Nivi Arumugam

Digital Healthcare Executive
In Transition, Ex-Becton Dickinson, Ex-Google

Nivi Arumugam is a digital healthcare product leader, with success launching medical devices, healthcare software and data products. As VP of R&D at Becton Dickinson, Nivi led innovation & product development for a $1B transformative digital business platform focused on medication safety & workflow automation. Prior to BD, Nivi was Head of Emerging Devices & Sensor Tech at Verily. Nivi led development  of physiological sensing in 12 medical devices for remote patient monitoring, chronic disease management & decentralized clinical trials. Prior to Verily, Nivi was Director of Product at a successful startup, SiTime, where she led shipping 1 Billion devices used in iPhone, Apple Watch & Fitbit. Nivi holds a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in MEMS and Smart Product Design from Stanford University. Committed to diversity & inclusion for her products and her team, Nivi fosters a culture of innovation, belonging & intellectual honesty.

Alan (AJ) Baumel

Acting Associate Director
FDA’s Total Product Life Cycle Advisory Program (TAP)

Alan Baumel is the acting Associate Director for the FDA’s Total Product Life Cycle Advisory Program (TAP). Alan joined the FDA after two decades of successfully developing and delivering novel medical devices to patients.

Before joining the FDA, Alan was the COO at HeartBeam, where he was integral in taking the company public (Nasdaq) and securing the company's initial round of funding. Before HeartBeam, he was the Program Director for the Case for Quality (CfQ) program at the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC), where he collaborated with industry and the FDA and led the transition of CfQ to a Collaborative Community. Alan was also the COO & Sr. VP at Bardy Technologies (acquired by HillRom, $375M), a Professional Associate at W. L. Gore & Associates, serving as an operational excellence champion and coach, and risk management expert, a Director at Ablation Frontiers (acquired by Medtronic, $450M), and a Director at Cameron Health (acquired by Boston Scientific for $1.3B).

Before moving into MedTech, Alan was a researcher and developer in the advanced semiconductor industry, where he collaborated with industry, universities, and government agencies to develop and advance semiconductor design and manufacturing in the U.S.

In a parallel life, Alan is a poet and professor. In a past life, he served in the U.S. Navy, supporting search, rescue, and salvage operations.

Yvonne Bokelman

CEO
Alyve Medical

Yvonne Bokelman joined Alyve Medical on January 1, 2022 as Chief Operating Officer. She was appointed Chief Executive Officer in April 2022.

Prior to joining Alyve Medical, Yvonne was most recently a President and General Manager at Zimmer Biomet. She spent more than ten years at Zimmer Biomet in a number of leadership and executive roles of increasing responsibility, overseeing a variety of functions and, in more recent years, businesses that totaled nearly $300M in annual revenues. Prior to her time at Zimmer Biomet she served in leadership roles at Medtronic Spine & Biologics, QuadraMed, and healthcare consulting companies, preceded by several years in hospital administration. Yvonne obtained her MBA, as well as is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Yvonne brings a strategic medical device background, strong P&L experience, and a leadership development approach that attracts expert talent. Her strong drive, sense of urgency, combined with outstanding communication and execution skills guide her teams to deliver strong results. “I could not be more excited about the potential of Alyve Medical. With first class, innovative products, and an exceptional leadership team, our future is set to skyrocket!”

David Cassak

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.

Christopher Cleary

Senior Vice President of Corporate Development
Medtronic

Christopher Cleary has led Corporate Development for Medtronic since 2014. During this period, he has led more than 40 acquisitions with consideration of $64 billion, including notable deals like Covidien, NGC, Twelve, Smith & Nephew TruClear, HeartWare, Mazor Robotics and Epix. Chris also led the sale of portions of Medtronic’s non-strategic medical supplies business to Cardinal for $6 billion.

Chris also has responsibility for Medtronic’s venture investing business. In 2018, Ventures sold approximately half of its non-strategic investments to Sightline Partners, resetting Ventures to invest more aggressively in the future through its Boston based team of 7 professionals. Investments have risen past $100M annually since the reset. Most recently, Chris jointly leads Portfolio Management and Business Development, bringing together all facets of new business development origination and execution.

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.

Sarah Cook

Sr. Manager
Olympus Corporation of the Americas

Coming soon.

Anne DeGheest

Founder
HealthTech Capital

Anne DeGheest pioneered the HealthTech or Digital Health space as a healthcare executive, an entrepreneur, angel investor, corporate advisor and mentor capitalist. She is the founder of HealthTech Capital and MedStars. 

