AJ Ajetunmobi

Director of Venture Development
Pioneer Group

Ayokunmi Ajetunmobi (AJ) oversees venture programmes at Pioneer Group, which brings together life science domain expertise, seasoned executive talent, venture capital, and lab infrastructure to help founders fund and scale breakthrough life sciences startups. He leads a team that has supported over 100 companies in raising over £350m in funding to date. This track record has led to strategic partnerships with universities, public funding agencies, and large corporates.  AJ was previously Head of Sequencing Services at Desktop Genetics, a venture-backed genomics startup, enabling the development of novel therapies. Desktop Genetics was backed by several investors including Illumina Inc and was acquired in 2018. AJ holds a PhD in Clinical Medicine from Trinity College Dublin.

Bassil Akra

CEO
AKRA TEAM GmbH

Dr. Bassil Akra is CEO and Owner of AKRA TEAM, a globally acting consultancy company from Germany. Dr. Akra was the Vice President of Strategic Business Development at the Global Medical Health Services of TÜV SÜD Product Service GmbH. He has vast experience in leadership, business management, research, development, quality management, and regulatory approval of medical devices, combination devices, and ATMP Products. Dr. Akra played an essential role during the implementation of the medical device regulation in Europe. He was also involved in the drafting of several European guidance documents (e.g. MEDDEV, MDCG, etc.) and International Standards. He spent the last years of his career at TÜV SÜD training and educating various stakeholders on EU Legislations (e.g. MDD/AIMDD, MDR and IVDR), supporting their implementation towards achieving relevant designation ensuring continuity of the healthcare system in the interest of patient populations.

Susana Amorim

Investment Manager - Healthtech Venture & Growth
Gilde Healthcare

Susana Amorim joined Gilde in 2021 and focuses on the Healthtech sector. She is involved in deal sourcing, investment diligence, and portfolio management.

Prior to joining Gilde, Susana was a Biodesign Innovation fellow at Stanford University, a program that trains a select group of innovators to identify healthcare needs, invent new technologies, and implement products into patient care. Before this, Susana was also selected to participate in the MIT-Harvard Medical School Healthcare Innovation Bootcamp where she helped create a healthcare venture to improve mental health.

Susana began her career in structural heart, working as an Engineer and subsequently Project Manager at Xeltis, a clinical-stage start-up creating novel cardiovascular devices through regenerative medicine. She then worked as a Project Manager at Biotronik where she was responsible for and led the development of a new generation transcatheter aortic valve.

Susana has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Minho/University of Groningen. She also has a certification in project management (PMP) from the Project Management Institute.

She is a Portuguese citizen based in Gilde’s US office.

Jeanne Bolger

Venture Partner
Seroba

Jeanne Bolger, MB BCh BAO, is a Venture Partner with Seroba.

Jeanne has over 35 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in management roles across R&D, Commercial and Business Development (BD) and Venture Investments.  She spent 11 years in Licensing and Acquisition (L&A), including Global Head of Scientific Licensing for Johnson & Johnson’s Pharmaceutical business, and before that as Director in the Business Development group at GlaxoSmithKline.

Jeanne spent nearly 10 years (2012-2022) as Vice President Venture Investment in J&J’s corporate venture fund, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC. During that period, she was based in London, leading investments across Europe in start-up and early stage life science companies in areas of strategic interest to J&J’s business sectors in Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology, Medical Devices and Consumer.  She represented JJDC on the Board of Directors of over a dozen companies, including Aelix Therapeutics, Asceneuron SA, Aviado Bio, Biocartis, Calypso Biotech, Inivata, Merus, Pulmocide, S-Biomedic, Syndesi, T-Rex.  Dr Bolger also represented JJDC’s LP investments in multiple Venture Capital Funds in UK and Europe as well as representing J&J’s interests in other funding vehicles including incubators and accelerators.

Jeanne received her medical degree from University College Dublin.  She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Ireland (RAMI).  Dr Bolger has served as the sole pharma industry representative on two Irish government taskforces seeking to enhance the commercialization of IP from Irish academic centres.  She is a visiting lecturer on the MSc Pharmaceutical Medicine at Trinity College Dublin.  Jeanne sits on the Industry Advisory Board of CURAM, the SFI-funded Centre of Excellence charged with designing the next generation of smart medical devices, and on the Advisory Group of the National Health Innovation Hub which focuses on digital innovation in healthcare. She is on the Advisory Board of the Sir Francis Crick Translational Fund (UK), Chair of Board of Directors at Exevir SA (Private, Belgium) and Non-executive Director at Life Healthcare Group Holdings (JSE:LHC).

Franz Bozsak

CEO
Sensome

Franz Bozsak obtained his Ph.D. from Ecole polytechnique in Biomedical engineering and is a graduate of the Stanford Ignite-X business program. He has brought together a world-class team of scientists, engineers and doctors, renowned experts in their respective fields, to help him realize his vision of innovative connected medical devices.

Eamon Brady

CEO
WhiteSwell (former Neuravi)

Eamon Brady is the CEO of WhiteSwell, leading the charge to develop an innovative new therapy for Acute Decompensated Heart Failure by drawing upon the tissue drainage power of the body’s own lymphatic system. He honed his experience in science-driven device development as founder and CEO of Neuravi, where he built a company which treated over 5,000 acute ischemic stroke patients before it was acquired by Johnson and Johnson. He was also a founding member and head of R&D at MedNova Ltd, a company that pioneered carotid stenting and was acquired by Abbott Vascular. Eamon is passionate about bringing medical therapies to market that impact patients with poor prognostic outlook and he sees team building and technological innovation as critical to better patient outcomes. When he isn’t encouraging his team to challenge themselves to continuously improve, Eamon relaxes by working the land in his home near Galway.

Chris Burge

Co-Founder & CEO
Spark Crowdfunding

Coming soon.

Chuck Carignan

Executive Chairman
CAIRDAC

Charles S. Carignan is the Executive Chairman of Cairdac and of Samantree Medical. He was previously the CEO of SoniVie, CEO of Rex BionX (now Chairman of the Max Rex Joint Venture in China) the President and CEO of BionX Medical Technology (sold to Ottobock), founding President and CEO of NinePoint Medical, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Novasys Medical, Inc. (sold to Roper), Chief Medical Officer at Boston Scientific, and Vice President of clinical research and medical affairs at Conceptus (sold to Bayer). He is currently a Director on the boards of Biothea and Neurofenix.

Lisa Carmel

Executive Vice President, Strategic Partnerships
Veranex

As Executive Vice President, Global Strategic Partnerships, Lisa Carmel leverages her global product commercialization experience to help forge long-term collaborations with a core focus on Veranex’s strategic partners and their portfolio management.

Lisa has 25+ years of healthcare product commercialization with companies in the U.S., Europe, and China, with a special emphasis on MedTech innovation. As an active member of the MedTech and investor communities, Lisa is an advisor to many startups and accelerators including CLSI’s FAST program, MedTech Innovator, and UCSF Health Hub. She also serves as an advisor to the Cleveland Clinic MedTech Advisory Board, the Mayo Clinic’s Executive Steering Committee for the Surgical Innovation Summit, UCLA Biodesign, UCLA’s Technology Ventures Group Advisory Board, and RedCrow Angel Investor platform. Lisa serves on the Board of Directors for MarinHealth system, a partner of UCSF and is Co-Chair of MedtechWomen’s Annual MedTech Vision Conference in 2021-22. Lisa has a keen interest in the latest MedTech innovation trends and authors Veranex’s MedTech Pioneers blog, which spotlights MedTech leadership and their groundbreaking work.

