Catalyst Life Sciences Conference
October 6-7, 2022 Richmond, VA
Conference Speakers
Opening Remarks
David X. cifu BOD
David X. Cifu, M.D.
Associate Dean of Innovation and System Integration
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Senior Traumatic Brain Injury Specialist
US Department of Veterans Affairs
Associate Dean of Innovation and System Integration
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Senior Traumatic Brain Injury Specialist
US Department of Veterans Affairs
David Cifu, MD is an internationally recognized academic leader and innovator who specializes in initiating, developing, fostering and leading small and large-scale collaborations across the research, clinical, education and philanthropic arenas to create knowledge, add value and build opportunities.
He is an Eminent Scholar, the Associate Dean for Innovation and System Integration in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine, Herman J. Flax, MD Tenured Professor and the Chair of the Department of PM&R in the VCU-School of Medicine in Richmond, Virginia. He is also Chief of PM&R Services for the VCU Health System, Founding Director of the VCU-Center for Rehabilitation Sciences and Engineering (CERSE), Senior Consultant for the Sheltering Arms Institute, and Senior TBI Specialist for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He has been funded on 56 research grants for over $260 million, including currently serving as Principal Investigator of the VA/DoD $112.2 million Long-term Impact of Military-relevant Brain Injury Consortium (LIMBIC) since 2013. In his more than 30 years as an academic physiatrist, he has delivered more than 600 regional, national and international lectures, published more than 250 scientific articles and co-authored or edited 40 books and book chapters. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the premiere line of texts in the field of PM&R, “Braddom’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,” including the 5th Edition Textbook (2015), 1st Edition Handbook (2017), 6th Edition Textbook (2021) and 2nd Edition Handbook (2023). He has been the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Champion for the 2009, 2016 and 2021 VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for Post-Acute Mild TBI Management. In 2021, he was recognized by the US Department of Veterans Affairs with the Paul B. Magnuson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Rehabilitation Research and Development. Dr. Cifu received his medical degree at the Boston University School of Medicine in 1986 and completed his residency in PM&R at Baylor College of Medicine in 1990. |
Keynote Speaker
Joni Rutter
Joni Rutter, Ph.D.
Acting Director
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
National Institutes of Health
Acting Director
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
National Institutes of Health
Joni Rutter, PhD, oversees the planning and execution of the Center’s complex, multifaceted programs that aim to overcome scientific and operational barriers impeding the development and delivery of new treatments and other health solutions. Under her direction, NCATS supports innovative tools and strategies to make each step in the translational process more effective and efficient, thus speeding research across a range of diseases, with a particular focus on rare diseases. By advancing the science of translation, NCATS helps turn promising research discoveries into real-world applications that improve people’s health. In her previous role as the NCATS deputy director, Rutter collaborated with colleagues from government, academia, industry and nonprofit patient organizations to establish robust interactions with NCATS programs.
Prior to joining NCATS, Dr. Rutter served as the director of scientific programs within the All of Us Research Program, where she led the scientific programmatic development and implementation efforts to build a national research cohort of at least 1 million U.S. participants to advance precision medicine. During her time at NIH, she also has led the Division of Neuroscience and Behavior at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). In this role, she developed and coordinated research on basic and clinical neuroscience, brain and behavioral development, genetics, epigenetics, computational neuroscience, bioinformatics, and drug discovery. Rutter also coordinated the NIDA Genetics Consortium and biospecimen repository. Throughout her career, Dr. Rutter has earned a national and international reputation for her diverse and unique expertise via more than 50 publications in journals, and she has received several scientific achievement awards, including a SmithKline Beecham Student Award in Pharmacology, a Janssen Research Foundation Young Investigator Award, and a Fellowship Achievement Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Rutter received her Ph.D. from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, and completed a fellowship at NCI within the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. |
Best Practices for Building a High-Potential Company: The Dos and Don'ts
Jim powers pmop
Jim Powers
Former Chairman & CEO
HemoShear Therapeutics, Inc.
Former Chairman & CEO
HemoShear Therapeutics, Inc.
Jim Powers is Chairman and CEO of HemoShear Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held clinical stage company developing treatments for rare metabolic disorders with significant unmet patient need. Prior to joining HemoShear, Mr. Powers was a member of the executive team that built and took PRA International, a global CRO, public. Mr. Powers served as an advisor to the UVA-Coulter Translational Research Partnership, which was funded by the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation and where he met the co-founding scientists of HemoShear. In 2014, Mr. Powers was selected to join PharmaVoice’s Top 100 most inspiring leaders in pharma. He has been a board and executive committee member of Virginia BIO and currently serves as chair of the Virginia Bioscience Foundation. Mr. Powers received a BS in administration and management science from Carnegie Mellon University
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Andrew Krouse
Andrew Krouse
President & Chief Executive Officer
Slate Bio, Inc.
President & Chief Executive Officer
Slate Bio, Inc.
Mr. Krouse is President and Chief Executive Officer of Slate Bio, Inc. Slate is a pre-clinical biotechnology company developing paradigm shifting IL-2 compounds based on research conducted at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. IL233, Slate's lead candidate, is a first in class drug that induces persistent remission in animal models of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Prior to Slate, Mr. Krouse founded Cavion in 2005 and has been recognized for his leadership in the industry as a CIT GAP 50 Entrepreneur in the Commonwealth of Virginia and as Vice President of the Virginia Biotechnology Association. He has three patents in the T-type calcium channel space. Prior to founding Cavion, he worked for sixteen years in senior university leadership including as Vice President of the University of Virginia Darden School Foundation. He also previously served as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, NYC. Mr. Krouse is a cum laude finance graduate of the University of Maryland Business School. He received his MALS from Georgetown University and completed The Executive Program at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. |
payam pourtaheri
Payan Pourtaheri, B.S. Nanomedicine
Founder and CEO
AgroSpheres
Founder and CEO
AgroSpheres
Ross M. dunlap
Ross M. Dunlap
CEO & Founder
Ceres Nanosciences, Inc.
CEO & Founder
Ceres Nanosciences, Inc.
Ross Dunlap is the CEO and founder of Ceres Nanosciences, a rapidly growing life sciences company headquartered in Prince William County, Virginia. Ceres is an industry leader in providing innovative technology and solutions for sample processing to enhance diagnostic workflows. Prior to Ceres, Ross held senior management positions in the business consulting practices of Arthur Andersen and Washington Consulting. Ross is deeply involved in the life sciences community in Virginia and the broader bio-health capital region, and he serves on several boards, including the George Mason Research Foundation and the Virginia BIO Association. Ross grew up in Virginia and graduated from the University of Virginia.
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Elaine horn-ranney
Elaine Horn-Ranney, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering
CEO & Co-Founder
Tympanogen
CEO & Co-Founder
Tympanogen
Dr. Horn-Ranney has led the Tympanogen team to win national and international accolades for Tympanogen's disruptive eardrum repair technology and directs research projects aboard the International Space Station. She possesses a robust knowledge of biomaterials and synthesizing materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications, with a specialized focus on translating laboratory research into clinical products. Dr. Horn-Ranney received both her BSE and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University, and is passionate about improving healthcare through novel devices and simplified procedures. She serves on multiple boards, reviews grants for the National Institutes of Health, and is active in the entrepreneurial community of Virginia.
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Accessing University Resources for High-Potential Collaboration
Gerard Eldering pmop
Gerard Eldering, MBA
CEO
Perfusion Medical
CEO
Perfusion Medical
Gerard Eldering is an experienced entrepreneur, a nationally recognized authority on technology transfer venture creation and currently serves as the CEO of Perfusion Medical. Since becoming an entrepreneur in 2007 Gerard has participated in the formation of more than 12 tech startups, raised more than $4 million in seed funding, and led the successful turnaround and sale of a technology consulting firm. Gerard is an expert at university licensing, startup formation, and company operations. He has in-depth experience identifying promising university technology, launching startup companies, securing seed funding, and building entrepreneurial management teams. Before 2007 he founded and served as Director of the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) at The MITRE Corporation. Gerard is a military veteran who served in the US Air Force for seven years as a UH-1 Helicopter Pilot and Instructor Pilot. Gerard holds a B.A. in Physics, an M.B.A., and is a registered patent agent.
