Dr. Akshar B. Abbott, M.D. is a board-certified ophthalmologist and medical retina specialist working for the Veterans Affairs VISN 23 Technology-based Eye Care Service program. In addition to providing ophthalmological care to veterans throughout VISN 23, he is the director of the Virtual Medical Retina Clinic initiative, which seeks to provide advanced retinal imaging support for veteran eye care across the system. Dr. Abbott earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Religious Studies, and Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh prior to completing his M.D. at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. After ophthalmology residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, he completed his medical retina fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Abbott is passionate about the intersection of innovation, rural health, health equity, and telemedicine. He is thrilled to be a Catalyst fellow, as he believes healthcare innovation powerfully serves the core project of our democracy: the uncoupling of demographics and destiny.

Zachary (Zack) Buono is a Biomedical Engineer at the US Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) at Ft. Detrick in Frederick, MD. His research efforts focus on early-stage concept development and technology assessment of autonomous and remote controlled medical systems for application in casualty evacuation and remote tactical combat casualty care.
Prior to his work at TATRC, Zack attended Johns Hopkins University and earned a BS in Biomedical Engineering, where he partnered with the Chief of Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital to improve patient safety by reducing the risk of retained foreign objects in Neurosurgical procedures. He then remained at Hopkins to earn his MSE in Bioengineering Innovation and Design. Through this program, he led a team of engineers, clinicians from Johns Hopkins Hospital, and business experts from Baxter Medical to develop a surgical device for the treatment of complex perianal fistulas. In addition, he conducted ethnographic research in Sub-Saharan Africa to support the design of a smartphone-based approach for vector mosquito identification to aid in the fight against malaria.

Zack is passionate about expanding the application of user-centered design throughout the healthcare industry and beyond. He is excited for this opportunity to work alongside clinicians from the VA health system to develop healthcare solutions that may improve the lives of veterans, their families, and people around the globe.

Alexandra holds a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering, a Minor in Engineering Project Management, and a Certificate in Engineering Leadership from Texas A&M University. Currently, she is a Sr. Manufacturing Engineer at Stryker Neurovascular in Salt Lake City, UT. There, she is responsible for continuous production improvements that increase product quality and capacity while decreasing cost to manufacture. Some past projects include: increasing capacity of bottle-neck equipment by 18% ($2.1 million), implementing a Simple Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) system for more than 160 duplicate machines, and introducing automated solutions to remove human entry errors and redundancies.

Alexandra is a highly motivated individual, known for the ability to combine technical and leadership skills with a positive team-oriented approach. She has a passion for providing opportunities and resources to reduce global and local inequities. For the last 4 years, she has served as a Business Plan Advisor reviewing and providing feedback on participants' business plans as part of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program. For the last 2 years, she has served as a Judge Advisor for the Technovation Girls Challenge, which provides young women a global opportunity to develop mobile apps that address real-world problems.

With experience in business, technology, and design Jake is passionate about bringing innovation into the provider space. Jake is a graduate student in the MIT Integrated Design and Management program, where he studies design, engineering, and business through the lens of human-centered innovation. Jake wants to help healthcare systems adopt inclusive innovation; building solutions focused on the lived experience of the patients, providers, and families. Jake brings a deep competency on the business side of healthcare innovation, including new product research, running the innovation process with diverse teams, to launching, scaling, and financing businesses. Becoming a practiced innovator has made Jake a process-oriented leader who enjoys using the ambiguity of the innovation process to craft the best solution possible. In searching for impact-driven solutions, he is comfortable working with hardware, software, and services leaving no option unconsidered when working with a problem space. He is a servant leader whose focus is on maximizing the team's potential, and his experience across disciplines makes him a strong leader in this setting. Jake believes in continuous improvement not only of his products but also for himself. His inspiration and purpose around healthcare come from his family and their collective experiences with the healthcare system. His older sister is a palliative care physician whose medical education coincided with his formative years. He would say he grew up discussing and learning about the medical system, but it became deeply personal when his eldest sister survived a rare and nearly fatal SCAD heart attack. In witnessing the successes and challenges of his family navigating the healthcare system, he became acutely aware of the need for human-centered innovation in the provider space.

Martha Duffy, MD, MPH is a second-year fellow in the VA Interprofessional Advanced Fellowship in Addiction Treatment in Boston, MA. Dr. Duffy earned her medical degree from St George’s University, and completed a Family Medicine and Community Health residency and Preventive Medicine fellowship from the University of Massachusetts. She also holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Duffy has worked and trained in a variety of urban academic and community health settings prior to the VA Fellowship. Dr. Duffy has strong interests in health equity, social determinants of health, health policy, and system improvement. She currently serves as a women’s health primary care physician while pursuing implementation and quality improvement research around substance use treatment within primary care settings.

Beatriz Garcia Santa Cruz currently undertakes a PhD at the Center Hospitalier de Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (University of Luxembourg) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. med. Frank Hertel. Her research is funded by a PhD scholarship from the Luxembourg National Research Fund. She was awarded the 2020 Pelican fellowship from Foundation du Pelican. Her PhD thesis revolves around biomedical imaging applications using machine learning and computer vision. Ranging from high-throughput screening to clinically suitable solutions for computer-aided diagnosis and prognosis of human diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and COVID-19. Focusing on the main limitations for its safe application in the clinical context.

Beatriz received her master’s in integrated systems biology at the University of Luxembourg. Before joining the University of Luxembourg, Beatriz worked at the Environmental Genomics Group at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) as part of her ERASMUS Plus. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid, with a specialization in genetic and molecular biology. Additionally, Beatriz contributes to several institutions and associations, including the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and the International Society for Computational Biology's Regional Student Group (RSG Luxembourg).

Teja is a graduate student at Cordero Lab, MIT. He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from BITS-Pilani (India) and a master's degree in Systems and synthetic biology at the University of Paris (France). His research interests lie in the interface of physics, biology, and engineering. He is broadly interested in the microbiome, its role in health and environment, and high-throughput tools for biology and medicine. At the Cordero lab, he is currently developing platforms to study the colonization of chitin-dependent marine microbial communities, their community dynamics, and their spatial interactions on the chitin surface. Before joining Cordero Lab, Teja spent a couple of years at MIT Media Lab developing low-cost biotechnological tools.

