Corporate Development
Dr. Joe Heanue has significant leadership experience in device and instrumentation research & development within interdisciplinary
environments. He previously served as Vice President of Engineering at NexRay and at Signature BioScience.
At NexRay, Joe led the
development of a low-dose x-ray imaging system for interventional cardiology. At Signature, he headed a group that delivered prototype RF and microwave
spectroscopy instruments to a major instrument partner; the first of these instruments was launched in 2005 by MDS Sciex.
Joe’s
extensive research and development experience includes the analysis and design of complex systems, x-ray and gamma-ray detector development, low-noise
analog electronics, data-acquisition systems, signal and image processing, high-speed data-processing architectures, and thin-films failure
analysis.
Joe holds patents for detector and image processing, spectroscopy, and a patent for medical system imaging architecture that is licensed
to a major medical equipment manufacturer. He received a BS in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. in
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley. Joe was a postdoctoral researcher at Xerox PARC, and he has
completed the Stanford University Executive Program for Growing Companies.
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Ed Solomon has over 25 years of experience in advanced engineering, senior management,
and financing of small companies.
From 1993 to 2004, he was Vice President, Advanced Technology for NexRay, where he
defined the system architecture for the company's
innovative fluoroscopy imaging system and
developed a large intellectual property portfolio of U.S. and international patents.
Ed promoted the company's technology at numerous scientific meetings and corporate partnering discussions, and played a central
role in raising the company's $80 million of venture funding. He recruited the company's scientific advisory board of luminary
interventional cardiologists and imaging physicists and developed a core group of enthusiastic early adopters for the company's
products.
Prior to NexRay, Ed was Vice President of Engineering at Resumix, a developer and distributor of sophisticated resume
processing systems to Fortune 500 companies. From 1986 to 1992, he was a General Partner at Dillon Read Venture Capital, specializing
in technology investments in medical devices, information systems, and semiconductors. Previously, he was a Senior Engineer and
Project Manager at Oximetrix, a manufacturer of patient-monitoring equipment and drug-delivery systems.
Ed holds 14 patents
on a variety of medical devices and has authored numerous technical
publications. He holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering
from the University of
Cape Town, South Africa, and an MS in Management from the Stanford Business School.
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Barclay Dorman has more than 25 years of marketing, sales, and general management experience in a broad range of medical device companies, from
startup to Fortune 10 organizations.
Most recently, he was Vice President and General Manager of a startup company commercializing
new technology for breast cancer detection. Prior to that, he held senior sales and marketing positions at startup companies introducing stereo tactic
radio-surgery for cancer therapy, innovative imaging technology for interventional cardiology, digital recording for medical imaging storage, and
a specialized cardiac MRI system.
Barclay's hands-on experience in building and managing teams, defining clinical needs, scrubbing significant
market and customer issues that impact new technology adoption, and communicating with all the relevant stake holders is useful in his business development
role. He received his BA in Economics from Bates College.
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Jack Lloyd has founded and managed several high tech companies in the medical device, medical service and drug delivery areas.
Currently he is Founder and Principal in several companies developing drug delivery systems and non invasive measurement and
monitoring. Previously he was Founder of Alere Medical (monitoring patients at home for heart failure and other chronic
diseases - sold to Inverness, now Alere, in 2007), Founder, President and Chairman of Aradigm (developed, manufactured and
licensed devices and systems for aerosol drug delivery for systemic effect, including insulin - IPO in 1996), Founder and
President of Nellcor Incorporated (anesthesia monitoring, developer of the pulse oximeter. - IPO in 1987, now part of Covidien),
owned patents in digital hearing aid (licensed to ReSound and sold to Siemens in 1995), and Founder and President of Humphrey
Instruments (ophthalmic instruments - sold to Smith Kline in 1980, now part of Zeiss).
Mr. Lloyd has served on the public boards of Nellcor, Aradigm, Aspect Medical, and Molecular Dynamics and is a director, investor and advisor to several medical device and drug delivery companies. He presently serves as on the advisory committee to the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and as chairman of the Bioengineering Industrial Advisory Board at Berkeley. He has a BSME from University of California, Berkeley and holds 30 US Patents.
