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| Keynote
Speaker |
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Robert P. "Skip" Cummins, Chairman and CEO, Cyberonics Inc.
Robert P. Cummins became a director of Cyberonics in June 1988. He was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Cyberonics in September 1995. He was appointed Chairman of the Board of Cyberonics in June 2001. Until September 1995, Mr. Cummins was also a general partner of Vista Partners, L.P., a venture capital partnership which he joined in 1984, a general partner of Vista III Partners, L.P., a venture capital firm formed in 1986 and Vice President of Vista Ventures Inc., a venture capital advisory firm. Until July 1998, Mr. Cummins was also a director of Sigma Circuits Inc., a manufacturer of electronic interconnect products.
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| Neurotech
Reports Editors |
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James Cavuoto, editor
and publisher
James Cavuoto is editor and publisher of Neurotech Business Report
and the founder of Neurotech Reports. He was the lead author of "The
Market for Neurotechnology," a market research report published
by Neurotech Reports. Cavuoto was the founder of Micro Publishing
Press, Inc., a publishing company that helped pioneer the market for
electronic publishing, digital imaging, and computer graphics. He
holds a degree in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve
University, where he studied under pioneers in the field of functional
electrical stimulation. He has also studied human factors engineering
at University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Cavuoto spent
three years as a member of the technical staff at Hughes Aircraft
Company in Los Angeles, where he worked on simulation, training, and
publication products produced for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Cavuoto is an adjunct professor at Rochester Institute
of Technology and the author of eight books on computer graphics,
electronic publishing, and digital imaging. He is a member of the
IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.
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Glenn Cornett, M.D.,
Ph.D., senior financial editor
Glenn Cornett is an experienced neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and
financial consultant, with a background in research and business development.
After earning his Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA and his M.D. from
University of Michigan Medical School, Glenn spent several years as
a technology and healthcare consultant with McKinsey & Company.
He has also held marketing and business development positions at Lilly
& Company and Razorfish. He currently runs his own consulting
firm, Metastrat, in Palo Alto, CA, providing strategic advisory services
to biotechnology and medical device firms.
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Warren Grill, Ph.D., senior technology editor
Warren M. Grill is one of the nation's leading experts in neural stimulation and neural prostheses. Dr. Grill is Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. He earned his Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University, where he was most recently Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering. He has been nominated for both undergraduate and graduate teaching awards. He and his colleagues were awarded the 2002 Excellence in Neural Engineering Award by the IEEE-EMBS / BMES and he was named the 2003 Neurotechnology Researcher of the Year by Neurotech Business Report. Dr. Grill serves on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering and Neuromodulation and as a Consultant to the Neurological Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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| Venture Capital Professionals |
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Paul Grand, Director, RCT BioVentures
Paul Grand represents RCT and the RCT BioVentures early-stage investment program to start-up companies and research institutions on the west coast of the United States. He has built, operated, recruited management and raised financing for eight high technology, medical device and biotechnology companies. He was co-founder and vice president of Imagine Pharmaceuticals Inc. and served as CEO of MicroSurgeon Inc. from 2001 to 2003. Grand is a graduate of Tufts University. |
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Michael Goldberg, General Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
As a general partner at MDV, Michael Goldberg leverages valuable entrepreneur and investor experience from his more than 25 years of work in the life sciences industry including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, health services, and healthcare information technology. In addition to pursuing life sciences investments for MDV, he works to extend the firm's reach into major universities and research centers. Prior to joining MDV, Michael was Managing Director of Jasper Capital and Co-chair of the California Research and Cures Coalition ($3 billion Prop 71 stem cell campaign). He has also held senior management and operations roles including serving as Chairman of OnCare, an oncology practice management company he founded in 1995. Until 1999 he also served as OnCare's Chief Executive Officer, where he guided revenue growth to $100 million in three years. Previously, Michael was founder and Chief Executive Officer of Axion Inc., a cancer-focused healthcare service company he started in 1987 and sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1996. Michael was also a recipient of Inc. Magazine's 1995 Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Prior to his tenure with Axion, Michael was a partner in the venture capital firm Sevin Rosen Funds, where he was responsible for the firm's investments in the biomedical industry. |
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Ellen Koskinas, Partner, InterWest Ventures
Ellen Koskinas focuses on life sciences investing, with an emphasis on medical devices. She is a board member of Applied Spine Technologies, Apsara Medical, CardioMind, EnteroMedics, and Neuronetics. She has also been an active observer on the boards of Anesiva, formerly Corgentech (ANSV), Epicor (acquired by St. Jude Medical), NeuroPace, and Paracor Medical. Prior to InterWest, Koskinas held a number of key roles in marketing and business development at Guidant Corp., where she built a new business in minimally invasive cardiac surgery and then led Guidant's acquisition of CardioThoracic Systems. Koskinas has also served as an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company, managing projects for a broad range of pharmaceutical, healthcare delivery and medical device clients. At the outset of her career, she worked in corporate finance at Morgan Stanley in New York and London. Koskinas received her M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and her B.A. in economics, with honors, from Harvard College. |
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| Panelists |
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Evan Rosenfeld, M.D., J.D., Vice President, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Bioness Inc.
