Director, Audit Committee, RefleXion Medical
Renee Ryan has 25 years of building category-creating healthcare companies. Prior to joining Cala as CEO in August 2019, she led the health technology investments for Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC) on the West Coast and Asia Pacific for 8 years. While at J&J, she made over 15 new investments, including the Series A for Cala Health. Previously, she was a healthcare investment banker at RW Baird, Jefferies and Goldman Sachs. Renee currently sits on the boards of Cala, Neuropace and RefleXion Medical.
Rick Sanghera, President & CEO, AtaCor Medical
Rick has spent over 25 years within the cardiac rhythm management industry, with roles at Guidant Corporation, Cameron Health, Boston Scientific, and now, AtaCor Medical-including 10 years dedicated to the development of the world's first subcutaneous implantable defibrillator system (S-ICD). His experience includes positions within R&D as well as field-based roles, creating a foundation that gives him a keen ability to develop novel products that simplify the user experience and improve outcomes for patients. As the CEO of AtaCor Medical, Rick is driving the company to become the leader in extravascular pacing and defibrillation technology. He has proven leadership in research and engineering, a history of cultivating worldwide physician-industry collaborations, and holds over 75 patents in the cardiac rhythm management field. Rick earned a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington and holds an MBA from Oxford.
David Schummers, CEO, Apella
David Schummers is the co-founder and CEO of Apella, a technology company for better surgery. He started his healthcare career over 20 years ago as a journalist and transitioned to equity research, covering emerging and large cap medical technology companies. After leaving Wall Street, David joined Kyphon at the time of the IPO and held senior roles in finance, operations and marketing through the company's sale to Medtronic. Most recently, David joined Auris Health in 2014 as the company's first commercial executive and helped lead the company from an early start up to the sale to Johnson and Johnson in 2019.
Zack Scott, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
Zack Scott is a General Partner at Norwest Venture Partners in the Healthcare Group where he focuses on investment opportunities in medical devices, diagnostics, life science tools, and health tech. Norwest is currently investing out of Norwest Venture Partners XVI, a $3.0 billion fund. Zack currently serves on the board of directors at Setpoint Medical, Vertos Medical, and Cytovale. Prior to joining Norwest, Zack was the co-founder and managing partner of Revelation Partners, a dedicated secondary investor specializing in shareholder liquidity and growth capital for healthcare companies. During his time at Revelation Partners, he made notable investments in Credscendo Biosciences (acquired by Myriad), Progyny (IPO), Omada Health, iRhythm Technologies (IPO), Pulmonx (IPO), Neuropace (IPO), and Respicardia (acquired by Zoll Medical). Before working in private equity, Zack was a General Surgery resident at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. He earned his M.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio where he was a member of the AOA Medical Honors Society, and subsequently earned an M.B.A. with a specialized certificate in Health Sector Management from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University where he was a Fuqua Scholar.
Murthy Simhambhatla, PhD, CEO, SetPoint Medical
Murthy Simhambhatla is President & CEO of SetPoint medical, a clinical stage company focused on chronic autoimmune diseases. The company is developing a novel neuroimmunomodulation platform to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis with potentially less risk and lower cost than drug therapies. Murthy joined SetPoint Medical from Evolus, a medical aesthetics company, which he led towards an IPO in 2018. Prior to Evolus, Murthy was Senior Vice President at Abbott Laboratories and President of Abbott Medical Optics (AMO), a $1B-plus global ophthalmic business focused on cataract and refractive surgery. Prior to AMO, Murthy led the Ibis Biosciences molecular diagnostics business at Abbott. Murthy joined Abbott through the acquisition of Guidant’s vascular business, where he led the development of the Xience Drug Eluting Stent.