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Gurinder Parhar has over 20 years experience in technology-related business development. Prior to Triple Ring Technologies, Gurinder worked at several leading
technology companies in areas of increasing responsibility, including Santur (leading tunable laser supplier) as VP, Business Development and
Marketing, SDL (purchased by JDSU) as Director of Business Development, BCE Mobile (purchased by BCE) as Manager of Strategic Planning, Unitel
(AT&T Canada) as Manager of Capital and Network Management, and Nortel as an Engineer, Digital Switching Division. Gurinder also has experience
in the financial markets as a telecommunications hardware research analyst for several leading investment banks.
Gurinder obtained a Bachelor of
Applied Science, Electrical Engineering from University of British Columbia, and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario (Richard Ivey School of
Business).
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Gil brings to Triple Ring more than 40 years experience in both Fortune 500 and early-stage technology-driven
organizations. During his career, he has held management positions in research and development, sales and marketing,
business development, and general management. He previously served as Vice President, Business Development, at Aubrey
Group, a product development company in Southern California, where he helped the company enter new markets and achieve
record growth in revenues.
Gil was CEO of Virtual Imaging, a venture-backed developer of specialized hardware
and software for diagnostic imaging workstations, Executive Vice President and COO of Cemax, Vice President and General
Manager of Kodak’s Imagelink Business Unit, Vice President and General Manager of E-Systems’ E-MED Business Unit,
General Manager of Varian’s NMR Division, and Director of Perkin-Elmer’s Computer Aided Chemistry Department. Gil
began his career at Hewlett-Packard where held a number of product and marketing management positions.
He holds a BSE degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate
School of Business.
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Jeffrey Arthur Schuster, Ph.D. has led the development of multiple aerosol drug delivery platforms including microprocessor controlled and all mechanical systems, in therapeutic areas including pain management (post operative and break-through cancer pain) and diabetes management. In addition, Dr. Schuster has contributed to the development of needle-free jet injectors, implantable pumps, and flow cytometry systems. He has authored several peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on aerosol drug delivery. He is a named inventor on 31 issued US patents and numerous foreign cases, in the areas of generation of liquid aerosol generation for pulmonary delivery and needle free injection using micron sized liquid jets, and has also managed multiple patent portfolios in these areas encompassing hundreds of U.S. and foreign cases. Jeff was also the primary investigator on a phase II SBIR grant, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, focused on the development of an inhalation based mass vaccination system for measles and other diseases.
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Amish Parashar's experience includes leading innovative teams, creating new products, teaching innovation, and advising inventors and entrepreneurs.
He has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at CONNECT (San Diego), is a founder of three start-ups, and a founder and board member of a global non-profit organization.
His efforts have spanned four continents and include medical devices, safety products, and electric vehicles (all of which have been sold internationally).
Amish is a named inventor on several patents (granted and pending) and has published in cardiac surgery, aerospace, and business.
He is a frequent lecturer and has held teaching appointments at Dartmouth College, UC San Diego, and Stanford University. He is currently a faculty member and advisor on Innovation at Singularity University.
Amish holds an BA in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College, a BE in Biomedical Engineering from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, and a MSc in Public Health (focus on Health Technology Evaluation) from the University of London.
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Science
Dr. Brian Wilfley has over 20 years of experience leading development efforts for medical device and instrumentation companies. He has held senior
scientific and engineering positions with Resonex, Inc., Park Scientific, Inc., Signature Bioscience, Inc., and NexRay, Inc.
Combining a broad
theoretical background with a highly developed experimental sense, Brian has experience across the full range of challenges encountered in
developing complex measurement-based products. He is able to support the basic research and development of measurement-based equipment,
as well as the detailed engineering required to implement it. His experience ranges from magnetism to x-rays, and includes a broad array of
applications including biotech instrumentation, medical imaging, and optical inspection.
Brian is a co-inventor of six issued patents and has
authored a number of technical papers. He received his AB in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Physics
from the University of California at San Diego.
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Dr. Kate Bechtel has over 9 years of experience in researching and developing optic-based instruments for analytical and medical applications. She has
worked on trace analysis via cavity-enhanced techniques; non-invasive glucose sensing using Raman spectroscopy; and the detection of early stage breast cancer
and atherosclerosis using Raman, diffuse reflectance, and fluorescence. She has broad experience in optical design, analytical methods, and data analysis
(chemometrics).