Since she founded MedStars, in 1986, she has been a business consultant to large healthcare companies and a mentor capitalist specializing in early stage healthcare  companies.

Her life science portfolio companies have generated over $27 billion in market capitalization including 8 IPOs. She provided angel capital, hands-on operating expertise and/or business strategy in the founding of major venture-backed companies like Pyxis (CareFusion), Aspect Medical (acquired by Covidien), VISX (acquired by AMO), Thermage (merged into Solta Medical), VISICU(acquired by Philips), Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI). She also helped grow new entrepreneurial division of large corporations like ASP/Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Medtronic and McKesson. She was also part of the founding executive team of Nellcor (a division of Covidien), MedPool and OmniCell (Nasdaq: OMCL). She was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence with Canaan Partners and IVP.

In 2010, Anne founded HealthTech Capital, a group of private and corporate investors dedicated to funding and mentoring new "HealthTech" startups to decrease healthcare cost and empower patients. HealthTech capital is an ecosystem of angels, venture capitalists, providers, payers and healthcare industry key players with the three sets of expertise needed to succeed in this new HealthTech space: healthcare, technology and user engagement.

She organized the HealthTech Conferences between 2012-2015 and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a guest-lecturer at Stanford Business School. MBA from Harvard and a Master in Business Engineering from University of Brussels.  She is also a recognized artist.

Ajay Dharia

Venture Partner
MedTech Venture Partners

Ajay Dharia received his medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA after obtaining his engineering degree from UC Berkeley.  He completed his residency and fellowship in internal medicine and pulmonary/critical care at UCSF Medical Center.  After completing his fellowship, Ajay transitioned into a medical device lab working on the development of artificial organ technology.  He continues to practice clinically during extended hours in two ICUs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Cepta Duffy

Senior Development Advisor
Enterprise Ireland

Cepta Duffy currently works in Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Stat Up unit.  Enterprise Ireland is the government agency that helps Irish companies to start, scale and grow globally.  Enterprise Ireland supports over 4,000 Irish companies through over 40 offices worldwide. The Agency also invests in innovation capability in universities and regional projects throughout Ireland.

Cepta provides advise and support to a portfolio of life science companies in business strategy, team building, marketing, operations, and finance - with a strong focus on fundraising and building relationships with the funding eco-system.

Prior to Enterprise Ireland Cepta worked in the Biotechnology and BioPharmaceutical industries, mainly in the areas of research and manufacturing in US, Brazil and Ireland. 

Cepta has a B.Sc and Ph.D in Biochemistry from the University of Galway, Ireland and qualifications in statistics, PM and more recently corporate governance.

Steven Farmer, MD PhD

Chief Strategy Officer, Coverage and Analysis Group
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Dr. Steven Farmer serves as Chief Strategy Officer in the Coverage and Analysis Group (CAG) at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  He joined CMS in 2017 as a Senior Advisor in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation where he assisted with development and refinement of value-based payment programs, with a particular emphasis on the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced model.   He moved to the Coverage and Analysis group in 2019 where he leads an effort to streamline and accelerate evidence-based coverage policy development.  He is a practicing non-invasive cardiologist.

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.

Andrew Fish

President & CEO
MDIC

Andrew Fish has extensive experience leading advocacy and policy organizations at the complex intersections of regulated business, health care, science, technology, law, media, and politics. He has particular expertise in medical technology matters ranging from innovation and regulation to reimbursement and health care delivery. Fish previously held multiple roles at AdvaMed, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, including Chief Strategy Officer, Executive Director of the AdvaMed Center for Digital Health, Executive Director of AdvaMedDx, and Head of Sector Initiatives. Prior to AdvaMed, Fish was Senior Vice President of Legal and Government Affairs, General Counsel, and Secretary for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), representing manufacturers of non-prescription medicines. Mr. Fish also led the American Cancer Society’s federal lobbying team as the Senior Director of Federal Government Relations. Earlier in his career, Fish served in the Senate-confirmed post of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs after working as a deputy chief counsel and professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee. Fish holds a BA from Yale University and a JD from Stanford Law School.

Shawn Fu

Vice President
Vertex Ventures HC

Shawn Fu is currently a Vice President at Vertex Ventures HC (VVHC), based in San Francisco, where he helps to execute investments in biotech and medtech. Shawn serves as a board observer for Allay Therapeutics.