Mike Carusi

General Partner
Lightstone Ventures

Mike Carusi is a General Partner and Team Leader of Lightstone Ventures (LSV) and focuses on investments in the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors. He is based in the firm’s Menlo Park, CA office, where he also serves as a General Partner at Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV). His representative investments include Allay Therapeutics, Altura Medical (acquired by Lombard), Ardian (acquired by Medtronic), Cala Health, EndoGastric Solutions, Gynesonics, MediSix Therapeutics, MicroVention (acquired by Terumo), Nuvaira, Plexxikon (acquired by Daiichi Sankyo), PowerVision (acquired by Alcon), Second Genome, Shoulder Innovations, Tallac Therapeutics, and Willow.

Featured on the Forbes Midas List of top technology and life science investors, Mike is a recognized thought leader in the industry and a frequent speaker at healthcare conferences. He serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. In addition, Mike has been heavily involved with several programs at Stanford University including the Stanford Biodesign Program and, more recently, the Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Research and Education (Spectrum). Lastly, Mike served as a Director on the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Board of Directors and remains active in helping to shape policy affecting both innovation and healthcare.

Earlier in his career, Mike served as a Director of Business Development for Inhale Therapeutic Systems (now Nektar Therapeutics, NASDAQ: NKTR), a venture-backed pulmonary drug delivery company that went public in 1994. At Inhale, Mike led partnering activities with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Mike also was a Principal at The Wilkerson Group, a leading management consulting firm focused exclusively on healthcare. At The Wilkerson Group, Mike helped establish the firm’s offices in London and San Francisco.

David Cassak

Co-Editor-in-Chief
MedTech Strategist

David Cassak has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Cassak co-founded Windhover Information Inc., along with his partner, Roger Longman, in which they spun out exceptional publications such as IN VIVO, START-UP, Medtech Insight, Emerging Medical Ventures and The RPM Report. Cassak also served as Vice President, Content, and Managing Director, Medical Devices for Elsevier Business Intelligence, a Reed Elsevier Company, including the publications The Gray Sheet and The Pink Sheet.  He is a frequent speaker before various companies and trade groups within the medical device industry and is widely known for his vast knowledge and reporting in MedTech.

Barbara Castellano

Partner
Panakes Partners

At Panakes since 2016, Barbara Castellano brings a specific expertise in cardiovascular sector as well as a broad knowledge of the medical device sector, acquired as former Director of Clinical Affairs, Certifications, Registrations and Quality Assurance at CID SpA (now Alvimedica) and as former Director of Business Development & Global Marketing Director for the Heart Valves Business Unit at Sorin (now Livanova). She was also founder and CEO of Techwald SPA, an operational Holding Company supporting and investing in early stage Med Tech Companies.

Evan Castiglia

Partner
Thuja Capital

Evan Castiglia joined Thuja Capital as an investment director and partner in early 2023.  Prior to that, he was Partner and Head of European Investments for Philips Ventures, the corporate venture capital group of Philips.  During his tenure, Evan led and managed numerous investments across healthcare sectors, including medical device and digital health, and across investment stages from early to growth.  Before joining Philips Ventures, Evan was the Chief Business Officer of the U.S.-based venture backed precision biology company, RareCyte, which he helped lead from product concept to international commercialization.  Evan holds an M.B.A with Distinction from the University of Oxford.

Andrew Cleeland

CEO
Fogarty Innovation

Andrew Cleeland is a seasoned executive with over 30 years experience in the medical device industry. During this time, he has held key leadership positions in organizations ranging from early-stage startups to large multinationals. In joining Fogarty Innovation he further broadens this range of experience to include managing a nonprofit. The versatility required to be effective across such diverse groups is rare and is a testament to Andrew’s strong leadership skills.

A native Australian who grew up in a suburb of Melbourne, Andrew’s leadership capabilities became evident at an early age. Raised by a single parent, Andrew was forced to grow up quickly and play a supportive role for his mother and brother. These early experiences were formative in shaping the person Andrew would become and the things he would inevitably accomplish.

Andrew’s values and life philosophy were also greatly influenced by sport. His natural athleticism and leadership propelled him into many team captain roles and ultimately competing in Australian Rules Football at a semi-professional level. If you’ve never seen this sport played, do so. It won’t take long to recognize the toughness, teamwork and grit the sport demands, all traits which Andrew continues to bring to every position he holds.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Andrew began his medtech career working for the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. This provided an invaluable introduction to the industry along with an appreciation for the challenges regulators face when balancing innovation with protecting public health. Several years into this role, serendipity presented him with a unique opportunity to work for a company based in the United States. Although he had never lived outside Australia, he saw it as a great opportunity and moved alone to Denver, Colorado, to work for Telectronics. He probably didn’t realize it at the time, but this move exemplifies a classic element of Andrew’s personal and professional mindset: think big, set audacious goals and act boldly. At the time, Andrew expected this to be a two-year position. Thirty years later, he’s still in the U.S., setting and achieving big goals.

Andrew’s rapid career advancement during this timeframe has been impressive. After Telectronics, he accepted a management role at Baxter Healthcare’s Novacor division, and later as vice president of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Bay Area startup company Radiant Medical. Following this, he was CEO of Ardian, which pioneered the use of renal denervation to treat hypertension. Ardian was acquired by Medtronic in 2011 in a transaction valued at over $1.3B which, at the time, was the largest medical device acquisition ever for a pre-revenue medical device company.

Whenever a first time CEO has such a wildly successful exit, the market often wonders: Is the person really that good or were they just lucky? Andrew quickly answered that question by taking the role of CEO at Twelve, a startup in the transcatheter mitral valve space. Several years after his joining, this company was also acquired by Medtronic in a transaction valued at $458M. Back to back successes at such large valuations answered the question – it wasn’t just luck.

Propelled by these successes, Andrew has become a key figure in the medical device community. His leadership, experience and insights have led many organizations to seek his involvement. He currently serves on the board of three venture-funded companies — Saluda Medical, Zenflow, Inc. (chairman) and MMI S.p.A. (chairman). He also holds advisory positions at two top-tier venture capital firms: Longitude Capital and Arboretum Ventures. At a global industry level, he has been invited to serve on multiple initiatives including the UCSF-Stanford Pediatric Device Consortium; the Medical Device Innovation Consortium; and the Singapore government’s Biomedical Research Council (BMRC).

Passionate about healthcare, Andrew is a champion of innovators and innovation in the medtech field. His commitment to mentoring and education is rooted in his passion for helping patients and being a catalyst for positive change. This purpose and drive is captured in one of his favorite quotes, by Mahatma Gandhi: “A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”

“Working at Fogarty Innovation gives me the ability to positively influence the medtech ecosystem and give back in a meaningful and effective way,” summarizes Andrew. “To have worked with such amazing teammates on such impactful programs has allowed me to do something BOTH meaningful and enjoyable…I love the challenge.”

Andrew has received numerous awards and honors and is a frequent invited lecturer at major industry conferences and leading academic institutions. Andrew holds a BS in biophysics from the Swinburne Institute of Technology.

Elizabeth Comen, MD

Breast Oncologist
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

I am a medical oncologist with expertise in treating all stages of breast cancer in people of all ages, including young women who have unique concerns about fertility.

Over the years, I have learned how terrifying a breast cancer diagnosis can be for my patients and their families. My practice is focused on providing personalized, compassionate care that is based on the most up-to-date research, diagnostic tools, and therapies. My patients, along with a team of experts from many different departments across Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), are my most important partners in developing treatment plans.

Since college, I have never wavered in my choice of becoming a breast medical oncologist. A volunteer opportunity at a hospital boutique helping women with wigs and breast prostheses taught me that a patient’s experience with breast cancer encompasses so much more than just the biology of the disease. At the same time, some of my family members were affected by cancer, and I was fortunate to be exposed to leaders in the field. These experiences led me to work in a lab, where I studied the estrogen receptor. I was — and continue to be — fascinated by the science and ever-changing advances of breast cancer.

My research focuses on improving how we identify, prevent, and treat breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. I work to understand the environment in which cancer grows and how the immune system can play an important role in cancer development. I am also leading a clinical trial aimed at mobilizing the immune system to attack cancer early on in a patient’s diagnosis.