Evan Rosenfeld is the Vice President for Medical and Regulatory Affairs at Bioness, Inc., where he oversees the clinical and regulatory issues relating to that company's external and implantable neuromodulation devices. He is a physician with a specialty in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and a primary interest in neurorehabilitation. He completed his residency training at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) and attended medical school at the Medical College of Virginia. Prior to entering the field of medicine, he worked for several years in Washington , DC as an attorney in the FDA practice group of Hogan & Hartson, LLP. Dr. Rosenfeld received his legal education at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his undergraduate degree in Neurobiology from Harvard College . He has been involved in clinical research at RIC, MCV's Massey Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, and the University of Miami Medical School, and he has authored four peer-reviewed journal articles, five abstracts, and two other publications. He is an active member in the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Association of Academic Physiatrists, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, and American Academy of Pain Medicine. He also is a member of the bar in Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Illinois, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. |
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Robert Williams, Executive Vice President, NDI Medical Inc.
Bob Williams joined NDI Medical as executive vice president of strategic and investor relations in 2006 after a 20-year career in the finance arena. He has arranged and placed over $1 billion in financing for more than 50 different companies including public and private companies, and small entrepreneurial enterprises. Williams specializes in venture capital, corporate finance, wealth management, and investment and portfolio management. Prior to joining NDI Medical, Williams spent four years as a General Partner with Roulston Ventures Management, LLC and concurrently as Director of Mellon Private Wealth Management in Cleveland. Williams is a director and/or investor in several privately owned businesses, including NDI Medical, Roulston Ventures Management, and MJM Industries, Inc. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration/economics from Furman University, Greenville, SC and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University. |
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Michael Keith, M.D., Orhtopedic Surgeon, MetroHealth Medical Center
Michael Keith is Chief, Hand Service, at the Department of Orthopaedics at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, OH. He also serves as a professor of orthopaedics and biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University, and is a principal investigator at the Cleveland FES Center. After completing his fellowship in hand surgery at Thomas Jefferson University under Dr. James Hunter, Dr. Keith joined P. Hunter Peckham, Ph.D., and Alvin Freehafer, M.D., building an internationally recognized center of excellence in spinal cord injured upper extremity clinical care and bioengineering research. He has served as an investigator on 19 funded research projects related to spinal cord injury, and has been an author on 25 peer reviewed publications on spinal cord injury topics. Dr. Keith is the Director of the NORSCIS Tendon Transfer Program, and takes a special interest in the long term upper extremity problems encountered by wheelchair users. He has devoted considerable effort over the last five years towards the development of cost-effective surgery and rehabilitation protocols for tendon transfers. Dr. Keith also leads the clinical effort for implantation of upper extremity neuroprosthesis systems. He is an active member of the American Spinal Injury Association and the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America. |
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Lothar Krinke, Ph.D., Vice President, Business Development, Medtronic Neurological
Dr. Krinke is the Vice President, Business Development for Medtronic Neurological. Previously, he was Vice President Business Development and Executive Team member of Endogeny Bio Corp. He also was Vice President Business Development and Strategic Planning at Celera Genomics. Dr. Krinke has over 10 years of biomedical strategy expertise from two top management consulting firms: A.T. Kearney, where he was a Vice President, and McKinsey & Company. Dr. Krinke completed his postdoctoral training as an American Cancer Society Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University at Albany and obtained his undergraduate education at the Technische Univeritaet Braunschweig in Germany. He is the recipient of the Rumbough Award for Dedication to and Achievements in Diabetes research from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. |
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Roger Guidi, Vice President, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp.
