Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top California based VP’ operating in the Medical space. If you think a VP’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Raymond H. Diradoorian
Executive Vice President of Allergan
Mr. Diradoorian has been Executive Vice President, Global Technical Operations since February 2006. From April 2005 to February 2006, Mr. Diradoorian served as Senior Vice President, Global Technical Operations. Since February 2001, Mr. Diradoorian served as Vice President, Global Engineering and Technology. Mr. Diradoorian joined Allergan in July 1981. Prior to joining Allergan, Mr. Diradoorian held positions at American Hospital Supply and with the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. Mr. Diradoorian received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine and a Master of Science degree in Technology Management from Pepperdine University.
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About Allergan: Allergan is a global pharmaceutical company.
Rachel Gollub
Vice President of Benefitter Technology of UnitedHealth Group
Founder at Benefitter
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About Benefitter, HealthMarkets, UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group is a healthcare company that offers insurance products and services for everyone.
Maynd Jolly
Vice President Strategic Corporate Accounts of Siemens Healthineers
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About Siemens Healthineers: Siemens Healthineers is a healthcare technology company that provides diagnostic and therapeutic products and services.
Jay Lezcano
SVP & Business Development of Precision for Medicine
Jay Lezcano is the SVP & Business Development at Precision For Medicine.
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About Precision for Medicine: Precision for Medicine is a specialized scientific services company helping life science innovators develop medical products.
Jen Cameron
AVP of Cigna
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About Cigna, RetailNext: CIGNA Corporation operates as a health service company that helps people to improve the health, well-being, and peace of mind.
Alex Aravanis
Chief Technology Officer & Senior Vice President of Illumina
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About Illumina: Illumina is an innovative technology and revolutionary assays aiming the analyze genetic variation and function.
Craig Ciesla
Vice President Advanced Engineering of Illumina
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About Illumina: Illumina is an innovative technology and revolutionary assays aiming the analyze genetic variation and function.
Richard Klausner
Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer of Illumina
Richard Klausner joined Illumina in September 2013 as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Richard is responsible for Illumina’s strategies for advancing genomics into clinical medicine and public health. He is also part of Illumina’s executive management team, which is responsible for directing all aspects of company strategy, planning and operations. Richard is a Scientific Advisor at Cyterix Pharmaceuticals Inc. He co-founded Pathwork Diagnostics, Inc. (Alternative name is Predicant Biosciences Inc.) in 2002. He serves as the Managing Partner at The Column Group LLC. He served as the Chairman of the Strategic Development and Scientific Advisory Council at Sanofi from March 1, 2011 to January 2013. Richard serves as the Chairman of the National Science Education Standards Projects of the National Academy of Science, overseeing the first comprehensive process to provide a vision of scientific literacy in the American educational system and the criteria required to achieve it. He served as Co-Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board and Scientific Advisor at Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He served as an Executive Director for Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Richard served as the President at the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He served as an Advisor to the President of the Academies for counter-terrorism, and a Liaison to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. From 1979 to 1981, he worked at NIH in National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Laboratory of Mathematical Biology. He served as a Director of Pathwork Diagnostics, Inc. and Immune Design Corp. He served as Director of 3-V Biosciences, Inc. He served as a Director of NCI from August 1, 1995 to 2001. He serves as a Member of Scientific Advisory Board at NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., Immune Design Corp., Constellation Pharmaceuticals and Audax Health Solutions. Richard served as a Distinguished Scientific and Strategic Advisor of Aveo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Richard currently sits on the board of Juno Therapeutics. He is also the Chief Strategy Advisor for USAID. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He served as a Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Igenica, Inc. and T2 Biosystems, Inc. Rick holds an M.D. from Duke Medical School.
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About Audax Health Solutions, Illumina, Pathwork Diagnostics: Illumina is an innovative technology and revolutionary assays aiming the analyze genetic variation and function.
Austin Harkness
Executive Vice President, Operations of Honor
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About Honor, Sunoco – Stores: Honor is a senior care network and technology platform that offers personalized care to improve the in-home care experience.
Margaret Dowling
VP, Clinical Engagement of Hinge Health
Margaret Dowling, MPH is the VP of Clinical Engagement at Hinge Health.
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About Hinge Health: Hinge Health is a patient-centered digital clinic for treating chronic musculoskeletal conditions.
Greg Burrell
Co-Founder, VP of Clinical Product & Strategy of Carbon Health
Greg is co-founder and Director of Medicine at Carbon Health. He brings to Carbon a long-standing passion for using smart technology to overhaul the health system and improve the quality of care to patients. He has been advising and leading Bay Area healthcare startups for a number of years and most recently served as Director of Content and Clinical Solutions at CareMessage, Inc. Greg received his medical degree from the University of Chicago, completed his internal medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco and maintains a faculty appointment as Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at UCSF.
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About Carbon Health: Carbon Health is a tech-enabled healthcare company that delivers a virtual care experience.
Michael Wiemer
VP Eng / Co-Founder and CTO of Mojo Vision
Michael Wiemer is the Co-Founder and CTO at Mojo Vision.
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About Mojo Vision: Mojo Vision is developing Mojo Lens, the world’s first AR smart contact lens with a built-in display that delivers Invisible Computing
Eric Johnsen
VP Business Development, Consumer and Enterprise (Fractional) of Mojo Vision
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About Mojo Vision: Mojo Vision is developing Mojo Lens, the world’s first AR smart contact lens with a built-in display that delivers Invisible Computing
Ashwin Pushpala
SVP of OneDrop
Ashwin Pushpala is the SVP at One Drop
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About OneDrop: One Drop is a diabetes management platform that helps people navigate diabetes together.
Kristen Hege
Vice President, Translational Development, Hematology/Oncology of Celgene
Kristen Hege has served as a member of our board of directors since October 2018. Kristen Hege is currently a Clinical Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology and an attending physician at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She has held a clinical faculty appointment at UCSF since 1997 in the adult hematology and bone marrow transplant program. Kristen Hege has been board-certified in internal medicine, medical oncology and hematology. Kristen Hege received her B.A. summa cum laude from Dartmouth, M.D. from UCSF and completed a medical residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at UCSF. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, and Mersana Therapeutics and the Strategic Advisory Group for the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. In 2015, FierceBiotech recognized her as one of the top 12 women in Biopharma. Kristen Hege currently serves as Corporate Vice President, Translational Development, Hematology and Oncology and San Francisco site head at Celgene where she is responsible for translational and early clinical development for all hematology and oncology products including small molecules, biologics and cell therapies. Prior to joining Celgene, she served as acting Chief Medical Officer at Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Theraclone Sciences and Cellerant Therapeutics. Kristen Hege began her career at Cell Genesys Inc. where she spent 14 years in various roles of increasing responsibility, ultimately leading the Clinical Research and Development organization.
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About Celgene: Celgene discovers, develops and commercializes innovative therapies to treat cancer and immune-inflammatory-related diseases.
Kelvin Kwong
VP of Product Management of Big Health
Kelvin Kwong is the VP Product at Big Health.
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About Big Health: Big Health is a digital therapeutics company operating a healthcare portal to offer behavioral programs for mental health issues.
Kathryn Zavala
Vice President, Business Development & Operations of MedTech Innovator
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About MedTech Innovator: MedTech Innovator is the largest lifescience accelerator in the world for medical device, digital health, and diagnostic companies
Agatha Martindale
Vice President and Global Finance of Rakuten Medical
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About BUILTBYGIRLS, Rakuten Medical, Rakuten Medical: Rakuten Medical is a biotechnology company that develops therapies to treat cancer.