Prior to VVHC, Shawn was a Vice President in JP Morgan’s Equity Research department in New York covering large cap biotechnology. He was also previously an Associate at Deallus Consulting, a London-based life sciences consulting firm where he performed global strategic projects for clients comprised of top 20 biopharma companies.

Shawn holds an MD from UT Southwestern Medical School and a BS in Biology/Economics from Duke University.

Greg Garfield

Senior Managing Director
KCK MedTech

Coming soon.

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, III

Partner
Lightstone Ventures

Managing Partner
The Foundry

Hanson 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 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.

Chip Hance

CEO
Regatta Medical

Incoming Chairman
MDIC

An industry veteran with more than 35 years’ experience in cardiovascular, diabetes and diagnostics devices, Chip Hance is CEO of Regatta Medical, an investment partnership with GTCR, a leading private equity firm.  Regatta is focused on building specialty technology companies with unique relevance to the medical device industry.  Examples of investments include Resonetics and Biocoat.

Hance was recently named Chairman of the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) and has been active for years as the board champion for the Early Feasibility Study (EFS) clinical trial collaborative initiative.  Hance is also on the boards of several Ireland-based cardiovascular startups and is an active seed investor.

Dave Hood

President & CEO
DH3 Associates

Dave D Hood MS, MBA, PMP serves as a Senior Advisor for the US military medical community’s Medical Technology Enterprise consortium (MTEC) focusing on the Industry/Investor Partners Program. He is also President and CEO of DH3 & Associates, a consulting company focusing on performing technology assessments and developing approaches for product development and business development. Emphasizing the efficient pursuit of non-dilutive funding. Assisted/coached/guided and reviewed hundreds of companies. Helped raise millions of dollars. Successfully lead the development and deployment of a dozen products/systems. Assisted many companies with the successful development of numerous products. Expertise and experience with intrapreneurship, entrepreneurship, product development, project/program management, business management and business development. Helping companies work with the government – particularly the military/DOD. Highly regarded as a subject matter expert. Frequent invited speaker at various academic and industry venues domestic and international.

James Huie

Partner
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

James Huie is a corporate and securities partner in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's San Francisco office, where he has one of the most active practices in the country representing venture-backed companies. He advises life sciences and technology companies on general corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, strategic partnerships, and private equity and debt financings. He also has extensive experience in representing venture capital firms and other investors in private equity and debt financings.

James also serves on the investment committee for the firm's affiliated fund, the WS Investment Company.

Maria Jennings

Adviser
Enterprise Ireland

Maria Jennings works as a Senior Adviser in the High Potential Start Up Division of Enterprise Ireland.  Enterprise Ireland is the Irish Government Agency that supports indigenous companies grow and achieve scale in international markets. Maria manages a portfolio of early stage industrial and lifesciences companies that have established in Ireland.

With a strong scientific and business background, she has over 20 years’ experience advising Irish Lifesciences companies.  She holds a degree in Science from University of Galway, a PhD in Materials Chemistry from Kingston University, London and a Diploma in Business Strategy from the Irish Management Institute.

Shannon focuses on developing and implementing strong patent strategies to advance her clients’ business goals and objectives.  She advises on global patent portfolio management, IP due diligence, competitive landscape analysis, IP agreements, and USPTO post-grant proceedings.  Whether a client is seeking investment, moving toward acquisition, or growing an existing portfolio, Shannon’s strategic guidance and counseling align with the objectives of a company’s life cycle at any stage.

Shannon’s clients range from fast-growth, emerging companies to major corporations in a variety of industries, including medical device, food & beverage, and consumer products.

Within the medical device industry, Shannon has worked extensively with cardiovascular, orthopedic, and ophthalmic technologies.  She has been involved in the intellectual property strategy and acquisitions of IDEV Technologies (acquired by Abbott), AccessClosure (acquired by Cardinal Health), Claret Medical (acquired by Boston Scientific), Tornier/Wright Medical (acquired by Stryker), and AcuFocus (acquired by Bausch + Lomb).  Shannon has also represented medical device companies in IPR proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

In addition to her depth of experience in medical device, Shannon has procured patents for family-owned businesses and managed global patent portfolios for Fortune 500 companies in the food & beverage and consumer products industries.  She provides IP counseling on acquisitions and agreements in which IP assets are central to the transactions.

Shannon was recently named among the “2023 Women Worth Watching® in STEM” by Profiles in Diversity Journal® and was recognized in The Legal 500 United States in 2023 and 2020 as being an outstanding practitioner. In 2023, she was also recognized as a "World IP Leader" by World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR).