Teja carried out research work as a MIRES scholar and MIT-MISTI France scholar at MIT-Meche​ with Prof. Hosoi on biomimetic surfaces. ​As a Charpak fellow he worked with Prof. Baroud on bacterial division at Ecole Polytechnique (France), ​and at ​INSERM​ with Dr. Taly on microfluidic droplet sorting. He was a part of ​the iGEM Paris Bettencourt ​team (CRI-Paris) in 2016. He was one of the 100 leaders of tomorrow at Gap Summit, 2018. He was a mentoring fellow for the Bridge program, a collaboration between MIT Media Lab and 7uice foundation. He also co-organized ​Global Community Biosummit​, a conference bringing community Biolabs together for three years across the world. At MIT, he also received the PKG fellowship and Impact fellowship.

Dr. Patel is the Chief of Innovation for the Department of Mental Health at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center. She earned her Master’s in Public Health and Medical degrees from the University of Illinois. Dr. Patel went on to complete her adult psychiatry training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her interest in working with children took her to UCLA where she completed a Child and Adolescent psychiatry fellowship and recently her MBA at the Anderson School of Management. She is currently on faculty at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA where she has been a great supporter of healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship.

Amos Raymond is an alumnus of UTHSC in Memphis where he completed his internal medicine training in 2003. He has practiced since then, serving his community in various capacities. He is privileged to have managed a group of physicians for over a decade providing care at a behavioral health facility. This experience helped cement his understanding of leadership, the importance of emotional intelligence and the vital role of bedside manner. He is currently the assistant chief at the VA Medical Center Emergency Department and is humbled to serve our nation’s veterans. While at the VA Medical Center, Dr. Raymond has been involved in the teaching of students, externs and medical residents who have gone on to achieve a level of success becoming members of the healthcare community. In his time as assistant chief, he has also positively contributed to several hospital committees, process improvement projects, and directed operational management and staffing related issues.

In the community, Dr. Raymond remains active in service with his participation in various community endeavors such as youth mentoring, Community Justice Panel, a restorative justice program focused on holistic and alternative sentencing in coordination with the local District Attorney’s Office, and currently sits on the boards of Hope House Memphis, Physician Assistants of Color, Project SiSi, and Memphis Mental Health Institute. For the past 21 years, he has been married to the love of his life, Chevida, a native Memphian and family law attorney and they both are raising two beautifully intelligent daughters, Amarie and Alyssa.

Aparna Repaka is a Gastroenterologist, therapeutic endoscopist, and the director of Interventional Endoscopy at the VA Boston Healthcare system. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the Boston University and a Lecturer in Medicine, part time, at Harvard Medical School. A graduate of Rangaraya Medical College, India, she subsequently completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Emory University School of Medicine, a Gastroenterology Fellowship at the University of Michigan and a Therapeutic Endoscopy and Endoscopic research fellowship at Case Western Reserve University. She is board certified in Gastroenterology and Obesity medicine. She is an active member of several gastroenterology societies and is a Fellow of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Within her role as a staff physician at the VA, she focuses on providing and improving access to high quality and equitable care to her patients. She is a clinician-educator, and is involved with teaching graduate students, residents, and gastroenterology fellows. In addition, she is passionate about wellness amongst healthcare workers and is an employee whole health champion at the VA Boston. She is a Carnatic music vocalist and enjoys hiking, travelling, and spending quality time with her family.

Debarghya Sarkar, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He is presently innovating on intracellular bio-photonic probes using nanoscale devices for scalable single-cell barcoding and tracking. Debarghya received his bachelors degree (departmental gold medalist) in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University (India), and his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. His doctoral research was on a novel heterogeneous semiconductor integration technique geared towards enabling future 3D integrated circuits. Debarghya was awarded the Best Dissertation Award from USC Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, the Best Dissertation Award from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering (Ballhaus Prize 2020), a Best Student Paper Award at the Electronic Materials Conference 2019, and a Graduate Research Award at the American Vacuum Society Conference 2020. He was a Ming Hsieh Institute Ph.D. Scholar 2018 and a USC Annenberg Endowed Research Ph.D. Fellow 2019. Debarghya currently serves as the chair of the Science Communications subcommittee at the Mass General Postdoc Association. He also co-founded and is the lead organizer for the Jagadis Bose Scholars Professional Development Forum, comprised of scholars across the years receiving the JBNSTS scholarship in India.

Jonathan Sherrod, M.D., is Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, and Anesthesiology Residency Site Director at the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Sherrod received his undergraduate degree in Medieval Studies from the University of Tennessee and studied theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS. He received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center where he was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award in Research.

He completed his internal medicine residency and anesthesiology residency while on active duty at the San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC). Following residency, Dr. Sherrod was stationed at Fort Sam Houston, TX and served as Chief Anesthesiologist and Trauma Anesthesiology Liaison for SAMMC. While on active duty, he participated in a Medical Readiness Training Exercise in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and served as Chief of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pharmacy at a Role 2 NATO Hospital in Afghanistan. Dr. Sherrod transitioned to the US Army Reserve in 2019 and mobilized to the Boston Hope Field Hospital in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He served as Chief Medical Officer for the 94th Combat Support Hospital during Exercise Global Medic at Fort Hunter-Liggett, CA in 2021. 

Sanjit Singh is an undergraduate student studying Computer Science at Rutgers University-New Brunswick with a focus on 3D Graphics, XR, Virtual Worlds, Virtual Humans, Robotics, Haptic devices, Wearable computing devices & biomedical devices. He is a passionate, all-rounder computer engineer who is very enthusiastic about cutting-edge research areas, entrepreneurship, and technology. In addition, he hopes to bridge the gaps of the latest groundbreaking 3D interactive technologies into areas of healthcare, military, education & more. He worked for Enable Games, a Drexel University spin-off startup, Weill Cornell Medicine & NJIT Biodynamics & MIXR lab where he utilized groundbreaking technologies ranging from XR, Motion tracking, point cloud visualization, Arduino, exoskeletons & more.