Kate holds one patent and has authored several scientific papers. She received her BS in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, her Ph.D. in Analytical/Physical Chemistry from Stanford University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
the Spectroscopy Laboratory.
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Dr. Tobias Funk is a Principal Physicist on the science team at Triple Ring Technologies working on dose reduction
strategies in X-ray imaging. He has over 10 years of experience in the development of instrumentation for science
and medicine.
His focus is in the areas of X-ray imaging, SPECT/CT imaging, and modeling and simulations of complex systems.
Tobias has worked as a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and in the Department of Radiology at
the University of California, San Francisco.
He received his MS and Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany and has authored over 20 peer reviewed publications.
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Dr. Waldo Hinshaw has over 25 years of experience in the development of medical imaging systems. His experience includes the development of basic science as well
as program management. He is an author of the first MR imaging patent and has written many patents and peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Waldo was an
Associate Professor in the Harvard Medical School with an appointment in the Radiology Department of the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was the program manager
for the early MR imaging program at Technicare (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson). Later, he was the Chief Operating Officer at Biomagnetic
Technologies, a San Diego company that built magnetic brain scanners based on superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDS). He directed the MRI engineering
team at the Toshiba facility in South San Francisco and later the engineering team at Imatron, the company that produced an ultra-fast x-ray CT scanner based on a
swept electron beam x-ray source. Waldo has been a consultant for the last several years working on a wide range of development projects.
Waldo received
a Ph.D. in physics from the University of North Carolina and continued his NMR research at the University of Nottingham in England.
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Dr. Jamie Ku has over 10 years of experience in the design, development, and manufacture of imaging systems and components. He has a track record of
complete product development cycle from concept to production for several radiation imaging systems and optical imaging components. He has also the proven
ability to conduct failure analysis and troubleshoot at all stages of product development and in product applications.
Jamie has held senior
engineering, project management, and engineering management positions at a startup company and at PerkinElmer Optoelectronics. At PerkinElmer, he worked on
flat panel X-ray detectors, CCD sensors and cameras, CMOS sensors and cameras, and imaging detector read-out ICs. He was on the grant proposal review
committee of NIH Vision System. Prior to PerkinElmer, he was working with position sensitive optical detectors, novel optics, and radiation detection
systems at Lexitek. His areas of expertise include radiation detection, UV-IR light detection, optics, and imaging system engineering.
Jamie received his Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral researcher at the
Argonne National Laboratory.
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Henry Liu has over 7 years of experience developing life science instruments and other technology applications, at both small and large companies.
He has performed extensive testing component and high throughput automated instruments for the biotech industry.
In addition to his product development
experience, Henry held a senior position at Cafepress.com, where he transformed a startup facility to a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility able to accommodate
peak season demands of over 450% from normal, and perfected the art of on-demand printing on dark garments.
Henry received a BS in Chemistry from
University of California, Irvine. He holds one patent in well-based biosensor detecting molecular or cellular events, and another pending patent for adjustable
area platen.
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Dr. Paul Chandler has over 31 years of experience in acoustic R&D and systems engineering in the medical ultrasound, medical device, and oceanographic industries. He has held senior scientific and research positions with Acuson, POINT Biomedical, SPAWAR Systems Center, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Philips Ultrasound, BC Tech, and USAcousticsTech.
With the ability to apply his broad theoretical and experimental skill set at all levels of the R&D process, Paul has contributed as a sensors and instrumentation engineer, experimentalist, image analysis engineer, systems engineer, project and functional manager, innovative technology investigator, and new business development entrepreneur.
Paul holds 22 patents for ultrasound beamforming, second harmonic imaging, ultrasound contrast agent technologies, 3D imaging, and ultrasound based physiological assessment. He received a BA in Biology from the University of California, at Los Angeles, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Radiological Sciences from the University of California, at Irvine.
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Dr. Anne Sandman has 10 years of experience in the computational analysis of electromagnetic fields and magnetized
plasmas. An astrophysicist by training, her experience is primarily in analytical and numerical modeling of magnetic
fields in the solar atmosphere.