Joe Villanueva
VP Product of Moving Analytics
I research, design, and code intuitive, effective, delightful experiences with beautiful interactive content.
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About Moving Analytics: Moving Analytics is a provider of turnkey and home-based post-acute care management solutions for cardiopulmonary disease.
David Woods
VP of Product Engineering, Health Technology of Johnson & Johnson
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About Johnson & Johnson: Johnson & Johnson engages in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a range of products in the healthcare field.
Hartmuth Kolb
Vice President, Neuroscience Biomarkers and Janssen R&D Global Imaging of Johnson & Johnson
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About Johnson & Johnson: Johnson & Johnson engages in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a range of products in the healthcare field.
Thomas Witzel
VP of Radiomics of Q Bio
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About Q Bio: On a mission to build the first Clinical Digital Twin Platform and make it accessible to everyone
Asish Xavier
Vice President, Venture Investments of Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
Asish Xavier is the Vice President of Venture Investments at joined Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) in 2004. Asish is based in Silicon Valley, California. Asish previously worked in business development at BioRexis Pharmaceutical, Inc., which was acquired by Pfizer in 2007. While at BioRexis, Asish assisted the company in raising a $30 million second round of financing. Asish has worked in business development at Structural GenomiX, Inc., acquired by Eli Lilly in 2008, and was a project leader at Message Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Asish received a Ph.D. from the University of Houston and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with honors. Asish received a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. Asish was also a postdoctoral research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University.
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About Cue, ESCAPE Bio, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Legend Biotech, Paige, ViaCyte, XWPharma: Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, a venture capital subsidiary, finances technology companies focused on patient health.
Stacy Feld
Vice President, Consumer Venture Investments of Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
Stacy received a B.A. in sociology, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School.
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About Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation: Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, a venture capital subsidiary, finances technology companies focused on patient health.
Shankar Chandran
Vice President, Catalyst Fund of Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center
Shankar Chandran is vice president at Samsung Electronics and head of the Samsung Catalyst Fund, at the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC). The SSIC is based in Menlo Park, California and is focused on accelerating innovation for Samsung Electronics. Shankar is responsible for early stage and disruptive venture capital investments in technologies targeted at high growth sectors such as cloud infrastructure, mobile technology and security, digital health, next-generation user interfaces, and the internet of things. Previously, he was part of the founding team at Panorama Capital and has been an active venture investor for 12 years at Panorama Capital and JP Morgan Partners. Shankar has held various engineering, business development and management roles at Applied Materials, Inc., and has been granted eight patents as the primary inventor. He also serves on the Advisory Board at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University, and has served as a director or observer on the boards of over ten companies. Shankar holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), India, an MS in Materials Science from Arizona State University, and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Samsung Catalyst Fund, Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center: SSIC is a global organization within Samsung’s Device Solutions division focused on identifying and nurturing new technologies
Curtis Sasaki
VP of Ecosystems and iOT General Manager of Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center
Curtis Sasaki is the vice president of ecosystems for Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC). He leads new business creation and is responsible for driving growth and innovation through product, technology and ecosystem development. He works with entrepreneurs and startups in Silicon Valley and other global technology hotspots, focusing on Smart Health, Big Data and the Internet of Things. Prior to SSIC, Curtis was Senior Vice President of Samsung Media Solutions Center America (MSCA), where he oversaw the development of Samsung’s media services that work with Samsung Smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and other connected devices to deliver the best apps and content to the connected consumer. At MSCA, he also lead the Innovation Lab, a team that focuses on developing pioneering cloud services, the Developer Relations team that drove the Samsung Developer Conferences, as well as the North American Content Services team, which focuses on content partnerships and strategic partner relations.
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About Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center: SSIC is a global organization within Samsung’s Device Solutions division focused on identifying and nurturing new technologies
Hakan Sakul
Vice President and Head of Diagnostics of Pfizer
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About Pfizer: Pfizer provides access to safe and effective and affordable medicines and health care services.
Keith Patton
VP Software Development of Zerigo Health
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About Zerigo Health: Clarify Medical is a developer of a handheld medical device used to treat psoriasis, eczema, and vitiligo .
Bob Colloton
Vice President of Sales & Marketing of Neuravi
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About MIVI Neuroscience, Neuravi: Neuravi provides medical products and services.
Steve Pham
Vice President of Clinical and Research Affairs of Eko Health
Steve Pham is a practicing emergency medicine physician, the head of medical and research affairs at Eko, and a new father. His passion is translating between digital and clinical insights.
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About Eko Health: Eko develops AI-powered digital tools to detect and monitor heart and lung disease
Tyler Crouch
Co-Founder, VP of Mobile Engineering & Product Development of Eko Health
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About Eko Health: Eko develops AI-powered digital tools to detect and monitor heart and lung disease
Rich Mahoney
VP Research of Intuitive Surgical
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
Robert Desantis
Executive Vice President Chief Product Officer of Intuitive Surgical
Bob DeSantis joined Intuitive Surgical in January 2013 as Vice President, Research and Development, Instruments and Accessories Engineering. In November 2015, Mr. DeSantis was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President, Instruments and Accessories. In this position, Mr. DeSantis is responsible for managing the development of new technology from design to market as well as production engineering support for the instrument and accessory portfolio. Prior to joining Intuitive Surgical, Mr. DeSantis spent almost twenty years in the medical device industry, holding positions at several companies, including US Surgical and most recently at Covidien, where he last served as the Vice President, Research and Development for the mechanical and energy instrument businesses. Mr. DeSantis holds a B.S. and M.S.in Mechanical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Mr. DeSantis also holds a certificate in Innovation Management from MIT.
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
Dave Rosa
Executive Vice President & Chief Business Officer of Intuitive Surgical
Dave J. Rosa joined Intuitive Surgical in March 1996 and has held leadership positions in Engineering, Clinical Development, Marketing and Product Development. In 2015, Mr. Rosa was appointed as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. In 2013, Mr. Rosa assumed the position of Senior Vice President, Scientific Affairs and, in 2014, he was appointed as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. He has been a passionate supporter and evangelist of da Vinci technology since its inception. Prior to joining Intuitive Surgical, Mr. Rosa contributed to the development of trans-esophageal transducers for Acuson Corporation. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.S.in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo. He also holds a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
Gillian Duncan
Senior Vice President, Professional Education & Program Services – Worldwide of Intuitive Surgical
Gillian Duncan, Ed.D., joined Intuitive Surgical in December 2006 as an Education Manager. After holding several positions of increasing responsibility in clinical, product and professional education, Dr. Duncan was promoted to the position of Vice President, da Vinci® Professional Education & Program Services – Worldwide in August 2015. In this role, Dr. Duncan is responsible for leading the company’s high-quality, worldwide Customer Training, Genesis, Lab Services and Clinical and Product Education programs. Prior to joining Intuitive Surgical, Dr. Duncan held both teaching and research positions at Columbia University and California State University, East Bay. Dr. Duncan holds a B.A. in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley, and master’s and doctorate degrees in Applied Physiology from Columbia University.
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
Myriam Curet
Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer of Intuitive Surgical
Myriam J. Curet, M.D. joined Intuitive Surgical in December 2005, as Chief Medical Advisor. In February 2014, Dr. Curet was promoted to the position of Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Curet also held a faculty position as Professor of Surgery at Stanford University. Since October 2010, she has served as a Consulting Professor of Surgery at Stanford University with a part time clinical appointment at the Palo Alto Veteran’s Administration Medical Center. Dr. Curet received her M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed her general surgery residency program at the University of Chicago. She then worked for the Indian Health Service for four years before finishing her Surgical Endoscopy fellowship at the University of New Mexico. She was on the faculty at the University of New Mexico for six years prior to joining the Stanford University Department of Surgery in 2000.