In addition, he was also the Co-Founder & Vice President of a biotechnology startup funded by NSF I-Corps, XBoost where he managed a team of cross-disciplined people working on Robotics exoskeleton devices & bridging it with XR environments for stroke rehabilitation. Currently, Sanjit is a mixed reality developer for MPLEX, a VR gaming startup. In addition to that, he also serves as a space coach for the AFWERX conference where his duty is to facilitate connections & collaborations at the AFWERX events, NASA & Department of Defense. He is also the subteam lead of the NASA Space User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS) competition where he is working on developing Augmented Reality displays to help astronauts going on Lunar exploration. Outside of work, he enjoys running, working out, attending hackathons, playing video games, and watching superhero movies.

Pam Bellino is an Improvement Advisor specializing in Patient Safety, Lean Healthcare Improvement, team facilitation, and system improvement initiatives. She received her Master of Arts degree in Occupation Therapy in 1995. Ms. Bellino is a Coast Guard Veteran and has worked at the VA throughout her career. She has led the Patient Safety Program at VA Boston Healthcare System since 2003. As an Occupational Therapist, Ms. Bellino can provide guidance to all healthcare disciplines in an unbiased manner to identify root causes and implement actions for system improvements. She has also participated in research projects related to delirium, medication reconciliation, and patient safety. Ms. Bellino is a faculty member of the VA Chief Resident in Quality and Safety program and Ambulatory Patient Safety and Quality Improvement medical resident program. She provides core patient safety skills training and mentorship to students by utilizing improvement tools such as Healthcare Failure Mode Effects Analysis (HFMEA), Root Cause Analysis (RCA), data analysis, and use of Lean improvement tools in their improvement work. In 2016, Ms. Bellino was selected as a Gold Status Fellow by the VHA Innovation Diffusion of Excellent Program for her innovative practice of the Deployment of IN Naloxone (Nasal Narcan) within Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Cabinets. This best practice is currently being spread nationally throughout the 168 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in the country. Ms. Bellino presented her best practice in a Ted Style Talk within VA in August of 2018 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. This has resulted in media coverage by a variety of sources including National Public Radio (NPR), Kaiser Health News and VA Insider. Ms. Bellino was a recipient of The Joint Commission & National Quality Forum National Eisenberg Award in 2021 for The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Rapid Naloxone Initiative.

Eric B. Bruns is a retired career Army officer with over 25 years of valiant service to the nation where he served as an Air Defense officer responsible for the implementation of warfare simulations programs. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after serving in Kitzingen, Germany, Guantanamo Bay Cuba and exercises in Japan, receiving a Legion of Merit. Eric graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1988 with a BS in Engineering and completed an MBA from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University that he uses to continue a career in service to others.

Eric served as the Associate Director for the Events Division of the VHA Employee Education System (EES) in the Crystal City Facility where he addressed education needs for VHA clients. As the Associate director, he implemented the policies, procedures and systems required for maintaining and enhancing the overall organizational mission, develops and documents standards to measure quality and effectiveness of programs.

Eric is currently the Executive Director of the Simulation Learning Evaluation, Assessment and Research Network (SimLEARN) where he develops strategy for using simulation based clinical education products to drive the innovation of healthcare, making the VA a high reliability organization.

Stephan Gaehde, MD, MPH is the Boston VA Medical Informatics Fellowship Program Director and Chief of Emergency Services.  His research interests are in emergency department prediction models,  development of data visualization tools to improve patient flow and patient centered interventions that support guideline adherence for patients with chronic diseases.  He has  mentored faculty on prior innovation projects and has expertise on the integration of interventions into organizational workflow. 

Dimitra is an experienced biotech professional with deep knowledge of personalized medicine projects, medical devices, diagnostics, Health IT and therapeutics. Dimitra is currently the Chief Business Officer (CBO) of MyGenomeRx, a consumer pharmacogenomics company and a management consultant of QRAL Group supporting BD, scouting and commercialization strategies. She teaches Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the Law School at Northwestern and is currently a member of the Innovation Faculty team for MIT's LinQ Catalyst program, mentoring and guiding innovators to accelerate and heighten the impact of their solutions on serious health and medical challenges. Dimitra currently serves as a Medical Device Diligence lead for Keiretsu Forum Investment firm and a Venture Partner for MBx Capital (formerly FundRx), a next-generation of healthcare and life science venture capital firm. MBx funds and develops high impact healthcare and life science startups pursuing novel research and new models of care. Dimitra is also a Director at Large for Women in Bio {WIB}, responsible for the Executive Women in Bio Committee in Chicago, and on the board of National WIB, an organization dedicated to promoting careers, leadership, and entrepreneurship of women in the life sciences.

She was previously with Baxter International, where she was hired as the Innovation Scout, supporting late-stage technology scouting and tech assessment for due diligence M&A deals. Prior to that, she was the Director of Commercialization for Northwestern University’s Innovation and New Ventures Office, where she actively pursued innovation management, commercialization and funding strategies as well business development opportunities for inventors, ranging from start-up ventures to strategic partnerships, and established and directed an I-Corps like program called INVOForward. Before joining Northwestern, Dimitra was the VP of R&D of Ohmx Corporation, a diagnostic company with novel POC (point-of-care) technology and prior to that she worked for Nanosphere (now Luminex) and Inverness Medical (now Alere / Abbott), in novel biosensor development. Dimitra earned a Ph.D. in Bioelectrochemistry from University College London (UCL), an M.Sc. in Biosensors from King’s College London; her post-doctoral work focused on nanoparticle based diagnostics. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and patents.

Roshni Ghosh, MD, MPH currently serves as the Executive Director for the Center for Care and Payment Innovation in the Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning in the VHA Office of Discovery, Education an Affiliate Networks where she oversees the development and implementation of new and innovative care delivery and payment models. Dr. Ghosh is a graduate of The Rutgers University School of Medicine and received her Masters in Public Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Ghosh has also served as a Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer at multiple healthcare consultancies, and currently sits on the Board of Directors for a non-profit healthcare organization and is an adjunct professor at George Washington University.

Martha Gray, PhD, has a multifaceted career in which she has built programs to drive biomedical technology innovation, conducted research to better understand and prevent osteoarthritis, led a preeminent academic unit, and served the profession through work with organizations and institutions. Trained in computer science and electrical and biomedical engineering, and serving as an MIT faculty for nearly three decades, she has held numerous leadership positions. For 13+ years, she directed the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), an academic unit with multiple research and training programs for careers in medicine, business, and research. Dr. Gray currently directs MIT linQ which operates several multi-institutional ventures focus on accelerating and deepening early-career researchers’ potential for impact. Over the course of these efforts, she and her team developed a principled methodology for needs identification and opportunity development.