Amrinder Singh, Partner, Vensana Capital
Amrinder Singh is a Partner at Vensana Capital and joined the firm in 2021. Amrinder has nearly two decades of medtech operating and investing experience, ranging from engineering, corporate strategy, and venture capital investing. Prior to Vensana Capital, Amrinder was a Senior Investment Director at Medtronic Ventures where he supported new investments in the medtech and digital health spaces, providing operational and board management support to portfolio companies. Prior to his investment career, Amrinder led Business Development & Strategy for Medtronic’s care management services, helping to shape the vision for Medtronic's value-based healthcare strategy. Amrinder started his career at Medtronic within the Corporate Strategy group. Before joining Medtronic, Amrinder held product management and engineering positions at Thoratec Corporation. Amrinder graduated from University of California, Davis in Biosystems Engineering and earned his MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.
Kari Snaza, Co-Founder and President, Oasis Health Partners
Kari Severson Snaza is Co-Founder and President of Oasis Health Partners. Oasis is creating the leading value-based care solution for seniors in rural America, with a mission to build healthier communities by advancing primary care. Kari serves on the board of directors for U.S. Anesthesia Partners (USAP) and Spire Health. She previously served as Chief Strategy Officer of Mayo Clinic. In this role, Kari worked closely with executive leadership and the board to develop corporate vision in support of Mayo Clinic’s Bold. Forward. 2030 strategic plan. Prior to Mayo Clinic, Kari spent 15 years with UnitedHealth Group in leadership roles across the Optum and UnitedHealthcare businesses. Key highlights include establishing OptumCare’s integrated care delivery platform, overseeing UnitedHealthcare Community and State’s strategy and dual eligible special needs (DSNP) product, and leading UnitedHealth Group Global’s corporate strategy and development agenda. An entrepreneur at heart, Kari’s professional experience also includes founding a social wellness start up, Walkway, serving as an advisor to early-stage ventures, and various healthcare consulting engagements. Kari received her Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and her M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. She is also a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.
Khaldoun Tarakji, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, VP Clinical Research and Medical Science, Cardiac Ablation Solutions, Medtronic
Khaldoun Tarakji, MD, MPH, is the Chief Medical Officer, VP Clinical Research and Medical Science of the Cardiac Ablation Solutions (CAS) Operating Unit (OU) at Medtronic. In this role, Dr. Tarakji is helping CAS remain patient-focused as they continue to expand and develop. Before joining the Medtronic team, Khaldoun was the Associate Section Head of Cardiac Electrophysiology in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute; at Cleveland Clinic. He was also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University and the Director of the Center for International Medical Education at the Cleveland Clinic. Khaldoun received his M.D. from Damascus University. He then completed both his medicine residency and fellowships in cardiovascular medicine and electrophysiology at the Cleveland Clinic. He received his Master’s in Public Health (MPH) degree from Cleveland State University. Throughout his career at Cleveland Clinic, Khaldoun has received several awards including the Irving Dawson Award for Clinical Excellence, and the Sones Favaloro Innovation Award. Khaldoun is a member of the American College of Cardiology, the Heart Rhythm Society, and the Honor Society for Collegiate Schools of Business. He has served as a member of the Heart Rhythm Society Reimbursement and Regulatory Affairs and was the Vice Chair of Heart Rhythm Society Health Policy Committee. He also served as a Board Member and Specialty Director for Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Board of Directors.
Kwame Ulmer, Managing Partner, MedTech Impact Partners; former FDA Branch Chief and Deputy Director
Kwame Ulmer is the Managing Partner at MedTech Impact Partners-A Regulatory Strategy Consulting Firm. Kwame brings over two decades of experience evaluating medical technologies in the government and private sector, and serving in senior operating roles at medical device companies to help companies successfully engage the FDA. He has personally evaluated more than 1,000 medical technologies in his career. Kwame spent 12 years at the FDA in progressive leadership roles. He also served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Implant Direct, a Danaher Corporation operating company. He is also 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 sits on the board and advises several privately held medtech companies. Kwame serves on the boards of Essenvia Inc. and Strados Labs. Kwame is a board member of the Lincoln University Foundation, University of Virginia Licensing and Ventures Group, and 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.