When patients first meet with me, they often feel as though the rug has been pulled right out from under them. One of the first things I ask is what they are most afraid of. Everyone is unique in their fears, so addressing those fears as well as needs and treatment goals helps us work together to create the most effective care plan.

At the end of each appointment, I hope each patient feels that they have been heard, understands their diagnosis, and is confident in the treatment plan we’ve created together. I also want them to know that they are not alone — we are here to help.

Beyond clinical care, I am passionate about communicating essential medical and scientific information to the public, particularly as it relates to women’s healthcare and wellness. I also have had the privilege of mentoring countless students throughout their academic and medical careers.

Outside of work, I love spending time with my husband and three young children. I also enjoy exercise such as running, yoga, dancing — you name it, I’ve tried it!

Inga Deakin

Principal
Molten

Inga Deakin has experience investing in life science and digital health companies emerging from top UK universities. She spent some time in the US, gaining international industry and healthcare experience, as Chief of Staff in a commercial stage genetic molecular diagnostics company, and as Entrepreneur in Residence at Duke University. Her scientific training includes a DPhil and MSc in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford, and a BA from the University of Cambridge.

Janke Dittmer

Partner
Gilde Healthcare

Janke Dittmer joined Gilde in 2011 as a Partner. He led Gilde’s investment in Definiens (acquired by AZ), Sapiens (acquired by Medtronic), Volta Medical, Big Health, FIRE1, Lumeon and Nyxoah (IPO on NASDAQ) and was involved in several other investments including Spire Health, Withings, NightBalance and Stat Dx. He currently represents Gilde on the board of Volta Medical, Big Health, FIRE1 and Lumeon. He served on the supervisory board of Definiens and Sapiens until trade sale and as Vice-chairman of Nyxoah until NASDAQ IPO.

Prior to joining, he was a Venture General Manager and Head of Business Development & Strategy within Philips’ Corporate Venturing unit in Healthcare. On top of shaping the strategy, he was responsible for selecting new investment opportunities. He also started and lead two ventures in the fields of cardiology and sepsis.

He served as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company advising leading High Tech companies on strategies for growth and strategic marketing.

Prior to this, he cofounded a Nanotech company in the Silicon Valley after serving as a Fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. He earned a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge in the UK and was a Post-Doc in Nanotechnology at the University of California, Berkeley.

He is a founder and former healthcare chairman of the International Venture Club, serves on the VC council of Invest Europe and has advised the European Commission on innovation policy.

He is a German citizen based in Gilde’s Utrecht office. At Gilde Healthcare he is focusing on Digital and Home Health, MedTech, Diagnostics and Lifescience Tools investments.

Tonya Dowd

EVP, Reimbursement, Value Generation, and Market Access
PRIA Healthcare

Tonya Dowd is an accomplished and respected leader in the fields of healthcare economics, reimbursement, and market access.  With over twenty-five years of experience and expertise in the healthcare arena, she possesses a global understanding of healthcare payment and delivery system ecosystems for new and emerging technologies.  She currently holds the position of Executive Vice President at PRIA Healthcare where she’s a member of the leadership team and head of the Reimbursement, Value Generation and Market Access (RVMA) services. 

Prior to joining PRIA, Tonya held leadership and consultant positions within prominent organizations, including Johnson & Johnson, Quorum Consulting (now Guidehouse) and MCRA, and is recognized as a strategic consultant with an understanding of what it takes to successfully establish market access and adoption for new and innovative medical technologies. 

Throughout her career, Tonya has consulted with several new medical technologies including implantable devices, digital health, diagnostics, DME and molecular diagnostics, across multiple disease areas, including cardiovascular, neurology, electrophysiology, urology, gastroenterology, gynecology, otolaryngology, general and bariatric surgery, orthopedics, spine and pain management. 

Her leadership and innovative reimbursement solutions has contributed to the establishment of new payment and coding methods, positive coverage and trusted advisor relationships with multiple stakeholders, including MedTech investors, payer partnerships and specialty societies fostering access and the adoption of new technologies within multiple countries.  Tonya played a significant role in the broad market adoption of bariatric surgery, pioneering reimbursement pathways and patient access through collaborations with Johnson & Johnson government affairs, specialty societies, health technology assessments and third-party payer organizations.

Tonya is strategic, practical, and opportunistic in her approach to reimbursement and market access. With an expertise and knowledge of global macro healthcare policy trends and direct experience in tactical execution of successful market access and reimbursement strategies, her understanding of how policy is translated into practice sets her apart as a unique and innovative leader in the reimbursement field. Tonya holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in Health Policy and a Master of Public Health and Global Healthcare from the University of California Los Angeles and is frequently invited as a guest speaker on market access and reimbursement issues.  Tonya serves as a judge and value framework coordinator for MedTech Innovator and is an invited guest speaker with multiple organizations.

Chris Eso

Vice President, Global Head Corporate and Business Development & 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.

David Filmore

Executive Editor
Market Pathways

David Filmore has been covering the medical technology sector as a writer and editor for about 20 years, previously serving as the executive editor/editor-in-chief of industry-leading publications The Gray Sheet and Medtech Insight. He specializes in the regulatory and reimbursement dynamics that impact device and diagnostics companies' ability to succeed in the marketplace. Earlier in his career, David was an editor with the American Chemical Society, producing content for professionals in the pharmaceutical industry and analytical instrumentation space, and he has also worked in the pharmaceutical industry.

Manuela Finger

Partner
Addleshaw Goddard

Manuela Finger specializes in intellectual property, information technology and commercial matters. Her practice includes contentious and non-contentious work for international and national clients from various industries, such as technology, information and communication technologies, entertainment, life sciences, automotive, fashion and retail.

She advises on the whole range of intellectual property, from clearance and strategy through to enforcement and litigation as well as commercial matters. She has a special focus on the digital media and online area, including interactive entertainment, video games, online platforms, data protection law, protection of minors, regulatory matters, E-commerce and broadcasting.

Manuela has more than 15 years of experience in advising clients on the multi-jurisdictional rollout of new products and the market entry in Germany.

Before joining Addleshaw Goddard, Manuela was with a major international law firm and served as office managing partner of an international law firm. 

Manuela has constantly been recognised in top legal rankings, including IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property, and has been listed regularly by Best Lawyers in the categories Information Technology Law and Media & Copyright Law. WTR 1000 praised her as "a poised IP litigator and thorough and clear adviser with an intuitive grasp of online issues and especially social media-related matters."

Jennifer Fitzgerald

Chief Experience Officer
Deciphex

Jennifer Fitzgerald is a Senior Project and Operations Manager with over 12 years experience in research team management including academic research and University lecturing. Produced numerous peer-reviewed research articles and books. Experienced & tactical project and resource manager, practiced in managing collaborative EU projects, and data management for clinical AI model development.

Peter Fitzgerald

Professor of Medicine and Engineering Director, Center for Cardiovascular Innovation
Stanford University Medical Center

Dr. Peter Fitzgerald is the Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Technology and Director of the Cardiovascular Core Analysis Laboratory (CCAL) at Stanford University Medical School. He is an Interventional Cardiologist and has a PhD in Engineering. He is Professor in both the Departments of Medicine and Engineering (by courtesy) at Stanford. Presently, Dr. Fitzgerald’s laboratory includes 17 postdoctoral fellows and graduate engineering students focusing on state-of-the-art technologies in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has led or participated in over 175 clinical trials, published over 550 manuscripts/chapters, and lectures worldwide. He has trained over 150 post-docs in Engineering and Medicine in the past decade. In addition, he heads the Stanford/Asia MedTech innovation program.
Dr. Fitzgerald has been principle/founder of twenty-one medical device companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has transitioned fourteen of these start-ups to large medical device companies. He serves on several boards of directors, advised dozens of medical device startups as well as multinational healthcare companies in the design and development of new diagnostic and therapeutic devices in the cardiovascular arena. In 2001, Peter was on the founding team of LVP Capital, a venture firm, focused on medical device and biotechnology start-ups in San Francisco. In 2009, he co-founded TriVentures, which is an incubator/venture fund for early stage medical technology in Israel.