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Melur "Ram" ramasubramanian BOD
Melur "Ram" Ramasubramanian, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering
Vice President for Research
University of Virginia
Vice President for Research
University of Virginia
Melur (Ram) Ramasubramanian was appointed the Vice President for Research in 2017. Prior to his arrival at UVA, he was the program director for the Engineering Research Centers, and the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Programs at the National Science Foundation, and D.W. Reynolds Distinguished Professor and department chair of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University, with a joint faculty appointment as professor of bioengineering. He spent 18 years as a faculty member in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at North Carolina State University. He also worked in industry for seven years at Georgia Pacific R&D. He is a Fellow of ASME, AIMBE, and TAPPI, and a Senior Member of IEEE. He has graduated 10 PhD students and 33 MS students, taught design and mechanics courses throughout his career and published extensively in journals and conference proceedings. His current research interests are in the area of large-scale manufacturing of encapsulated cells/tissue, especially islets for transplantation in Type I diabetes patients.
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Michael friedlander bod
Michael Friedlander, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology, Virginia Tech
Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology, Virginia Tech
Michael Friedlander is the vice president for health sciences and technology at Virginia Tech, where he also serves as the founding executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the senior dean for research at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He has built the institute’s research programs to over $140 million in current grant value with more than 35 research teams and over 400 investigators and students since its founding in 2010. He has served as the principal investigator on multiple research grants on brain processes that mediate vision, developmental plasticity, and traumatic brain injury. His research has been published in leading journals such as Academic Medicine, Cell, J. Neuroscience, Nature, Neuron, PNAS and Science. Friedlander completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Florida State University, a doctorate in physiology and biophysics at the University of Illinois, and postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia.
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P. srirama rao BOD
P. Srirma Rao, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research and Innovation
Virginia Commonwealth University
Vice President for Research and Innovation
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Rao earned his Ph.D. in allergy and immunology in 1989 from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, after which he conducted post-doctoral studies at Pharmacia-Experimental Medicine in La Jolla, California. He has focused his research on the pathogenesis of allergic inflammation and has published nearly 90 peer reviewed manuscripts as well as several reviews and book chapters. Over the course of his 25-year academic and administrative career, Dr. Rao has been continuously funded by the NIH, multiple federal and state agencies, foundations and corporations, securing nearly $20 million in grant support.
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Andre marshall bod
Andre Marshall, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development
President, Research Foundation
George Mason University
Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development
President, Research Foundation
George Mason University
Dr. Marshall currently serves as Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development at George Mason University. Prior to joining GMU, Dr. Marshall served as the Program Director for the National Science Foundation’s $38 million Innovation Corps Program, which helps researchers reduce the time it takes to translate promising ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace. He was instrumental in converting the in-person experiential learning I-Corps Teams Training program to virtual delivery.
He has been on assignment at NSF from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was founder and director of the Fire Testing and Evaluation Center since 2001. He previously served as the program director for the Industry-University Cooperative Research Center Program at the NSF. |
Scientists & Engineers as Entrepreneurs: Part I
George bloom PMOP
George Bloom, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology, Cell Biology and Neuroscience
University of Virginia
Professor of Biology, Cell Biology and Neuroscience
University of Virginia
George Bloom is a Professor of Biology, Cell Biology and Neuroscience at the University of Virginia (UVA), where he also served as Chair of the Department of Biology from 2017-2020. Trained as a cell biologist, he has a long track record studying fundamental aspects of cellular behavior, such as how cells move and change shape, and how cells transport materials internally. During the past 15 years, however, his lab has transformed into a research center that emphasizes a cell biological approach to study neurodegeneration, most notably seminal processes that convert healthy neurons into Alzheimer’s disease (AD) neurons. One important outcome of that effort has been the discovery of numerous pathological processes that occur during the earliest, pre-symptomatic stages of AD, and depend on the coordinated activities of two proteins, amyloid-beta and tau, which are the respective building blocks of the plaques and tangles that accumulate in AD brain . Dr. Bloom earned a BA in Biology and History, and a PhD in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, and then received postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology (since merged with the University of Massachusetts Medical School). Beginning in 1984, he rose through the faculty ranks at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where he finally served as a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology before moving to UVA in 2000. Dr. Bloom has been on grant review panels for the NIH, the Alzheimer's Association, the American Cancer Society and the Department of Defense, and he has published more than 100 scientific papers, is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Zenith Fellow of the Alzheimer’s Association. When he's not working in his lab you might find him fly fishing on one of the Charlottesville area's many coldwater mountain streams for wild, native brook trout.
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richard heller
Richard Heller, Ph.D.
Professor
University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine and College of Engineering
Professor
University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine and College of Engineering
Richard Heller is Professor of Medical Engineering at the University of South Florida. Heller is recognized as a pioneer in developing efficient delivery systems for nucleic acids and chemotherapeutics, and the leading expert in gene electrotransfer. He demonstrated that plasmid DNA can be delivered in vivo using pulsed electric fields and since then demonstrated effective delivery to a variety of tissue targets including tumors (melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic, etc), skin, muscle, liver and heart. He is a Fellow of the following organizations: National Academy of Inventors, Association for the Advancement of Science, Society for In Vitro Biology and an IEEE Senior Member. He is the recipient of the Iwao Yasuda Award from Society for Physical Regulation in Biology and Medicine, Society for In Vitro Biology Distinguished Service Award, Frank Reidy Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Bioelectrics, Robert J. Grasso Award for Outstanding Dedication to Graduate Education, and Eminent Scholar designation from Old Dominion University, among many other awards. He has over 150 peer reviewed papers and he holds 40 issued U.S. patents more than half of which have been licensed to four companies and has been involved in multiple start-up companies. He has been continuously funded by federal sources including NIH and DOD. His research has focused on evaluating the use of pulse electric fields to manipulate biological cells and tissues, in particular, developing in vivo delivery procedures for non-viral gene transfer for enhancing immunotherapy for cancer treatment.
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Emanuel petricoin
Emanuel F. Petricoin III, Ph.D.
University Professor
Co-Director Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine
George Mason University
University Professor
Co-Director Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine
George Mason University
Dr. Emanuel F Petricoin has been the Co-Director of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM) at George Mason University since 2005, where he is a University Professor. Prior to this position, he served as Co-Director of the FDA-NCI Clinical Proteomics Program from 2001-2005, and a Senior Investigator within the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration from 1993-2005. The focus of the CAPMM is the invention and use of proteomics technologies for personalized therapy, molecular diagnostics and biomarker discovery. He is a co-founder of 4 life science companies. Dr. Petricoin’s expertise includes precision medicine, proteomics and protein biomarkers, cell signaling, molecular diagnostic assay development, biologics and cellular therapeutics regulation, as well as artificial intelligence based algorithms.
He has co-authored over 490 publications (H-Index 109), and is a co-inventor on over 40 filed and published patents. He has authored over 45 book chapters, is a Senior Editor for Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention and on the editorial board of JCO Precision Oncology, Nature: Precision Oncology, Proteomics, Biomedical Microdevices, Proteomics-Clinical Applications, Proteomics-Protocols, Molecular, Carcinogenesis, Journal of Personalized Medicine and Dr. Petricoin is a founding member of the Human Proteomic Organization (HUPO). He has received numerous awards including the University Professorship at George Mason University, the NIH Director’s Award, FDA Distinguished Scientist Award, 2015 Innovator of the Year Award, GAP50 Top Virginia Entrepreneurs, Nifty 50 Award, American Society of Cytopathology Basic Research Award, the Roche Diagnostics/CLAS Distinguished Scientist Award and the Harvard University Leading Edge Award and is a Kentucky Colonel. He is the recipient of over 50 million dollars in competitive grants and contracts from the NIH, DoD, DTRA, DARPA DOE as well as a number of philanthropic and non-for-profit foundations and pharmaceutical company contracts. In the past, Dr. Petricoin is a member of the Board of Directors for the Gateway for Cancer Research Foundation, and has served as the GMU faculty representative to the George Mason Research Foundation, the GMU faculty representative to the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Committee, and faculty representative to the GMU Board of Visitors. |
richard t. marconi
Richard T. Marconi, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine and Dentistry
Virgina Commonwealth University Medical Center
Professor of Medicine and Dentistry
Virgina Commonwealth University Medical Center
Dr. Marconi earned his Bachelor of Science degree at William Patterson College of New Jersey and Ph.D. at the University of Montana studying microbiology and biophysical chemistry, respectively. After completing his Ph.D. work, he began his post-doctoral training at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology where he studied bacterial metabolism. In 1990, he accepted an Intramural Research Training Award at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, an NIH research facility, where he began working on Lyme disease and tick-borne relapsing fever. Dr. Marconi joined VCU Medical Center in 1994 and is now a Full Professor of Medicine. He has 35 years of experience studying pathogenic bacteria including the causative agents of Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, periodontal disease, and leptospirosis. He has lectured worldwide, published over 130 research articles, been awarded numerous patents, brought several products to market, and has been continuously funded since 1990. He has served on over 100 national and international advisory panels and was a chartered member of the Vaccines for Microbial Diseases NIH Study Section. Dr. Marconi serves on the editorial board for several prestigious journals and is a consultant for several private foundations, patient advocacy groups, and companies. He is the inventor of a groundbreaking vaccine platform that is the scientific basis of VANGUARD®crLYME, a canine Lyme disease vaccine that was introduced to the market in 2016 and is now the most widely used Lyme disease vaccine in North America. In recognition of Dr. Marconi’s contributions to science, in 2016 he was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors and in 2022 into the American Academy of Microbiologists. In April of 2022, he was recognized for Outstanding Contributions to Virginia Biosciences by Virginia Bio. His current research is focused on the development of diagnostic assays and vaccines for several bacterial diseases that pose serious threats to humans and our companion animals.