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
Craig Child
Sr. Vice President, Human Resources of Intuitive Surgical
Craig Child joined Intuitive Surgical in May 2001 as a Recruiting Consultant. In March 2015, Craig Child was promoted to the position of Vice President, Human Resources. Prior to this role, Mr. Child has held several key positions since the inception of the human resources organization at Intuitive Surgical, playing an instrumental role in the development of key human resources functions. Prior to joining Intuitive Surgical, Mr. Child held positions in human resources at Adobe and Informix. Mr. Child holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Oregon and a M.B.A from Colorado State University.
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
Mark Johnson
Sr. VP Quality & Regulatory Quality of Intuitive Surgical
Mark Johnson joined Intuitive Surgical in February 2014. Previously, Mr. Johnson served as Worldwide Vice President of Quality and Regulatory for the Johnson and Johnson Diabetes Care Franchise. During his nearly 15 years with Johnson & Johnson, he worked for a number of operating companies in various quality and regulatory leadership roles. Earlier in his career, Mr. Johnson also worked in numerous operational and quality roles at General Electric and at Haemonetics Corporation. Mr. Johnson graduated from Eastern Nazarene College with a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.S. in Management Leadership.
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
Liron Leist
VP Digital & Data Development of Intuitive Surgical
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
Charles Jones
Senior Vice President, Design and User Experience of Intuitive Surgical
Charles Jones joined Intuitive Surgical in April 2016 as the Senior Vice President, Design and User Experience. In this role, Mr. Jones is responsible for leading the company’s efforts to blend leading-edge technology with enhanced human-centered design thinking and driving a consistent design experience for Intuitive products and services. Prior to joining Intuitive Surgical, Mr. Jones has held several key leadership roles at Whirlpool Corp., Xerox Corp. and Herman Miller, and most recently served as the Chief Design and Technology Officer for Newell Rubbermaid. Mr. Jones has received several international design awards, including the prestigious Smithsonian National Design Award, and holds several patents. Mr. Jones is an honors graduate from Purdue University with degrees in Industrial Design and Human Factors Engineering.
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About Intuitive Surgical: The da Vinci Surgical System is changing the experience of surgery for patients around the world.
James Hinrichs
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Alere
James (“Jim”) Hinrichs joined Alere in April 2015 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, with global responsibility for Finance, Accounting, Procurement, IT and Shared Services. Prior to his appointment as CFO of Alere, Jim Hinrichs was CFO at CareFusion Corp., a global medical technology corporation, since 2010. He held this position through the completion of Becton Dickinson’s acquisition of CareFusion in March 2015. Prior to this role, Hinrichs served as SVP of Global Customer Support and, before that, Corporate Controller of CareFusion. Previously, he was Executive Vice president and Controller of Cardinal Health, CFO of Cardinal Health’s Clinical and Medical Products segment and CFO of Cardinal Health’s Healthcare Supply Chain Services segment.. He joined Cardinal Health in February 2004, following 12 years of finance and marketing roles at Merck & Co. and two years as the CFO of SangStat Medical Corporation.
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About Alere: Alere provides diagnostics and health management solutions for infectious, heart and cancer-related diseases and drug addicts.
John Bridgen
SVP, Business Development of Alere
John Bridgen, Ph.D. has served as Senior Vice President, Business Development since July 2010, after serving as our Vice President, Business Development from June 2006 to July 2010. He served as our Vice President, Strategy from September 2005 to June 2006. Dr. Bridgen joined our Company in September 2002, upon our acquisition of Wampole Laboratories, LLC. Dr. Bridgen served as President of Wampole from August 1984 until September 2005. Prior to joining Wampole, Dr. Bridgen had global sales and marketing responsibility for the hematology and immunology business units of Ortho Diagnostic Systems Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.
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About Alere: Alere provides diagnostics and health management solutions for infectious, heart and cancer-related diseases and drug addicts.
Mark Gladwell
Senior Vice President, Global Operations of Alere
Mark Gladwell has served as Senior Vice President, Global Operations since January 2015. From January 2014 through January 2015, he held the role of Vice President, Operations for North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa. From September 2011 through December 2013, Mr. Gladwell served as Vice President of Operations for North America and as President and General Manager of one of Alere’s key manufacturing facilities in North America. From 2007 to 2010 Mr. Gladwell was Vice President, Quality and Technical Service for Alere. From 2005 to 2007, he served as a director covering multiple functions in the start-up of Alere Technology Limited where he focused on the development and manufacture of the Alere home BNP product. Prior to 2005 Mr. Gladwell held a variety of operations, quality and project leadership positions in North America and Europe for Alere, Johnson & Johnson, Agfa Gavert and DuPont. Mr. Gladwell has more than 18 years of experience in manufacturing high-volume, high-technology in-vitro diagnostics and medical devices.
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About Alere: Alere provides diagnostics and health management solutions for infectious, heart and cancer-related diseases and drug addicts.
Saranyan Vigraham
VP of Engineering of Petuum
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About Petuum: Petuum, Inc. is building a platform that serves the full spectrum of Artificial Intelligence
Tony Polverino
EVP Early Development & CSO of Zymeworks
Anthony (Tony) Polverino, Ph.D., joined Zymeworks in September 2018 and currently serves as our Executive Vice President of Early Development and Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to joining Zymeworks, from 2015 until 2018, Dr. Polverino was at Kite Pharma, Inc., which was acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc. in 2017. While at Kite he served as the interim Chief Scientific Officer and before that as Vice President of Research. During his tenure, Yescarta®, Kite’s lead chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy, was approved for relapsed or refractory B cell lymphoma, and multiple programs were advanced to the clinic. Dr. Polverino also assembled an innovative chimeric antigen receptor discovery and development team. Prior to Kite, he was at Amgen Inc. from 1994 to 2014, serving in a number of research leadership roles of increasing responsibility. While at Amgen he managed and advanced numerous research programs utilizing multiple therapeutic modalities, including immunotherapy, oncolytic viruses, bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, and small molecules. He also played a key role in the development of over 12 novel antigens for antibody therapeutics. Dr. Polverino earned his undergraduate degree in pharmacology from Adelaide University and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Flinders University, both in Adelaide, Australia.
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About Zymeworks: Zymeworks is a computational biotechnology company focused on optimizing therapeutic antibodies and other protein-based therapeutics.
Charles Yang
Vice President of Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs of Blockade Medical
Charles is currently the Vice President of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs at Blockade Medical. He has been in the medical device industry for over 15 years in the quality and regulatory field with extensive experience in achieving product approvals in a timely manner. Charles has been successful in achieving multiple product approvals through CE Mark, 510K and other regulatory processes all over the world. He has a diversified portfolio of working in start-up companies and large corporations which has allowed him to gain the experience to build efficient quality systems that meet the needs of the medical device industry. Prior to joining Blockade Medical, Charles worked at various medical device companies which include Acutus Medical, MindFrame Inc. (acquired by Covidien), Ablation Frontiers (acquired by Medtronic) and Edwards LifeSciences. Charles received a B.S. in Bio-engineering at the University of California, San Diego.