Anne previously worked as a research assistant at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory and the University
of Chicago Center on Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes. She received her B.A. in physics from the University of
Chicago, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in solar astrophysics from Rice University.
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System Architecture
Gus Lowell has over 20 years experience in systems and software engineering, product specification development, and product planning, with
experience in the medical device field, semiconductor processing, and internet servers.
His background includes expertise in pipelined data
processing, image and signal processing algorithm development, distributed processing, embedded systems, real-time and event-driven systems,
fault-detection and safety-critical systems, and structured analysis and object-oriented design. He has designed high-speed digital imaging processors
and systems; analog/digital, data acquisition, and machine-control interfaces; and sensor interfaces. He is skilled in coding in a number
of assembly languages and C++/C/Pascal/Fortran.
Gus has held senior engineering and project management positions at both Fortune 100 and startup
companies, including Abbott Laboratories, Tetris Systems, and NexRay, and in the military space program for the United States Air Force.
He holds
three patents and has authored a number of scientific papers. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
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Dr. John Heanue has more than 15 years of experience with design, implementation, integration, and deployment of microfabricated optical systems.
He served as Director of Product Engineering at Santur Corporation, where he led the development of a widely-tunable semiconductor laser module
for optical telecommunications. He previously led a group responsible for opto-mechanical engineering of large port-count MEMs-based optical
cross-connects at Xros Corporation/Nortel Networks. John also has extensive experience in optical data storage systems through positions at Seagate
Technology, Quinta Corporation, and Optitek. Other projects have included high-power fiber lasers, optical imaging for medical applications, and
LWIR imaging systems.
John received S.B. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in both Electrical Engineering and Physics, and
Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics from Stanford University. He holds 39 issued U.S. patents and has authored numerous publications.
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Product Development
Muslim Tyebjee has over 25 years of experience developing medical systems for companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies. His experience spans
product development, operations, quality systems, and customer support for products ranging from patient life support devices to imaging/patient monitoring systems.
Muslim's development projects have included anesthesia machines, ventilators, SvO2 monitoring and dual oximetery systems, infusion pumps, low dose X-ray
fluoroscopy systems, heart-lung bypass machines, high speed blood separation devices, and eye surgical products.
Muslim has extensive experience in
project management, design control, SOPs, requirement analysis, fault tree analysis, FMECA, and verification/validation with emphasis on software validation of
complex medical device systems. He has successfully commercialized products which involved UL/IEC/CSA 60601-1 certification, FDA 510(k) approvals, and GMP
manufacturing. Muslim has held senior management positions at BC Tech Inc. as Vice President of Product Development, and at CardioVention as Director of
Instrument Development. Prior to that, he held positions with NexRay, Inc., Abbott Labs (now Hospira), Oximetrix, and Ohmeda.
Muslim is holder of one
patent. He received his BSEE from Northrop University and his MSEE with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University.
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Manisha Patel has a background in Fluid flow operations, Transport phenomena, Heat & Mass transfer and Thermodynamics. She also possesses strong academic
background in Biomedical Engineering.
She made a stirling engine and explored its possible use as means of waste heat recovery in chemical plants, for
which she was awarded prizes from many universities in India.
She has two years of experience as a teaching assistant at NIT (National Institute of
Technology), India, where she taught core Chemical Engineering subjects and undertook laboratory sessions for different Chemical Engineering subjects.
During her academic career, she undertook many projects like developing self regulated drug delivery devices, working on MEMS technology for treating Glaucoma, and
designed a neural prosthesis that could automatically control the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
She has indepth understanding of FDA’s
Quality System Regulations (QSR) and ISO 13485 Medical devices -- Quality Management Systems.
Manisha holds a BE in Chemical Engineering and MS in
Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California.
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Jerry Pretti has over 25 years experience in applying technologies to a wide range of medical, industrial, and government applications.
His broad experience includes complete lifecycle development of complex systems and software as well as lead project engineering roles in system
integration and evaluation, system and software requirements definition, project technical management, and system test planning and design.
Jerry
has held lead project and technical management roles with NexRay, Abbott Labs (now Hospira), GTE Government Systems, and a number of other technology-related
companies.
He received his BS in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MS in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins
University.
