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.

Marra Francis is a women’s health expert who has nearly twenty years of experience working primarily with diagnostic and biotech start-up companies on strategies for bringing their technology to clinical practice. She was the Chief Medical Officer at Vermillion (now Aspira Women’s Health), the Executive Medical Director at EverlyWell (now EverlyHealth), and the Head of Medical Affairs for Women’s Health at Sema4 (now GeneDx). As a consultant, she has worked with novel cancer diagnostic and precision oncology companies designing clinical studies to facilitate provider adoption and payer coverage. She practiced medicine for over eighteen years with a clinical focus on identifying and managing women at high risk for developing cancer.

Marra is a strong advocate for the health and education of women of all ages and serves as a volunteer on the Board of Trustees of her former school and as a medical expert on her local school district’s Health Advisory Committee. She has an AB in Biology and Spanish, a Post-Bac in Human Biology, an MD, and is a board-certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist. When she is not working, she is learning Italian, cooking, traveling to visit her children, or wakesurfing at the lake. She currently resides in San Antonio, TX with her husband, dogs, and youngest daughter.

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 joined Qral in 2020,  serves as the General Partner of Qral Ventures, as well as the Chief Business Officer (CBO) in select portfolio companies. She is an experienced biotech professional with deep knowledge of personalized medicine projects, therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and Health IT. Dimitra serves on the investment committee of the Aim-Hi Accelerator Fund, and served as a technical due diligence lead for the Keiretsu Forum Midwest Investments and a Venture Partner for MBx Capital (formerly FundRx), a next-generation life science venture capital firm. She is currently also a member of the Innovation Faculty team for MIT’s linQ Catalyst program, mentoring and guiding innovators solving health and medical challenges. Dimitra has deep expertise in Tech Transfer with deep connections with the US innovation ecosystem, as she continues to be a mentor for mHUB’s MedTech Accelerator program, a venture mentor for the Polsky COMPASS program and a venture advisor for Northwestern's N.Xt Fund and CBC. Dimitra is a Director at Large for Women in Bio (WIB), an organization dedicated to promoting careers, leadership, and entrepreneurship of women in the life sciences.

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.

Daniel Hurtado is currently a visiting professor at MIT, and an associate professor at PUC Chile, where he co-founded the Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering. He leads the Computational Medicine Group, an interdisciplinary team of computational engineers, applied mathematicians, and medical doctors that focus on creating patient-informed digital replicas of human lungs and the respiratory system. These computational models find translational applications in understanding mechanical ventilation therapy and creating novel tools for the early diagnosis of pulmonary diseases. His work also involves the creation of innovative wearable systems for the democratization of respiratory monitoring and pulmonary assessment, a technology currently developed and commercialized by the startup company IC Innovations, for which he is a co-founder and chief scientific officer.

Dr. Hurtado received his MS and PhD degrees from the California Institute of Technology as a Fulbright fellow. His thesis work made him the recipient of the Robert J. Melosh Medal, presented by Duke University. In 2018, the World Economic Forum selected him as one of the 50 most influential young scientists worldwide under 40 years old for his contributions to research and innovation in biomedical engineering. He is also an elected member (first Chilean) of the World Council of Biomechanics and a young scientist of the World Laureate Forum.

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.

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.

Prof. Santos (D.Sc. Tech., Chem. Eng.) is a Full Professor in Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Groningen. He is also Research Director at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Pharmacy. Prof. Santos is also the co-founder of the startups Capsamedix Oy and Medixmicro Oy, and Coordinator of MSCA-ITN P4 FIT network in tendon repair. He holds Visiting Professorships at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and University of Tartu, and also Honorary Adjunct Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney. Prof. Santos research interests include the development of nanoparticles/nanomedicines and biomaterials for biomedical applications, particularly cancer and heart diseases. His lab makes the unique bridge between medical engineering, pharmaceutical nanotechnology and tissue engineering by combining unique techniques to develop novel therapeutic formulations for translation into the clinic. He is co-author of +500 publications (+22300 citations; h-index = 88) and 5 patents. He has +220 invited talks around the world. He is also in Editorial board member of Advanced Healthcare Materials, Advanced Therapeutics, Chemical Society Reviews, Journal of Controlled Release, VIEW, Journal of Functional Materials, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology and Materials, Frontiers in Biomaterials, Precision Nanomedicine, etc. He is Associate Editor of Nano Select, Smart Materials in Medicine, and Drug Delivery and Translational Research, among others. Prof. Santos has received prestigious awards/grants, for example, the "Talent Prize in Science" in 2010 attributed by the Portuguese Government, ERC Starting Grant in 2013 and ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant in 2018, Young Researcher Award in 2013 attributed by Faculty of Pharmacy, the Academy of Finland Award for Social Impact in 2016, and the CRS Young Investigator Award 2021.