Professor Jacob Hooker has built his career on the concept that measuring neurochemistry in the living human brain can have a profound impact on human health and wellbeing. Through the development of new tools and techniques, Prof. Hooker is advancing our fundamental understanding of diseases and disorders like Alzheimer’s and autism. His work has led to many landmark firsts—first human neuroepigenetic imaging technology, first linkage between glial activation and chronic low back pain, first demonstration of dynamic neurochemical imaging (fPET)—and catalyzes others to achieve advances of their own. He has dramatically expanded the capabilities of PET imaging by pioneering new radiotracer synthesis methods, radiotracers and concepts. At the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, he founded and directs a first-in-class imaging facility that merges functional MRI and positron emission tomography for neurochemical study.  Prof. Hooker is currently the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport MGH Research Scholar and an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School.

To learn more about the work coming from his lab and his incredible collaborators, visit: https://hookerlab.martinos.org.

Beth Kahn is Associate Director at the New England Regional Innovation Node at MIT (NE I-Corps) where she works with scientists and engineers to explore commercialization of their research. She is a nationally certified NSF I-Corps Instructor and a mentor with the MIT Venture Mentoring Service.

Prior to making the jump to a new career, Beth was Sr. VP of Operations at E-Band Communications, a maker of high frequency point-to-point radios located in San Diego, CA. As the 5th employee she built the entire manufacturing and supply chain operation from the ground up. She has held senior positions in engineering, manufacturing, marketing and sales with global responsibilities. Beth has been an active participant in the MIT Enterprise Forum in several cities and served on the San Diego chapter board. While in Silicon Valley she co-founded the Location-Based Services Special Interest Group of the Wireless Communication Alliance. Beth holds degrees in mechanical engineering, a bachelors from the University of Idaho and a masters from MIT.

As part of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology, the Padera Laboratory examines the pathophysiology of tumor associated lymphatic vessels and lymphatic metastasis. Lymphatic vessels are responsible for draining interstitial fluid from tissues and for transporting immune cells to lymph nodes to maintain the body’s immune surveillance. Lymphatic vessels also facilitate the dissemination of cancer cells from a primary tumor to regional lymph nodes. The mechanisms used by cancer cells to form lymph node metastasis are starting to be understood, with the hope of identifying treatment strategies to lower mortality due to disseminated cancer. In addition to studying lymphatic metastasis, the Padera Lab also studies the molecular control of lymphatic function which plays a role in regulating tissue-fluid balance as well as immune function. When lymphatic function is interrupted, the result is lymphedema and local immune compromise. By understanding the mechanism controlling lymphatic function, the Padera Lab hopes to develop therapies to relieve lymphedema and maintain competent immune surveillance.

Dr. Anne Quaadgras is the Director of the MIT Sloan Health Systems Initiative, and a Senior Lecturer at the Sloan School of Management. As director she builds collaborations in health systems delivery transformation across faculty, students, health care providers and industry leaders. Her own research focuses on health systems transformation, impacts of coordination of work in health systems, and the role of information technology in systems change. She co-teaches Healthcare Lab: Introduction to Healthcare Delivery in the United States.

Prior to becoming HSI Director, Anne was a Research Scientist at the MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC), focusing on designing and measuring the impact of coordination of work in health systems. She led field research for the US Marine Corps as part of the DoD-wide Post Traumatic Stress Innovations (PTSI) project, a four-year $8mm interdisciplinary effort examining the continuum of care offered through the Military Health System for Post-traumatic stress and related conditions.

Anne earned her doctorate in information systems at Boston University. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in chemical engineering from MIT.

Dr. Ravi Rasalingam is a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School and a staff cardiologist at VA Boston Healthcare. He received his Bachelor of Human Biology and Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degrees from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He completed Internal Medicine residency at the University of Rochester, New York and Cardiology Fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University, Pennsylvania. Dr. Rasalingam is a clinical educator and has been recognized for excellence by physicians training in echocardiography. While on faculty at Washington University in St. Louis, he was the inaugural editor of The Washington Manual of Echocardiography. His clinical expertise is in echocardiography,advanced cardiac imagingand valvular heart disease. His research interests are broad and primarily focus on novel applicationof echocardiographic techniques in early detection of coronary artery disease as well as assessment of patients with mechanical devices to support the heart when it fails. He has received a strategic alliance research grant to foster collaboration between groups of investigators across difference disciplines, departments and schools.

Dr. Indra Sandal is the Director of Innovation at the Memphis VA Medical Center. She leads the hospital-wide innovation strategy through collaboration with teams across multiple service lines and large business segments, impacting nearly 200,000 Veterans’ health outcomes.

Dr. Sandal is also a 2020 Entrepreneur in Residence, VHA Innovation fellow. As a fellow, she built a coalition between Veterans Integrated Services Networks 9 and 15 and launched the VHA-Uber Health Connect (VUHC) initiative through a novel collaboration between VHA Innovation Ecosystem, Uber Health Rideshare Services, and the Veterans Transportation Program Office to overcome transportation barriers to VHA access for Veterans. This partnership integrates a HIPAA compliant technology solution of Uber Health into a VAMC’s existing transportation system and provides a ride sourcing platform to bring Veterans to and from their providers. VUHC has a threefold impact: reduction of no-shows, positive health outcomes for Veterans, and cost savings for medical centers.

Prior to these roles, Dr. Sandal held a faculty appointment as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine before joining the Memphis VA as a Research Biologist in 2014. Dr. Sandal led numerous high-impact teams through 15 years of groundbreaking genetic and genomic research that included 17 secured patents, 15 peer-reviewed journal publications as lead author, 3 book chapters, and over 50 conference presentations worldwide. Dr. Sandal earned her PhD degree in biotechnology, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She was nominated for the 2019 Dr. Robert L. Jesse Award for excellence in innovation.