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About Blockade Medical: Founded in 2011, Blockade Medical is a privately held company dedicated the development of catheter based therapeutic devices for the
Ryan Solomon
Vice President of Marketing & Business Development of Blockade Medical
Ryan is the Director of Global Marketing and Business Development at Blockade Medical and has more than 10 years of medical sales and marketing expertise including extensive interventional neurovascular experience. Ryan has successfully launched many products in the neurovascular field including launching the first flow diversion device in the United States while serving as the Group Marketing Manager at Covidien Neurovascular and global launches of multiple coil lines as a Sr. Product Manager at MicroVention. His previous roles have also included Associate Marketing Manager at Karl Storz Endoscopy, Sr. Clinical Sales Specialist at Glaxo Smith Kline, and a Professional Sales Representative for Boehringer Ingelheim. Ryan received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside and a M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.
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About Blockade Medical: Founded in 2011, Blockade Medical is a privately held company dedicated the development of catheter based therapeutic devices for the
Bhavin Shah
Vice President of Engineering and Quality of Paramit Corporation
Bhavin joined Paramit in 2014. Bhavin brings with him over 20 years of experience in developing products involving hardware and software/firmware for multiple industries. Prior to Paramit, Bhavin spent 5 years at Diamond Systems, managing engineering teams developing high precision digital and analog PCBAs and 9+ years with Asyst Technologies. Bhavin has a BSEE from the Mumbai University(India) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Computing from C-DAC (India).
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About Paramit Corporation: Paramit designs and manufactures medical devices and life science instruments.
Francesco Grieco
Vice President of Operations of Paramit Corporation
Francesco Grieco is the VP of Operations at Paramit Corporation.
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About Paramit Corporation: Paramit designs and manufactures medical devices and life science instruments.
Brian Maples
VP/Head of Data Science of Prealize Health
Brian Maples leads the company’s development and execution of cutting edge machine learning methods applied to large and diverse member data sets. His work yields precise identification of members who are most at risk for as yet unidentified future high cost events. Prior to joining Prealize, Brian was a Data Scientist at Nuna Health, where he designed and developed machine learning and analytics products and capabilities in the healthcare space. He has also been the lead inventor at Ionian Technologies, a diagnostics startup that was subsequently acquired by Alere. While a PhD student at Stanford, Brian developed a machine learning method for large medical genetics data sets that is currently being privately licensed. Brian received both his PhD in Biomedical Informatics and MS in Statistics from Stanford University, and a BA in Science and Management from Claremont McKenna College.
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About Prealize Health: Prealize Health uses machine learning to transform healthcare from reactive to proactive.
Thomas Alessi
Vice President, Development and Manufacturing of Intarcia Therapeutics
Dr. Alessi joined Intarcia in December 1997 as Executive Director, Regulatory Affairs and Drug Development and was promoted to Vice President, Development in February 2002 with responsibility for the areas of product development, project management, chemistry and manufacturing. Prior to joining Intarcia, Dr. Alessi served as the Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance and Project Management at Ansan Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for successful IND filings and for managing five drug development programs with oversight of vendors for preclinical and clinical studies and manufacturing clinical supplies. Before joining Ansan, Dr. Alessi was Director of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Glycomed, Inc. where his duties included oversight and compliance of clinical manufacturing. His previous experience includes regulatory affairs and drug discovery experience in large pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Alessi was Senior Manager of Regulatory Affairs for Schering-Plough working in the Anti-infectives, Allergy Products and Chemisty, Manufacturing, & Controls groups. While at Schering-Plough, Dr. Alessi had regulatory responsibilities for approval and launch of interferon alfa-2b for hepatitis C as well as for hepatitis B. In his CMC role, he served on separate committees for process development and production of solid oral dosage forms, inhaled products, creams and semisolid products and sterile dosage forms, in addition to regulatory review of the CMC sections of Schering-Plough INDs and NDAs. Prior to joining Schering-Plough, Dr. Alessi invented and patented several new families of antidiabetic drugs while working as a Senior Scientist in the drug discovery group at Wyeth-Ayerst. Dr. Alessi earned a B.S. degree at Allegheny College and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in organic synthetic chemistry from the University of Rochester.
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About Intarcia Therapeutics: Intarcia Therapeutics develops therapies for diseases that require long-term chronic treatment.
Paul Negulescu
Vice President of Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Paul Negulescu is the Senior Vice President and Site Head of San Diego Research. He’s been leading Vertex’s San Diego research location since 2003, the site that discovered Vertex’s medicines that treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis. Prior to joining Vertex, Dr. Negulescu was Senior Vice President of Discovery Biology and a member of the executive team at Aurora Biosciences. When Vertex acquired Aurora, he was responsible for integrating Aurora’s research into Vertex. Dr. Negulescu received both his B.S. and Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in Physiology and carried out post-doctoral work at U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Irvine in the areas of ion channel biophysics and immunology.
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About Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of serious diseases.
Glenn S. Boehnlein
Chief Financial Officer & Vice President of Stryker
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About Stryker: Stryker is a medical technology company that offers products and services in orthopaedics.
Heather A. Brown
Senior Vice President, Market Access & Reimbursement of HeartFlow
Dr. Brown brings 10 years of experience in advanced medical imaging product development and service. She has held leadership roles in multiple startups and drove the development of AAA stent graft and TAVR planning applications as well as novel methods of assessing cardiac wall mechanics. Dr. Brown developed the first Volumetric Medical Imaging college accredited program at Jefferson Community and Technical College in 2005. She holds six patents. She received her B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.
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About HeartFlow: HeartFlow is a medical technology company that provides new methods of diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Tim Fonte
VP Customer Success of HeartFlow
Tim is start-up executive and engineer with experience from early-stage R&D through commercial operations. He has worked in the fields of healthcare, software, hardware, product design, and manufacturing. Tim is currently VP Customer Success at HeartFlow. He has co-founded a custom products company. He was a key individual in bringing two high-impact, award-winning, FDA-approved healthcare technologies from R&D to production and initial commercial use: first at Cameron Health and most recently as an early employee and leader at HeartFlow.
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About HeartFlow: HeartFlow is a medical technology company that provides new methods of diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease.
Lara Abbaschian
Vice President of Lightstone Ventures
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About Lightstone Ventures: Lightstone Ventures is a leading global venture capital firm.
Curtis Scribner
Vice President, Regulatory of Eiger BioPharmaceuticals
Dr. Scribner has more than 25 years of drug development and regulatory affairs experience. He spent 11 years at the FDA in the Center for Biologics as a medical officer with wide experience reviewing non-clinical, CMC, clinical, and IND/BLA regulatory systems, including 2.5 years as the Deputy Director of the Office of Blood. He also was the Senior Regulatory Consultant for Quintiles Consulting, Chief Regulatory Office for Intarcia Therapeutics and he is now the Senior Vice President for Medical and Regulatory Affairs for RRD International. Dr. Scribner is a board certified Internist with post-doctorial training in Immunology and Rheumatology at the NIH.
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About Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, QED Therapeutics: Eiger is a biopharmaceutical company that develops new antiviral agents against novel targets in the treatment of hepatitis.
Kevin Kaster
Vice President, Patents and Licensing of Eiger BioPharmaceuticals
Kevin Kaster has 20 years of experience in biotechnology and large pharma with an established track record of developing effective patent and licensing strategies for important technologies and drug products.Kevin Kaster most recently served as Vice President Corporate Development for Threshold Pharmaceuticals, a public company focused on developing anti-cancer agents. Previously, Kaster was Vice President Intellectual Property for Kosan Biosciences, a public company acquired by BMS in 2008 with geldanamycin and epothilone anti-cancer agents. Kaster also previously managed the patent portfolios of Geron Corporation (telomerase and human embryonic stem cell technologies) and Affymax/Affymetrix (combinatorial chemistry and DNA chip technologies) as well as the PCR technology patent portfolio of Cetus Corporation. Kaster began his career at Eli Lilly and Company, first as a research scientist and then as a patent technician.Kevin Kaster is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Law and a graduate of Vanderbilt University with a BS in Chemistry and Molecular Biology.