Arthur Franken

Partner
Gilde Healthcare

Arthur Franken joined Gilde in 2001 and was part of the founding team of Gilde Healthcare. He is focusing on venture and growth capital investments in the biopharm, medtech, diagnostics and digital health sectors. He led the investments in Breath Therapeutics (acquired by Zambon), Conatus Pharmaceuticals (IPO on NASDAQ), FlowCardia (acquired by C. R. Bard), Levicept, Moximed, MTM Laboratories (acquired by Roche), Noema Pharma, ProQR Therapeutics (IPO on NASDAQ), SpliceBio and STAT-Dx (acquired by QIAGEN). He has been involved in numerous investments and divestments including Ablynx (IPO on Euronext, acquired by Sanofi-Aventis), Agendia, Amphista Therapeutics, Axonics (IPO on NASDAQ), Calypso Biotech, Eargo (IPO on NASDAQ), uniQure (IPO on NASDAQ), BG Medicine (IPO on NASDAQ), CVRx (IPO on NASDAQ), FIRE1 and Pieris (IPO on NASDAQ).

He represents Gilde on the boards of Calypso, Levicept, Moximed, Noema Pharma and SpliceBio and served as a board member for Breath Therapeutics, FlowCardia, MTM Laboratories, ProQR Therapeutics and STAT-Dx until the trade sales or IPO.

Prior to joining Gilde he was active in cardiovascular research at the Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research and TNO. He holds a master’s degree in Biopharmaceutical Sciences from Leiden University, the Netherlands. He is a Dutch national.

Caroline Gaynor

Partner
Lightstone Ventures

Caroline Gaynor is a Partner of Lightstone Ventures and focuses on new investments in the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors out of the firm’s Dublin office.. She currently serves as a board director for Catamaran Bio, Parvalis Therapeutics, ProVerum, Carrick Therapeutics and FIRE-1 and as board observer for Volta Medical and Cerevance. She also previously served on the board of ALX Oncology. She is a council member of the Irish Venture Capital Association and a member of the BioInnovate Ireland Board of advisors.

Caroline joined Lightstone Ventures in 2017, bringing 15 years’ operational experience in the pharmaceutical industry and early stage medtech companies.  Caroline spent 9 years at Bayer Healthcare, most recently serving on the board of senior management of Bayer Ltd. Ireland as head of market access, pricing and reimbursement. During her time in pharma she held a number of operational roles, predominantly focused on oncology, such as product management, strategic marketing, business development and regulatory/clinical affairs. Prior to Lightstone, and following completion of her BioInnovate fellowship in 2013, she co-led R&D on a device targeting Acute Pancreatitis and was subsequently involved in early pre-clinical, strategic clinical and commercial development at Vetex Medical.

In 2002 She received her degree in Pharmacy from Trinity College Dublin and subsequently went on to receive an M.Sc in Pharmaceutical Medicine in 2010.

Virginia Giddings

Vice President Exploration
Edwards Lifesciences

Virginia Giddings is Vice President of Exploration at Edwards Lifesciences, where she advances breakthrough innovation for structural heart disease patients by building external partnerships globally. Virginia has a track record of delivering innovation to patients, with roles spanning medical device, pharmaceutical and nutrition businesses. Throughout her career, Virginia has focused on advancing breakthrough innovation, with R&D, Program Management, and Business Development leadership roles at Stryker, Abbott, and Johnson & Johnson. She serves on the Cornell Engineering Council, the President’s Council of Cornell Women, and chairs the Cornell Biomedical Engineering Advisory Council. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and the Industry Council Chair on the Board of Directors. Virginia is a co-founder of the MedtechVision Conference, now held annually in Silicon Valley. She holds B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

Hanson Gifford

Partner
Lightstone Ventures

Hanson Gifford is a Partner of LSV. He assists the LSV medical device team with deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio company management. He has served in this role since November 2013.

Hanson is also a Managing Partner at The Foundry, LLC, a medical device company incubator and a preferred partner to LSV. Since its inception in 1998, Hanson has led The Foundry in all of its activities. These include the invention, identification and development of new technologies, the formation, financing, and staffing of over twenty new companies, and ongoing support of these new ventures as a board member. Success stories include Evalve (acquired by Abbott), Concentric (acquired by Stryker), Ardian (acquired by Medtronic), Twelve (acquired by Medtronic). At ForSight Labs, an Ophthalmology-focused incubator started by Hanson, Eugene de Juan, MD, and K. Angela Macfarlane, successes include Transcend Medical (acquired by Alcon), Forsight Newco 2 (acquired by QLT), Forsight Vision 4 (acquired by Genentech/Roche), and Forsight Vision 5 (acquired by Allergan).

Prior to The Foundry, Hanson was Vice President of Research and Development at Heartport, Inc., which had a successful IPO in 1996. From 1993-1998, he built and led a 62-person team at Heartport developing a wide variety of novel devices and procedures for minimally invasive cardiac surgery. In 1992-1993, Hanson co-founded and served as Managing Director of Bavaria Medizin Technologie, GmbH in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 1991, Hanson co-founded and served as President of Cardiovascular Therapeutic Technologies (acquired by Eli Lilly). From 1985-1990, Hanson worked at Devices for Vascular Intervention (acquired by Eli Lilly) in various engineering, clinical research and marketing capacities. Before joining DVI, Hanson worked in engineering roles at Oximetrix and General Dynamics.

Hanson is a named inventor on over 370 issued US patents. Hanson is a Director of FIRE1, Contego, Reprieve Cardiovascular, Half Moon Medical, Tangible Science, Apreo Health, and Mavericks Endo.

Paul Gilson

Entrepreneur and Angel Investor

A Medical Device entrepreneur. Raised >€150 million of VC and Corporate funds in UK, US, EU and Ireland. He is currently CTO at Veryan Medical, an Imperial College spinout acquired by Otsuka in 2018, developing next generation SFA stenting products.

In addition, Paul co-founded Novate Medical, was CEO initially, then CSO. Novate developed an innovative IVC Filter which was FDA 510k cleared and CE marked. The Company was acquired in 2018 by BTG and in turn by BSCI in 2019.

Previously, he was a co-founder and General Manager of MedNova and was responsible for the development of novel stroke treatment technologies. The Company was acquired by Abbott Laboratories in 2007.

More recently, he was Chairman of Embo Medical a spinout from the NUIG/Stanford Bio-Innovate Program which was acquired by C.R. BARD in 2015.

Paul has invested in several Medtech startups including a number of BioInnovate spinout companies. and holds Board positions with Proverum Medical, KITE Medical, Bluedrop Medical, Selio Medical, InVera Medical and Ostoform.

Prior to his experience in start-up companies he held several senior roles in Operations, Product Development and R&D. He was Director of R&D for Bard Cardiology where he led the development of numerous cardiovascular devices. Paul has extensive experience in licensing and IP portfolio management and is the holder of more than 60 US patents for bio-materials, surgical and cardiovascular products.

Paul has been appointed Adjunct Professor in the School of Science and Engineering at the University of Galway.

Paul Grand

Founder & CEO
MedTech Innovator

Paul Grand 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.

James Greene

CEO
MedLumics

James Greene serves as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors for MedLumics bringing 30 years of extensive operational experience in medical device design, development, and commercialization.

Prior to joining MedLumics, Jim served as Partner in Seroba Life Sciences Limited, a Dublin based venture capital firm. Jim is a serial entrepreneur founding multiple medical device start-ups in the cardiovascular field serving as CEO of Verso Technologies, Inc., Apica Cardiovascular Ltd., Advanced Medical Technologies, Inc. (APK), and MitralSolutions, Inc. Earlier in his career, Jim held Director level positions at global medical device companies such as Medtronic, AVE, and Guidant.

