Todd Brinton

Chief Scientific Officer & Corporate Vice President
Edwards Lifesciences

Todd J. Brinton, M.D., has been corporate vice president, advanced technology, and chief scientific officer, since 2019. Dr. Brinton has significant experience as a champion of cardiovascular innovation and has a strong patient focus as a tenured practicing clinical cardiologist. He has deep ties to the medical technology community as a founder, board member and advisor to several start-up companies, including his role as physician founder, board member, and chief medical officer of Shockwave Medical, Inc (SWAV). Dr. Brinton began his career as an engineer in the medical technology industry, ultimately becoming a director of clinical research and development, prior to entering medical school. Before joining Edwards, he was a clinical professor of medicine (cardiology) and adjunct professor of bioengineering at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was an attending interventional cardiologist at both the Stanford University Medical Center and the Palo Alto VA Medical Center. Dr. Brinton also served as the fellowship director at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign from 2006 to 2019, where he mentored and directed numerous teams on the development of new technologies. In addition, he served as the co-director for both the graduate and executive education programs at the center during a similar time period. He is currently an adjunct professor of medicine (cardiology) at Stanford University as well as senior advisor and member of the board for the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. He is extremely active in the American Heart Association (AHA) serving as the chair of the 2022 Bay Area Research Roundtable and the 2022 Orange County Heart & Stroke Ball. He currently serves on the AHA national research committee and board of directors for the AHA Western region. He also serves on the board of directors for the Medical Device Manufacturers Association and advisory boards for the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation Cardiovascular Innovation and Research Center at UC Irvine and Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design at John Hopkins University. Dr. Brinton received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego in biomedical engineering, and his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University. He completed his internship, residency, and fellowships in cardiology and interventional cardiology at Stanford.

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.

Paul Conover

Partner
Knobbe Martens

Paul N. Conover is a partner in our Orange County office. He leads teams of attorneys in strategically obtaining patents domestically and internationally, performing due diligence in transactions involving intellectual property, developing and implementing licensing strategies, performing market clearance and engineering design-around efforts, and enforcing patents and defending against patents in the pre-litigation stages.

 Mr. Conover holds degrees in physics, history, and law, and he works with clients in multiple areas of technology, including many types of medical devices, optics, and consumer products. He has spoken at many events on intellectual property topics, including in Brazil, India, and the United States. He has also published on many intellectual property topics, including regarding the recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court on patent law.

 Mr. Conover joined the firm in 1997 and became a partner in 2003.

Vivian De Ruijter

Senior Associate
Intuitive Ventures

Vivian De Ruijter joined Intuitive Ventures in 2021, bringing over 10 years of experience developing clinical, business development, market entry and partnership strategies for digital health, pharma and medtech companies as well as working on strategy for venture capital investments. She is a Stanford University trained physician in healthcare technology innovation and an experienced professional in developing business strategies for life science companies.

Before joining Intuitive Ventures, Vivian served as a senior manager in Manatt, Phelps & Phillips' digital and technology consulting practice. At Manatt, she worked with healthcare technology and medtech companies to create clinical, regulatory, business and marketing strategies. Prior to Manatt, she was the assistant program director of the UCSF-Stanford Pediatric Device Consortium, where she co-managed the pediatric health technology incubator at Stanford Children's Health.

She holds a postdoctoral designation in biodesign from the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, a credential in Pediatric Healthcare Technology Innovation from Stanford's Division of Pediatric Surgery, a credential in Surgical Education and Innovation from Stanford's General Surgery department and a credential in Minimally Invasive Surgery at the IRCAD, a world-renowned minimally invasive surgery center in France. She is an instructor at Stanford University, educating students in the fundamentals of biodesign.

Erik Engelson

Venture Partner
ShangBay Capital

Mr. Engelson is President & CEO of Dragon Medical, Inc, a Venture Partner with ShangBay Capital and was recently the President & CEO of Lucira Health, Inc. (now part of Pfizer).  Just prior, he was CEO of Medina Medical, which he sold to Medtronic.  Previous associations include Partner at The Foundry (a venture-funded medical device incubator), CEO of two Foundry companies, CFO of Fluidigm Corporation, and Venture Partner at both Versant Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners.  Earlier, Mr. Engelson spent 13 years in various operating roles at Target Therapeutics where he led the early start-up into the then nascent field of Interventional Neuroradiology (stroke intervention), developed its first products, helped take the company public and was its GM following the acquisition by Boston Scientific.  He is the inventor of 50+ medical device patents.  Mr. Engelson holds B.A. and M.S. degrees in Microbiology and Bioengineering from UC San Diego, and an Executive MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.  Mr. Engelson is a Trustee Emeritus of the UC San Diego Foundation, Founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees of UC San Diego’s Bioengineering Department, a member of the UC San Diego Biology Department Dean’s Leadership Committee and an elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

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.