Lisa Wipperman-Heine, Board Director and Medtech Executive
Lisa Wipperman Heine currently serves on the Board of Directors for several public, private equity, and early-stage, VC-backed medtech/biotech companies. In addition, she has held executive leadership roles in both large medtech companies as well as venture-backed start-ups. Most recently, Lisa was President and Chief Executive Officer at preCARDIA, Inc., an early-stage, heart failure-focused medtech company which was acquired by Abiomed, Inc., in 2021. Ms. Heine also previously served in multiple leadership roles at ev3 and Covidien, Inc., including Global Vice President of Medical Affairs for Vascular Therapies. During her tenure at Covidien, she helped drive the strategy in support of a $1.7B business and was also responsible for leading the strategy and operations of Clinical Affairs, Healthcare Economics, Policy and Reimbursement, and Medical Education functions. Lisa’s current roles include serving as an independent director for Surmodics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX), Miromatrix (NASDAQ: MIRO) and Gradient Denervation Technologies. She also previously served on the board of Natus Medical (NASDAQ: NTUS) which was acquired by the Archimed Group in 2022.
Sarah Worrell, CEO, Melodi Health
Sarah is the founder and CEO of Melodi Health, a women’s health focused medical device company partnered with Medtronic to address profound unmet needs for women experiencing breast cancer and related surgical complications. Prior to Melodi, Sarah was a consultant to large multi-national companies helping to develop their R&D pipelines through immersive ethnographic and preclinical research. She began her career in medical device product development at Guidant in 2003 after receiving her degree in Chemical Engineering and Polymer Science from the University of Minnesota and has experienced all aspects of product development throughout her career from concept generation to post-market monitoring. She is passionate about applying her technical degree to practical health issues, particularly in women’s health.
Cynthia Yee, Partner, Vensana Capital
Cynthia Yee is a Partner at Vensana Capital. Cynthia brings nearly two decades of investing, operating, and public equities experience to Vensana. Cynthia currently serves on the board of directors of SpyGlass Pharma and Evident Vascular. Prior to joining Vensana, Cynthia served as a Principal at Windham Venture Partners, where she led the firm’s investments for multiple companies that have been acquired, including Cartiva Medical, ClarVista Medical, Personal Genome Diagnostics and VytronUS, as well as NeuSpera Medical. She was previously an investor at NEA working across its medtech and healthcare services practice and at Epix Therapeutics and medtech incubator D3DC working in business development and strategic marketing. Cynthia began her career in public equities, covering medical devices at Piper Jaffray and biotechnology at Pacific Growth Equities.
Darshana Zaveri, Founder and Managing Partner, Catalyst Health Ventures
Darshana is a Founder and Managing Partner of Catalyst Health Ventures (CHV). She is actively involved in all aspects of fund management including investments and capital raising and has led several investments in the medical device, women’s health and diagnostics markets. She led CHV’s investments in Augmenix (acquired by Boston Scientific), nVision Medical (acquired by Boston Scientific), Maxwell Health (acquired by SunLife), Aria CV, PanTher Therapeutics, AtaCor Medical, Instylla, Avive and Rejoni. She currently (or previously) represents CHV on the Boards of all companies. Prior to joining CHV in 2007, Darshana was an Investigator at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and an integral part of drug development programs in oncology, metabolic disease, and immunology. Previously she worked at Genome Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company and at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and completed an internship at the United Nations. She has authored several publications and scientific journal articles. Darshana currently serves as an advisor of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT, (a foundation that helps MIT students and faculty commercialize breakthrough technologies and inventions), as a Board Director of The New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA) and as a lead advisor to the Portfolia FemTech fund (an investment fund designed for women). Darshana received an M.P.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University, and a B.S. in Biochemistry from Bombay University in Bombay, India.