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Mike Hayden has over 25 years of experience developing complex medical devices and managing multi-disciplinary teams. He has managed major product developments
from inception through first shipments and has extensive experience in requirements definition, software development, systems engineering, product
verification/validation, design controls and project management.
Mike held senior management positions at Zonare Medical Systems, Accuray and Acuson.
As Senior Vice President, Product Development at Accuray, he managed the Engineering, R&D, Manufacturing and Service groups for the image guided, robotically
controlled CyberKnife® radiosurgery system. He was instrumental in procuring the company's first 510(k) approval and completing the third generation system
that supports full body radiosurgery.
Prior to Accuray, Mike spent 14 years at Acuson developing premium quality diagnostic ultrasound products. He was
Project Manager and key contributor for both the revolutionary Sequoia GI512 and CV256 products that have to date generated over $2 billion in revenue.
Mike holds one patent. He received an MSEE from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BSEE from Rice University.
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Steve Burion has over 4 years experience developing software for medical device and commercial applications. He has significant experience with user interface
design, 3D simulation and mobile robotics.
Most recently, Steve was at Litrex, where he worked on the motion interface for high accuracy inkjet printers.
Prior to that, he was a research engineer at Stanford working on 3D simulation of deformable objects for medical applications, and at the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology working on autonomous mobile robots. He also led the team at the Swiss Institute of Technology which developed a new device for neuro-surgical
operations.
Steve holds a BS and MS in Micro-engineering, with a Major in Robotics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
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Peter Holst has more than 25 years of design experience, mostly in medical device development including visual field testers, IV and enteral pumps,
surgical robots, cholesterol testers and glucose meters, and various aerosol drug delivery technologies. He has experience leading cross
functional teams in the development of both battery powered and user energized portable devices.
Peter has experience in design for high volume
manufacturing using various component manufacturing methods including plastic injection molding, metal injection molding, casting, powder
metal, sheet metal and machined components. He also has background in the design of low volume capital equipment medical mechanisms and systems.
He has experience in DOE and analysis of experimental data, and brings a disciplined, data driven, approach to the design of complex
mechanical systems.
Peter is a named inventor on 9 patents, with several applications pending, and has authored or co-authored a number of posters
and papers. He has a BSME from Northwestern University and an MSME with a concentration in dynamics and controls from Santa Clara University.
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Alan Baldwin has nearly ten years experience in mechanical design and electronics packaging. He has acquired skill in creating and managing complex assemblies, heat transfer analysis, finite element analysis, and prototype fabrication. His design approach is to meet with all stakeholders early to make sure requirements are compatible, and to build consensus around a common solution.
Alan's experience has touched upon many areas including integration of ruggedized systems in military vehicles (BAE Systems), electric motor design (Emerson Motor Company), high power radio-frequency waveguide layout (Selex Sistemi Integrati), design of fiber optic amplifiers and transceivers (Agere Systems), and laser test and measurement (Photon, Inc.).
Alan holds BS (magna cum laude) and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.
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Daniel Menig has a background in machine design and motion control for semiconductor and machine tool equipment. He lead a small team in the design and
development of a miniature 5 axis CNC mill for MDA Precision. While working at LAM Research’s research and development lab, he participated in developing a
new wafer coating system. Daniel has spent significant time in machine shops prototyping and developing various mechanisms resulting in excellent hands on
skills and intimate understanding of manufacturing processes.
Daniel holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a mechatronics concentration from
California Polytechnic State University(San Luis Obispo).
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Mike Pinkney has over 18 years of experience in electromechanical design for medical device and biotech applications. He has worked at Novo Nordisk
Delivery Technologies, Aradigm, Nellcor, and Vista Labs.
Mike has an AA/AS degree in Electromechanical Design, and has participated in a wide variety
of CAD education and certification programs.
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Daniell Dokko has more than six years of mechanical engineering experience. His work experience ranges from concept generation to transfer to volume production, including prototype development, testing, and manufacturing fixture design.
The bulk of Daniell's experience is in medical device development, most recently in the design of implantable cardioverter defibrillators at St. Jude Medical's Cardiac Rhythm Management Division. He was one of the mechanical core team members on two of the latest major defibrillator platforms and was responsible for developing internal and external device components as well as manufacturing tools.