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About Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Lygos: Eiger is a biopharmaceutical company that develops new antiviral agents against novel targets in the treatment of hepatitis.
Shelly Xiong
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs of Eiger BioPharmaceuticals
Shelly Xiong has over 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in virology, clinical development, and regulatory affairs spanning Asia, Europe, and North America. Dr. Xiong most recently served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at InterMune where she was responsible for establishing and managing the product labeling function for European and Canadian commercialization and US labeling preparation for Esbriet NDA for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Previously, she served as Director of China Operations at Covance in Shanghai, responsible for business strategy, client and goverment interactions. Dr. Xiong was at Gilead for 15 years, where she held positions in Clinical Virology and Regulatory Affairs, leading the clinical virology development program for Hepsera for HBV from Phase 2 through product approval. She was involved in multiple IND and NDA filings as well as commercial product labeling for antiviral programs in the US with FDA and in China with CFDA while at Gilead. Dr. Xiong has extensive experience in drug discovery and development in viral diseases including HBV, HCV, HIV, and CMV. She is an author on over 30 publications in scientific journals and publications. Dr. Xiong received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Wisconsin-Madison and B.S. in Chemistry from Beijing University.
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About Eiger BioPharmaceuticals: Eiger is a biopharmaceutical company that develops new antiviral agents against novel targets in the treatment of hepatitis.
Alex DePaoli
Chief Medical Officer and Vice President Translational Research of NGM Biopharmaceuticals
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About NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute: NGM Biopharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company developing biotherapeutics for the gastrointestinal endocrine system.
Stephanie Pinto
Vice President Operations of Noyo
Stephanie Pinto currently works as Vice President of Operations at Noyo.
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About Noyo: Modern infrastructure for health insurance
Spencer Sias
Vice President, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations of Varian
Spencer Sias joined Varian Medical Systems in 1999 when it became one of three independent businesses created by the spin-off of Varian Associates, Inc. He manages investor relations and corporate communications including public relations, employee communications and community relations for the company.
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About Varian: Varian Medical Systems is a manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions.
Franco Palomba
Senior Vice President, Finance and Treasurer of Varian
Franco N. Palomba is responsible for domestic and international cash management, foreign exchange activites, derivatives, credit, receivables, and stock administration. He is also responsible for the company’s risk management, tax, fleet, and travel functions. Palomba joined Varian Medical Systems in 2004, after serving as vice president and controller of Varian, Inc. since 1999. From 1984 to 1999, Palomba worked with Varian Associates, Coopers&Lybrand, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, in various audit management positions.
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About Varian: Varian Medical Systems is a manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions.
Patrick Joda
Vice President and General Manager of Varian
Patrick Joda assumed the role of vice president and general manager of Varian’s Oncology Systems Customer Support Services in November 2011. Joda joined the company in 2005, as senior director of Oncology Systems (OS) manufacturing. In 2006, he was promoted to the position of vice president, OS worldwide operations. In 2009, he assumed the responsibility for OS worldwide engineering.
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About Varian: Varian Medical Systems is a manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions.
Susan M. Kanaya
Senior Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of ChemoCentryx
Ms. Susan M. Kanaya has served as our Senior Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer since January 2006, and Secretary since February 2006. Prior to joining us, Ms. Kanaya served as Senior Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer at Kosan Biosciences Inc., a biotechnology company, from 1999 to 2005. Prior to this, she served in financial management positions at SUGEN, Inc., a biotechnology company, from 1994 to 1999, most recently as Vice President, Finance, and Treasurer. Ms. Kanaya also served as Controller with high technology companies and as a public accountant with KPMG. Ms. Kanaya received her B.S. in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
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About ChemoCentryx: ChemoCentryx develops orally administered small molecule therapeutics that target chemokine receptors and related chemo-attractants.
George Winston
Senior Vice President / General Manager Acute Care Division of Sommetrics
33 years in healthcare commerce, including sales, sales management, marketing, marketing management, with Sorenson Research, Abbott Laboratories and Hospira Worldwide and 5i Sciences. This experience spans across several medical device product lines for the hospital critical care, CV surgery, and CV anesthesia markets. The product lines include physiological pressure measurement, continuous mixed venous oxygen saturation monitoring, electronic infusion devices, airway management, sleep apnea and CV Surgery devices. Net result of the assignments is a thorough understanding of the acute care hospital market, with special knowledge of physician and nursing technology needs along with designing and selling products into the anesthesia, critical care and CV surgery areas. Currently V.P. Marketing, 5i Sciences, a medical device start-up with a focus on OSA and airway management in sedated patients, undergoing medical procedures. Experienced in partnership and financial discussions with major potential corporate partners and investors. Areas of experience include: Establishment of a regional critical care sales force with top and bottom line sales accountability, establishment of a KOL referral program, development of sales and product training materials and participation in the product design process, with focus on product usability to enhance clinician acceptability. Education: 1972 – 1975 Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida Marketing and business, 1969 – 1971 Miami – Dade College, Miami, Florida A.A.S., Aeronautical Technology. FAA flight certifications include Commercial license, Flight instructor, Instrument flight instructor.
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About Adela Health Inc., Keiretsu Forum, Sommetrics, TruPosture: Sommetrics is focused on improving health and well-being by optimizing sleep quality.
Alex Choy
Executive Vice President R&D, CIO of Change Healthcare
Alex Choy is executive vice president of Research and Development and Information Technology and serves as the company’s chief information officer. Before joining Change Healthcare, Mr. Choy was global vice president, Product Development at Oracle Corporation, responsible for all research, development, and delivery of the Oracle healthcare and life sciences product portfolio. Prior to Oracle, Mr. Choy was vice president of Engineering for enterprise software products for Adobe Systems. There he brought in and cultivated an enterprise software culture and product discipline. He also was a key driver of its cloud transformation and key technology acquisitions, leading to the company’s digital marketing platform. Before joining Adobe, Mr. Choy held senior product and engineering positions, including founding team level, at Interwoven, Veritas Software, Tandem, Sun Microsystems, and Hewlett-Packard. Mr. Choy holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University.
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About Change Healthcare: Change Healthcare is a healthcare technology company that focuses on accelerating the transformation of the healthcare system.
Amol Kekre
VP Big Data Analytics of Change Healthcare
Amol Kekre is the VP Big Data Analytics at Change Healthcare.
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About Change Healthcare: Change Healthcare is a healthcare technology company that focuses on accelerating the transformation of the healthcare system.
Patrick Deglon
VP, Engineering of Change Healthcare
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About Change Healthcare: Change Healthcare is a healthcare technology company that focuses on accelerating the transformation of the healthcare system.
Aslan Noghre-kar
Vice President of Enterprise Communities of Change Healthcare
Aslan Noghre-kar is the VP of enterprise communities at Change Healthcare.
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About Change Healthcare: Change Healthcare is a healthcare technology company that focuses on accelerating the transformation of the healthcare system.