Conor Hanley

President & CEO
FIRE1

Conor Hanley is CEO of FIRE1. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, FIRE1 is a connected medical device solutions company dedicated to improving outcomes for people suffering with chronic diseases. Its first product is a novel remote monitoring solution to improve outcomes for Heart Failure patients. FIRE1 originated from The Foundry in Menlo Park with investors including Medtronic, NEA, Lightstone Ventures, GILDE, GIMV and Seventure.

Conor Hanley previously worked with ResMed where he has held a number of senior management positions including leading up Chronic Disease management solutions globally, the global Cardiology business unit and the Ventures and Initiatives global business unit for corporate investments and accelerating new businesses.

Prior to ResMed, Conor was CEO and Co-Founder of BiancaMed, which was acquired by ResMed in 2011. BiancaMed grew as a spin out from University College Dublin and commercialized a novel, non-contact method to provide connected health solutions for wellness and medical applications. Over 7 years, he led a team that grew the company through three rounds of venture funding from top-tier international venture funds, launching products in Japan and USA (selling in major retailers, including the Apple store) and building the supply chain with mass production in China.

Conor was awarded a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from INSEAD and a BEng from University College Dublin. Conor has completed the Leadership4Growth program at Stanford University and is a qualified Chartered Director from the Institute of Directors, UK.

Jamie Harris

Senior Manager, Regulatory Affairs
ICON

Jamie Harris, MPH, has over 25 years of experience in the Biotechnology and Medical Device industries. She held positions in Quality Assurance focused on compliance and GMP training and has spent the past thirteen years in Regulatory Affairs working with a variety of class I, II, and III devices. Jamie specializes in change management, interfacing with global regulatory agencies, and supporting internal and external audit programs. Prior to joining ICON, she worked with several industry leaders including Genentech, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic. Jamie holds a BA in Organizational Communication and a Master of Public Health. She is Regulatory Affairs Certified (RAC) and a current member of Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS) and the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Gerard Hascoet

Venture Partner
Sofinnova Partners

Gérard is a serial entrepreneur in the Medical Devices field.

In the 1980s, he founded Technomed International, a company developing noninvasive therapeutic technologies dedicated to urology. He grew the company to its IPO with 50 million euros in sales and significant profitability.

In the 90s, he founded 2 companies: IMMI, which developed image-guided robotic systems for neurosurgery, and SOMETEC, a maker of noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring systems for anesthesiology and intensive care. Both companies were acquired by U.S.-based companies, ISS and ARROW International respectively.

From 2008 to 2010 he turned around Spine Vision, a developer and manufacturer of spinal implants, as its CEO.

In 2009 Gerard cofounded MD Start, a European incubator for innovative MedTech companies, which created 8 companies. The idea was, he said, “to bridge this gap from the idea of the inventor to possible financing by VCs.”

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Gérard began his career with Thomson Group, where he held various management positions in the MedTech branch for over 15 years.

Gérard is an engineer from E.C.E. Paris. He is Executive Chairman of MD Start II, Chairman of CorWave, Chairman of Moon Surgical, Chairman of HEPTA Medical and sits on the Board of Directors of LimFlow, Pixium Vision and Altamir.

Miao He

Senior Investment Associate
Hadean Ventures

Miao is a scientist by training and has worked in the life sciences industry for a decade in venture capital, startups and R&D. Previously she was an Associate at Luminous Ventures, a UK-based venture capital firm focusing on healthcare and other innovative technologies. Miao has worked as a Bioinformatics Scientist at Illumina, where she developed new algorithms for precision oncology applications and collaborated with Genomics England on the 100,000 Genomes Project in the UK. Miao has also worked in early-stage venture investing in Israel and has carried out consulting work for Cancer Research UK and healthcare startups.

Miao holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from London Business School. She has published 18 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Nature Genetics and PNAS.

Fabienne Hirigoyenberry-Lanson

Senior Consultant
HTI Healthcare & Technology International

Fabienne Hirigoyenberry-Lanson is a PhD in Biology who has more than 30 years of experience in the medical device arena. She spent the last 16 years in radiation oncology, leading the global medical and scientific department for a significant radiotherapy corporation. She developed long lasting academic key opinion leaders’ relationships, managed clinical collaborations to sustain market needs, designed scientific programs to support the business in different markets in the world and managed the scientific communication program. Fabienne spent the first 17 years of her career, managing international clinical investigations on medical devices for pre- and post-market approval in contract research organizations.

Fabienne is an open-minded enthusiastic consultant with a sounded experience in clinical research and medical & scientific affairs. On the strength of this experience, she works with our clients as a senior consultant in medical and scientific affairs and as an interim manager.

Navin Kapur, MD

Tufts Medical Center

Dr. Kapur is a dual, board-certified Interventional Cardiologist and Advanced Heart Failure/Cardiac Transplant specialist. He is Director of the Acute Circulatory Support Program and Associate Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Tufts Medical Center. His clinical expertise focuses on invasive hemodynamics, mechanical circulatory support, and interventional therapies for patients with advanced heart failure. He serves on several national committees involved with the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, the Heart Failure Society of America, and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions.

As Director of the Interventional Research Laboratories at Tufts Medical , Dr. Kapur’s translational research focuses on large animal models of acute and chronic heart failure, circulatory support device development, and cardioprotective mechanisms in the setting of acute myocardial infarction. His recent work has focused on the hypothesis that mechanically unloading the heart and delaying coronary reperfusion limits infarct size. This concept known as the 'mechanical conditioning hypothesis' has the potential to alter the paradigm of acute heart attack therapy and reduce the burden of ischemic heart failure.

As Director of the Cardiac Biology Research Center within the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center, Dr. Kapur’s basic science laboratory focuses on molecular mechanisms governing maladaptive cardiac remodeling in heart failure. His particular expertise involves signaling via the transforming growth factor beta (TGFb) system. Over the past 6 years, the laboratory has published several critical papers focused on a TGFb co-receptor known as endoglin and was the first to establish that reduced endoglin activity improves survival and limits maladaptive cardiac remodeling in heart failure. More recently, the laboratory has demonstrated that targeting endoglin using an antibody-mediated approach not only limits the development of cardiac fibrosis, but can reverse established cardiac fibrosis in preclinical models of heart failure. Dr. Kapur is the recipient of grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, and several industry sponsors.

Jennifer Kozak

Vice President, Business Development
Johnson & Johnson

As Vice President of Business Development, Jennifer Kozak directs corporate initiatives including strategic, investment, and portfolio decisions for Johnson & Johnson MedTech, a $30B+ organization focused on developing and delivering medical technologies that help save lives, change the course of disease, and restore health.

During her nearly-30 year tenure at Johnson & Johnson, Jennifer has executed more than $8 billion in transactions across the MedTech landscape, including cardiovascular, general surgery, digital surgery, and other areas. She has held numerous positions leading business development activities with increasing responsibility for strategic planning and portfolio optimization. Today, Jennifer is a member of the Johnson & Johnson MedTech Leadership Team and oversees all business development activity to drive growth, innovation, competitiveness, and value for Johnson & Johnson MedTech.

Previously, Jennifer led business development activities for Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson New Growth Platforms, where in addition to transactions, she was instrumental in enhancing and implementing a more robust strategic planning and business unit portfolio optimization process. She also developed new external innovation models partnering with Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) to optimize J&J’s equity investment strategy and portfolio. Additionally, Jennifer led broad-based assessments of the MedTech landscape to identify new business opportunities and drive strategies to enter new spaces. She also led a global cross-functional team charged with accelerating the performance of J&J’s acquisitions.

Jennifer began her career at Johnson & Johnson as an engineer at Johnson & Johnson Interventional Systems prior to the merger with Cordis Corporation. While at Cordis, she held various roles in operations, research & development, and new business development.

Jennifer earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University and completed the Smith College Leadership Consortium Executive Education program.

Fionn Lahart

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
LUMA Vision

Coming soon.