Daniell earned his BS in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and his MSME at Stanford University.
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Alan Tepe has a wide range of engineering experience. He has completed projects for Boston Scientific, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Textron Systems, and several startup companies. These projects have largely focused on product design, including system modeling and manufacturing development. Alan has a firm grasp of the mathematics used to simulate real world systems, as well as practical manufacturing and design experience. He currently has one patent application pending.
Alan holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a Mechatronics concentration from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
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Christian Walton has 25 years of experience in product development - over half at the director level and above in the field of medical devices. He has managed
large cross-functional teams in the development of various pieces of complex diagnostic capital equipment, as well as performed development functions for injectors,
catheters and other delivery systems, and implants.
Christian is named on over a dozen patents, and has worked closely with radiologists, surgeons,
anesthesiologists, pediatricians, dermatologists and plastic surgeons, cardiologists, and audiologists in the development of numerous successful medical devices.
He has held engineering and executive and management positions at R2 Technology, Natus Medical, Circle Medical Devices, Vital Insite, Raychem Corp (now Tyco),
and Beta Phase. In addition, he has consulted with AorTx/CardiacMD, Aesthetic Sciences, Tympani, and Tessera.
He holds Mechanical Engineering degrees
from Carnegie-Mellon University (BS) and Stanford University (MS).
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Dr. Winston Sun has nearly 20 years experience in systems architecture and algorithm development for imaging, video and wireless communication systems.
His background spans mixed-signal, digital ASIC and RF chips, boards and systems, with specific expertise in mapping real-time signal processing algorithms
into embedded system solutions. GSM basestations, soft switches for VoIP, QAM demodulators for digital set top boxes, CDMA cellular handsets, WiFi chipsets
and X-ray fluoroscopy systems are examples of products he has designed and implemented.
Winston has held systems architect, engineering management,
and business development positions at PMC-Sierra, Atheros Communications, Applied Signal Technologies, Hyundai Wireless and Nexray Medical.
Winston
received a BS in Electrical Engineering from UCLA, and a PhD in EE from the University of California at Berkeley. He holds three patents, and has
authored/presented numerous scientific papers.
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Leonard Cygnarowicz has over 25 years experience in digital hardware and firmware development for a wide variety of Silicon Valley firms in the area of medical
electronics, industrial controls, instrumentation, robotics, telephony, optical networks, computer peripherals and semiconductors.
Leonard has worked on
a variety of projects, including a full body MRI imaging system, a Gamma camera, a DNA instrument, pick and place and cartesian robots, an instrument for seismic
exploration, large memory system development, manufacturing test systems, T1 and DS3 computer telephony, ATM based network equipment, optical network equipment,
development platforms, microprocessor emulators, video peripherals, computer design, laser printer controllers and computer peripherals for a variety of standard
buses.
Leonard's skills include hardware and firmware development on a wide variety of microprocessors, microcontrollers and digital signal processors;
programming in Verilog, C and many assembly languages; and hardware design from gate level through large complex FPGA's. In addition to direct design activity,
he has managed projects and development departments.
Leonard received a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and has
continued his studies at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley. He holds two U.S. patents.
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Willem Ouborg has 4 years experience developing and testing products containing cutting edge technologies, including applications of carbon nanotubes.
At Intematix, Willem helped develop a carbon nanotube based electrode for hydrogen fuel cell applications, including a patent pending technique of catalyst and
Nafion deposition. At Nonomix, he helped develop gas sensors based on single wall CNTs. He led the prototyping of an ammonia monitor, and
integrated complex FTIR equipment and software to create an ammonia reference sensor.
Willem holds a BSEE and MS in EE/MEMS from UCLA.
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Jivko Mihaylov has over 5 years of experience in product development of Medical Devices. His background includes systems engineering/integration, multi-disciplinary product development, analog and digital design, and SolidWorks 3D mechanical modeling. In his previous role as a Product Development Engineer at Xoft Inc Jivko acquired valuable skills and knowledge pertaining to X-Ray systems, high voltage equipment, and implantable medical devices. He also led three products from conceptualization and development to commercialization in a short amount of time. In addition, his interest in mechanics and automation along with well-developed hands-on skills in fabrication and welding make him an asset to any engineering organization.