Nik Tehrani
Vice President of Business Development of Dynosense
Dr. Nik Tehrani earned his PhD in Business Administration from Northcentral University, holds an MBA with a specialization in Executive Management from Pepperdine University and a BS in Electrical Engineering and has over 17 years of teaching experience as a lecturer and professor at various universities in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also has over 8 years of experience advising and mentoring university graduate students, and currently serves as a Dissertation Committee Chair and Member at Argosy University, San Francisco Bay. Dr. Tehrani has taught management, marketing and business courses in Finland, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and Chile. Dr. Tehrani has been able to supplement his teaching with professional experiences. Spending over 20 years as a high-level executive for various companies in Silicon Valley has enhanced the body of experiential knowledge he possesses which enables him to pass on practical and theoretical information to his students. As the author of two MBA textbooks, Contemporary Marketing Mix for the Digital Era and Understanding Green Business, he has translated these experiences into applied learning theories. He has published several peer-reviewed academic papers. Please see the publications page for details. Dr. Tehrani has over 25 years of experience in business management, marketing, and supply chain development and implementation. He is currently Vice-President of Business Development for DynoSense Corporation, one of the leaders in emerging advanced remote monitoring of health and preventive care solutions. Prior to DynoSense, he was President and CEO of Savitron, Inc., an Electronic Manufacturing Solution Company; Global Director of Program Management at Sanmina-SCI, a leading EMS provider; Managing Director and Founder of Majital Solutions, a marketing and engineering consulting company; and Vice- President of Marketing and Engineering of ACI, an Electronic Manufacturing Company. Dr. Tehrani is Chair of the Education Committee of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Northern California Chapter, as well as a member of the HIMSS Innovation and Technology Committee. His interests are developing marketing tools for patient engagement, digital health, and enhancing patient experience. Dr. Tehrani is a member of various other prestigious organizations such as the American College of Healthcare Executives; Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); United Nations Association of the United States; Commonwealth Club of California; New York Academy of Sciences; American Marketing Association; Higher Education Management Group; Renewable Energy Technology Inventions Group; and Worldwide Management Consultants.
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About Colorado State University, Dynosense, San Jose State University: Dynosense aims to innovate products and services for better life that are integrated, accurate, secure, and simple to use.
Jaap Laufer
VP, Regulatory & Clinical Affairs of Emergo Group
Dr. Jaap Laufer has over 30 years of medical device regulatory experience, and specializes in implant and high-risk device submissions, FDA QSR compliance, and clinical study approvals and compliance.
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About Emergo Group: Emergo Group is a medical device QA/RA consulting firm.
Lara Hashimoto
SVP – Chief Business Officer of SOPHiA GENETICS
Growing up in Canada, Lara developed an early interest in understanding the role of genetics in common diseases. This took her from studying the genetics of Multiple Sclerosis at the University of Western Ontario to joining the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, UK. Lara joined SOPHiA GENETICS in 2020, but first joined the industry 20 years ago as a Scientist at Roche Pharma based in Basel, Switzerland. She has held several positions spanning Pharma clinical drug development, business analytics, and strategic marketing in the global organization as well as sales and operational marketing positions in the Canadian affiliate. In 2009, Lara moved to Roche Molecular Diagnostics in California as the Lifecycle Leader responsible for the Genomics and Oncology IVD product portfolio and pipeline, launching several companion diagnostics globally. Lara then became the General Manager of Roche Diagnostics New Zealand Ltd where she grew sales above the market for 4 consecutive years. Returning to the Bay Area, Lara then joined the newly formed Roche Sequencing Solutions team where she was the VP responsible for Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing and the Nanopore Sequencer before being appointed Chief Commercial Officer.
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About SOPHiA GENETICS: SOPHiA GENETICS is a biotechnology firm that aims to support healthcare professionals by maximizing the power of data-driven medicine.
Charles Eyler
Senior Vice President, Finance and Administration and Treasurer of Puma Biotechnology
Mr. Eyler has served as our Senior Vice President, Finance and Administration and Treasurer since the closing of the Merger on October 4, 2011 and, prior to the Merger, served in such capacity at Puma since September 2011. Prior to joining Puma, Mr. Eyler served as Vice President of Finance at Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. from August 2004 until July 2009 when Cougar was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. He also served as the Treasurer of Cougar from April 2006 to July 2009. From July 2009 until March 2010, Mr. Eyler served on the Cougar Integration Committee and oversaw the integration of Cougar’s finance and IT functions with those of Johnson & Johnson. Prior to joining Cougar, Mr. Eyler served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Hayes Medical Inc. from March 1999 to January 2004. Mr. Eyler received his B.S. from Drexel University and his M.B.A. from Saint Francis College.
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About Puma Biotechnology: Puma Biotechnology acquires and develops innovative products for the treatment of various forms of cancer.
Farzad Azimpour
Vice President, Strategic Innovation, Advanced Technology of Edwards Lifesciences
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About Edwards Lifesciences, Stanford University, Stanford University School of Medicine: Edwards Lifesciences is the global leader in the science of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring.
Aditya Bhasin
VP Software Design & Development of Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Aditya Bhasin, Vice President Software Design & Development at Stanford Health Care is part of the IT leadership team, reporting to the CIO. He is leading strategy for our digital technologies related to web and mobile, as well as Design and Development of SHC’s Digital Health Platform, Web & Mobile applications.Prior to joining SHC, Aditya worked in leadership roles at several Silicon Valley startups. Most recently he spent 5 years leading software for Jawbone, where he developed their web and connected device strategies and managed the development, QA, UX and analytics groups. Aditya was also one of the early members of Unwired Planet, a pioneer in mobile data, which went public as Phone.com and then morphed into Openwave. At Openwave, he led multiple teams and built telco grade applications and infrastructure software.
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About Stanford Hospital & Clinics: Stanford Hospital & Clinics operates as a hospital that provides patient care services in the United States.
Satnam Alag
Senior Vice President Software Engineering and Chief Security Officer of Grail
Dr. Alag is a software professional with over fifteen years of commercial software development and management experience, with over twenty years of experience in machine learning and search areas. His expertise is in Big Data technologies, building large-scale multi-tenant SaaS applications, applying intelligence and personalization to Web 2.0 applications, SOA and J2EE architectures, delivering high-quality software, and building high performing engineering teams. He is currently the CTO and VP of Engineering at NextBio. NextBio is a data-driven engine, which is at the intersection of Big Data and genomics. At NextBio, he leads a team that mines billions and billions of data points using the Hadoop stack and commodity hardware. Prior to joining NextBio, he worked as a consultant with Johnson and Johnson’s BabyCenter where he helped develop their personalization engine. Prior to that, he was the Chief Software Architect and Dir. of Application Engineering at Rearden Commerce. He began his career at GE R&D and has held senior technical and management positions at Computing Technologies International and Black Pearl. Satnam is a Sun Certified Enterprise Architect (SCEA) for the Java platform. His doctoral dissertation from the University of California, Berkeley was in the area of probabilistic reasoning and machine learning. He has a number of peer-reviewed publications, holds five patents. He is the author of the book “Collective Intelligence in Action”.
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About Grail, Zenufa Laboratories: Grail develops a pan-cancer screening test designed to detect cancers at an early stage.