Shannon is Chair of Knobbe Martens Mentor Committee and previously served as Co-Chair the firm’s Women Associates Advisory Committee.

Irfan Lateef

Partner
Knobbe Martens

Irfan Lateef is head of the firm’s Electrical, Semiconductor & Computer Technology Litigation committee and also leads the firm’s Japan practice. With over two decades of experience, Irfan ranks among the premier IP litigators in the "World's Leading Patent Professionals" for the Patent 1000 guide by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine. Clients turn to Irfan to tackle some of their most technically complex issues. His engineering background gives him the ability to master the technology. His experience includes advanced signal processing and digital and analog circuitry. With a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, he possesses unique insight for medical device litigation. He is familiar with noninvasive patient monitoring, breath analyte monitoring, blood component separation, atrial fibrillation devices, ECG and EEG signal processing, imaging (e.g., MRI), and acoustic signal processing.

Giovanni Lauricella

Managing Partner
Lifeblood Capital

Giovanni Lauricella has a Bachelor’s in Finance and a Master’s in Regulatory Affairs in Medical Devices. He has travelled to 40+ countries and has assisted 500+ startups with talent acquisition and fundraising strategies leading to more than 2,000 hires, $300 million in raised capital, and $4 billion in acquisitions. Giovanni is an active board member and angel investor, who brings 15 years of experience designing and building teams for MedTech startups.

Stephen Levin

Editor-in-Chief
Market Pathways

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

Josh Makower

Director & Co-founder
Stanford Biodesign

Dr. Josh Makower is the Boston Scientific Applied Bioengineering Professor of Medicine and of Bioengineering at the Stanford University Schools of Medicine and Engineering and the Director of the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, the program he co-founded with Dr. Paul Yock twenty years ago. Josh helped create the fundamental structure of the Center’s core curriculum and is the chief architect of what is now called “The Biodesign Process.” Over the past 20 years since Josh and Paul founded Biodesign, this curriculum and the associated textbook has been used at Stanford and across the world to train hundreds of thousands of students, faculty and industry leaders on the Biodesign process towards the advancement of medical innovation for the improvement of patient care. Josh has practiced these same techniques directly as the Founder & Executive Chairman of ExploraMed, a medical device incubator, creating 9 companies since 1995. Transactions from the ExploraMed portfolio include NeoTract, acquired by Teleflex, Acclarent, acquired by J&J, EndoMatrix, acquired by C.R. Bard & TransVascular, acquired by Medtronic. Other ExploraMed/NEA ventures include Moximed, NC8 and Willow. Josh is also a Special Partner at NEA where he supports the healthcare team and medtech/healthtech investing practice. Josh serves on the boards of Allay Therapeutics, Revelle Aesthetics, Setpoint Medical, DOTS Technologies, Eargo, ExploraMed, Intrinsic Therapeutics, Moximed, Willow and Coravin. Josh holds over 300 patents and patent applications. He received an MBA from Columbia University, an MD from the NYU School of Medicine, a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. Josh is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering and the College of Fellows of The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and was awarded the Coulter Award for Healthcare Innovation by the Biomedical Engineering Society in 2018.

Andy McGibbon

Managing Partner
Sonder Capital

Andy McGibbon is a managing partner at Sonder Capital, where he focuses on finding and partnering with the entrepreneurs building the next generation of transformational healthcare technologies. With his training as a Biodesign fellow, Andy always brings a focus on the unmet need to companies large and small. Prior to co-founding Sonder Capital, Andy consulted on strategy for large caps in the biotech and medical device sectors, led the innovation process at a venture-backed incubator, and helped grow medtech startups in a variety of clinical areas.

Tamir Meiri

Principal, Venture Investments
Johnson & Johnson Innovation

With over a decade of experience in venture capital investment, Tamir is responsible for identifying and leading medical device, consumer and health technology investments in line with Johnson & Johnson sector strategies. This includes deal sourcing, due diligence, negotiation, structuring, decision making, execution, and post-investment portfolio management.

Covering West North America, Australia & New Zealand, Tamir is an engaged, hands-on investor who likes to be detail-oriented and involved in his companies. He aims to help young entrepreneurs maximize their potential by providing meaningful advice and empowerment through close relationships and personal commitment to the people and companies in JJDC's portfolio.

Prior to joining JJDC, Tamir worked at GKH Law Offices – one of the largest law firms in Israel, supporting the firm's managing partners for over six years in many aspects of the various deal processes, including marketing and business development.

Tamir has a B.Sc in Chemistry from Tel-Aviv University and an extensive background in biomedical engineering and entrepreneurship, as well as an MBA with a major in Finance, from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. 