Jivko is a co-author of a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (APM) in 2009.
He holds a BS in Industrial Technology with Electronics and Computer Systems concentration with a minor in Business Management from San Jose State University. His studies included analog/digital design with OrCad and MultiSim, C/C++ programming, microcontrollers, semiconductor fabrication, and network management. Jivko also holds an MBA with Technology concentration from Walden University, MD.
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Roger Stenerson has over 25 years of experience in hardware, software, ASIC, and FPGA design primarily in Digital Signal Processing and Reed-Solomon error
correction systems.
Most recently Roger was at BroadLogic Network Technologies supporting customers that used the QAM demodulation and multi-channel
video processing chips, reference design boards, and software developed by
the company. He also developed software and Matlab models for DSP blocks in the
QAM demodulation chip.
He has also held engineering positions at Ampex Corporation, Applied Signal Technology, and Hyundai Electronics America.
Roger holds five patents. He received a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oregon State University.
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Program and Project Management
Walt Cecka has over 25 years of experience in design and development of medical devices and drug/device combination products. Mr. Cecka has held
senior management and development engineering positions at Nektar Therapeutics, Bio-Molecular Technologies, Baxter Healthcare Corporation
(Novacor Division), Cholestech Corporation, Nellcor, Inc., and Beckman Instruments (Spinco Division).
His product development leadership experience
includes the development and commercialization of several first-to-clinic and first-to-market products, including Nektar’s inhaled Amikacin
combination product, the Exubera™ pulmonary insulin inhaler, Novacor’s N-100 bridge to transplant heart assist pump, and diagnostic products
for rapid lipid panels and blood gas monitoring (CO2 and anesthesia agents). His skill sets also include product development planning and
program management in FDA and EMEA/ISO environments, system product design, plastic component material selection and design, and design transfer
for high volume manufacturing.
Walt has co-authored several peer reviewed posters and holds two patents in respiratory care and pulmonary
delivery devices, with additional patents pending. He holds a BSME degree from California Polytechnic State.
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Lauren Yazolino brings over 40 years experience in high technology corporate management, engineering management and product development which span an
extremely wide range of technologies and applications.
His work and experience include the development of a Cosmic Ray data acquisition
system for X-raying the Egyptian pyramids and a data acquisition system for particle physics experiments in the upper atmosphere (both while working for Nobel
Laureate, Dr. Luis Alvarez at the Lawrence Berkeley Labs), mini computer peripheral controller development and Optical mark and character recognition systems,
mini computer emulation of the IBM 370, 3D radiology imaging systems, neural technology, pulse oximetery, capnography, a red blood cell mixing and dosing system
for pathogen inactivation, on-demand pay-for-view television systems for the hospitality industry, and an in-home patient monitoring system for congestive heart
failure patients.
In addition, Lauren has co-founded six high technology companies, including Synaptics Inc., the company now well known for its
touch pad technology, where he was its first president. In addition to Synaptics Inc., the companies he co-founded and managed as Vice President of
Engineering and Product Development, include, Decision Inc., Two Pi Corp., Cygnet Technologies, Pacific Pay Video, and Alere Medical Inc. He was Vice
President of Engineering at Nellcor Inc. and Cemax Inc.
He has managed a department of 100 engineers and engineering professionals with as large
a budget as $15M per year (1990) and has participated in venture fund raising for each of his startups. Recently, at Alere Medical, he created and orchestrated
a “virtual engineering” group comprised of engineering design houses and turnkey manufacturing facilities to execute the design and manufacture of Alere’s
DayLink Monitor for CHF patients. Lauren holds 9 patents in communications and computing technologies.
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Manufacturing Operations & Engineering
Nick Lopez has 25 years experience developing systems involving vacuum, high voltage, electron device, and RF/microwave technologies. Nick's
experience includes wafer inspection systems, X-ray fluoroscopy systems, thermal processing and brazing systems, high power electron sources,
megawatt-level microwave sources, lasers, and ultra high vacuum (below 1.0x10-10T).
Nick specializes in transferring products from
engineering to production. He has worked in startups and large companies where he has managed departments of up to 130 people with $4M of
monthly product shipments. He has implemented TQM and has expansive knowledge of JIT implementations. He has held manufacturing and senior
management positions at KLA-Tencor, Varian/CPI, Nexray Medical/Cardiac Mariners, Altair, and Kodak.