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.

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.

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, Dr. Abbott has spearheaded 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. He is currently a National Academy of Medicine Scholar in Diagnostic Excellence and a member of the 2023 Obama Foundation Leaders USA cohort. 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.

Laura Lewis is the Athinoula A. Martinos Associate Professor in IMES and EECS at MIT, and an Associate Faculty Member at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at MGH. She completed her Ph.D. in Neuroscience, and conducted postdoctoral work in neuroimaging, in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. Her research develops multimodal approaches for imaging the human brain, and applies them to study the neural circuitry that controls sleep, and the consequences of sleep for brain function. Her work has shown that fast fMRI can measure subsecond neural dynamics, and discovered waves of cerebrospinal fluid flow that appear in the sleeping human brain. Her research has been recognized by awards such as the Peter and Patricia Gruber International Research Award, the Sloan Fellowship, the McKnight Scholar Award, and the Pew Scholar Award.

Dr. Freddy T. Nguyen, MD, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His current focus area is in functional precision medicine to develop new technologies (based on photonics and nanotechnologies) to provide quicker and more dynamic information to determine the most effective treatment for the right patient at the right time. His prior work has focused on spectroscopic techniques (fluorescence, Raman, diffuse reflectance, and light scattering) for cancer diagnostics and therapy effectiveness.

He was previously the Transfusion Medicine Fellow in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Dartmouth, Pathology Resident at Mount Sinai Hospital, Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT, In Vivo Microscopy Fellow at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his M.D. from the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also did research in the George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory at MIT over the years. He received his B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in Mathematics from Rice University.

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.

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.

Suzanne Shirley, LCSW, is the Director of Community Engagement & Fellowship with the VHA Office of Healthcare Innovation & Learning and holds a faculty position with MIT’s Catalyst Fellowship Program.  In the role of community engagement, Ms. Shirley builds strategies to engage new markets as partners and customers of VHA innovation.  These strategies incorporate a collaborative approach across industries to accelerate mission driven innovation that improves clinical care and lowers cost. A few of these strategic initiatives include VA Pathfinder, VSO Engagement strategy, Elizabeth Dole Foundation’s Respite Relief for Military & Veteran Caregivers, VA program office and field leader innovation offerings, and Mission Daybreak- Suicide Prevention Grand Challenge.  In her role leading the VHA Innovation Fellowship program, Ms. Shirley strategically implements a variety of high-level experiential learning opportunities that aim to shape future thought leaders in healthcare.  The ‘Senior Innovation’ and ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’ Fellowship tracks offer mid-later stage career employees the opportunity to advance their projects with executive mentorship, navigational resources, project management and communications support.  The MIT Catalyst Fellowship offers innovators both within VA and across industries, the opportunity to work together in the design, development and testing of health tech solutions that aim to improve VA care and lower cost.    

Ms. Shirley has been recognized for her leadership and service through awards such as 2020 Arthur S. Fleming, 2021 Service to the Citizen, 2021 Teddy Roosevelt, 2022 ACT-IAC Igniting Innovation and 2022 G2xchange Women in Leadership Impact award.

Gina Green is one of 2 Innovation Specialists managing the Innovation Program for the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System (VANEOHS). In her role, she facilitates project submission, project development and provides instruction on Human Centered Design strategies which empower employees to pursue their problem space and cultivate novel ideas. 

