Conference Speakers
Joe Boystak
Managing Partner
Health2047 Capital Partners
Joe is an Advisor of Corporate Finance at Health2047 Inc. He has been CEO at Brightwaters Capital for more than 10 years. Joe is also Managing Partner at Health2047 Capital Partners. During his 25-year career in healthcare investment banking on Wall Street, Joe became the founding Managing Director of Life Science Investment Banking at Jeffries. He is a seasoned technology and healthcare advisor with expertise in investment banking, venture capital, and private equity. Joe has co-founded and helped launch companies in the therapeutic, molecular diagnostic, medical technology, information technology and artificial intelligence sectors out of top-tier academic medical centers including UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Harvard and Memorial Sloan Kettering. He started his career at American Medical International, Inc., a global health services company, in corporate development. Joe serves or has served on numerous corporate and non-profit boards, some of which include PAIGE LLC, Bruin Biometrics LLC, Exosome Diagnostics, Inc., SoCalBio, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Advisory Board and chaired the Committee on Innovation and Commercialization, and UCLA's Foundation Board of Governors. He frequently lectures at industry and academic events including the Milken Institute's Global Conference. He is a registered representative with FINRA and holds Series 7 and Series 63 securities licenses. Joe earned his Master of Health Science from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and his B.A. from Boston University.
Martin Burns
CEO
Bruin Biometrics
European CEO, Entrepreneur of The Year 2018, Martin Burns is CEO of Bruin Biometrics. From his appointment in 2012, Martin has lead the company through the entire concept through commercialization cycle for the SEM Scanner, the first medical device for detection of early signs of incipient pressure ulcers. The company's SEM Scanner has been granted FDA clearance through the de novo pathway and CE Mark; received 27 patents; awarded seven global innovation awards; and, has pioneering customers achieving zero pressure ulcers through the use of the Scanner in clinical practice. BBI has two other diagnostic technologies in development. Prior to BBI, Martin spent more than 15 years as a management consultant in the US and Europe at Deloitte Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers where he led corporate strategy, innovation, operations, quality and regulatory, M&A and global expansion assignments for medical device and life sciences companies.
Maxime Cannesson
Professor and Vice Chair
UCLA Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
Maxime Cannesson, MD, PhD, is Professor of Anesthesiology, and Vice Chair for Perioperative Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine. He has published more than 190 peer reviewed articles and three textbooks. The focus of his career has been the improvement of patients' outcomes in the Perioperative Environment through the development of: (1) non-invasive monitoring technologies, specifically the development of pulse pressure variation and respiratory variation in the SpO2 waveform monitoring (PPV and PVI) to predict fluid responsiveness, (2) standardization of care and decreased variability in medical decision-making using closed-loop (automated) anesthesia and clinical decision support systems, (3) new care delivery models in the perioperative period such as Enhanced Recovery After Surgery and the Perioperative Surgical Home, and (4) Development of Physiological Predictive tools based on machine learning and feature extraction techniques. He has a long track record of industry and NIH funded research and has transferred several monitoring technologies that are currently used at the bedside.
Sam Elhag
Partner
Innovate.org
Sam Elhag is a partner at Innovate, serial entrepreneur and product manager. Prior to Innovate, Sam co-founded Engrade, a learning management system acquired by McGraw Hill Education in 2014. Sam was an executive consultant for Explore.org, overseeing a team tasked with promoting the work of non-profits across new media platforms. Sam was also a co-founder of VidMeter, which was acquired by Visible Measures and a sports fitness technology for strapless heart rate monitoring. Sam is passionate about impact oriented technologies and advising new startups.
Linda Elkins
Leader
Gore Innovation Center
Linda Elkins' career spans nearly 20 years, in which time she's served in multiple roles at W. L. Gore & Associates. In the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Medical Products Division, Linda led new product development teams from ideation to commercial launch, drove technical project development and resourcing and obtained two patents. Linda earned Master of Science degrees in both Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Linda led the design and creation of the Gore Innovation Center in Silicon Valley, where she took the facility from its original concept to its execution, completion and launch. In addition to creating an inspiring physical space, she also established the mission and vision for the center and led its entry into the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Linda serves as co-leader of the Innovation Center, where she works to mature its mission and vision while expanding areas of exploration, establish partnerships, and advance relationships and idea generation for each of Gore's divisions.