Edna Lazar

Senior Director Exploration
Edwards Lifesciences

Coming soon.

Stephen Levin

Co-Editor-in-Chief
Market Pathways

Stephen Levin served as Executive Editor & General Counsel at Windhover Information followed by Editor-in-Chief of Medical Devices for Elsevier Business Intelligence, where he directed the company’s editorial coverage of the medical device industry. Before that, Stephen was Senior Counsel to the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where he directed Senate investigations into a wide variety of areas including health care fraud and abuse, international organized crime, and corruption in federal contracting programs, while also participating in other Senate investigations including the Whitewater inquiry.  Before joining the Subcommittee, he was with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice.

Nancy Lincé

President and CEO
Lincé Consulting

Nancy Lincé has over 30 years of experience in regulatory, clinical and quality affairs spanning a broad range of technologies including innovative medical device, combination and drug delivery products. She has written or overseen over 400 regulatory submissions (PMA, De Novo, 510k, Pre-Sub/IND, IDE, IND, NDA, Design Dossiers/Technical Files, and various global applications), has extensive experience negotiating and interacting with FDA and international regulatory agencies to obtain clinical and marketing clearances/approvals, and has developed and executed regulatory, clinical and quality strategies for a wide range of products, technologies and applications resulting in significant cost savings and decreased time to market. Nancy is the founder and President/CEO of Lincé Consulting, LLC, a consulting organization focused on delivering top quality, responsive regulatory, clinical and quality consulting services to a variety of clients ranging from small start-up companies to large established corporations. Lincé Consulting, LLC is an expanding group of professionals with over 350 years of combined experience working in the field of innovative medical product development, leading and supporting clients in securing regulatory approvals to investigate and market their medical products worldwide in the most efficient manner possible, while maintaining regulatory and quality compliance. 

Olivier Litzka

Partner
Andera Partners

Olivier Litzka is a partner at Andera Partners and a Director of the Board of T-knife. Olivier has a Ph.D. in molecular microbiology from the LMU in Munich. He started his business career in 1998 with Mercer Management Consulting. In 2000, Olivier joined 3i Group plc with a focus on biopharma and medtech investments, first based in Munich, later in 3i’s Paris office. In 2006, Olivier joined as a partner Andera Partners’ BioDiscovery team and contributed to grow the company to one of the leading Life Sciences Venture Capital investors in Europe. Olivier was on the board of multiple companies which got acquired or went public. Currently he is involved in several biotech and medtech startups in Europe and the U.S.

Megan MacDonagh

Vice President
SV Health Investors

Megan MacDonagh joined SV in 2020 and works as a Senior Associate for the Medtech Convergence Fund (MCF), primarily focusing on medtech and digital health investments.

Prior to joining SV, Megan was a Senior Life Sciences Consultant at Charles River Associates in their New York office, where she led strategic projects for top biopharma and medtech clients across a wide range of therapeutic areas.

Before CRA, Megan spent six years at Novate Medical (acquired by BTG) in Galway, Ireland developing novel vascular devices from design to FDA approval. During business school, Megan did an internship with The Foundry and Lightstone Ventures in Menlo Park, where she evaluated device and drug/device combination products.

Outside of SV, Megan is a member of the HBS Healthcare Alumni Association and the New England Venture Network. Although she is not a native of Boston, she is Irish so she feels right at home around these parts.

Academic Credentials
BE, Biomedical Engineering, National University of Ireland, Galway; MBA, Harvard Business School

Peggy Maguire

Director General
European Institute of Women’s Health

Peggy Maguire is a Political Scientist, Trinity College Dublin, and is committed to equitable and gender-sensitive approach in health policy, research, treatment and care. She has been a member of the EU Commission's External Advisory Group on Ageing and Disability, and WHO expert group on gender mainstreaming. Peggy initiated many research projects and publications, including the development of a cancer information site for women and families www.eurohealth.ie. Publications include: Women’s Health in Europe-Facts and Figures across the EU; Reducing Health Inequalities and a series of policy briefs on chronic diseases and health issues affecting women. Peggy's previously worked as Director of Development at the National Maternity Hospital, Dublin and Director of the Research and Education Foundation at the Irish College of General Practitioners. One of her main areas of interest is the reduction of inequalities in health and the promotion of wellbeing and the prevention of disease. Promoting gender equity in biomedical, health  and social research aiming for access to high quality  treatment and health care for all European citizens and the reduction of health inequalities.

Elisabeth Marrache

Partner
Addleshaw Goddard

Elisabeth Marrache is leading the IP/IT and data protection practice at Addleshaw Goddard France. She has an expertise in intellectual property, new technologies and personal data and advises on complex transactions in digital law (IT contracts, outsourcing operations, internet law) as well as in personal data and intellectual property law.

Elisabeth benefits from a wide range of French and international clients and advises companies and start-ups in the healthcare, telecoms, IT, financial institutions, and e-commerce sectors.

Elisabeth is also part of different international committees such as the International Trade mark Association (INTA) or the Trademark and Design Law Practitioners Association (APRAM) and regularly speaks at conferences (AIM Marseille / La Tribune) and training programs on matters relating to new technologies and personal data.

In France, she is co-leading the Addleshaw Goddard accelerator programme for young startups “AG ELEVATE”, advising on IP/IT and data protection matters. And she is involved in some Pro Bono work for several startups belonging to 42 Startup-Up Club (Ecole 42). 

Prior joining AG in May 2022, Elisabeth led her own structure dedicated to intellectual property and information technology since 2013 (Marrache Avocat). Member of the Paris Bar since 2005, with more than eight years of experience in the TMT departments of major Anglo-Saxon law firms, she holds a post-graduate degree (DEA) in communication law from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas.

Niall McEvoy

Venture Partner
Elkstone Partners

Niall McEvoy manages the Venture Investment Team at Elkstone. He formerly led the High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) team at Enterprise Ireland and spent 7 years as a Co-Founder and CEO at his own start-up, Irish Sports tech company Teamer.

Jennifer McMahon

Partner
Seroba

Jennifer McMahon is a Partner at Seroba.  She graduated from UCD with an honours degree in Pharmacology in 2010.  Jennifer then entered a Master’s degree programme in Biotechnology and Business to further her interest in the interface of biomedical science with commercialisation.

Having placed first in her Master’s degree in 2011, Jennifer then joined Seroba’s Investment Team as an Investment Analyst, progressing to Partner in 2022.

In 2019, Jennifer joined the Advisory Board for the European healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.  She is Chair of Level20 Europe and was a founder member of the Ireland Chapter of Level20.  She guest lectures on venture capital at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.  She is also in high demand as a speaker at Investor/Entrepreneur life science partnering conferences across Europe.

Jennifer sits on the boards of Endotronix, Palliare and Deciphex, is a Board Observer to Shorla Pharma and was previously on the Board of Biosensia prior to its merger with Kypha Diagnostics.

Julien Michaux

Managing Director
Norgine Ventures

Coming soon.

Marc-Pierre Moll

CEO
BVMed

Dr. Marc-Pierre Möll has been CEO of the German Medical Technology Association (BVMed) in Berlin and CEO of BVMed-Akademie, BVMed's information and seminar service, since April 2019. In addition, he is a member of the BVMed board. The graduated political scientist has many years of experience in healthcare politics. He headed the division "Government and Parliament" at the Association of Private Health Insurance Funds in Berlin from 2008 until 2019. Prior to that, he had managed two MP's offices as personal assistant in the German Bundestag for 17 years.

Georgina Murphy

Investment Director
Ireland Strategic Investment Fund

Georgina Murphy leads life science investment for the ISIF, covering limited partnership commitments to a portfolio of life science venture funds and direct equity investment, where ISIF seeks to provide patient capital to scaling Irish businesses.

Chris Neil

Partner, MedTech Advantage Fund & Director
Life Science Angels

Chris Neil is an experienced venture & angel investor, senior executive, and start-up advisor. He is Partner and Co-Founder of MedTech Advantage Fund, investing in a broad portfolio of medtech, biotools, and digital health start-ups that have graduated from the MedTech Innovator accelerator program.