Roger makes investments in medical device and pharmaceutical companies with a special focus on opportunities in ophthalmology, spine-related therapies, and pain management. Roger's professional background spans a broad range of experiences ranging from Silicon Valley start-ups to Fortune 50 health care companies. He began his career at J&J's Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation in sales and marketing management. Roger then moved on to senior management positions at Alza, Coherent Medical, and Cooper LaserSonics. He subsequently launched several start-ups, including Advanced Interventional Systems, Inc. (founder and General Manager), VISX, Inc. (Vice President, Sales and Marketing, and Business Development), and Intella Interventional Systems, Inc. (President and CEO). Both Advanced Interventional Systems and VISX completed successful IPOs. Intella Interventional Systems was acquired by its Japanese distributor. Mr. Guidi has also served as an outside board member for a number of early stage medical technology companies and as a consultant to venture capital firms. Roger re-joined J&J in 1999. He holds a B.A. degree in Biology (Pre-Med) from San Jose State University. He served in the U.S. Navy. He is a founding member and Fellow of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery. Roger holds three issued medical device patents. |
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Theodore Berger, Ph. D., Director, USC Center for Neural Engineering
Dr. Theodore W. Berger is the David Packard Professor of Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurosciences, and Director of the Center for Neural Engineering, at the University of Southern California. Dr. Berger received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1976, for which he received the James McKeen Cattell Award from the New York Academy of Sciences. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Irvine from 1977-1978, and was an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow at The Salk Institute from 1978-1979. Dr. Berger joined the Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh in 1979, being promoted to the level of Full Professor in 1987. During that time, he received a McKnight Foundation Scholar Award, twice received an NIMH Research Scientist Development Award, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Since 1992, he has been Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, and was awarded the David Packard Chair of Engineering in 2003. While at USC, Dr. Berger has received an NIMH Senior Scientist Award, was awarded the Lockheed Senior Research Award in 1997, was elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1998, received a Person of the Year “Impact Award” by the AARP in 2003 for his work in neural prostheses, was a National Academy of Sciences International Scientist Lecturer in 2003, was elected a Senior Fellow of the IEEE in 2004, and is currently an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Berger has published over 170 journal articles, refereed proceedings papers, and book chapters, and is co-editor of a book recently published by MIT Press on Toward Replacement Parts for the Brain: Implantable Biomimetic Electronics as Neural Prostheses. |
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James Campbell, M.D., Vice Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital
Dr. James Campbell is Professor of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Vice Chairman of Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. His clinical practice specializes in spine, spinal cord, and peripheral nerve surgery. Dr. Campbell's current areas of research is in the field of neurobiology of pain. His particular interest concerns the peripheral mechanisms of pain and neuropathic pain. |
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Daniel DiLorenzo, M.D., Ph.D., Founder, BioNeuronics Corp.
Daniel DiLorenzo is the founder of BioNeuronics Corp. Dan has received numerous awards including the 1999 Lemelson-MIT Student Innovation Award for his groundbreaking work in the neuroengineering and medical device fields. He was named one of the 1999 Technology Review TR100 (100 innovators most likely to have an impact on technology) and was recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as the “New Genius, Innovation” in 2000. Dan is currently on the advisory board for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. He holds numerous issued and pending patents in the neural engineering and medical device field and is the editor of the upcoming CRC Press volume on Neural Engineering. Dan earned his undergraduate and masters degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT. He received his M.D. from the joint Harvard Medical School/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, his Ph.D. from MIT in Mechanical Engineering (focusing on Neuroscience, control theory, and neural interfaces), and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management. Dan passed the U.S. Patent Bar, served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and completed the first half of his neurosurgical clinical residency at Tulane University prior to taking leave to secure funding and recruit a team and launch BioNeuronics. He spent two years as Founding CEO and later as CTO launching BioNeuronics, and has resumed neurosurgery at The Methodist Hospital in Houston Texas. He remains an advisor to BioNeuronics and is Founder and President of DiLorenzo Biomedical, LLC, developer of revolutionary medical device technologies. |
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Joseph Pancrazio, Ph.D., Program Director, NIH/NINDS
Joseph Pancrazio earned a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1984, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 1988 and 1990, respectively. His Ph.D. training focused on the characterization of voltage-dependent ion channels in small cell lung carcinoma using the patch clamp technique. After postdoctoral training in pharmacology in the Department of Anesthesiology at UVa as a recipient of a National Research Service Award, he received a joint appointment in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Biomedical Engineering as an assistant professor of research at the University of Virginia in 1991. During this time, he studied the effects of clinically relevant anesthetics and antidepressants on the electrophysiologic properties of neural and cardiac cells, while teaching graduate level courses in Neuropharmacology and Bioelectronic Systems in the Departments of Pharmacology and Biomedical Engineering, respectively. In 1997, he joined Georgetown University Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as an Assistant Professor working at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. In 1998, he joined the NRL as a Principal Investigator at the Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, becoming the Head of Code 6920, the Laboratory of Biomolecular Dynamics, in 2002. Dr. Pancrazio joined the Repair and Plasticity Cluster of NINDS in January of 2004, where his research interests include: 1) neural engineering and neuroprosthesis; 2) novel neural repair technologies and biomaterials, and 3) neural information processing and control. |
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Todd Whitehurst, M.D., Vice President, Boston Scientific Corp.