Eleazar Eskin
Chair, Computational Medicine
UCLA Department of Computational Medicine
Eleazar Eskin serves as the inaugural chair for the UCLA Department of Computational Medicine, jointly housed in the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and Samueli School of Engineering. Eleazar is fascinated by the intersection of computer science and biology and through his research is developing computational methods for analysis of genetic variations in human disease. There are millions of variants in the genome and identifying the variants involved in disease often require tens of thousands of patient samples. In order to analyze these tremendously large datasets, Eleazar and his team are solving challenging computational problems and developing new computational techniques. Eleazar is the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship and his work is supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Paul Grand
CEO
MedTech Innovator
Paul Grand is CEO of MedTech Innovator, the medtech industry's global competition and accelerator, with a mission to improve the lives of patients by accelerating the development of startups transforming the health care system. He has an extensive global network in transformative medical innovation. Prior to MedTech Innovator, Grand was Managing Director at RCT Ventures, an early-stage life science investor since 2005. At RCT, Grand focused on medtech investments and sourcing innovation. He founded MedTech Innovator as a program within RCT Ventures in 2013, and he left to run MedTech Innovator as a stand-alone company with RCT's support in 2016. Prior to RCT, Grand was an entrepreneur, founding and / or serving as CEO in eight companies in life sciences and technology, including most recently Imagine Pharmaceuticals, which developed a platform to deliver therapeutics across the blood brain barrier and MicroSurgeon, which developed a thermal ablation device treating solid tumors. Grand is actively involved in programs to encourage healthcare innovation. He has lectured and mentored students and scientists at numerous universities, including UCLA, Stanford, USC and UCSF. Grand served as an investment advisor to the LARTA NIH Commercialization Assistance Program for SBIR awardees. He is on the Oversight Committees for the Coulter Translational Research Partnership Programs at USC and University of Washington. Grand has reviewed proof of concept and commercialization-focused funding programs for the University of California, USC, University of Utah, and University of Colorado.
Thomas Lipkin
Director of Entrepreneurship & New Ventures
UCLA Technology Development Group
Thomas Lipkin joined UCLA TDG in 2012 and serves as Head of New Ventures. Dr. Lipkin and his team work to further the entrepreneurial environment at UCLA by building startup companies around UCLA's intellectual property, serving as a resource to faculty members, aiding existing UCLA startups in sourcing financing and talent, and helping secure additional funding for campus-wide startup initiatives. Dr. Lipkin is also responsible for actively promoting UCLA's intellectual property assets and engaging with parties interested in further developing early-stage technologies in the life sciences, physical sciences, and internet technology space. Previously, Dr. Lipkin was with Osage University Partners, a venture capital fund that invests exclusively in university-based startup companies. Dr. Lipkin received his B.S. in Biology from Indiana University and his Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Pathology from Columbia University.
Emily Loughran
Senior Director of Licensing & Strategic Alliances
UCLA Technology Development Group
Emily Loughran joined UCLA TDG in 1994 as a technology transfer officer. Currently, as the Senior Director of Licensing she manages the licensing and patent prosecution groups, and oversees the office's large portfolio of invention disclosures, patents, and license agreements. Emily started in intellectual property administration at the City of Hope Medical Center where she was the Technology Transfer Manager responsible for patenting and licensing activities. Emily holds an M.B.A. from USC and a B.S. from UC Berkeley.
Luke Macyszyn
Associate Program Director, Department of Neurosurgery
University of California, Los Angeles
Luke Macyszyn is an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at UCLA and co-director of the Neurosurgery Machine Learning Laboratory. He studied biomedical image analysis at the University of Pennsylvania, where he developed image-based clinical decision support tools using machine learning. During his tenure at Penn he also co-founded MotionView, a touch-less interface for viewing and manipulating radiology images, which took runner up in the Penn iDesign competition. At UCLA, he has been developing automated tools to help physicians diagnose patients with low back pain using AI. This project has been selected as the winner of the 2017 UCLA Innovation Fund competition and is now a funded startup.