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rafael v. davalos
Rafael V. Davalos, Ph.D.
L. Preston Wade Professor
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
L. Preston Wade Professor
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Rafael V. Davalos is an Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Tech. He is also Director of the Virginia Tech ICTAS Center for Engineered Health and Co-Leader of the Signaling and Biotechnology Program within the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center. His research interests are in microfluidics for personalized medicine and developing technologies for cancer therapy. Davalos has authored 137 peer-reviewed articles and 17 book chapters. He also has 37 issued patents which have been licensed to 5 companies. He has been a plenary speaker for several prestigious venues including the International Symposium of the Bioelectrochemistry Society, the World Congress on Electroporation, and the Society of Cryobiology Annual Meeting. Davalos is an ASME and AIMBE Fellow and recipient of the 2021 ASME Van C. Mow Medal. Dr. Davalos received his bachelor’s from Cornell University and doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Scientists & Engineers as Entrepreneurs: Part II
O. john semmes PMOP
O. John Semmes, Ph.D.
Anthem Distinguished Professor
Associate Dean for Translational Research
Director, Leroy T. Canoles, Jr. Cancer Research Center
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Anthem Distinguished Professor
Associate Dean for Translational Research
Director, Leroy T. Canoles, Jr. Cancer Research Center
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Dr. O. John Semmes is the Anthem Distinguished Professor for Cancer Research, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, and Professor of Pathology and Anatomy at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He is Associate Dean for Translational Research and the Founding Director of the Leroy T. Canoles Jr. Cancer Research Center. Dr. Semmes received his Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1989, followed by post-doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins Medical School. He was Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia before moving to Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2000. Dr. Semmes is internationally recognized for his accomplishments in translational research in cancer diagnostics and his expertise is regularly solicited at national/international meetings, scientific study sections, university advisory groups and government task force panels. He has authored over 170 scientific articles that span discovery and translation science in the areas of molecular oncology, proteo-genomics and biomarker development. As Chair of the Prostate Cancer Collaborative Group within the National Cancer Institute’s Early Detection Research Network he coordinates the translation of biomarker discovery, validation and clinical development of diagnostic assays.
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Barbara boyan
Barbara D Boyan, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Institute for Engineering and Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University
Executive Director, Institute for Engineering and Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University
Barbara D. Boyan is the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin, Jr. Dean, College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She is professor of Biomedical Engineering at VCU and professor emerita in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she served as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the College of Engineering. Dr. Boyan directed the Virginia branch of the FDA-sponsored Atlantic Pediatric Device Consortium and is presently co-principal investigator of VCU’s NSF-sponsored Advance-IT grant, which promotes career development of women faculty in STEM related disciplines. She is a Fellow in national and international scientific societies, including the National Academy of Inventors, the AAAS, the Orthopaedic Research Society, American Institute of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, the International College of Fellows of Biomaterials Science and Engineering, and the European Academy of Science and Arts, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012. She is vice-chair of the board of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing and in 2020 she was appointed by the Governor to the board of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority, where she serves as chair. She has founded a number of biomedical technology companies and has served on the Boards of both public and private companies, as well as not-for-profit organizations. The author of more than 520 peer-reviewed papers, reviews, and book chapters, Dr. Boyan holds 24 issued U.S. patents as well as international patents.
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frank gupton
Frank Gupton, Ph.D.
CEO of Medicines for All
Department Chair of VCU Chemical and Life Sciences Engineering
Virginia Commonwealth University
CEO of Medicines for All
Department Chair of VCU Chemical and Life Sciences Engineering
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Frank Gupton is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and holds joint appointments in the Departments of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering. He is the Floyd D. Gottwald Chair of Pharmaceutical Engineering and also serves as Department Chair of the Chemical and Life Science Engineering Department. His thirty-year industrial career centered on the development and commercialization of chemical processes for pharmaceutical applications. Dr. Gupton’s research group is currently focused on the development of continuous processing technology to facilitate the discovery, development and commercialization of drug products. Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Gupton served as the Executive Director of North American Process Development for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and led the commercialization of the widely prescribed HIV drug nevirapine. Dr. Gupton received his Bachelors of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Richmond and graduate degrees in organic chemistry from Georgia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Gupton’s research efforts have focused on streamlining pharmaceutical processes, particularly in the area of active ingredients, by employing the principles of process intensification which include the use of innovative chemistry, novel continuous manufacturing platforms, and new and more efficient catalysts for pharmaceutical applications. The research group’s efforts are guided and driven based on both financial and economic impact that can be derived from this effort. Dr. Gupton is the recipient of the 2018 American Chemical Society Award for Affordable Green Chemistry, and in the same year, he received the Presidential Award for Green Chemistry. In 2019 he received the Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry from the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Round Table. These awards were associated with Professor Gupton’s work on the development of a highly efficient process to produce nevirapine, a first-line treatment in HIV therapy. |
rob gourdie
Rob Gourdie, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Vascular and Heart Research (CVHR) at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (FBRI)
Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Director of the Center for Vascular and Heart Research (CVHR) at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (FBRI)
Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Rob Gourdie PhD is the Director of the Center for Vascular and Heart Research (CVHR) at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (FBRI) and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics at Virginia Tech. Together with its eight research team leaders, the CVHR numbers over 40 post-docs, graduate students and staff. The research of his lab focuses on connexins - proteins key to intercellular communication. He holds an R35 Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1997. He was elected to the 2022 Class of the AIMBE College of Fellows. He has authored 160+ peer-reviewed publications (H index=59) on heart development and function, wound healing and cancer. He holds more than a dozen issued US patents and over 30 worldwide, with another 50 patent applications pending. Gourdie is co-founder of FirstString Research Inc. a $150m clinical-stage biotech company in Phase III clinical trials on its lead drug. His lab has spun-off two other companies: Acomhal Inc., which he co-founded with Dr. Samy Lamouille, which is undertaking preclinical development of a novel drug that targets cancer stem cells; and 2) The Tiny Cargo Company – his newest venture; focused on an exosomal drug delivery tech nology. His teaching service at Virginia Tech mainly concentrates on entrepreneurialism and commercialization. Gourdie received his PhD (1990) from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), and did his post-doc training at University College London (United Kingdom), as a British Heart Foundation Fellow
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Building a Winning Management Team
jeff pompeo PMOP
Jeff Pompeo, MBA
President & CEO
Caretaker Medical Co.
President & CEO
Caretaker Medical Co.
Jeff Pompeo is a serial entrepreneur with deep experience leading large corporate organizations as well as innovative technology and Med-Tech start-ups. He has held executive level Management, Engineering and Commercial leadership positions with publicly traded companies such as General Electric, Analogic, Shentel, and AMS, as well as with a diverse group of private consulting and technology firms.