Todd Whitehurst has served as director and vice president of Emerging Indications at Boston Scientific's Advanced Bionics subsidiary since 2002. His responsibilities include the development and evaluation of new technology for neuromodulation; the development of new applications for neuromodulation; and evaluation of licensing or partnership opportunities for Advanced Bionics. He received his M.D. in 1999 from UCSF. Prior to that, he worked for a decade as an electrical engineer and computer programmer in the R&D departments of several medical device companies in the San Francisco Bay Area while he obtained an MS in engineering from UC-Berkeley. |
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| Entrepreneur Panel |
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Philip Kennedy, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO, Neural Signals Inc.
Philip Kennedy is the president and founder of Neural Signals, Inc., and a pioneer in the field of brain computer interfaces. He also holds an appointment in the department of neurology at Emory University medical school in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Kennedy received the Discover Award for technical innovation in assistive technologies in June 1999 and the World Technology Award for health and medicine in 2000 for inventing the neurotrophic electrode. He received his medical degree from the National University of Ireland. |
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Souhile Assaf, Ph.D., President and CEO, Medtrode Inc.
Souhile Assaf is a neurophysiologist who conducted research in electrical stimulation of the brain to study obesity and drinking behavior, hippocampal function, and elucidating mechanisms of epilepsy. In 2001 he was elected to the board of the London Life Science Council and currently chairs London's Medical Device Cluster. In 2003 he was appointed CEO of XLR Imaging, which develops high field MRI coils used in functional brain imaging. In 2004 he turned his attention to developing next-generation neurostimulation systems through the founding of Medtrode inc. In 2005 Medtrode acquired majority control of XLR Imaging and is incorporating intracranial MRI in Medtrode's products. |
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David Hable, President and CEO, Afferent Corp.
David M. Hable is the President and CEO of Afferent Corp., a company developing medical device technologies to treat chronic neurologic dysfunction stemming from diabetes, aging, and stroke. A seasoned medical device industry executive, Mr. Hable formerly served as the Worldwide President of Codman & Shurtleff, a division of Johnson & Johnson, a market leader in medical devices for neurosurgery. Prior to Afferent, Mr. Hable was formerly the President and CEO of BrainsGate, Ltd., an Israel-based startup developing implantable neurostimulation devices. He serves on the board of directors of ONI Medical Systems, Inc., a developer and marketer of medical imaging systems, and Neurodynamics, Inc., a medical device company developing products for managing traumatic brain injury. He also has served on the management advisory board of PureTech Ventures, an international life science business development and partnership advisory organization. |
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Jagjit Gill,M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO, Sage Medical Inc.
Jagjit Gill has been the CEO of Sage Medical, Inc since January of 2006. Sage Medical is an early-stage medical device concern focused on developing endovascular solutions which address disorders and defects treated by vascular surgeons and interventional cardiologists. Prior to joining Sage, Jagjit assumed positions within the Business Development group at Boston Scientific and Marketing post for its Advanced Bionics division. His previous experiences in clinical and basic neurosciences were developed while on staff in the Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic. |
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Alvaro Fernandez, Managing Director, SharpBrains, Inc.
Alvaro Fernandez is Managing Director of SharpBrains, Inc. He holds an MBA and MA in Education from Stanford University. Alvaro started his career in McKinsey & Company in Europe and has participated in the launch of e-commerce company Bertelsmann Online, the turnaround of e-learning software company Docent, Inc, and the launch of a new business unit of Edusoft, a Houghton Mifflin company. He enjoys advising the management teams at social enterprises Ashoka, abcd espanol and Arcandina, and teaching the class Exercising Our Brains at the Bay Area Osher Lifelong Learning Center. |
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