Jennifer McCaney
Executive Director
UCLA Biodesign
Jennifer McCaney, PhD, is the Executive Director of UCLA Biodesign, an early-stage innovation program for healthcare technology and Associate Director of the UCLA CTSI. Jennifer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and a Lecturer at the Anderson School of Management where she leads courses on disruptive technology and entrepreneurship in healthcare. A co-founder of Hourglass Technologies, a Stanford Biodesign company, Jennifer led early product development and also launched the MedTech Innovator Accelerator, which grew from an initial cohort of 20 companies to over 150 alumni with a combined $700M in funding. Jennifer has worked extensively with start-up companies in medtech, digital health and diagnostics, as well as business development executives from leading manufacturers, including J&J, Amgen, Baxter, BD, Olympus, and others in her role as the Director of MedTech Innovator. A Fulbright Scholar, Jennifer completed her PhD in mechanical engineering at Stanford and MS in biomedical engineering from the University of New South Wales. Jennifer holds an MS and BS in mechanical engineering from MIT where she was a Draper Fellow and a BS from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Christos Monovoukas
Vice President of Business Development and Strategy
Olympus Corporation of the Americas
Christos leads Olympus' medical business development and strategy function. He analyzes internal and external businesses and markets to identify strategic growth opportunities and determine Olympus' business strategy. Christos is a senior executive with extensive US and international success, including evaluating high-growth market opportunities and emerging technologies, defining strategy and creating roadmaps to achieve objectives, with particular expertise in the medical device industry. He drives immediate and long-term business growth, plans and executes growth strategies and creates shareholder value. His leadership experience spans all functional areas, including business development, market development, strategy, operations, R&D, product development and manufacturing. He is also experienced in navigating M&A, funding and venture capital arenas in highly competitive areas. Christos is a decisive, action-oriented leader who thrives on challenge and is energized by creating and driving strategy for product innovation/commercialization, market development and business growth. He received his MBA from Harvard University and his MS from Columbia University.
Amir Naiberg
Associate Vice Chancellor and CEO & President, UCLA Technology Development Corporation
UCLA Technology Development Group
Amir Naiberg serves as Associate Vice Chancellor, and President & CEO of UCLA Technology Development Corporation. He leads the UCLA Technology Development Group, a campus wide resource that serves as a Gateway to Innovation, Research and Entrepreneurship at UCLA. Additionally, he leads the UCLA Technology Development Corporation as Chief Executive Officer and President, a non-profit technology company wholly-owned by UCLA focused on better protecting and optimizing the discoveries and inventions developed through UCLA research. Mr. Naiberg also works in concert with several on campus incubators and accelerators to further advance innovation, entrepreneurship and research at UCLA. Prior to joining UCLA in August 2016, Mr. Naiberg worked at Yeda Research and Development Co, Ltd., In Rehovot, Israel, the technology transfer company of the Weizmann Institute of Science, ranked as one of the top three technology transfer organizations in the world. At Yeda, he served for ten years as CEO, following five years as General Counsel. He led the organization's growth in licensing and business partnerships, while building an entrepreneurial ecosystem with local incubators, investors, and the Israeli government. Mr. Naiberg is one of the founders of the Israel Technology Transfer Organization (ITTN), a non-profit organization that unites various technology transfer offices throughout Israel. Before joining Yeda, he worked for a private law firm specializing in intellectual property, privacy and cyberspace law. Mr. Naiberg holds law degrees from the Hebrew University School of Law and the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Shyam Natarajan
Co-Founder and CEO
Avenda Health
Shyam Natarajan is Co-founder and CEO of Avenda Health, a clinical-stage healthcare technology company focused on personalized prostate cancer treatment. He is also an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the UCLA Departments of Urology and Bioengineering. Prior to Avenda, he led research efforts in developing image-guided interventions for prostate cancer at the Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology (CASIT) and has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. His work was instrumental in the clinical translation and commercialization of targeted prostate biopsy. Dr. Natarajan additionally served as a Program Manager in the Business of Science Center, launching campus initiatives in entrepreneurship such as Innovation Week and Inventathon, Southern California's first healthcare hackathon. He received a BS in Computer Engineering and BA in Japanese from UC Santa Barbara, and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UCLA, where he also completed postdoctoral work within the Department of Surgery.