Jeff got his first taste of entrepreneurship while serving as CIO of General Electric’s Industrial Automation unit, when he served as founding President and CEO of a joint venture between GE and Cisco Systems focused on Industrial data networks. Having been smitten by the entrepreneurial bug, he left GE in 2000 to help launch his first Telecom startup, raising $60M in venture capital and growting to over 150 employees before exit. Jeff then went on to hold senior executive positions in numerous other Start-Up firms in the Telecom, MedTech, and Electronics Engineering spaces. Currently, Jeff serves as President and CEO of Caretaker Medical Corp, a Medical Device startup that has launched an FDA-Cleared innovative Wireless Wearable that remotely monitors Continuous Blood Pressure and non-invasive Hemodynamics. Previous to starting Caretaker Medical, Jeff served as President & CEO of PocketSonics Ultrasound, a spin-out from the University of Virginia to develop a Handheld Ultrasound platform for guiding vascular access procedures, which exited to Analogic Corporation in 2014. Jeff earned a degree in Computer Information Systems from James Madison University and an MBA from Virginia Tech. He lives in Charlottesville, VA with his wife Lisa. He serves on the board of directors of TSO3 Corporation, serves on the board of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, and is an operating partner at QDS Capital. |
stephanie maistrellis
Stephanie Maistrellis, MBA/MPH, BS
CEO & Partner
LEAD Life Sciences
CEO & Partner
LEAD Life Sciences
Stephanie Maistrellis is the CEO and founder of LEAD Life Sciences. Stephanie's 23-year career in executive search has focused in the life sciences at the Board, C-suite, and executive leadership levels, taking her across the span of pipeline development. She has led therapeutic + modality focused engagements and leadership builds in R&D, tech ops + manufacturing, and commercial functions for biotechnology and major biopharma organizations. Stephanie started her career in healthcare consulting at Ernst & Young, followed by executive search roles at Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart. She has since held Managing Consultant and Practice Director roles at boutique life science firms and as a Partner at a global executive search firm for which she started the life sciences practice. Stephanie has worked with biotech clients on executive builds that supported the first franchise of engineered cell therapies and first viral gene therapy approvals. Among the technologies she has represented are p53 regulators, mAbs, ASOs, mRNA, adoptive cell (CAR-T, CAR-M, TCR), viral and non-viral gene therapies, gene editing systems (CRISPR/Cas9, CasX, CasY, Zinc Finger Nuclease), and DNA sequencing and synthesis approaches. She holds an MPH and MBA from Emory University and Bachelor of Science from Boston College.
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rony thomas PMOP
Rony Thomas, MS, MBA
President & CEO
LifeNet Health
President & CEO
LifeNet Health
Rony Thomas serves as the President and CEO of LifeNet Health. LifeNet Health Inc., based in Virginia Beach, is one of the world’s largest Life Sciences not-for-profit organizations specializing in organ, tissue and cell procurement for transplantation and the utilization of tissue and cells for biomedical applications in a variety of surgical disciplines, research and drug discovery.
In 2012, under Mr. Thomas’ direction, LifeNet Health inaugurated the LifeNet Health Institute of Regenerative Medicine. The 50,000 sq. feet research institute sits on the LifeNet Health campus in Virginia Beach and serves as a research facility for developing allograft-based cellular therapy products, future biologics therapies and medical devices to speed and improve recovery rates and patient outcomes. Mr. Thomas spearheaded the formation of the LifeNet Health LifeSciences Division in 2015 which specializes in isolating cells for drug discovery and toxicity testing. Mr. Thomas is presently studying the application of Artificial Intelligence in the medical industry. Prior to joining LifeNet Health, Mr. Thomas served as CEO and held other executive leadership positions at USA Instruments, a General Electric company. Mr. Thomas has over 25 years of experience in the medical device and lifesciences industries, working in entrepreneurial and major corporate settings. Mr. Thomas is recognized as a thought leader in Lifesciences nationally and internationally. Mr. Thomas presently serves on the board of directors and in advisory roles for a number of for-profit and non-for-profit organizations nationally and internationally. He presently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the VCU College of Engineering Foundation Board (Richmond, VA), Hampton Roads Community Foundation (Norfolk, VA), Chrysler Museum of Art (Norfolk, VA), and the Norfolk Academy School (Norfolk, VA). Mr. Thomas was the Chairman of Magnetic Resonance (MR) Section of National Electrical Manufactures Association (NEMA). Mr. Thomas is Past Chair for the Board of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Vice-chair of the Virginia Beach Biomedical Task Force, served on the Advisory Board for the College of Health Sciences at Old Dominion University and on the Board of Trustees for Sentara Healthcare. |
Raising Capital: State & Federal Sources
jeff conroy BOD
Jeff Conroy
CEO & Co-Founder
Embody, Inc.
CEO & Co-Founder
Embody, Inc.
Embody was founded by Jeff Conroy, CEO and Michael Francis, PhD, Chief Science Officer, in 2014 with the objective to create a new standard of care for tendon and ligament repair. Together, Jeff and Michael secured our first DARPA R&D contract of $12 million based on the prevalence of tendon and ligament injuries across elite warfighters such as US Navy SEALs, US Army Special Forces and DOD’s explicit desire for advances in the field. We have extended our DARPA and DOD relationship with over $21 million in non-dilutive funding. Currently, we have $4 million in current signed DOD contracts which will support operations through 2021.
Jeff Conroy, CEO and Co-founder is a 30+ year medical device and life science executive. As the President of a tissue bank, Jeff validated the need for Embody based on feedback from surgeons on the limitations of cadaver-based products and synthetic products. |
Lauren bell
Lauren Bell, MS, MPP, PMP
President and Chief Executive Officer
LaCire, LLC
President and Chief Executive Officer
LaCire, LLC
Lauren Bell, the President and CEO of LaCire, is a government consulting and public health subject matter expert who has built and grown organizations in the public and private sectors. She has led public health divisions and life science organizations for 20 years and has led capture and managed government contracts of over $100M. Lauren has experience in corporate operations, program management, human capital, and P&L leadership, with an expertise in health and life-science companies. She helped stand-up and developed the Industrial Base Expansion (IBx) program at US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (HHS/ASPR) and has assisted in health-focused source selection with interagency organizations including the US Development Finance Corporation and The Defense Production Act. Lauren also helped set up the HHS/BARDA Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe) that provides seed funding to public health innovations in the private sector. Lauren has previously served as a project manager on health-focused humanitarian missions throughout the South Pacific and South America. She also served as a subject matter expert in operations to the Navy Bureau of Medicine (BUMED) on issues such as exercise planning, pandemic preparedness, and disaster relief. Lauren holds a Masters of Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters of Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy (UC Berkeley). She also graduated Summa Cum Laude from Howard University School of Engineering.
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andre marshall BOD
Andre Marshall, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development
President, Research Foundation
George Mason University
Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development
President, Research Foundation
George Mason University
Dr. Marshall currently serves as Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development at George Mason University. Prior to joining GMU, Dr. Marshall served as the Program Director for the National Science Foundation’s $38 million Innovation Corps Program, which helps researchers reduce the time it takes to translate promising ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace. He was instrumental in converting the in-person experiential learning I-Corps Teams Training program to virtual delivery.
He has been on assignment at NSF from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was founder and director of the Fire Testing and Evaluation Center since 2001. He previously served as the program director for the Industry-University Cooperative Research Center Program at the NSF. |
bob stolle
Bob Stolle
President & Chief Executive Officer
The Virginia Innovative Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
President & Chief Executive Officer
The Virginia Innovative Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
Bob Stolle serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of VIPC, which began as the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) in 1985, creates technology-based economic development strategies to accelerate innovation, imagination, and the next generation of technology and technology companies. VIPC, a non-profit corporation, bridges gaps at the earliest stages of the Innovation Continuum.
Mr. Stolle has more than twenty years of experience leading innovation-based economic development initiatives and related public policy strategies. Previously Bob Stolle held the position of Senior Vice President of Policy and Regional Initiatives at CIT. His responsibilities included coordinating programs and policy initiatives across four CIT service lines that work to expand commercialization, capital formation, market development, and revenue generation services in Virginia. |
External Resources for Building a Company
scott meza PMOP
Scott Mesa, J.D.
Chair, Northern Virginia Corporate Department
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Chair, Northern Virginia Corporate Department
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Scott Meza has more than 25 years of experience assisting businesses in complex transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs of public and private companies, and sophisticated equity and debt financings and recapitalizations. Scott's broad industry experience includes managing transactions for technology-based companies as well as companies operating in highly regulated environments like government contracting, telecommunications, and health care. Representative transactions include stock-for-stock combinations, cash-out mergers, tender and exchange offers, management buyouts, stock and asset purchases, distressed company acquisitions (e.g., bankruptcy auctions), corporate spin-offs and divestitures, and corporate governance matters.
Scott regularly represents venture funds and emerging growth companies in a variety of financing transactions, ranging from preferred stock sales, subordinated debt lending and licensing, and other strategic alliances. Scott has also been a leader in organizing networks of accredited "angel" investors, which actively invest in emerging growth companies around the country. Scott also advises senior management and boards of directors on executive employment and compensation issues and equity incentive plans. |
paul nolde
Paul Nolde, BA Foreign Affairs
Managing Director
Lighthouse Labs
Managing Director
Lighthouse Labs
Paul Nolde has over two decades of experience in the banking, finance, and venture capital sectors, serving in multiple business development and management roles. As the new Managing Director of Lighthouse Labs, Paul sets the strategic vision for the organization and oversees day-to-day operations in accelerating venture-appropriate startups at the seed stage. Prior to this he served as the Fund Manager and Managing Director of Riverflow Growth Fund, a seed stage, healthcare-focused venture capital firm based in Richmond, VA. In this role he was responsible for all aspects of fund management and investment-related functions. Prior to this he served as a director at NRV, an early-stage venture capital firm also based in Richmond, VA, preceded by sales and strategy positions at multiple national and community banks, as well as managing the angel investment portfolio of a family office in Richmond, VA.