Dr. Pranjul Shah is the Head of the Incubator at the University of Luxembourg responsible for expanding the entrepreneurial ecosystem. He is an educator, entrepreneur, innovator and an active mentor. He is the chief architect behind the University's entrepreneurship, venture mentoring and acceleration programs. During his PhD from the Technical University of Denmark, he was handpicked as a Kauffman Global Scholar for his entrepreneurial acumen to embark on an intensive entrepreneurial fellowship coordinated by the Kauffman Foundation, MIT, Stanford University and Harvard University. In his current innovation projects, he focuses on developing microfluidics-enabled technologies targeting elucidation of mechanistic aspects of the human microbiome, humanizing organs-on-chip systems and improving aging research tools. He demonstrated the Human-Microbe crosstalk (HuMiX) system allowing investigations into the molecular crosstalk between the human host and the gut microbiota. His work has fetched numerous business, research and innovation awards including Outstanding Research-Driven Innovation award from Fonds National de la Recherche offered to key innovators in Luxembourg.

Andy Shin, JD, MPH, MBA, is the Senior Vice President of Strategy at Mass General Brigham. In this role, he is responsible for shaping and advancing the system strategy that includes: two world-renowned academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, health plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services.

Prior to Mass General Brigham, Andy held leadership positions across social, public, and private sectors in strategy, operations, business development, and policy roles. Previously, Andy launched and led the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Center for Health Innovation- the combined health services research, education/training, data, and commercial business units of the AHA, including the AHA Innovation Development venture fund.

Andy was as an early leader helping to launch the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) as Director of Stakeholder Engagement. As a health policy fellow for the Energy and Commerce Committee, he supported the development of national health reform legislation, eventually leading to passage of the Affordable Care Act. He also has experience as a consultant, investment analyst, and officer in the United States Air Force.

Andy is a former Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship with the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University. He is also a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Population Health Management.

Suzanne Shirley, LCSW, is the Director of Community Engagement & Fellowship with the Veterans Health Administration Innovation Ecosystem (VHA IE) and 2021 recipient of the Arthur S. Flemming Award, Service to the Citizen Award, and Theodore Roosevelt (Teddy) Award. In her role as Director of Community Engagement, Suzanne has transformed the way the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) engages with both internal and external collaborators to drive and accelerate health care innovation within one of the country’s largest health care systems.

Through community engagement across VA, government, academia, industry and Veteran focused non-profits/VSOs, Suzanne seeks to uncover customer needs and build engagement strategies that address core needs and enable collaborative innovation. Initiatives and programs stemming from this work are, The Initiative to End Diabetic Limb Loss, Elizabeth Dole Foundation’s Respite Relief for Military and Veteran Caregivers, Armed Services Arts Partnership- Creative Arts in VA pilot, and the VA Center for Development and Civic Engagement’s Innovation Academy.

As Director of VHA’s Innovation Fellowship Program and in her role as MIT Catalyst Faculty, Suzanne empowers VA thought leaders through experiential and academic learning in scaling transformative initiatives that aim to reduce cost and improve outcomes for Veterans.

Nancy retired from Pfizer in 2018, after a diverse career, which included leadership roles in Corporate Strategy and Innovation, Digital Health, Business Development and Organizational Development.

Among her notable accomplishments at Pfizer, Nancy led the development of the 10-year Corporate Strategic Plan which drove innovation in oncology, vaccines and go-to-market capabilities. Nancy collaborated with external partners and start-ups to pursue product portfolio opportunities, especially in wellness, diagnostics and disease prevention.

Nancy was also the founder of a health services company, Pfizer Health Solutions (PHS), a subsidiary delivering telehealth care to patients and clinical decision support to providers and payers, in the management of diabetes, CHF, depression, asthma and hypertension.

Nancy’s professional background includes clinical research at Bellevue/NYU psychiatric hospital, marketing of biomedical devices, leadership development at IBM, and serving as a ward psychologist in a large psychiatric facility. She is a trained coach in team and leadership development. Nancy holds a BA in Psychology from the New School for Social Research and a MA in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.

Today, Nancy works with entrepreneurs in a variety of programs, including MIT Catalyst, which supports scientists and clinicians in the development of research-based innovations.

Dr. Iván Uray is a research associate professor with the Department of Oncology. He leads the Oncology Translational Research Laboratory established in 2016 and is now instrumental in setting up a new open source translational research lab for clinical faculty at UD. He is also chief curator of the Foundation for the Oncology Patients of Debrecen.

Dr. Uray received medical training at the University of Debrecen and subsequently earned his PhD at the Department of Biochemistry in Molecular and Cell Biology. He spent his post-doctoral years under the mentorship of Prof. Peter Davies at the University of Texas Houston Medical School, studying the molecular events defining the recovery of cardiac muscle under mechanical unloading of the heart. Iván continued his work in the field of breast cancer prevention with the research group of Dr. Powel Brown in 2004 at the Baylor College of Medicine, and later managed the Integrated Microscopy Core lab as instructor at the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department. Joining the faculty of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in 2009, Dr. Uray established and lead the High Throughput Screening Resource at the Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention, while conducting NIH-funded research into novel targets and low-dose drug combinations for breast chemoprevention.

Dr. Uray recently moved his lab to Hungary and joined the faculty of Catalyst Europe in 2020 to expand the scope of cross-disciplinary education in the service of medicine, with the goal of increasing the efficiency of biomedical research by focusing on real-life unmet needs and the impact of discoveries.

Ben Vakoc received a PhD in applied physics from Stanford University in 2001 where he researched the application of optical sensing devices for sonar applications. After his dissertation research, Dr. Vakoc participated in a venture funded start-up company, Novera Optics, which developed optical devices for the telecommunications marker. In 2002, Dr. Vakoc joined the Wellman Center for Photomedicine to participate in the development and translation of optical instrumentation to the clinic and biology laboratory.