Nick holds a BSEE from the University of
California at Davis.
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Petre Vatahov has over 25 years of experience in product and process development in applications such as hermetic seals (glass to metal, glass to ceramic,
ceramic to metal, metal to metal), thermal processing, ultra high vacuum, high voltage, thin film deposition and processing, and failure analysis.
Most
recently Petre was Principal Engineer at Xoft Inc. where he was involved in the development of a miniature X-ray source, and transferring it into production.
Previously, he held development engineering and management positions at Candescent Technologies Inc. (a flat panel display developer) and DZU Corp.
(a hard disk manufacturer).
Petre received his BS and MS in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Sofia, Bulgaria.
He is co-inventor of four issued patents.
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RA Risk Management
Dr. Geetha Rao has over 20 years of experience in high-risk technologies. She has provided advisory services and interim management to medical device,
biotechnology and other life-sciences enterprises with a focus on emerging business challenges and operational excellence that meets best-in-class, international
standards. She is an internationally recognized expert in risk management and liability and has served on several international policy making bodies, and as an
invited expert to regulatory agencies, including the FDA, ISO Technical Committees, GHTF, and European Notified Bodies.
Previously Geetha has consulted
to major multi-nationals in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology, healthcare providers, government agencies, trade associations, non-profit
organizations, venture and investment firms, and law firms. Her focus has been on regulatory and legal problem-solving for submissions, FDA and notified
body inspections and audits, adverse events, and liability. She has addressed numerous industry forums and the press on issues of management of product and process
quality and business risks.
Geetha is on the board of the ASQ Northern California Biomedical Discussion Group. chairs the MIT/Stanford Venture
Lab’s Emerging Business Track for Life Sciences, is guest faculty on Stanford University’s Biodesign Innovation Program, and serves on the Life
Sciences Committee for Astia, the leading organization supporting women-founded and women-led start-ups, and as advisor to several non-profits.
Geetha
is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and also holds a doctorate from MIT and a masters degree from Stanford University’s Graduate
School of Business. She has held Professional Engineer licenses in Civil and Mechanical Engineering in the State of California.
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Legal
Joe Lin has more than fifteen years of experience in both patent and corporate law. He has held positions at Blakely
Sokoloff Taylor & Zafman, Morrison & Foerster LLP, Silicon Genesis Corporation (as General Counsel and Vice-President,
Corporate Development), and O2 Micro, Inc. (as General Counsel).
He has extensive patent prosecution and litigation experience, having overseen the prosecution of dozens of
domestic and international filings and led successful trial teams in multiple cases, including invalidation of
competitor’s patent in crucial “bet the company” litigation (Soitec v. Silicon Genesis Corporation, D. Mass).
While at O2 Micro, he led trial teams in four successful jury trials obtaining verdict of willful trade secrets
misappropriation, invalidation of all asserted claims of major competitor’s patents and noninfringement of all
asserted claims (O2 Micro International Ltd. v. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc., N.D. CA), obtaining verdict of willful
infringement and Court award of attorneys’ fees (O2 Micro International Ltd. v. Taiwan Sumida Electronics, Inc., E.D.
TX), obtaining verdict of willful infringement (O2 Micro International Ltd. v. Beyond Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.
et. al., E.D. TX) and obtaining favorable settlement on the last day of trial (O2 Micro International Ltd. v. Rohm Co.,
Ltd.).
As both an outside counsel and in-house attorney, he has advised on M&A, Securities, and implementation of
Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. He has represented venture capital firms and issuers in over 40 venture capital and
private placement transactions, led the securities team in the initial public offering of O2 Micro International Ltd.
on Nasdaq, and represented underwriters in public offerings involving Siebel Corporation (Nasdaq: SEBL) and Credence
Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: CMOS).
He received his JD from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1993, and is BS with Distinction
in both Electrical and Engineering and Materials Science from the Cornell University, College of Engineering in 1987.
He was admitted as a Member of the State Bar of California, December in 1993 (No. 168,913), registered to practice
before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (No. 38,225), and admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit.
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Finance and Administration
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