He is an active participant in, and advocate for, Virginia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, serving on the boards of several local and regional organizations, including the Activation Council, CAV Angels (president of the network), The Launch Place Seed Fund (chair of the board), the Virginia Impact Investing Forum (chair of the board), and SCORE. Additionally, Paul sits on various boards at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia, where he also serves as an adjunct professor of impact investing in its Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He graduated from UVA in 2001 with a B.A. in Foreign Affairs, complimented by post-grad business studies through the McIntire School of Commerce Business Institute. |
philippe "Philip" sommer
Philippe "Philip" Sommer, MBA
Life Science Mentor
ICAP Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program at George Mason
Life Science Mentor
ICAP Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program at George Mason
Philippe Sommer is currently a Life Science Mentor for George Mason University and the Virginia SBDC Network’s ICAP program. Previously, Mr. Sommer was Entrepreneur In Residence at Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Life Sciences. For ten years previous to this, Mr. Sommer was Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School.
Mr. Sommer had been a partner of WestMed Venture Funds, publicly registered investment companies affiliated to CIBC/Oppenheimer, Inc. invested exclusively in Life Science and Med-Tech companies. Mr. Sommer was a founding partner and raised the original capital for the West Med funds. Prior to his involvement with the WestMed funds, Mr. Sommer was Director of Business Development at Pfizer Inc. in the Medical Products Group. Mr. Sommer began his career as a Consultant for Booz, Allen & Hamilton in their Healthcare practice. Mr. Sommer holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and Graduated with Honors from Amherst College. |
kevin seitter
Kevin Seitter, B.S. in Biomedical Engineering; B.S. in Physics
Chief Technology Officer
Cerillo
Chief Technology Officer
Cerillo
Kevin is a biomedical engineer who specializes in electronics design, measurement system creation, and embedded software development. As Cerillo's co-founder and CTO, he is responsible for the technical development of Cerillo's instrumentation platform. An engineer at heart, Kevin never thought he would end up establishing and growing a company, but he's enjoyed every opportunity to pursue his passion: turning something imaginary into something real.
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david chen
David Chen, MBA
Program Director
University of Virginia, Coulter Translational Partnership
Program Director
University of Virginia, Coulter Translational Partnership
The founding program director of the UVA- Coulter Translational Partnership, David Chen began his career at ImClone Systems, where he worked closely with both European regulatory agencies as well as the FDA. He holds a Master of Science in Cell and Developmental Biology from Rutgers University/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and an MBA from UVA’s Darden School of Business.
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Establishing & Building Ecosystems
john newby
John Newby, J.D.
CEO
Virginia Bio
CEO
Virginia Bio
John Newby is the CEO at Virginia Bio, the statewide non-profit trade association for the life science industry. Approximately 300 companies spanning biopharmaceuticals, medical device, med tech, diagnostics, digital health, bioinformatics, agriculture and industrial bio and related fields are based in Virginia, mainly clustered around research universities and medical institutions.Virginia Bio is the sole state affiliate and works closely with key national industry organizations BIO, AdvaMed, MDMA, PhRMA and We Work for Health.
Newby was formerly the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (VDVS), where he led an 850-member Agency located across 50 Virginia locations, delivering employment, education, benefits, behavioral health and long term health care services to Virginia’s Reservists, Guardsmen, transitioning service members and 725,000 veterans. Prior to leading VDVS Newby practiced corporate, intellectual property and Hatch-Waxman biopharmaceutical law at international law firms in Richmond and Washington DC, and at a multinational company. Newby previously commanded an Air Force special operations unit supporting the U.S. Army’s 3rd and 7th Special Forces Groups (Airborne), and served in Iraq as an aviator aboard the Boeing B-1B Lancer strategic bomber. Newby received a B.S. from the United States Air Force Academy, with Military Distinction, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. |
paula sorrell
Paula Sorrell, BS/BA, MBA
Associate Vice President, Innovation & Economic Development
Geroge Mason University
Associate Vice President, Innovation & Economic Development
Geroge Mason University
Paula Sorrell is the Associate Vice President of Innovation & Economic Development at George Mason University. She oversees Mason Enterprise, which includes the Office of Technology Transfer, the federal and state programs that support small business, business incubators, maker space, and entrepreneurship programming at Mason. Last year Mason Enterprise had a $1.6 Billion impact on Virginia’s economy through its business counseling and start-up and small business educational programs. She joined after a position as Director of the Economic Growth Institute at the University of Michigan and taught at the U of M College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship. Prior to that Paula served as Vice President of Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Venture Capital for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. She has held the senior marketing role at seven early-stage technology companies. All start-ups resulted in successful sale of the company, or are still a going concern. She serves on the boards of the American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Institute (LIFT), the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), and several other tech-related economic development boards.
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chandra briggman
Chandra Briggman, MBA
President and CEO
Activation Capital
President and CEO
Activation Capital
Chandra Briggman is President and CEO of Activation Capital, a leading innovation ecosystem development organization providing social, knowledge, and financial capital to tech clusters across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Before being named the CEO in May 2020, Chandra was Director of Venture Café Foundation located in Cambridge, MA, and was responsible for the strategy and operations of the global network’s flagship Venture Café Cambridge innovation hub. She played a key role in helping expand the revenue and the footprint in New England. Before her work in ecosystem development in Massachusetts, she held innovation roles with the United States Postal Service in Washington, D.C., culminating with her work as the Director of Digital Platforms and the Innovation Lab. Her prior experience comprised leadership roles with multiple startups, including Founder as a serial entrepreneur. Chandra is an active member of the entrepreneurship and innovation community, including as a guest lecturer, coach/mentor, public speaker, and Chair of the Board for Youth CITIES – a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to youth entrepreneurship. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in the Humanities from Columbia International University, a Master’s in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. |
michael friedlander bod
Michael Friedlander, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Vice President, Health Sciences and Technology, Virginia Tech
Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Vice President, Health Sciences and Technology, Virginia Tech
Michael Friedlander is the vice president for health sciences and technology at Virginia Tech, where he also serves as the founding executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the senior dean for research at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He has built the institute’s research programs to over $140 million in current grant value with more than 35 research teams and over 400 investigators and students since its founding in 2010. He has served as the principal investigator on multiple research grants on brain processes that mediate vision, developmental plasticity, and traumatic brain injury. His research has been published in leading journals such as Academic Medicine, Cell, J. Neuroscience, Nature, Neuron, PNAS and Science. Friedlander completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Florida State University, a doctorate in physiology and biophysics at the University of Illinois, and postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia.
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kevin leslie
Kevin Leslie, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium
Executive Director
Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium
Dr. Kevin Leslie is the Executive Director of the Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium (HRBRC), a partnership between ODU, EVMS, NSU, and Sentara Healthcare that empowers its member institutions and the community to collaboratively advance regional health equity and biohealth innovation. Prior to his role at the HRBRC, he was the Associate Director of VCU Ventures and provided scientific leadership for Richmond’s Health Innovation Consortium (HIC), a national private-public platform for supporting new healthcare technologies. In addition, Kevin led strategy and oversight at a university spinout developing novel molecular diagnostic techniques with applications in cancer medicine and the detection of genetic disorders. He earned his Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University and his B.S. and M.S. from the College of William & Mary.
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University Sponsored Research & Tech Transfer
Ivelina Metcheva
Ivelina Metcheva, Ph.D., MBA
Assistant Vice President for Innovation
Virginia Commonwealth University
Assistant Vice President for Innovation
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Ivelina Metcheva has more than twenty years of experience in technology transfer and commercialization. She provides strategic and operational leadership for the university technology transfer enterprise; as well as for establishing industry collaborations and promoting new venture creation and the regional economic development.