Jonathan Norris
Managing Director, Healthcare Practice
Silicon Valley Bank
Jonathan Norris is a Managing Director of Venture Capital Relationships for Silicon Valley Bank. Norris oversees business development efforts for banking and lending opportunities as well as spearheading strategic relationships with many life science and healthcare venture capital firms. He also helps SVB Capital through sourcing and advising on limited partnership allocations. In addition, he speaks at major investor and industry conferences and authors widely cited analyses of healthcare venture capital trends. Norris has more than sixteen years of banking experience working with healthcare companies and venture capital firms. Norris earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of California, Riverside and a juris doctorate from Santa Clara University.
Jenell Paul-Robinson
Vice President, Clinical Value and Provider Relations
MedTech Innovator
Jenell Robinson, MSN, RN is Vice President, Clinical Value and Provider Relations at MedTech Innovator. MedTech Innovator is the industry's nonprofit global competition and accelerator for medical device, digital health and diagnostic companies. She brings over 20 years of clinical, operational, and administrative healthcare expertise to the MedTech Innovator team. Jenell provides insight and expertise to innovative startups on value propositions, clinical potential and feasibility. Early in her nursing career, Jenell became a travel nurse, gaining experience in multiple care settings, ranging from small, private community hospitals, to large, metropolitan academic medical centers. Through her travels, she became particularly interested in heart and lung transplantation, specializing in cardiothoracic intensive care for both the pediatric and adult patient population. After joining hospital operations management, Jenell received her master's degree in Nursing Administration from UCLA. She served on several national supply chain and academic medical center value analysis professional committees, offering expertise in value analysis and assessment for hospital purchasing decisions. She is the author of Technology Adoption: Appealing to hospital and health system value analysis in Medical Innovation: Concept to Commercialization.
Kelly Larrabee Robke
Vice President, Clinical Thought Leadership
BD Medical Affairs
Kelly is currently the Vice President of Clinical Thought Leadership for the Medication Management Solutions organization of BD. She is responsible for engaging leaders in clinical practice, associations, and healthcare organizations in driving knowledge of clinical issues as well as extending educational and publication initiatives for the business. She previously worked in leadership roles for the Pyxis Product Management group at BD, leading efforts to launch Pyxis Enterprise System and Medlink. Prior to her tenure at BD, Kelly successfully developed, led and grew cross functional teams responsible for the delivery of healthcare innovation and technology in positions at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Pfizer Oncology, Hewlett Packard, and Oracle. As a Registered Nurse, Kelly has been responsible for direct patient care of high risk obstetrical patients, and also worked as an oncology nurse. She has published original research articles in Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing, and the Monitor. Kelly received her Bachelors of Science degree in Nursing from West Virginia University, an MBA from the University of Houston, and a Master's of Science in Regulatory Affairs from the University Of Southern California.
Murray Sheldon
Associate Director of Technology and Innovation Center for Devices and Radiologic Health
FDA
Dr. Murray Sheldon, MD received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1975 and his cardiovascular fellowship at the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in New York. After practicing cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery in Northern California for over 20 years, he entered the medical device industry, leading device development projects and providing expert consultative services to numerous start-up innovative medical device development firms. Dr. Sheldon joined the FDA in 2013 as the Associate Director for Technology and Innovation overseeing the Center's initiative to proactively facilitate medical device innovation to address unmet public health needs and to align what is traditionally done at FDA with what is required to support the US medical device ecosystem. His primary focus is working with FDA staff, the medical device industry, the clinical community and other stakeholders on ways to facilitate bringing innovative medical devices to the patients in the US first in the world. Dr. Sheldon currently leads the Medical Device Payer Communication Task Force, identifying methods to streamline the path from FDA approval to reimbursement.