Their laboratory focuses on the development and translation of optical technologies into either patient care or biological studies. In the clinic, they are developing coherent optical imaging platforms that can be deployed endoscopically to diagnosis and guide the treatment of disease. In the biological laboratory, they are developing these imaging technologies into tools that provide new insight into disease processes and therapeutic responses. The Lab’s methodology combines a core focus on optical technologies with broad-based engineering and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Satish Annadata, MD, MPH, MBA, serves as the Chief Medical Officer of behavioral health for the UnitedHealthcare’s Health Plan of Nevada. Born in Hyderabad in India, Dr. Annadata earned his MD degree from Osmania Medical College. He completed a residency in psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and is board certified in Psychiatry and Brain Injury Medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine. Dr. Annadata also earned a Master of Public Health degree and, most recently, a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He has worked in US Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System for 7 years and brings in extensive field experience in integrated health care delivery, managed healthcare strategy, and leading transformational initiatives across diversified healthcare markets. He is a graduate of the 2018 UnitedHealth Group’s Physician Leadership Development Program. When he is not completely immersed in data and analytics, Dr. Annadata enjoys the relaxation of fly fishing, snowshoeing, skeet-shooting, off-roading, and spending time with his beautiful wife of 17 years.

Saurabha Bhatnagar, MD, believes deeply that digital collaboration is the key to mending care fragmentation and unlocking collective wellbeing. As chief health and innovations officer at Commure, Dr. Bhatnagar leads the company’s efforts to identify critical disconnects in the healthcare continuum that can be solved with human-centric design and responsible technology. As a seasoned executive with experience as a software engineer, practicing physician, and leading innovative enterprise businesses, he is uniquely positioned to inform Commure’s growth and product strategies by bringing together the best ideas from two massive industries — technology and medicine — to simplify every step of the complex care delivery system and empower the global healthcare workforce.

Before Commure, Dr. Bhatnagar served as chief medical officer, head of digital & technology at UnitedHealthcare, a Fortune 6 company. There, he spearheaded digital transformation initiatives across Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial businesses, with a focus on the Medicare segment, which serves 1 in 5 seniors in the United States. He also held several enterprise leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, including deputy chief medical officer, chief medical information officer, and the chief of quality, safety, and value. In these roles, he led the establishment of national healthcare policies and operational initiatives across more than 150 hospital systems and oversaw the digital health transformation of the largest integrated care delivery organization in the U.S.

Outside of his work at Commure, Dr. Bhatnagar serves as faculty director of several global executive education programs at Harvard Medical School, where he leads leadership training on healthcare innovation, business strategy, patient safety, operational efficiency, and diversity and equity. He has also held a range of other roles in the healthcare sector, including serving as a board member and advisor for non-profits, venture capital firms, and startups.

Bonnie Charland, PhD, MBA, RN, NE-BC has a multidimensional career in healthcare that includes clinical practice, nursing leadership and organizational excellence. She has worked in for-profit, non-for-profit and federal healthcare systems. Her research area of interest is in nursing systems and organizational excellence. She has LEAN Six Sigma Greenbelt certification and is a National Baldrige Examiner. Dr. Charland has responsibility for VA Boston’s Innovation Program which has seen many projects funded and shared Nationally. Additionally, she mentors clinicians in quality improvement, innovation and organizational excellence.

Dr. Heather L. Davidson currently serves as Deputy Chief of Staff at VA Boston Healthcare System. In her role as Deputy Chief of Staff, Dr. Davidson provides oversight of multiple clinical services, ad hoc quality improvement and systems redesign projects, and the leadership of the professional standards board and medical staff office.  She previously served as the interim Chief of Medicine for VA Puget Sound in Seattle, WA and acting Vice-Chair of Medicine at the University of Washington from 2011 through December 2013, and also served as an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program while at the University of Washington. Her scholarly interests include interprofessional education and quality improvement. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and was awarded an Interprofessional Education Scholarship for her work as a Teaching Scholars Fellow at the University of Washington in 2011, and completed the Senior Executive Fellow Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2018. She earned her B.Sc. in biology from Brown University and her M.D from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, prior to completing her residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She currently holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, and Lecturer in Medicine at Harvard University, and remains clinically active as a hospitalist physician on the inpatient medicine teaching services at VA Boston’s West Roxbury campus.

Melinda is a global biopharmaceutical and digital health leader with a mix of commercial and R&D expertise. She has a strong background in digital therapeutics, digital medicines and digital marketing, across broad therapeutic areas and markets. She currently serves as an advisor or fractional Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) to several companies focused on digital health. She previously held leadership roles at both AstraZeneca and Pfizer, and most recently was the CCO at Mymee, a leading digital health company focused in autoimmune disease. Melinda holds an MS in Biochemical Engineering and an MBA in Finance and Marketing.

Samuel Dinnar is a mediator, consultant and board advisor with more than 25 years of international experience as an entrepreneur, executive, board member and venture capital investor. He is an instructor at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, teaches negotiation and mediation at the Harvard Negotiation Institute, educates executives internationally with PON Global and is a research Associate with MIT’s Science Impact Collaborative.

Dinnar is founder and president of Meedance, a company providing negotiation, training, coaching and dispute resolution services to facilitate clients’ business success with improved results and relationships. He builds on two decades of general management, strategic growth and operations team leadership in hi-­‐tech and aerospace, including two start-­‐ups that revolutionized their industry, while dealings across various continents and cultures.

Dinnar’s academic education includes technical degrees in both aerospace engineering and computer sciences, and a PMD from the Harvard Business School. He is also an FAA-­certified flight instructor and rated jet pilot.

Dinnar is the co-­author of the 2019 award winning book “Entrepreneurial Negotiation: Understanding and Managing the Relationships that Determine Your Entrepreneurial Success” (Palgrave Macmillan), which serves as the foundation for a new course at MIT with same title.

Dinnar has helped develop and teach courses and advanced courses in Mediation, Negotiation & Leadership, both at Harvard and to many entrepreneurs and executives around the globe. Recently, in places such as London, Tel Aviv, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Athens, Nicosia, and Rome.

Connecting the Pharma & Healthcare industry with compliant innovation has been Febbo’s trademark in over 18 years of leading health service & technology companies. In 1999, he co-founded MedPanel, a market intelligence and communication provider to the biomedical & medical device industries. When Febbo sold it in 2007 to Merriman Capital, he held dual roles as COO of the bank and CEO of Digital Capital Network which he launched pioneering digital compliance & transparency in the financial industry.

Febbo is also founder of Plexuus, an early stage payment processing platform for medical professionals with Sunshine Act-related activities. Currently, he holds the position of CEO at OptimizeRX and continues to discover, innovate and connect both products and people to meaningful experiences to improve health outcomes. Febbo holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Dickinson College, in Pennsylvania and serves on the board of The United Nations of Greater Boston, a non-profit focused on building global citizens within inner-city schools in Massachusetts.