Linda Bolton
Senior Vice President & Chief Health Equity Officer of Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Dr. Linda Burnes Bolton is Vice President for Nursing, Chief Nursing Officer, and Director of Nursing Research at Cedars-Sinai. Her research, teaching and clinical expertise includes: nursing and patient care outcomes, improving organization performance, quality care, and cultural diversity within the health professions. She is co-investigator of the regional Collaborative Alliance for Nursing Outcomes research team. Dr. Burnes Bolton is a past president of the American Academy of Nursing and the National Black Nurses Association. She has provided leadership for several state and national programs including service as chair of the National Advisory committee of Transforming Care at the Bedside, Veteran Affairs Commission on Nursing and vice chair of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the Institute of Medicine. She is a trustee at Case Western Reserve University and a board member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She was named one of the top 25 women in health care in 2011 by Modern Healthcare magazine. Dr. Burnes Bolton serves on the American Organization of Nurse Executive Board of Directors and will assume the role of President-Elect in 2014. Dr. Burnes Bolton earned her bachelor’s of Science degree in Nursing from Arizona State University (ASU). She completed her master’s of Science degree in Nursing, Master in Public Health, and Doctorate in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
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About American Academy of Nursing, Cedars Sinai Medical Center: Cedars-Sinai is a non-profit, academic, community-centric medical center in Los Angeles, California.
Shlomo Melmed
Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs & Dean of the Medical Faculty of Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Shlomo Melmed, MB ChB, MACP, FRCP received his medical degree with distinction from the University of Cape Town, School of Medicine in 1970. At Cedars-Sinai since 1980, he is now Senior Vice-President for Academic Affairs, and Dean of the Medical Faculty. He is also Professor and Associate Dean of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, and Director of the Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He holds the Helene A. And Philip E. Hixon Chair in Investigative Medicine. Dr. Melmed is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, certified in Endocrinology and Metabolism; a Master of the American College of Physicians; an elected member of the Association of American Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Investigation; recipient of the Endocrinology Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine; the Endocrine Society Clinical Investigator Award; the Society of Endocrinology Transatlantic Medal; Ipsen Fondation Endocrine Regulation Award; the Pituitary Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award; and is listed in BEST Doctors of America. Dr. Melmed’s laboratory has been consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1980, and he has trained over 70 physicians, scientists and graduate students who occupy leading positions in academic endocrinology worldwide. His research is devoted to molecular pathogenesis and treatment of pituitary tumors and growth factor regulation of anterior pituitary function. He has pioneered the discovery and application of novel treatments for endocrine tumors and is a recognized international authority on pituitary medicine. Dr. Melmed is acknowledged as a plenary speaker at multiple national and international meetings and is the author of over 300 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious publications. He edits The Pituitary, co-edits Endocrinology: Basic and Clinical Principles, is the Neuroendocrine Section Editor for DeGroot and Jameson’s Textbook of Endocrinology, and Williams Textbook of Endocrinology; and is pituitary section author for Harrison’s Textbook of Medicine. In addition to being the Editor-in-Chief of Pituitary, he is on the editorial board of Journal of Clinical Investigation and past Editor-in-Chief of Endocrinology. Having served on the NIH Endocrinology Study Section, he also has chaired Special Endocrine Study Sections. He was President and founding member of the Pituitary Society, co-chairs its Program Committee, and was an elected member of the Endocrine Society Council. He was President of the International Society of Endocrinology and a member of the Executive Board Committee, Program Chair of the International Congress of Endocrinology, a Director of the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP), and is a Board Member of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). At Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Melmed has spearheaded major academic growth and development by leading building efforts, recruiting talented nationally recognized faculty leadership, establishing new programs and maintaining standards of excellence for educational programs. His executive leadership continues to maintain Cedars-Sinai as a top tier academic medical center.
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About Cedars Sinai Medical Center, University of California, Los Angeles: Cedars-Sinai is a non-profit, academic, community-centric medical center in Los Angeles, California.
Arthur Ochoa
SVP, Advancement & CAO of Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Arthur J. Ochoa is Senior Vice President of Community Relations & Development & Chief Development Officer at Cedars-Sinai. Art Ochoa leads Cedars-Sinai’s external relations, including fundraising, community health programs, volunteer services, communications, marketing and digital strategy. He joined Cedars-Sinai in 2001 as director of Planned Giving, and was appointed chief development officer and senior vice president in 2004. Prior to that, Ochoa practiced corporate and tax law in Los Angeles at O’Melveny & Myers and at Irell & Manella. His community leadership activities include serving as chair of the Planned Parenthood Los Angeles Board of Directors, vice chair of the Board of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and vice chair of the Women’s Heart Alliance, based in Washington, D.C. He also is a board member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, an honorary trustee of the Mexican American Bar Foundation and a member of the Yale Law School Association’s Executive Board. He is a trustee of Marlborough School and immediate past president of the Board of Trustees for the Center for Early Education in West Hollywood. Ochoa, a former adjunct faculty member at American Jewish University, lectures frequently on legal, fundraising, management and governance issues. He has received awards and recognition from a number of organizations, including the National Hispanic Health Foundation, the Mexican American Bar Foundation and Boy Scouts of America. Ochoa earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from the University of Southern California (Phi Beta Kappa) and a juris doctor degree from Yale University.
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About Cedars Sinai Medical Center: Cedars-Sinai is a non-profit, academic, community-centric medical center in Los Angeles, California.
Mike Thompson
Vice President, Enterprise Data Intelligence of Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Vice President, Enterprise Data Intelligence at Cedars-Sinai.
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About Cedars Sinai Medical Center: Cedars-Sinai is a non-profit, academic, community-centric medical center in Los Angeles, California.
Richard Jacobs
Senior Vice President of System Development & Chief Strategy Officer of Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Richard B. Jacobs is Senior Vice President of System Development & Chief Strategy Officer at Cedars-Sinai.
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About Cedars Sinai Medical Center: Cedars-Sinai is a non-profit, academic, community-centric medical center in Los Angeles, California.
Jeanne Flores
Senior Vice President of Human Resources & Organization Development of Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Jeanne Flores is Senior Vice President of Human Resources & Organization Development at Cedars-Sinai.
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About Cedars Sinai Medical Center: Cedars-Sinai is a non-profit, academic, community-centric medical center in Los Angeles, California.
Laura Hix Glickman
Vice President, Research & Cofounder of Actym Therapeutics, Inc.
Glickman, an inventor of Actym’s core technology, has over 20 years of experience working in the immuno-oncology and infectious disease fields. Dr. Glickman is a trained cancer immunologist, and was previously the lead scientist at Aduro Biotech (NASDAQ:ADRO), where she initiated studies on the STING program. Her seminal studies with STING agonists let to the development of ADU-S100, of which Dr. Glickman is a co-inventor. ADU-S100 is now in clinical development, and is being tested alone and in combination with an anti PD-1 antibody for the treatment of advanced malignancies. ADU-S100 was the subject of a $750 MM ($250 MM upfront) strategic co-development alliance between Aduro and Novartis, where Dr. Glickman served as the lead Aduro scientist on the joint development team. Dr. Glickman was co-first author on the seminal journal article describing the unprecedented potency of STING agonists in pre-clinical tumor models, as well as co-authoring several additional STING papers. Before Aduro, Dr. Glickman held scientific roles at Catalyst Biosciences (NASDAQ:CBIO), where she constructed Catalyst’s lead hemostasis compound Factor VIIa marzeptacog alfa, currently in Phase II clinical development, and developed core technology in multiple bacterial, yeast and mammalian platforms. At Hawaii Biotech, she constructed the recombinant subunit West Nile vaccine and early development of the Dengue Vaccine, now licensed to Merck. She was also co-inventor of CDX-085, a novel carotenoid derivative for treatment of cardiac disease and cancer, now in clinical development, which led to the spinning out of Cardax Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CDXI) from Hawaii Biotech. Dr. Glickman has multiple years of academic research experience at UCSF and LBNL in infectious disease, molecular biology and genetics, including early work on utilizing transgenic mice to elucidate immune pathways, and researching poliovirus vaccine vectors for HIV and cancer. Prior to that, she performed gene mapping studies for the Human Genome Project at LLNL. Dr. Glickman has 13 patents and 20 publications, as well as having filed two successful INDs. She studied Molecular and Cell Biology (double major with Psychology) at UC Berkeley, and has a Ph.D. in Cancer Immunology from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
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About Actym Therapeutics, Inc.: Actym Therapeutics is a privately-held biotech focused on the discovery and development of novel immuno-oncology therapies to treat cancer.