Jordan Milford

Executive Director of Business Development and Strategy, Medical Systems Group
Olympus Corporation of the Americas

Jordan Milford currently focuses on mergers and acquisitions for the Olympus Therapeutic Solutions Division with focuses on the GI, Urology, and Respiratory device businesses. He joined Olympus in 2013 supporting the GI device marketing team and is currently responsible for delivering inorganic business growth through acquisitions, venture investments, technology licensing, co-development agreements, joint ventures and divestitures. Prior to Olympus, Jordan developed medical devices in the fields of Spine and Trauma for Depuy Synthes and Biomet.  Jordan received his MBA from Villanova University and his BS in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Tech.

Justin Olshavsky

General Partner
Pioneer Bio Fund

Justin Olshavsky is a General Partner of the Pioneer Bio+Health Fund.  

When he was 23, he founded Voyage Bio (YC S19), which has since been acquired by Penumbra.  At Voyage, he developed a novel therapeutic device, using hypothermia to mitigate brain damage from stroke.  Justin was the CTO / Co-founder, and the only engineer at the company from inception to acquisition.  He is an award-winning product designer and has a background in mechanical engineering (Clemson) and bioengineering (UC Berkeley / UCSF).

Justin now invests in early stage biotechnology, medical technology, healthcare, and life science companies as one of the founding partners of the Pioneer Bio+Health Fund.

Geoff Pardo

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), CVRx (NASDAQ: CVRX), Eargo (NASDAQ: EAR), InovaLabs (acquired by ResMed), BionX (acquired by Ottobock), Vapotherm (NYSE: VAPO), and Vesper Medical (acquired by Royal Philips), serving on the board of each company.  Most recently he has led investments in and serves on the board of Ablative Solutions, Nalu Medical, Spire Health, VS3, Shoulder Innovations and GT Medical.

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.

He has a B.A. with honors in History from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business. He is a US citizen based in Gilde Healthcare’s Cambridge, MA office.

Geoff is also the host of the MedTech Talk podcast in which he interviews entrepreneurs and other MedTech investors.

Filip Peters

CEO
Acorai

Coming soon.

Thom Rasche

Managing 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, Atlantic Therapeutics, 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.

Avi Roop

Managing Director
RCT Ventures

Avi Roop conducts the technical and business analysis of medical device investment opportunities for RCT. He has more than twenty years experience in surgical and interventional device markets and possesses extensive experience in early-stage development from unmet need identification to early commercialization. During his career, he has been named on twenty-nine issued patent families.

Takahiro Sano

Director, Corporate Development & Strategies
Nipro Medical Corp

Coming soon.

Ashley Seehusen

Venture Partner
Sante Ventures

Ashley Seehusen is the Chief Operating Officer of Santé Accel, a Santé affiliated company focused on creating and fostering the development of seed stage opportunities as well as a network of entrepreneurial talent.  Through incubation, company formation, talent matching, and extensive coaching, Ashley helps these medtech, biotech, and healthtech companies grow and prepare for larger investment from Santé’s main investment funds.

Ashley has spent 20+ years in the medical device industry; leading teams, setting business strategy, defining new products, and bringing them to commercialization. Prior to joining Santé Ashley was the CEO and Co-founder of Nasus Medical, a biopharma and medical device combination company that was founded out of her year as a Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellow.   She has worked for both big companies (Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Stryker Neurovascular) and small (Maya Medical treating Renal Denervation and Barrx Medical treating Barrett’s Esophagus).

Ashley earned a BS from University of California, Berkeley and a PhD from University of Bristol, both in mechanical engineering.  She also has an MBA from Babson College.

Sheila Shah

Managing Director
L.E.K. Consulting

Sheila Shah is a Managing Director in L.E.K. Consulting’s Chicago office and serves as leader of the firm’s Digital Healthcare practice. Sheila’s experience covers a range of areas, with a particular focus on healthcare technology, due diligence, commercial strategy, healthcare supply chain, growth opportunity assessment and organizational design.

Prior to joining L.E.K., Sheila interned in Janssen’s Healthcare Innovation Group at Johnson & Johnson and worked in Strategic Sourcing at New York Presbyterian Hospital and in EY’s Healthcare Advisory practice. She holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Political Science from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Declan Soden

CEO
Mirai Medical

Declan Soden is CEO and founder of Mirai Medical. He has spent over 20 years working in cancer research working in medical device and immunotherapy research. Dr. Soden has published extensively on electroporation and its development in cancer treatment leading to a number of clinical studies which have assisted in validating this exciting technology.