Justin Takashi Fukuyama

Partner
MedVenture Partners

Justin was born and raised in San Diego, California. While attending college in Los Angeles, he began working at a medical device startup as a regulatory affairs associate and experienced multiple 510(k) and CE Mark filings. After graduating, he joined Boston Scientific Corporation as a regulatory affairs professional and worked in both the US and Japan. During this time, he worked on nearly 20 submissions for products such as carotid artery stents, neurovascular embolization coils, and coronary stents.

 Upon completing business school, Justin joined Johnson & Johnson in Japan as a part of the new business development team and was in charge of assessing new technologies, managing cross-company product portfolios, and leading new projects. He also gained experience as a sales representative for the Ethicon franchise where he was responsible for over 200 million Yen in revenue for surgical sutures, surgical drains and adhesion barriers across multiple specialties such as general surgery, gynecology, cardiology, and orthopedics.

 Justin joined MedVenture Partners in March of 2014 and has led the firm’s US investments in Arrinex (acquired by Medtronic), C2 Therapeutics (acquired by Pentax Medical) and Companion Medical (acquired by Medtronic), and also sits on the Board of Directors for SonoMotion. Justin is currently located in San Jose and continues to lead the firm’s investment activities outside of Japan.

Greg Garfield

Senior Managing Director
KCK Group

Coming soon.

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.

Scott Huennekens

Principal
Front Foot Ventures

Scott is a successful Medtech CEO, Chairperson, board member, entrepreneur, and investor, having been involved in one of those roles in 20+ startup, growth and public companies with market valuations that have totaled over $20b and more importantly over 20 million patients that have benefited from the therapies & diagnostics of these companies, including 8 IPOs. Current affiliations include Principal Front Foot Ventures, Chair Hyperfine (HYPR) IPO 2021, Chair Envista (NVST) IPO 2019, Exec Chair Kardion, Exec Chair Elucid, Executive Chair On Target Labs, Board member Q’apel Medical, Board member Proximie, Board member Foldax.

James Huie

Partner
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Coming soon.

Abigail Hunter-Syed

Director
Olympus Innovation Ventures

Abby Hunter-Syed is a Director at Olympus' Digital Unit. Prior to joining Olympus, Abby was a Partner at LDV Capital, leading investments in pre-seed and seed stage startups powered by computer vision, machine learning and AI. She has a 15 year proven track record building companies across four continents as a founder as well as with global organizations such as Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the Boston Consulting Group, and the World Trade Organization. Abby holds an MSc from the International University of Geneva, Switzerland and a BA from the University of Rochester, NY.

Kelley Kennedy

Vice President, MedTech
IQVIA MedTech

Kelley provides strategic direction and therapeutic expertise to guide medical device companies through the clinical development landscape. Kelley has 20+ years of experience in global clinical research, including leadership roles at Medtronic and clinical positions at Mt. Sinai and NYU Medical Center.

Harry Kotlarz

Vice President, HEPV
MDIC

Harry Kotlarz brings more than two decades of leading health economics and market access functions to his role. He has a diverse background and experience representing start-up, established medical device companies including Medtronic and Johnson and Johnson as well as experience in Health Technology Assessment from his time at ECRI. His blend of industry experience, multiple stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based solutions has contributed to coverage and access for innovative technologies helping more patients.   He has been responsible for the evidence required for value-based healthcare, reimbursement, and health policy-related issues including quality, new payment models, comparative effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness outcomes. He has collaborated closely with external stakeholders on how to deliver value and better patient outcomes in these new models of healthcare delivery. Harry obtained his MBA from Xavier University and BS from Thompson Rivers University.

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.