In addition, he is an active participant in Life Science Angels as Board Member and Chair of their Device Screening Committee.

Previously he was Senior VP at Maxim Integrated (running their $1B revenue Industrial & Medical Solutions Group) and then as co-creator and Head of Maxim Ventures - investing in medical devices & life sciences.

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 graduated MIT with BSEE and MSEE in 1990.

David O’Flynn

Director, Corporate Finance
Goodbody

David O’Flynn joined Goodbody in 2023 and has over 20 years of corporate finance experience. Previously, he founded EVA Consulting to advise on equity fund raising, strategic advisory, and M&A transactions, principally in the medical device and pharma sectors.  He has advised on multiple venture capital, M&A and licensing transactions across all stages from seed to exit.  Most recently, he was CFO of Rose Pharma Inc., a venture backed drug development company. David holds a degree in biochemistry from Trinity College Dublin, an MBA from Dublin City University, and he is a member of the Institute of Directors. 

Ruben Osnabrugge

Partner
415 Capital

Ruben Osnabrugge, MD PhD, joined 415C in October 2023 where he serves as Partner. Prior to joining 415C, Ruben was an investment manager at EQT Lifesciences (formerly LSP), where he focused on medical devices, digital health and diagnostics. Prior, Ruben led the Value-Based Care strategy for Philips, where he was part of the global Chief Medical Office. He also supported strategic deep dives and due diligence for Philips’s investments. Moreover, he represented Philips at Medtech Europe and led a World Economic Forum project with Intermountain Healthcare and Novartis.

Before, Ruben underwent surgical training in cardio-thoracic surgery with a special interest in interventional cardiology at Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam. As part of this training, he also performed general and vascular surgery and worked at the intensive care. Ruben is a recognized expert in cost-effectiveness and health outcomes research, especially in coronary revascularization and structural heart interventions. He received a Fulbright Scholarship which he spent at the Mid-America Heart Institute in Kansas City to work on pivotal cardiovascular clinical trials. He has (co-)authored >40 articles in top peer-reviewed medical journals including JAMA, European Heart Journal, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, two chapters in the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine and a European clinical guideline. Moreover, he was editorial board member at Eurointervention Journal and faculty at leading interventional cardiology and surgical societies EuroPCR and EACTS, from which he also received a young investigator award.

Ruben holds MD and PhD degrees from Erasmus Medical School in Rotterdam, a MSc in Clinical Research from NIHES and the Harvard School of Public Health, and a BSc in Health Economics from Erasmus School of Economics. Ruben lives in Munich, in his spare time he is an avid cyclist and enjoys family, traveling, good food and photography.

Toon Overbeeke

CEO
Vitestro

Toon Overbeeke is co-founder and CEO of Vitestro. He finished his master’s in mechanical engineering with distinction at Delft University of Technology. Toon worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company in Amsterdam, where he primarily focused on strategy topics and private equity.

Thereafter, he traveled the world on his motorcycle, visiting 30 countries. Upon his return, an acquaintance experienced problems with blood drawing. Toon directly realized that this procedure could be transformed with technology. He teamed up with Brian and together they founded Vitestro in 2017. Toon has led the team from the start.

Antoine Papiernik

Managing Partner & Chairman
Sofinnova Partners

Antoine Papiernik is Chairman and Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, which he joined in 1997.

“Life Sciences investing is not just about recognizing good science,” Papiernik says, “it’s about people — learning how to interact with co-investors, limited partners, and entrepreneurs. Listening, discerning, negotiating, and finding common interests.”

When you find the right people to invest in, he adds, “you can bank on them more often than you can predict how the science is going to turn out.” He looks for entrepreneurs with the nimbleness to adapt, “even if that means making a major shift from where one starts out on the journey.”

Antoine actively invests for our Capital Funds. He has been an initial investor and active board member in a number of public companies, including Actelion, ProQR, Shockwave Medical, NovusPharma (sold to CTI), and Movetis (sold to Shire). Trade sale success stories include CoreValve (sold to Medtronic), Fovea (sold to Sanofi Aventis), Ethical Oncology Science (EOS, sold to Clovis Oncology) and Recor Medical (sold to Otsuka).

He has also invested in and is a board member of private companies Reflexion Medical, Tissium, Pi-Cardia, SafeHeal, Noema Therapeutics, May Health, Highlife and Inspirna (formerly Rgenix).

Antoine has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. He has been selected twice for the Forbes Midas List, an annual ranking recognizing the world’s top venture capital investors. Antoine is one of the few European and life science investors to have appeared on the prestigious list.

Anne Portwich

Partner
EQT Life Sciences

Anne Portwich, PhD has been with EQT Life Sciences since 2001. She is a Partner in EQT’s Amsterdam office. Her prime focus and responsibility within LSP is to invest in private companies. Over the years, she has been responsible for investments in numerous portfolio companies of LSP, such as Sapiens (acquired by Medtronic in 2014), Nexstim (IPO in 2014), and ActoGeniX (acquired by Intrexon in 2015).

When the first LSP Health Economics Fund was launched in 2012, she became part of the investment team managing this fund, leading investments in companies such as ViCentra, MedEye, Vivasure Medical and Neuravi (acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2017). She also played an pivotal role in raising the LSP Health Economics Fund 2 in 2017, the largest European fund dedicated to medical technology with a fund size of € 280 million. Prior to joining EQT, Anne was a Scientist and Project Leader at OctoPlus, a Dutch company offering advanced research services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. She obtained an MSc in biochemistry from the University of Hanover and received her PhD from the Max Planck-Institute of Marine Microbiology in Bremen. Anne lives near Leiden with her husband and son.

Thom Rasche

Partner
Earlybird Venture Capital

Thom Rasche is a Partner at the Health Fund of Earlybird Venture Capital, which invests in early-stage companies across digital health, medical devices, diagnostics, R&D platform technologies, and biopharma. 

Thom is an experienced healthcare executive with both operational and financial expertise, currently serving on the boards of Alesi Surgical and Polares Medical. Prior to joining Earlybird in 2013, he was managing director of Ethicon and VP Europe of Johnson & Johnson. Thom holds a Kaufmann Diploma from the University of Lüneburg.

Thomas Raueiser

Head of Life Sciences & Medtech
NRW.Bank

Thomas Raueiser has more than 15 years of investment experience in the venture capital industry. During this time, h,has accompanied numerous investments to a successful exit and was appointed to the advisory boards of various portfolio companies. He is Deputy Head of NRW.BANK's Life Sciences & Cleantech team and authorised signatory (Prokurist) of Gründerfonds Ruhr. Before joining NRW.BANK, he worked for Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse First Boston in corporate investment banking and private wealth management. Thomas holds a PhD in Equity Syndications from the University of Cologne, a degree in Business Administration from the University of Cologne and a Master's degree in International Management (CEMS MIM) from Copenhagen Business School and Université de Louvain.

Kip Roberts

VP, Business Development & Strategy Neuroscience
Medtronic

Coming soon.

Tony Roe

Quality Management Consultant
TROEMED Ltd

Tony Roe currently works as a self-employed Quality & Regulatory Consultant based in Galway, Ireland, his company TROEMED has been operational since 2023. Based on his 35 plus years of MedTech experience, Tony is now sharing his expertise with several global companies from start-ups to large corporations, supporting them to develop best in class quality systems that best fit their needs to drive growth, and accelerate their product approval pathways. TROEMED focuses on implementing quality & regulatory strategies, quality system upgrades and remediation, organisation re-structuring, due diligence, supplier management, M&A projects.  

Previously, Tony held the position of Division Vice President of Quality at Abbott Laboratories where he headed up the Rapid Diagnostics division for four years during the Covid pandemic. Prior to Abbott, Tony held senior leadership positions in a variety of large US Multinational companies including Johnson and Johnson, Boston Scientific, and Stryker Corporation. During this time Tony had significant interaction with FDA and all the major global regulatory authorities supporting product approvals, product transfers, regulatory inspections, and navigating the business through operations and regulations.