Christiana Iyasere, MD, MBA, is a graduate of Yale College and Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her residency at Mass General in internal medicine in 2005. Following her tenure as a medical resident at Mass General, Dr. Iyasere undertook an administrative fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Peter Slavin, with an emphasis on technology evaluation, adoption and promotion. She subsequently went to Harvard Business School for continued management training and finished her degree in 2008.

Dr. Iyasere currently splits her time between administrative and clinical duties, and works as both an Inpatient Clinician Educator and as the Associate Director of the Innovation Support Center at Mass General.

Most importantly, Dr. Iyasere loves spending time with her family, especially her son and twin daughters. She also enjoys travel, yoga, scuba diving and hiking.

Dr. Angela Joubert James is the Vice President heading Clinical Pharmacology at MacroGenics Inc. in Rockville, MD. Leadership in Oncology at Astellas Pharma. Dr. James earned a B.A. in Biology from Rice University, an M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Houston and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Pharmacometrics and Pharmaceutical Sciences, respectively, from University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her expertise in Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics led to roles of increasing responsibility in Clinical Pharmacology at Alcon Laboratories (formerly a subsidiary of Novartis), Celgene and Astellas Pharma. Her accomplishments include the design and implementation of the Clinical Pharmacology strategy to support successful development and approval of XOSPATA® (gilteritinib) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory AML with a FLT3 mutation. Dr. James transitioned to the role of Director of Global Development Project and led cross-functional project teams to successfully execute on global strategies for the development of novel immuno-oncology agents. In her current role, Dr. James drives strategies based on Model-Informed Drug Development to inform decision making for innovative therapeutics including antibody drug conjugates (ADC) and bispecific antibodies.

Dr. James lives by the African proverb “Each one, teach one” and is passionate about mentorship of students and early career scientists. She has moderated and participated in several panel discussions focused on career journeys and challenges in STEM careers stemming from gender and racial bias. Dr. James is the current President of Chicago chapter of Women In Bio (WIB-Chicago), Past Chair and current member of the Joint Steering Committee for the Oncology Community of the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT). She sits on the Board of Directors for Youth Technology Corps, a Chicago-based non-profit organization that teaches real-world STEM skills to middle and high school students while nurturing their civic responsibilities through donations of refurbished computers to their community members.

Terence M. Keane, Ph.D. is Director of the National Center for PTSD-Behavioral Sciences Division and Associate Chief of Staff for Research & Development at VA Boston Healthcare System. He is Professor of Psychiatry and Assistant Dean for Research at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Keane has published some 350 articles, books, and chapters on the assessment and treatment of PTSD. For the past 39 years his program of trauma research has been supported by federal funding agencies, such as VA, NIH, DoD, and SAMHSA. Most recently he was named the Co-Principal Investigator of the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD, an initiative supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to improve the care of active duty military and veterans with PTSD. His contributions to the field have been recognized by many national and international honors including the 2013 Distinguished Research Contributions to Clinical Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society of Clinical Psychology and a similar award from the Canadian Psychological Association in 2015. In 2011, Dr. Keane received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Binghamton University, SUNY and in 2013 he received an honorary doctorate from the William James College for his major contributions to opening the field of psychological trauma to scientific inquiry. In 2015 he was named the recipient of the John Blair Barnwell Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the highest national award for those engaged in Clinical Research. He has served as President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the Association of VA Psychologists, APA’s Division of Trauma Psychology, the Society of Clinical Psychology, and the Anxiety & Depression Association of America.

Prof. Dr. med. Jochen Klucken is the FNR-PEARL Chair of Digital Medicine and head of the Digital Medicine (dMed) research group that works in very close collaboration with the NCER-PD project (National Centre for Excellence in Research on Parkinson’s Disease https://parkinson.lu/) and is located at the LCSB (Luxembourg Center for Systems Biomedicine) of the University of Luxembourg, the LIH (Luxembourg Institute of Health) and the dMed Research Clinic at the CHL (Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg). The dMed group led by Prof. Klucken focuses on I) shaping and innovating personalized digital healthcare solutions, and II) understanding and evaluating the new benchmarks of a new ecosystem for digital medicine.

Digital medicine is a new field Medicine that aims to understand how patient-centered technology can be used in everyday medical practice, and which evidence assessment is needed to not only understand the medical benefits of healthcare technologies, but also their patient- and social acceptance and economical efficacy. Here, the major goal lies in clinical studies for healthcare technologies providing evidence for their medical, social, ethical and legal benefit as well as economic efficiency ultimately generating a concept of “clinical validation of healthcare technologies and services”.

Prof. Klucken earned his MD in Laboratory Medicine and specialized in Neurology. He finished his habilitation thesis in 2009 in translational neuroscience in Parkinson’s disease including work at the Massachusetts Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA on neurodegenerative processes in Parkinson’s disease. In 2004 he also started translational research projects in the field of medical technology (m/eHealth) applying sensor-based motion detection in movement disorders. Jointly with engineers and data-scientists, he developed novel gait-specific instrumented movement analysis concepts for Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, sarcopenia, oncology and healthy well-being of the elderly. From 2008 until 2021 he was a senior physician and PI at the Movement Disorder Unit (Department of Molecular Neurology, University Hospital Erlangen, Germany) and developed sensor-based gait analysis for patients with movement disorders. From 2018-2021 he also lead a group at Fraunhofer IIS, Erlangen, Germany with the focus on developing digital health pathways that enable technology integration into healthcare workflows. In 2019 he also established a contract research organization (Medical Valley Digital Health Application Center - dmac) supporting personalized healthcare technologies in order to get access to the German healthcare market. On political and societal level including patient-support groups he promotes the use of mobile healthcare technologies and innovations for comprehensive digital healthcare services, clinical studies and care. In addition, he participates in spin-offs/start-ups in the field of sensor-based movement analysis, and is advising several pharmaceutical companies and healthcare insurances/services on the topic of wearable derived objective outcomes.