Mark Leahey

President & CEO
MDMA

Mark Leahey is the President & CEO for the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA), a national trade association in Washington, DC that represents hundreds of research-driven medical technology companies. Mr. Leahey's responsibilities include advocating on behalf of the entrepreneurial sector of the medical device industry to Congress, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and other federal and state agencies. He has lobbied for a more reasonable user fee for smaller companies, worked to open access to the hospital marketplace by challenging the exclusionary and anti-competitive nature of certain large group purchasing organizations (GPOs), as well as ensure that medical device technologies are reimbursed adequately. Mr. Leahey has  been named one of the medical device industry's top lobbyists and sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of Medical Product Outsourcing. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and a graduate of Georgetown University, the Georgetown Law Center and Georgetown's McDonough School of Business.

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.

Bill Little

EVP, Corporate Development and Strategy
Orchestra Biomed

Mr. Little joined Orchestra BioMed as its Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy in June 2023, bringing an extraordinary depth of knowledge, expertise and relationships in the cardiovascular device industry.

Prior to joining Orchestra BioMed, Mr. Little served as Chief Operating Officer at Neovasc, where he drove its successful acquisition by Shockwave Medical in April 2023. Prior to joining Neovasc in 2019, he spent 25 years in the medical device industry, including as a member of the leadership team at Abbott Vascular, where he served as Divisional Vice President of Global Marketing and Head of Customer and New Market Insights. Earlier in his career, Mr. Little served as Vice President of Global Cardiovascular Therapies for St. Jude Medical, where he oversaw marketing and strategy for the structural heart and vascular portfolios; Vice President, Global Marketing at Bard Peripheral Vascular; and in a variety of cardiovascular sales and marketing roles at Boston Scientific. Mr. Little holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Mirren Mandalia

Senior Director Business Development
Johnson & Johnson MedTech

Mirren Mandalia is Senior Director, Business Development for Ethicon Inc., part of Johnson & Johnson Medtech. In this role he’s responsible to identify technology and capabilities gaps that can be addressed through external business arrangements, including licensing, mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, co-marketing, supply and other structures. He also leads and influences the development of strategies and business cases for new opportunities that are aligned with the goals of the business.

 Mirren joined Johnson & Johnson in 2013 and prior to his current role he was part of the London Innovation Center where he was Senior Director, New Ventures and Transactions responsible for leading R&D collaborations and investments in early-stage companies in EMEA for Johnson & Johnson MedTech. Prior to Johnson & Johnson Mirren worked at The Boston Consulting Group in London where he developed strategies to grow and diversify businesses, as well as identify and complete due diligence on prioritized targets for license and acquisition.

 Mirren trained as a surgeon at St. George’s Medical School, University of London, and Imperial College in London, and has experience in a many surgical specialties, with specialist training in Plastics & Reconstructive Surgery.  He is a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and holds an MBA from London Business School.

Biren Mehta

Vice President, Venture Investments, MedTech
JJDC

Based in Irvine, California, Biren Mehta is the Vice President, Venture Investments – MedTech, where he initiates and manages equity investments to drive business innovation and deliver new and sustainable business for the MedTech sector. He is responsible for existing and new MedTech investments on the West Coast, ensuring targeted strategic options are shaped for success. Biren plays a critical role in building and maintaining networks in the venture capital community, entrepreneurs, startups, incubators and accelerators and other venture organizations that fit the strategic interests of the MedTech sector, sourcing new opportunities for the sector and positioning JJDC as the partner of choice.

 Most recently, Biren was Vice President of Business Development for the Cardiovascular & Specialty Solutions (CSS) Group and J&J Vision. This represents a portfolio of six diverse, high-growth businesses within MedTech.   In this role, he provided strategic leadership in executing acquisitions, investments, distribution transactions, and other collaborations to support the growth and innovation agenda of these businesses.

 Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Biren was a medical device analyst at Roth Capital Partners. In that role, he wrote and published recommendations on publicly traded small and midcap medical device companies. Before joining the investment bank, he worked as a project manager and software engineer at Intralase Corporation, now owned by J&J Surgical Vision.