Dr. Metcheva spearheaded and implemented a strategic pre-license value creation program to accelerate technology development including recruiting industry experts and investors to the VCU commercialization advisory board, securing funding and establishing a proof-of-concept fund to validate and mature inventions, and building strategic relationships with industry to facilitate IP commercialization. She streamlined the licensing process and implemented industry engagement initiatives to attract industry partners at the earlier stages of the innovation cycle. She facilitated the creation of more than 60 start-up ventures based on faculty inventions that have raised more than $80 million in start-up funding, secured partnering deals or started generating revenues. |
Lynn koplin
Lynn Koplin, MA, CRCP
Associate Director of Contracts
University of Virginia
Associate Director of Contracts
University of Virginia
Morris foster BOD
Morris Foster, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research
Old Dominion University
Vice President for Research
Old Dominion University
Dr. Morris W. Foster serves as Vice President for Research at Old Dominion University and a Professor of Community and Environmental Health. Dr. Foster received a BA from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 and went on to graduate work in anthropology at Yale University, earning an MPhil in 1984 and a PhD in 1988. Dr. Foster’s initial research was in ethnohistory and ethnography. Since 1995, Dr. Foster has been awarded four R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health in addition to other federal funding from NSF, HRSA, and CDC, for a total of more than $12m in independent research funding. He also has held leadership positions in large multi-million dollar institutional grants such as NIH General Clinical Research Center and Clinical and Translational Resource awards.
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Richard chylla
Richard Chylla, Ph.D.
Executive Director
University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group
Executive Director
University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group
Richard Chylla, Ph.D., serves as Executive Director of the University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group (UVA LVG). He comes to the University of Virginia from the Innovation Center at Michigan State University where he served as Executive Director of MSU Technologies since 2012. He also served on the board of directors for the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and held the AUTM chair position in 2019. He has more than 25 years of experience in university technology transfer, research leadership, and business development.At Michigan State, Chylla was instrumental in launching two translational funds totaling $7M since 2014 in partnership with economic development agencies that supported more than 160 projects to advance university technologies generating licenses with industry, new venture creation, and jobs. He doubled the number of licenses and options since 2013, grew the total licensing revenue, and strengthened relations between the university and the local entrepreneurial community. MSU Technologies grew the number of university startups launched each year and attracted more than $100M in follow-on capital.
Chylla holds a Ph.D. and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an Executive MBA in Global Management Development from the University of Michigan. |
Growing an Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing & R-D Cluster
jeff gallagher BOD
Jeffery M. Gallagher
Interim Executive Director
Alliance for Building Better Medicine
Interim Executive Director
Alliance for Building Better Medicine
Jeffrey M. Gallagher serves as Interim Executive Director for Alliance for Building Better Medicine. Previously he served until 2019 as CEO of Virginia Bio, the statewide trade group of the life sciences industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia Bio connects and supports companies, universities, entrepreneurs, investors, students, clinicians, data scientists, service professionals and patients to accelerate the discovery, commercialization and clinical application of bioscience products and services, from biopharmaceuticals to medical devices and diagnostics, digital and mobile health, bioinformatics and big data, and innovative health care solutions on one hand, to agricultural and industrial bioscience on the other. In this role, he was the industry’s principal spokesperson before state and federal policy makers, and to the public.Previously, Mr. Gallagher was a co-founder, VP and General Counsel for Lyotropic Therapeutics, Ashland, Virginia, a small specialty pharmaceutical company. He earlier practiced corporate law, focusing on new technology company formation, international business (managing the firm’s US and foreign based China practice), and intellectual property transactions, including biotechnology-based companies and university spinouts. He was a co-founder and longtime chairman of the Richmond-based nonprofit World Pediatric Project. He is Chairman of Virginia Rep, the state’s largest dramatic performing arts organization. He is a founding director of the Virginia Law Enforcement Assistance Program, which helps police officers overcome debilitating trauma suffered in the line of duty.
He holds a bachelor of arts degree cum laude in government from Harvard, a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and an LL.M in Public International Law from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a Ford Foundation fellow. |
frank gupton
Frank Gupton, Ph.D.
CEO of Medicines for All
Department Chair of VCU Chemical and Life Sciences Engineering
Virginia Commonwealth University
CEO of Medicines for All
Department Chair of VCU Chemical and Life Sciences Engineering
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Frank Gupton is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and holds joint appointments in the Departments of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering. He is the Floyd D. Gottwald Chair of Pharmaceutical Engineering and also serves as Department Chair of the Chemical and Life Science Engineering Department. His thirty-year industrial career centered on the development and commercialization of chemical processes for pharmaceutical applications. Dr. Gupton’s research group is currently focused on the development of continuous processing technology to facilitate the discovery, development and commercialization of drug products. Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Gupton served as the Executive Director of North American Process Development for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and led the commercialization of the widely prescribed HIV drug nevirapine. Dr. Gupton received his Bachelors of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Richmond and graduate degrees in organic chemistry from Georgia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Gupton’s research efforts have focused on streamlining pharmaceutical processes, particularly in the area of active ingredients, by employing the principles of process intensification which include the use of innovative chemistry, novel continuous manufacturing platforms, and new and more efficient catalysts for pharmaceutical applications. The research group’s efforts are guided and driven based on both financial and economic impact that can be derived from this effort. Dr. Gupton is the recipient of the 2018 American Chemical Society Award for Affordable Green Chemistry, and in the same year, he received the Presidential Award for Green Chemistry. In 2019 he received the Peter J. Dunn Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering Impact in the Pharmaceutical Industry from the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Round Table. These awards were associated with Professor Gupton’s work on the development of a highly efficient process to produce nevirapine, a first-line treatment in HIV therapy. |
eric edwards
Eric Edwards, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Phlow Corporation
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Phlow Corporation
Dr. Eric Edwards is co-founder and chief executive officer of Phlow Corp., a pioneering public benefit pharmaceutical corporation. As CEO, Dr. Edwards has assembled a world-class team committed to providing a solution to the broken essential medicines supply chain and over-reliance on foreign manufacturers for our Nation’s highest priority medicines.Dr. Edwards was previously co-founder of Kaléo, Inc. a pharmaceutical company in Richmond, VA. During his 16 years at Kaléo, he held several executive management positions including Chief Science Officer where he was responsible for overall scientific strategy and all pharmaceutical development programs; Chief Medical Officer responsible for developing a medical affairs team and capability while operationalizing the Company’s clinical program strategy; and Vice President – Innovation, overseeing Kaleo’s research and development pipeline and overall new product strategy.Dr. Edwards is the co-inventor of multiple marketed products, including AUVI-Q, epinephrine auto-injector for the treatment of allergic emergencies (anaphylaxis), is named on over 215 issued and patent-pending applications, and is a published author on numerous scientific publications.Dr. Edwards also continues to serve his community by volunteering on a local rescue squad, including responding to 911 calls and training paramedics in pre-hospital emergency care.
Dr. Edwards. obtained his B.S. in Biology, Ph.D. in the Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Doctor of Medicine degrees at Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia. |
allan coukEll
Allan Coukell, BScPharm
Senior Vice President of Public Policy
CivicaRx
Senior Vice President of Public Policy
CivicaRx
Allan Coukell, BScPharm, is Senior Vice President of Public Policy at CivicaRx, a not-for-profit generic drug and pharmaceutical company founded in 2018 to combat life-saving drug shortages & affordability. Previously, he was Senior Director of Health Programs at the Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent nonprofit research and public policy organization, where he led initiatives related to FDA, drug, and medical device innovation and safety, the pharmaceutical supply chain, food safety and nutrition, medical conflicts-of-interest, opioid use disorder, improving end-of-life care, prescription drug spending, antimicrobial resistance, and public health. He trained in pharmacy and practiced as a clinical pharmacist in oncology at the London Health Sciences Center and Ontario Regional Cancer Center; served as Senior Medical Writer and Editor with the medical journal publisher Adis International (a Wolters Kluwer company); and covered health and science as a reporter and producer for WBUR (NPR) in Boston and at Radio New Zealand. He was a founding Board member and vice chair of the Medical Device Innovation Consortium, a public-private partnership, and previously served as consumer representative on the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee.
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Raising Capital: Angel, Venture & Philanthropic
kyp sirinakis BOD
Kyp Sirinakis
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Epidarex Capital
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Epidarex Capital
Kyp has more than 30 years of experience in creating and growing companies both as an early-stage venture investor and a senior executive in various technology and life science companies.