Falko Buttler
VP of Engineering of PlushCare
VP of Engineering at PlushCare. • 8+ years of interdisciplinary, global software development team leadership experience • Proven track record to deliver on time with high quality; experience to achieve project goals even within tight project constraints • Significant experience scaling engineering teams, recruiting and retaining exceptional talent in very competitive markets
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About Free Agent, PlushCare: PlushCare is a tech-enabled concierge primary care practice built for the healthcare industry.
Richard Hope
Vice President of Clinical and Medical Affairs of Ivantis
Richard Hope currently works as Vice President of Clinical & Medical Affairs at Ivantis.
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About Ivantis: Ivantis is focused on developing an innovative treatment for glaucoma which includes eye drops, laser therapy, and surgery.
Ken Galt
Vice President of Research and Development of Ivantis
Ken Galt currently works as Vice President of Research and Development at Ivantis.
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About Ivantis: Ivantis is focused on developing an innovative treatment for glaucoma which includes eye drops, laser therapy, and surgery.
Jacob Graham
Co-Founder & VP QA/RA of Enzyme
Jacob is an 11 year veteran of the medical device industry, with a background in quality management, design assurance, and audit planning. He has helped commercially launch several Class II and III devices and has overseen multiple FDA and EU notified body audits. Prior to co-founding Enzyme he held quality management positions at Medtronic and Boston Scientific. Jacob has an MBA from Babson College and a BS in Engineering from Olin College. Additionally he has achieved several professional certifications in the life sciences, and is an ASQ Certified Biomedical Auditor and RAPS Regulatory Affairs Certified (US).
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About Enzyme: Enzyme is building software to help life sciences companies with FDA approval and regulatory compliance.
Ulrich Ernst
SVP, Technical Operations of Amunix
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About Amunix: Amunix is a biopharmaceutical company intended to discover, design, and develop novel biologics, protein, and peptide therapeutics.
Richard Hector
SVP, Senior Legal Counsel of Amunix
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About Amunix: Amunix is a biopharmaceutical company intended to discover, design, and develop novel biologics, protein, and peptide therapeutics.
Michael Pettigrew
VP, Asset Acquisition of BridgeBio Pharma
Michael Pettigrew is Director of Asset Acquisition at BridgeBio.
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About BridgeBio Pharma: BridgeBio Pharma focuses on genetic disease therapies and develops those assets with the right approach in supporting R&D.
Justin To
VP of Business Development and Operations, Gene Therapy of BridgeBio Pharma
Justin To is Associate Director of Portfolio Management at BridgeBio.
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About BridgeBio Pharma: BridgeBio Pharma focuses on genetic disease therapies and develops those assets with the right approach in supporting R&D.
Yongwei Zhang
Group VP, CEO of Americas Region of BGI Group
Yongwei Zhang, Ph.D., serves as Executive Director of BGI Research, the R&D arm of BGI-Shenzhen, world’s largest genomics service company. He is also Chief Operating Officer of Complete Genomics (San Jose, CA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BGI. Yongwei Zhang has over 20 years of experience in optics-based instruments and systems. He began his career in Quinta Technologies developing optically-assisted computer hard drives. Quinta was later acquired by Seagate. He was a Co-Founder of telecom component startup company iolon, Inc, which has raised ~$100million VC funding. He joined biotech startup Guava Technologies in 2005, where he held positions with increasing responsibilities. Guava was later acquired by Millipore, subsequently by Merck KGaA. As Head of New Product Introduction at Merck Life Science division, he helped to develop and manufacture several generations of Guava flowcytometry instruments and reagent kits, including the award-winning Muse Cell Analyzer. In 2013, he joined Complete Genomics as Sr. Director of Engineering, responsible for the development of NGS sequencing platform BGISEQ series. Yongwei Zhang is also a strong advocate for STEM education. He served as a Board Member of US nationally top-ranked Saratoga School Union District. Yongwei Zhang received his B. Eng in Precision Instruments and B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from Tsinghua University in Beijing, M.S. in Computer Sciences, M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
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About BGI Group: BGI Group is one of the world’s largest DNA sequencing service providers.
Marcelo Trevino
Global VP, Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance of Agendia
Marcelo Trevino serves as the Global Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Agendia.
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About Agendia: Agendia provides molecular diagnostics and personalized treatment plans for cancer patients.
James Brady
VP, Information Security, Infrastructure/Operations, & Chief Information Security Officer of Fairview Health Services
James Brady is a Area CIO at Kaiser Permanente.
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About Fairview Health Services: Fairview Health Services is an award-winning nonprofit health care system with more than 21,000 employees and 2,300 aligned physicians.
Scott Boore
Senior Vice President, Head of Sales of MORE Health
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About MORE Health: MORE Health delivers access to the best physicians in the world via its cloud-based medical collaboration platform.
Julie Solwold
Global VP of Sports & Events of John Paul Mitchell Systems
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About John Paul Mitchell Systems, John Paul Mitchell Systems: John Paul Mitchell Systems is the company known for Paul Mitchell hair care products and styling tools.
John Asalone
SVP of Growth of GoodRx
I help technology/software companies scale by building and implementing customer-focused product strategies and operations. I have a particular interest in direct-to-consumer and B2C2B subscription businesses. I have experience owning P/Ls in an entrepreneurial environment, balancing risk and growth. Currently, I am the Chief Revenue Officer of Student Brands (acquired by Barnes & Noble Education in August 2017). Previously, I held cross-functional strategy & product roles at venture-backed direct-to-consumer media companies, including Zynga and Brainscape. Prior to that, I was a market lead at Booz Allen Hamilton where I advised global Technology clients on a range of strategic and operational topics. I began my career as a Policy Analyst for the Executive Office of the President at the White House. I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Economics from the University of Georgia, and earned a Masters degree in Economics on a Rotary Scholarship to the University of Toronto.
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About GoodRx: GoodRx collects drug prices from pharmacies across the U.S. and helps users find the cheapest option for the medication they’re seeking.
Matt Mohebbi
VP of Data Privacy of GoodRx
Matt is a software engineer with a decade’s experience extracting meaningful knowledge out of massive datasets. Matt spent the past decade as a software developer at Google, where he worked on Google Search and later co-founded Flu Trends, a project that combined data from the CDC and other public health authorities with Google search trends to discern new epidemiological signals.
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About GoodRx: GoodRx collects drug prices from pharmacies across the U.S. and helps users find the cheapest option for the medication they’re seeking.
Babak Azad
Chief Marketing Officer / SVP, Marketing & Communications of GoodRx
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About GoodRx: GoodRx collects drug prices from pharmacies across the U.S. and helps users find the cheapest option for the medication they’re seeking.
Leslie Burthey
VP of Marketing of GoodRx
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About GoodRx, NextGen Venture Partners: GoodRx collects drug prices from pharmacies across the U.S. and helps users find the cheapest option for the medication they’re seeking.