Daphne serves as an advisor in digital health, commercialization, and strategy and on the boards of two nonprofits dedicated to improving health outcomes. With over 20 years of experience, her most recent role was Vice President, Digital, at CVS Health where she led strategy and product management for enterprise healthcare products and the specialty pharmacy. Before joining CVS Health, she was Sr. Vice President and served on the management team at PatientsLikeMe, an online patient community and research network. Previously, she founded and led Healthcare Services at Joslin Diabetes Center, which commercialized Joslin’s expertise nationally, and had overall responsibility for P&L, strategy, product development, business development and operations. She began her post-MBA career in the health care practice of Boston Consulting Group.  She serves on the board of directors of ICHOM, the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement, and Grass Roots Diabetes.  She holds a degree in finance from McGill University and an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

Jagesh is an electrical engineer by training. Like many physical scientists, he's been sucked into biology to understand natural design principles of complex cellular behaviors. He received his BS in Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and his MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. His PhD was in Medical Engineering (MIT) which included a two year stint in medical school (HMS) - but he's not that kind of doctor. His thesis work encompassed the study of interactions between cytoskeletal systems in the cell. Jagesh then moved to San Diego and carried out a post-doctoral fellowship jointly with Don Cleveland and Larry Goldstein, where he discovered the fascinating biology of cell division and cilia.

Jagesh likes to have a lot of diverse people in the lab. Physicists, engineers and biologists all have very different takes on science and life in general. It makes the lab a great learning space. Jagesh loves to read; mostly sci-fi and fantasy, but recently has taken to understanding the chemistry of cooking and molecular gastronomy and trying to understand what the heck the Higgs Boson actually is. But he loves video entertainment too -- he can digest an entire season of Doctor Who or Luther in a single sitting.

He's married to a professor-scientist and has two daughters. These three women keep him pretty busy in the kitchen, in the garden and on the soccer field. His passion for microscopy has leaked into the home and it's not uncommon to find the family checking out snowflakes, pond water or food with the home microscope. He also runs the local Science Cafe, where he interviews local scientists and engineers to highlight their work and demystify the path of scientific discovery and innovation. Science is for everyone.

Joseph R. Smith, MD, PhD is primarily responsible for external innovation and BD's technology roadmap to deliver transformative innovations that align to three irreversible forces driving the future of health care: smart connected care, the transition to new care settings and chronic disease. Smith will lead a reinvigorated focus on external technology partnerships and oversee the development of new innovation models. Smith will also establish and co-chair the BD Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which will be comprised of top external medical key opinion leaders, science and technology experts and experienced innovation leaders. Smith reports to Elizabeth McCombs, executive vice president and chief technology officer for BD.

Prior to joining BD, Smith was at Digital Health Corp, a holding company where he served as president and CEO, responsible for the company's strategy to invest in or acquire digital health and therapeutic technologies. He also served as president for a digital transformation consultancy, providing business, technology and clinical insight to medical device and diagnostics companies. During his career, Smith has held medical, scientific and technology leadership positions at multiple organizations including Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific and the West Health Institute. He has also served as academic faculty at Washington University School of Medicine and Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Smith earned a bachelor's degree in electrical and biomedical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University; a master's degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; a Ph.D. in medical engineering and medical physics from the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He has been board certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners and by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology. Smith has authored more than 60 publications, and he holds 11 patents.

Smith is a member of the board of directors at four, private companies including Constant Therapy Health, Inc; EP Sciences, Inc.; PDS, Inc.; and Ocudyne, Inc.

Tonya Smoot, PhD is a leader in clinical research with experience in drug and device development. Dr. Smoot has held faculty positions at The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Louisville. She has led statistical teams and supported clinical functions at major pharmaceutical companies as well as clinical research organizations (CROs), and has experience across multiple therapeutic areas including ophthalmology, psychiatry, maternal and child health, nutrition sciences and dermatology, among others. Currently, she is the Sr. Director of Biostatistics for Therapeutics, Inc., a dermatology centered CRO.

A graduate of Spelman College, Dr. Smoot earned her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Biostatistics from The University of Alabama at Birmingham and her graduate certificate in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Law and Compliance from Seton Hall University School of Law. Dr. Smoot currently resides in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Barry Stein, MD MBA FSIR FACR RPVI, is the Chief Clinical Innovation Officer for Hartford HealthCare (HHC) where he also practices as a Vascular and Interventional Radiologist and is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He has held numerous leadership positions including Chief Imaging Informatics Officer at HHC, Vice Chair of Radiology, Chief of Cardiovascular MRI & CT, and Director of the Advanced Imaging and Quantitative Analysis Core Laboratory at Hartford Hospital. Barry graduated with his executive MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. He received his post graduate medical training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where he did his Radiology residency, served as Chief Resident, and completed fellowships in MRI and Vascular & Interventional Radiology. He received his medical degree from the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa. Barry is board certified by the American Board of Radiology in Diagnostic Radiology and Vascular and Interventional Radiology and is a fellow of both the Society of Interventional Radiology and American College of Radiology. He is a recognized expert in cardiovascular MRI and CT and was one of the pioneers in Magnetic Resonance Angiography. Barry continues to remain engaged at MIT. He serving on the Sloan Alumni Board, as an invited lecturer on Innovation, quantitative and qualitative approaches to leadership, mentor for LinQ programs in the MIT Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, host to students from the MIT Initiative for Health Systems Innovation, as well as a co-principle investigator conducting clinical and operational heath systems analytics research in collaboration with Sloan faculty at HHC. He is currently focused on building a differentiated healthcare Innovation ecosystem at HHC, to accelerate transformative healthcare delivery ideas to impact.

Frances is head of IP strategy for Life Biosciences. In this role, Frances works closely with company scientists and outside counsel to define and implement a broad IP strategy. Previously Frances was Executive Vice President, Strategic Alliances at Nantkwest Inc, a clinical stage cell therapy company in the immune-oncology space, managing corporate and academic alliances and providing strategic direction for intellectual property protection. Prior to joining Nantkwest she was Executive Director, Strategic Development, Partners Healthcare, leading Partners HealthCare’s efforts related to international and national collaborations. Frances has unique experience in building and executing high value relationships gained from her prior Partners’ role in managing technology transfer and other strategic activities at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. During her 12 year tenure, she increased licensing revenues by a consistent 20% year over year and oversaw the launching of 73 startups in areas such as aesthetic dermatology, diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. She comes from the biotech industry, having played various technical and business development roles. She holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from McMaster University in Canada.