Kyp is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Epidarex Capital, a majority women owned and led venture capital firm which finds, invests in, and builds early-stage breakthrough life sciences companies primarily in emerging hubs. In her role at Epidarex, she is responsible for all aspects of the firm from leading investments, financial reporting and LP relations to developing the strategy for the firm’s future growth. Prior to co-founding Epidarex, Kyp was part of the senior management team of MASA Life Science Ventures (MLSV), an early stage life science venture fund where she co-led the fund’s investment strategy and managed several MLSV portfolio investments through successful exits. Kyp was the Founder and Managing Director of WomenAngels.net LLC, a top performing 2000 vintage year fund investing in start-up technology and healthcare companies in the Mid-Atlantic region. Kyp learned the life science industry as the Chief Financial Officer of Oncologix, a venture-backed, early-stage biotechnology company based in Gaithersburg MD, which was subsequently sold to Antigenics, Inc. Kyp has extensive experience collaborating directly with numerous universities and in creating companies from university related technologies. She also was previously the Director of a technology accelerator and Adjunct Professor at George Mason University. Kyp is a frequent speaker on early stage investing and venture capital. Kyp has held numerous directorships of start-up companies throughout her career and is currently a director at Slate Bio Inc. and Eternygen GmbH. . She also serves on the Boards of Virginia Bio, the Virginia Catalyst, and Southeast Life Science. She is on the Advisory Board for the University System of Maryland’s Momentum Fund and on the Investment Committees for Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology BioLife Fund, the Ivy Foundation (University of Virginia) and the UF Innovate Fund (University of Florida). She is a graduate of Boston College’s School of Management Honors Program. |
monique adams PMOP
Monique Adams
Executive Director
757 Angels
Executive Director
757 Angels
As Executive Director, Monique worked with the Board to launch 757 Angels. Since launching in 2015, 757 Angels has grown to one of the largest angel groups in the country with over 100 members/investors and injected over $42 Million of capital into startup and early stage companies. Through 757 Angels’ regional platform, Monique has local and state leadership roles in building and strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Over the past few years, Monique has been named to the Inside Business Power list, was a 2017 recipient of the Women in Business award and is honored to be a 2019 inductee into the Junior Achievement Hampton Roads Business Hall of Fame. Monique has an extensive financial services background with senior finance positions at both the predecessors of Bank of America in Norfolk and JP Morgan Chase in New York City and Los Angeles. Monique attendee the University of Southern California.
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walter greenblatT
Walter Greenblatt, MBA
Managing Director
Walter Greenblatt & Associates, LLC
Managing Director
Walter Greenblatt & Associates, LLC
Walter Greenblatt, a veteran lifescience-focused investment banker, raises seed capital and early institutional funding for fast-growing lifescience startups. In addition to raising early-stage capital, he closes M&A and business development transactions for clients developing therapeutics, medical devices and pharmaceutical services.
Since 2002, Walter Greenblatt & Associates (WGA) has raised about $180M in very early stage rounds (seed, Series A and Series B) for the lifescience companies the firm has worked with and so far has returned over $620M to investors in those rounds (with considerable potential for more returns going forward from the companies that are still working towards promising exits). That has delivered an IRR for investors from 2002 to Q2 2022 of over 32% annually. Pitchbook, the investment banking gold standard, ranks WGA first among all investment banks in number of capital raises for early stage lifescience companies. Walter is an experienced entrepreneur and “hands-on” operating executive himself, having founded, grown and sold a profitable business. Before that, he worked at Bain & Company. Walter received his MBA Harvard Business School after graduating with a BA from Yale and receiving a Masters in Economics from Oxford. He holds Series 7, 24 and 63 licenses. |
bob creeden PMOP
Bob Creeden, MBA
Managing Director of the UVA Seed Funds & New Ventures
University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group (LVG)
Managing Director of the UVA Seed Funds & New Ventures
University of Virginia Licensing & Ventures Group (LVG)
Bob Creeden, Managing Director of the UVA Seed Fund & New Ventures at the UVA Licensing & Ventures Group (LVG) supports the creation of high-quality ventures based on University technologies and leads the day-to-day operations of the $20 million investment fund. Since joining LVG in September 2016, Creeden has facilitated twenty four strategic investments in companies emerging from the University portfolio with two exits.In addition to more than 30 years of experience in commercializing new technologies, both as an entrepreneur and investor, Creeden has more than 20 years of experience as an early stage venture capitalist in the Boston area. He served as Vice President of the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation, an early stage venture firm that funds technology-based companies in Massachusetts, and then as General Partner at Egan-Managed Capital, a $150 million dollar Boston-based venture fund. In 2005 Bob established and implemented the $35 million Partners Innovation Fund at Partners HealthCare in Boston. Bob holds a BA in Economics from Holy Cross College and an MBA from Suffolk University, and for six years was a faculty member in the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program of the Gordon Institute at Tufts University and is currently an Adjunct Faculty at the Darden School of Business at UVA.
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University Clinical & Translational Collaborations: A Community Engaged Approach
F. gerard moeller
F. Gerard Moeller, M.D.
Director, C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research
Virginia Commonwealth University
Director, C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research
Virginia Commonwealth University
F. Gerard “Gerry” Moeller is Director of the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research, and Associate Vice President for Clinical Research at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also Director of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies and Division Chair for Addiction Psychiatry. His research focus has been translational research on addictions, with a goal of developing novel treatments that reduce drug use and overdose. Based on his research in this area Dr. Moeller was awarded the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Distinguished Chair: Addiction Science. Prior to coming to Virginia Commonwealth University in 2013, Dr. Moeller was Professor and Director of the Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addictions at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He is board certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine
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karen C johnston
Karen C. Johnston, MD, MSc
Harrison Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Department of Neurology University of Virginia School of Medicine
Associate Vice President for Clinical & Translational Research Office of the Vice President for Research University of Virginia
Director, integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV)
Harrison Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Department of Neurology University of Virginia School of Medicine
Associate Vice President for Clinical & Translational Research Office of the Vice President for Research University of Virginia
Director, integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV)
Karen C. Johnston is the Harrison Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Associate Vice President for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Virginia. She is the immediate past chair of the UVA Department of Neurology, a position that she held from 2007 – 2018. She is currently the Director of the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV), the cross state collaborative NIH-NCATS funded Clinical & Translational Science (CTSA) program.
Dr. Johnston’s personal research has focused on treatment and outcomes in acute ischemic stroke and she has been named by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Council as the recipient of the 2022 William M. Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated excellence in the investigation and management of stroke. She is the contact PI for the iTHRIV cross state NIH-NCATS supported clinical and translational research program which is focused on using data to improve health will serve as a member of the NCATS CTSA Steering Committee as of 2022. She just completed her serves on the NIH-NINDS Advisory Council and chair of the NINDS Health Disparities Steering Committee in 2022. She is a member of the NIH Council of Councils and a panel member of the FDA Neurological Devices panel. She attended medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and completed neurology residency at the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital. She did her vascular neurology fellowship at the University of Virginia and obtained a Master’s degree in outcomes research and clinical investigation there as well. She is board certified in General Neurology and Vascular Neurology and was the founding director of the UVA Comprehensive Stroke Center. |
Ali Andalibi PMOP
Ali Andalibi, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean, College of Science
Chief Scientific Officer, Center for Infectious Disease Research
George Mason University
Senior Associate Dean, College of Science
Chief Scientific Officer, Center for Infectious Disease Research
George Mason University
Dr. Andalibi has served as the Interim Dean and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Science at George Mason University. He received his PhD from the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at UCLA and later joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine in UCLA. Subsequently, he was involved in several early stage biotechnology companies. He then joined the House Ear Institute (HEI) as the Director of New Technology and Project Development and held a joint appointment in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Southern California, School of Medicine.As a public servant Dr. Andalibi has served as a Program Director in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships, where he oversaw the NSF’s medical biotechnology SBIR/STTR grant portfolio and at the National Cancer Institute, where he served as the head of the Therapeutics and Diagnostics Section in the NCI’s SBIR Development Center.
Dr. Andalibi is a molecular biologist and geneticist by training, with a very broad, multidisciplinary background that includes nearly three decades of research into the genetics and molecular mechanisms of metabolic and inflammatory diseases. The focus of his research has been on the elucidation of the role of the inflammatory process, including identification of inflammation-induced signal transduction pathways and the role of innate immune molecules in the etiology of diseases such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, otitis media, and neurofibromatosis. |
Partnering with Fortune 500 Companies
jeff conroy bod
Jeff Conroy
CEO & Co-Founder
Embody, Inc.
CEO & Co-Founder
Embody, Inc.
Embody was founded by Jeff Conroy, CEO and Michael Francis, PhD, Chief Science Officer, in 2014 with the objective to create a new standard of care for tendon and ligament repair. Together, Jeff and Michael secured our first DARPA R&D contract of $12 million based on the prevalence of tendon and ligament injuries across elite warfighters such as US Navy SEALs, US Army Special Forces and DOD’s explicit desire for advances in the field. We have extended our DARPA and DOD relationship with over $21 million in non-dilutive funding. Currently, we have $4 million in current signed DOD contracts which will support operations through 2021.