Steve Sweeny

Vice President, Business Development and Strategy
Viz.ai

Coming soon.

Michael Tar

Global Consulting Sales Strategist
NAMSA

Coming soon.

David Uffer

Managing Director, MedTech
Trinity Life Sciences

David Uffer is a 30+ year seasoned executive having a career dedicated to the Medtech industry. He currently serves as the Managing Director of MedTech at Trinity Life Sciences, a global management and strategy consulting firm. Prior to Trinity, David was the VP, Medtech of General Inception where he leads investments and the portfolio in early stage companies. Prior to General Inception David was the Senior Partner and VP of Medtech at a global advisory firm.  He advises companies in all aspects of development and commercialization from startups to multi-billion dollar strategics.

In previous roles David led Business Development for a $5B division of Medtronic (legacy Covidien) in their respiratory, monitoring and med/surg products. He ran deals in M&A, distribution, co-development and also executed minority equity investments in companies of strategic interest. Prior to Medtronic, David was Director of Corporate Development at Hologic developing company strategy and executing deals across gyn surgery, breast health, and molecular diagnostics.

David also has managed Boston Scientific’s strategy and business development function in vascular surgery, interventional medicine and oncology. He has held management roles at Integra Lifesciences directing neuromonitoring and neurosurgery business units. David initiated his career with Abbott Labs in their Diagnostics Division.

Rajat Verma

Senior Manager, Venture Investments
Abbott

Coming soon.

Andrew Weiss

Venture Partner
Sofinnova Partners

Mr. Weiss brings over 30 years experience in the Medical Device Industry with diverse roles in marketing, sales, business development, general management and Directorship in large, mid-size and early stage medical device companies in the US, Europe and Japan. Mr, Weiss started his career as a strategy consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton, after which he joined General Electric in a series of escalating roles with GE Medical Systems. Mr. Weiss’ leadership roles include President & CEO of Vital Images (acquired by Toshiba), VP & General Manager of the Medtronic Surgical Navigation Systems and Neurological businesses, President & CEO of CoAxia, (sold to Zoll Medical), and President & CEO of ReCor Medical (sold to Otsuka Medical Devices), a pioneer in the use of ultrasound renal denervation to treat hypertension. Under his leadership, ReCor completed 3 randomized, sham-controlled studies with positive outcomes and is in process to achieve a PMA approval. Mr Weiss led ReCor from study design to completion, including team-build from 20 to 175 employees, associated financings and sale to Otsuka Medical Devices in 2018. Mr. Weiss retired from ReCor/Otsuka Medical Devices in April of 2023 and has recently joined Sofinnova Partners as a Venture Partner. He is currently a Director of May Health and SafeHeal (both Sofinnova Partners portfolio companies). Mr. Weiss is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical and electrical engineering and has an MBA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Jennie Xue

Senior Managing Director
Guggenheim Partners

Jennie Xue is a Senior Managing Director at Guggenheim Securities.  She has specialized in medical device investment banking for the last 14 years – focused on advisory for sellside & buyside transactions, IPOs, debt financings, PE and VC investments. Prior to joining Guggenheim, Jennie was in the Healthcare investment banking group at BofA Merrill, and Merrill Lynch prior to that. Jennie received a dual degree BS from Wharton and BSE from the Engineering School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Cynthia Yee

Principal
Vensana Capital

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

Lu Zhang

Founder & Managing Partner
Fusion Fund

Lu Zhang, Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund, is a renowned Silicon Valley based investor, a serial entrepreneur, and a Stanford Engineering alumna.

Lu is a World Economic Forum(Davos) Young Global Leader (Class of 2018) and was recently selected as a Best 25 Female Investor by Business Insider. She has also garnered other accolades including the Featured Honoree in VC of Forbes 30 Under 30, Silicon Valley Women of Influence, and Town & Country 50 Modern Swans – Entrepreneurship Influencer. Prior to starting Fusion Fund, she was the Founder and CEO of Acetone.inc, a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes (acq. 2013). Lu is a frequent speaker at tech events and conferences such as Davos Economic Forum, Future Investment Initiative (FII), Forbes, Web Summit, SuperReturn, etc. and also serves as a mentor and advisor to several tech innovation programs in Silicon Valley. Lu is the board member of the Youth Council of Future Forum and Future Science Award. Lu is also on the Jury Board of the Cartier Young Leader Award. She received her M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.