 Biren completed his bachelor’s degree in Cybernetics at UCLA. He earned master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Southern California. He also earned his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Reed Miller

Senior Writer/Market Analyst
Medtech Strategist

Reed is an experienced editor, journalist, and content creator who has been reporting on the medical device and diagnostics industry since joining the news staff of FDC Reports' The Gray Sheet in 2000. Most recently, he served as the commercial/R&D manager for Citeline's Medtech Insight, a digital descendant of The Gray Sheet, helping to shape the overall editorial direction of Citeline's medtech offerings while writing and podcasting extensively about cardiovascular technology. He also wrote for a physician audience as a member of theheart.org's award-winning heartwire team and worked with pharma industry compliance experts at HCPro. Reed has a BA in religion from the College of William & Mary and an MA in philosophy of religion from Boston University. He lives and works in his hometown of State College, Pennsylvania.

Chris Neil

MedTech, Partner
Advantage Fund

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 Noonan

CTO
Moon Surgical

Coming soon.

Gowri Raman

Director of Venture Capital
Medtronic

Coming soon.

Luke Rohlen

Associate
Ajax Health

Luke is as an Associate at Ajax Health, an investment firm that operates dozens of companies in the healthcare technology sector. He is also a Director of Business Development at Cortex, an electrophysiology company focused on the diagnosis and treatment of atrial arrhythmias, and a Project Manager for Cordis-X, an independent innovation engine dedicated to delivering transformational products to Cordis.

Before joining Ajax, Luke was an investment banking analyst at DBO Partners (acquired by Piper Sandler), focused on M&A. Luke received his B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Greg Schiffenhaus

Chief of Staff to CEO
Cordis

Greg is a Director and the Chief of Staff to the CEO at Cordis, a global leader in cardiovascular and endovascular technologies. In this role, Greg supports the CEO and broader leadership team in shaping, managing, and executing key strategic initiatives that drive value across the organization.

Before joining Cordis in 2023, Greg was a leader in the Healthcare Strategy Group at Deloitte Consulting, where he worked closely with a diverse range of healthcare clients to address complex challenges related to growth, cost optimization, strategy, and operations. 

Greg holds an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and an Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Miami.

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.

Tom Shehab

Managing Partner
Arboretum Ventures

Tom Shehab draws upon his extensive experience as a physician and healthcare executive to identify medical device and health IT companies that improve patient outcomes and decrease costs. He currently serves as a board director for Avation Medical, Boomerang Medical, Fifth Eye, Motif Neurotech, SonarMD  and Virtual Incision and led Arboretum’s investment in nVision Medical, which was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2018. At ArborMetrix, an Arboretum portfolio company, he led the development of the clinical strategy as Chief Medical Officer.

Prior to joining Arboretum in 2014, Tom served as a member of Arboretum’s Technical Advisory Board. He practiced medicine for 15 years as a gastroenterologist serving as Chair of Medicine at Integrated Health Associates (IHA), a multi-specialty group consisting of 300+ providers, and as Chief of Staff at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital for more than 1,000 physicians. Tom also holds a position as a board member for numerous healthcare innovation initiatives, such as the Cleveland Clinic Medical Device Advisory, and he serves on the Board of Trustees for Bowling Green State University. Additionally, he is a board member of the National Venture Capital Association

Tom earned an M.D. from Wayne State University, completed his post-graduate medical training at the University of Michigan, and earned a Master of Medical Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Amrinder Singh

Partner
Vensana Capital

Amrinder Singh is a Partner at Vensana Capital. Amrinder was previously a Senior Investment Director at Medtronic Ventures where he supported new investments in the medical device, diagnostics, and digital health spaces along with providing operational and board management support to portfolio companies. Prior to his investment career, Amrin led Business Development & Strategy for Medtronic’s remote monitoring and services businesses and was previously with the corporate strategy group. Before joining Medtronic, Amrin held product management and engineering positions at Thoratec Corporation. Amrin currently serves on the board of directors of iVEAcare and Nyra Medical. Amrin graduated from University of California, Davis in Biosystems Engineering and earned an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.

Kwame Ulmer

Venture Partner
Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health

Kwame served at the FDA (in progressive leadership roles including Deputy Director) and was formerly the Vice President at a Danaher Corporation operating company. He is a lecturer and co-leads research on med-tech innovation at the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management.

Scott Whitaker

President & CEO
AdvaMed

Scott Whitaker is President and CEO of AdvaMed, the world’s largest medical technology association. AdvaMed members make the medical devices, diagnostic tools and digital technologies that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments, to help people live longer, healthier lives. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the smallest medical technology innovators and companies. 

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

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.