Jeff Conroy, CEO and Co-founder is a 30+ year medical device and life science executive. As the President of a tissue bank, Jeff validated the need for Embody based on feedback from surgeons on the limitations of cadaver-based products and synthetic products. |
charles anamelechi pmop
Charles Anamelechi, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Strategic Innovation
BD (formerly Becton Dickinson)
Associate Director for Strategic Innovation
BD (formerly Becton Dickinson)
As a healthcare strategist with experience delivering solutions to clients in the commercial, federal and non-profit sectors, Charles merges regulatory and market knowledge to develop practical solutions for clients. Recent client solutions include business process improvement, organizational infrastructure development, and research development/engagement strategy. In-depth subject matter knowledge in MedTech Development, Regulatory Science and translational program management. This is evidenced by publications and presentations in these fields.
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sally allain
Sally Allain, MSc., MBA
Regional Head, JLABS @ Washington, DC, and
Interim Head, JLABS @ New York/ Boston/ Philly
Johnson & Johnson Innovation
Regional Head, JLABS @ Washington, DC, and
Interim Head, JLABS @ New York/ Boston/ Philly
Johnson & Johnson Innovation
As Head of JLABS @ Washington, DC, Sally sets the strategic direction and oversees all operational activities for JLABS in the greater Washington metro region, including Maryland and Virginia. In this role, Sally is responsible for the process of evaluating and selecting a strong portfolio of innovators for JLABS @ Washington, DC, and building strategic partnerships with corporate, academic, government and industry organizations that aim to strengthen the region’s life sciences innovation network.
Sally has over 20 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, starting in research before moving onto roles in Program & Portfolio Management, External Alliances, Operations, and Strategy. Sally joined JLABS after serving as Senior Director, Strategy & Operations on the Global External Innovation team at Johnson & Johnson, where she supported portfolio management and reporting and strategic business development efforts across the organization. Prior, Sally was with Janssen R&D, Immunology, where she managed a team in research operations and alliance management for the early discovery to early development portfolio. Sally understands well the needs of healthcare entrepreneurs, having launched her research career at a San-Diego based biotech startup and then working internationally for a UK-based governmental economic development agency creating early-stage biotech and academic collaborative programs aimed at accelerating the development of products to address the needs of patients and consumers. Sally received her MBA from the University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business, where she was recognized by ‘Poets and Quants’ as one of the ‘Top 50’ EMBA students across US & International Programs; a Master of Science Degree in Microbiology / Immunology from Virginia Tech; and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Virginia Tech. |
Partnering with Private and Community Health Systems
Jordan asher
Jordan Asher, M.D., M.S. Medical Management
Executive Vice President & Chief Physician Executive
Sentara Healthcare
Executive Vice President & Chief Physician Executive
Sentara Healthcare
Dr. Jordan Asher is Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive at Sentara Healthcare. His role concentrates on creating innovative models of care delivery as well as providing national thought leadership directed towards the future of health care. Dr. Asher is dedicated to championing quality, fostering clinical effectiveness and further cultivating a culture of excellence in the delivery of clinical services across the continuum of care. He oversees system-wide Clinical Quality and Safety, Clinical Effectiveness the Clinical Integrated Networks (Sentara Quality Care Network and Sentara Accountable Care Organization), the High-Performance Design process, Health Equity, Clinical Informatics, Research, and Clinical Performance Improvement initiatives.
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Alfred Abuhamad
Alfred Abuhamad, M.D.
President, Provost and Dean, School of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
President, Provost and Dean, School of Medicine
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Dr. Abuhamad is the President, Provost and Dean of the School of Medicine. As a physician-scientist-educator who is recognized internationally for his expertise and leadership in maternal-fetal medicine, ultrasound, prenatal diagnosis, global outreach and patient safety.
Dr. Abuhamad came to EVMS in 1992. Currently, he is the Mason C. Andrews Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is a pioneer in ultrasound development and education. His innovations in ultrasound have enhanced fetal diagnosis, and one of his books, a free-access e-book, "Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology: A Practical Approach," has been downloaded more than 70,000 times and translated into nine languages. As President of the American Institute for Ultrasound in Medicine, he oversaw a year-long initiative to encourage widespread use of ultrasound to minimize radiation exposure with other imaging modalities. He established the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology’s outreach program and has led several ultrasound training missions to the developing world to include Haiti, Ghana and Somaliland. He also is a past President of the Society for Ultrasound in Medical Education and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Trained in maternal-fetal medicine, Dr. Abuhamad is part of a national team of researchers studying the human placenta during early pregnancy. That project is supported by a $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. He is the author of several books and book chapters and more than 180 peer-reviewed journal articles. One of his books, “Practical Guide to Fetal Echocardiography,” won the Book of the Year Award in 2019 from the British Medical Association. He is founder and past Chair of the Council for Patient Safety in Women’s Health Care and is founder of the Ob Right Program, a nationally recognized program in patient safety and quality. Dr. Abuhamad received his medical degree at the American University of Beirut. He continued his postgraduate training at the University of Miami where he completed his residency training in obstetrics and gynecology and his fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine. He also pursued a second fellowship at Yale Medical School in ultrasound and prenatal diagnosis. Dr. Abuhamad has received numerous national and international awards. In 2019, he received the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s premier honor for education. |
Eric Weisel
Eric Weisel
Executive Director, Virginia Modeling & Simulation Center
Old Dominion University
Executive Director, Virginia Modeling & Simulation Center
Old Dominion University
Eric Weisel is the Executive Director of the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center at Old Dominion University after an international search. Weisel, who's also an associate vice president for applied research, has been VMASC's interim director since June 2017, after the retirement of John Sokolowski that April. Weisel is the sixth director of the center, which is based in Suffolk.
As director, Weisel seeks to lead VMASC to further research diversity, including digital innovation in research and simulation, data analytics, cybersecurity and autonomous systems sciences. VMASC researchers have an exhibit in the Perry Library that visualizes emotions in tweets through automated intelligence, creating a visual map of sentiments across the University. For about the exhibit, click this link. VMASC is one of the university's enterprise research centers, focusing on advances in modeling and simulation, data analytics, and cybersecurity. "Although we apply these technologies to many fields such as policymaking, transportation, advanced manufacturing, autonomous systems and healthcare, computational modeling is at the core of everything we do," Weisel said. As interim executive director, Weisel helped secure two Go Virginia awards, more than $5 million in new awards overall and ODU's membership in the Systems Engineering Research Center, making the University one of only 28 with direct access to Department of Defense contracts, said Morris Foster, vice president for research at ODU. "Eric will continue to focus VMASC on providing innovative solutions for government and the private sector as well as helping the entire university become more engaged in applied research," Foster said. Weisel is also one of the first graduates of VMASC, receiving his Ph.D. in engineering with a concentration in modeling and simulation in 2004. Prior to entering the technology research field, he served as a U.S. Navy submarine officer on Los Angeles-class attack submarines and Navy staffs. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and holds a M.S. in Operations Research from Florida Institute of Technology. He serves on numerous modeling and simulation-related organizations and committees. "Returning to VMASC is full circle for me. Sixteen years ago, as I was transitioning out of the Navy, I wandered into VMASC to find out what modeling and simulation was all about," Weisel said. "Two weeks later, I had enrolled in the then-new Ph.D. program in modeling and simulation and had a job at VMASC as a project scientist. I am honored to now have the opportunity to lead this exceptional crew." |
david torgerson
David Torgerson, PhD, MBA
Vice President, Enterprise Analytics
Sentara Healthcare
Vice President, Enterprise Analytics
Sentara Healthcare
Dave Torgerson serves as VP, Enterprise Analytics at Sentara Healthcare, where he works to coordinate the use of information in decision-making across the organization. He leads a team of 100+ analysts that support a wide constituency including senior leadership, hospitals, the health plan, and medical groups.
Dave started his career as a Nuclear Engineer in the U.S. Navy / Department of Energy. He spent a number of years as a management consultant specializing in strategy, analytics, and analytic organizational design, which led to series of industry-side roles in building analytic organizations and capabilities at U.S. Cellular, Gogo, and now at Sentara. He is passionate about the role data & analytics play in creating “clarity out of chaos” and how analytic capabilities can evolve into a strategic advantage for companies and organizations. Dave has also been an instructor and guest lecturer at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and specifically has co-taught the Master of Business Analytics program Boot Camp, as well as a corresponding Coursera online course in business analytics. He has also guest lectured at Duke, the University of Rochester, the University of Chicago, William & Mary, and Old Dominion University. Dave holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Duke University, as well as a Master’s in Engineering Administration from Virginia Tech and a Master equivalent in Nuclear Engineering from the Bettis Reactor Engineering School. He also spent a year in the Marketing PhD program at Duke. Dave’s outside interests include triathlons, surfing, playing music, and building things - and he applies analytics to all of them. |