Tony has a passion for quality and enabling companies and individuals to achieve their objectives through the development of robust strategies, capable organisation structures, and effective processes. He is known within the industry to deliver pragmatic solutions to complex compliance issues and empower teams to work collaboratively to problem solve.

Tony holds a B.Sc. in Manufacturing Technology from the University of Limerick and an LL.B Law degree from the University of Galway.

Bruce Rosengard

Vice President and Global Lead for MedTech
Johnson & Johnson External Innovation

Bruce Rosengard is Vice President for MedTech in Johnson & Johnson External Innovation and is the global leader for all aspects of the JJI effort related to medical devices. Bruce is an internationally recognized physician executive with notable achievements in the areas of clinical care delivery, basic and clinical research, medical education, public policy, device development, and organizational innovation within the industry. Bruce joined Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices in 2014, where he served as the Chief Medical Science and Technology Officer. In that role, he recruited a team of surgical scientists, who with partners in the Medical Device franchises executed 27 early-stage deals with J&J’s Innovation Centers (2 onboarded) and 19 equity investments with JJDC (3 onboarded). In addition, Bruce conceived of, built, and launched the Center for Device Innovation in Houston. This was a unique collaboration between Johnson & Johnson and the Texas Medical Center, which provided front-end engineering capabilities for J&J MedTech, leveraging the largest medical complex in the world. Bruce is predominantly focused on the strategic assessment of next generation, disruptive technologies. Most recently, Bruce played a pivotal role in building the strategic case for J&J’s acquisitions of Abiomed and Laminar. Additionally, he is actively involved in J&J’s cross-sector effort in Interventional Oncology, which is focused on anatomically-targeted drug, cell, and gene delivery.

Sylvain Sachot

Partner
Asabys

Partner at Asabys, Sylvain Sachot joined the firm in 2018 from Ysios Capital. At Asabys, Sylvain is involved in the sourcing, execution, and management of our investments in the biopharma and medtech segments. He currently serves on the board of directors of Anaconda and is an observer on the boards of Inbrain Neuroelectronics, SpliceBio and Medlumics.

Alexander Schmitz

Partner
Endeavour Vision

Alexander Schmitz is a Partner at Endeavour Vision, investing in medical technology, digital health and diagnostics companies across multiple therapeutic areas.

Alexander brings more than two decades of business and strategy experience in both medical device and high-technology companies. He currently represents Endeavour Vision on the boards of Kenbi, Lumeon, Nalu, Rapid Micro Biosystems (NASDAQ:RPID), Relievant MedSystems, and VentureMed, and led the firm’s investments in Gynesonics, Nuvaira and V-Wave. He previously served on the boards of VertiFlex (acquired by Boston Scientific in 2019) and EndoStim. He is a member of the steering committee for PCR Innovators’ Day and serves as both a jury member and expert panelist for the Healthtech Summit.

Brian Sheilds

CEO & Co-Founder
Neurent Medical

Brian Shields is the co-founder and CEO of Neurent Medical. Brian spent almost a decade working as a management consultant much of this time spent on the design and commercial rollout of connected health clinical programmes in public and private European health systems and “around the pill” services for the pharmaceutical industry. Brian and David founded Neurent Medical, raising their first capital in 2017. Brian has a PhD in Applied Computing and an MBA.

Catello Somma

Partner
Seroba

Catello Somma is a Partner at Seroba. He has a background in venture capital and clinical development, with a focus on the biotechnology and medical device industries.

Catello graduated in 2007 summa cum laude from the University of Naples Federico II and in 2014 completed an MBA at POLIMI Graduate School of Management.

Prior to joining the firm in 2024, Catello was at TVM Capital (Munich), involved across different strategies for both biotech and medtech. Before starting a career in venture capital, Catello co-founded a Boston VC-baked biotech start-up (exited), developing therapeutics for oncology and autoimmune diseases. He started his career in 2009 working for different CROs and biotech companies between Italy and Switzerland. Through his previous roles within clinical and corporate development, he is actively contributing with his expertise to driving and supporting new and existing investments across funds and thesis.

Helen Stewart

Director, New Product Development
IQVIA

Coming soon.

Michel Therin

President
MT2 Consulting (FMR Siemens Healthineers)

After 4 exciting years, shaping the future of the Advanced Therapies Business Area of Siemens Healthineers, and overall 20 years developing and commercializing innovative technologies for large multinational leaders, it is time for me to continue the journey of improving patient outcomes through science and technology now as an independent consultant. Helping the next generation of disruptive technologies to push the limit of what can be done mini-invasively and to increase patient access to personalized and modern care will be at the core of this new cycle. The future of #minimallyinvasivetherapies will be for sure #imageguided, #roboticassisted and #digitallyempowered and I'll try to bring all my enthusiasm, energy and experience to foster it.

Michelle Tierney

CSO & Co-Founder
SymPhysis Medical

Coming soon.

Claire van Dongen

Partner & Senior Consultant
HTI Healthcare & Technology

One of the founding Partners at HTI, Claire has over 20 years  experience in Executive Search in the healthcare industry, with particular focus on, and passion for Medtech innovation. Building on her solid industry knowledge, experience and network, she successfully managed numerous senior search assignments across borders in Europe for a variety of large, mid-sized and start-up firms, for all functional areas.

Claire graduated from the University of Amsterdam and is fluent in English and French besides her native Dutch.

Michaël Vlemmix

Partner
GIMV

Late 2017, Michaël Vlemmix joined Gimv in the Life Sciences platform after gaining experience in investment banking and the start-up scene. Today he is a Partner and representing Gimv on the board of directors of Precirix (BE), Complement Therapeutics (DE/UK), FIRE1 (IRE), Onera Health (NL) and Paleo (BE) while supporting several other portfolio companies.

Rupert Winckler

Vice President Business Development
Olympus

Rupert Winckler joined Olympus in 2017 to lead the company’s business development activities for the EMEA region. He and his team oversee the sourcing and execution of transactions that cover investments, partnerships, acquisitions, and other transactions for the Medical Systems Division.

Rupert has more than 20 years of investment experience across the medical and life science sectors.  He began his career in life science consulting before transitioning to healthcare investment banking. He has held various positions at ING Barings and Piper Jaffray, both in London, where he advised clients on cross-border public and private mergers and acquisitions. Immediately prior to joining Olympus, he led the European Healthcare Investment Banking team at Canaccord Genuity, also in London.

Rupert holds a Master’s Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford, as well as a diploma in Financial Management from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He lives in Hamburg, Germany.

William Wyman

In Progress
European Investment Bank (EIB)

Coming soon.

Petra Zollner

Regulatory Affairs (IVDR & MDR)Director
MedTech Europe

Petra Zollner directs MedTech Europe’s team focusing on the implementation of the EU regulatory systems for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices. She represents MedTech Europe to external fora on strategic regulatory policy questions, including the Medical Devices Coordination Group. She also acts as part of MedTech Europe’s leadership team, ensuring collaboration and coherence on topics which cross over to other areas in the medical technology ecosystem.

Since Petra joined the association (previously EDMA, now MedTech Europe) in February 2012, her work has included leading and representing the association on regulatory policy in various domains including the implementation of the IVD Regulation, CE-marking topics, device labelling, trade in animal by-products, European database, medical technology standards, and regulation of substances and electronic devices, amongst others.

Before MedTech Europe, Petra worked for the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (AmCham EU), where she headed up the policy team working on both legislative and regulatory issues. She also worked within the government affairs team of Genzyme. As an American-German national raised in Denmark who has lived many years in Belgium, Petra is a native English speaker with intermediate to good Dutch, Danish, German and French. Petra is married to a Belgian telecommunications engineer and has two young energetic sons.