Anne E. Sissel
Vice President, Baxter Ventures
Baxter Healthcare Corporation
Anne Sissel is the Vice President and Head of Baxter Ventures. Previous to Baxter, Anne was on the founding team and executive team for Veracyte, Inc. (now NASDAQ: VCYT). Anne led the finance and business development organization and was a cross-functional leader from early discovery through commercialization. Prior to Veracyte, Anne worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York and San Francisco, completing over $200bn in financing and M&A transactions. Anne holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Finance from Indiana University. She was selected to Crain's Chicago Business Top 40 Under 40 in 2016 and their Top 50 in Tech in 2015. Anne's current Board and Observation roles representing Baxter include: Kit Check, Medasense, Prescient Surgical, Sanifit and VitalConnect.
Maie A. St. John
Professor and Chair, Department of Head & Neck Surgery
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicinesz
A highly renowned surgeon, scientist and educator, Dr. St. John is Professor and Chair of Department of Head and Neck Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She also holds the Samuel and Della Pearlman Chair in Head and Neck Surgery and is Co-Director of the UCLA Head and Neck Cancer Program. Dr. St. John's laboratory studies the mechanisms of tumor progression and metastasis in head and neck cancer and seeks to identify and study novel genes and pathways for future targeted therapies, while actively incorporating the results of their laboratory-based research into the development of novel therapeutics. Dr. St. John received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University. She completed residency and postdoctoral training at UCLA and served previously as Chief of Head and Neck Surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. St. John's clinical expertise is in intraoperative tumor margin delineation in the resection and treatment of head and neck cancers. Her laboratory research is translational with a focus on improving therapies and outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer.
George Tolomiczenko
Advisory Board Member for The Center for Technology and Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP)
Co-Director for The USC Coulter
Administrative Director for HTE@USC
Expert in fund development and management including negotiations, contracting, policy formulation, and other activities related to fundraising from corporations, partner funders, volunteers and high net-worth individuals. Demonstrated success in negotiating win-win agreements in multi-sector organizational and research partnerships with federal, provincial, academic and health charity stakeholders across Canada in the US. Leadership and research responsibilities for complex healthcare projects and external partnerships related to developing large-and small-scale project management and data collection efforts for program development and marketing.
Kwame Ulmer
Venture Partner
Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health
Kwame Ulmer is a venture partner at Wavemaker 360 Health-the leading Southern-California based, early stage venture capital firm (Seed and Series A) focused on the healthcare industry. He participates in all aspects of fund management (e.g. deal sourcing, diligence, negotiation and advising portfolio company management teams). Kwame brings nearly twenty years of experience evaluating medical technologies in the government and private sector, and serving in senior operating roles at medical device companies. He has personally evaluated more than 1,000 medical technologies in his career. Kwame spent 12 years at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in progressive leadership roles, including Deputy Director and Branch Chief. He also served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Implant Direct, a Danaher Corporation operating company. He is a member of the Executive Committee of Tech Coast Angels (LA), the world's largest angel investing network. Kwame earned his BS in Physics from Lincoln University, and has two Masters degrees from University of Virginia, in Materials Engineering and Business Administration.
Erich Wohlhieter
Executive Director, Digital Health & Innovation
Amgen
Erich Wohlhieter has been at Amgen over 16 years in a variety of roles spanning research, corporate transformation and strategy, and is currently an Executive Director in Amgen's Digital Health and Innovation group. Erich received his Bachelor's in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Kathryn Zavala
Vice President, Operations & Business Development
MedTech Innovator
Kathryn Zavala is the Vice President, Operations & Business Development at MedTech Innovator, a nonprofit global competition and accelerator for medical device, digital health, and diagnostic companies. She previously held a position as Senior Technology Fellow at the UCLA Technology Development Group, where she assisted with the commercialization of university technologies. At Campbell Alliance, Kathryn developed launch strategies for biopharma clients. She received her Bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley, where she majored in Molecular and Cell Biology and Rhetoric. Kathryn earned her PhD in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from UCLA.