Gina began her career with VANEOHS shortly after finishing her Masters of Occupational Therapy in 1999 from Duquesne University. She has held a variety of positions within the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System including functioning as the sole therapist on a Home Based Primary Care Team, Administrative Officer/OT for Spinal Cord Injury, Associate Chief of Prosthetics, and Outreach Coordinator. Gina returned to Mount Mary University to complete her Occupational Therapy Doctorate in 2019. Her blend of clinical and administrative roles lends well to the Innovation space.  As a clinician, Gina is an expert in the field of Aging in Place, Falls Reduction and Functional Vision Rehabilitation. Gina has also been a presenter at the AOTA National Conference, a featured speaker at the Cuyahoga County Conference on Aging, a presenter on occupationaltherapy.com, and a guest lecturer for the University of Florida Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program.

 

Satish Annadata, MD, MPH, MBA, serves as the Chief of Staff of the VA Finger Lakes Health Care System.

Dr. Annadata is a triple board certified physician. He is specialized in psychiatry and brain injury medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and in addiction medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine.

He has served at several VA facilities in multiple leadership roles. He has also worked in UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune 5 healthcare corporation, where he served as a chief medical officer of behavioral health for UnitedHealthcare and as a senior medical director of behavioral health for Optum.

Dr. Annadata earned his MD from the Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad, India. He completed a residency in psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, followed by a visiting fellowship in electroconvulsive therapy at the Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Annadata also earned a Master of Public Health from Western Kentucky University and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He served as an assistant professor of psychiatry and as a dean’s medical scholar at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

When he is not completely immersed in data and analytics, he enjoys fly-fishing, off-roading, and hobby vineyard farming.

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.

Leandro DaSilva joined the VA New England Healthcare System in 2011.

Mr. DaSilva served in the U.S. Navy from 1999 to 2006, onboard the USS Kitty-Hawk (CV-63) home based in Yokosuka, Japan; and at the Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Facility (NPMOF) in Whidbey Island, WA; where he earned his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a Major in International Business, and MBA with emphasis in Global Management. After Honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy, Leandro worked at UnitedHealth Technologies as a Program Manager working on Mergers & Acquisitions and integrated technologies solutions.

He joined the VA in 2011 as a member of the VISN 1 Network Office, as a Project Manager for the VISN 1 Quality Manager Office, and in November 2017 became a member of the VISN 1 Clinical Informatics team. In 2020 Mr. DaSilva helped launch the VA New England Center for Innovation Excellence (NECIE) as part of the VHA Innovation Ecosystem.

Mr. Dasilva currently serves as the NECIE Director. The NECIE’s focus is fostering collaborations to address VHA’s most pressing healthcare challenges

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. 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.

Mukta is an Electrical Engineer by training with an ability to bridge between the clinical and the technical domain. She has over 24 years’ experience in the field of medical imaging leading innovation projects at GE Healthcare and Philips. She is able to go deep and at the same time see the big picture both technically and clinically. She led innovation teams in several imaging modalities including CT, Ultrasound and Interventional X-ray spanning multiple clinical domains such as cardiology, oncology and neurology in both diagnostic and treatment settings. She has collaborated with many world-renowned hospitals bringing innovations to clinical practice. She has been involved in multiple stages of the product development lifecycle from concept ideation and research to road mapping, productization and clinical adoption. She is an engineer with a passion to bring meaningful solutions that address clinical problems. Currently she is a program leader driving innovation using AI and transforming how we think of and handle data. She is the author of several publications and patents.

Mukta completed her undergraduate degree in Electronics & Telecommunications from the College of Engineering, Pune India and went on to complete a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in Brain imaging from Washington University in St. Louis.

Mukta is part of the Philips Women’s Lead mentoring program guiding young female professionals. She is volunteer mentor and judge for the Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair.

She has lived on four continents and considers herself a citizen of the world. Mukta currently lives in Arlington MA where she has designed a Japanese inspired garden. She is an amateur astronomer with a couple of deep space telescopes. When not outside, she loves to make pottery, sketch and loves to dance!

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.

Elizabeth works to empower scientists and engineers to cross the chasm from benchtop research to a realized hardware product. As an engineering & product executive, Elizabeth leads teams through the entrepreneurial & product development journey from proof of concept to operations at scale.

Elizabeth focuses on revolutionary technology and meaningful products, with a particular bent towards entrepreneurial ventures in global health, diagnostics, and robotics.

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.

Dr Riegler is a distinguished Research Speech-Language Pathologist and health care innovation champion based at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center. Dr. Riegler serves as the Director of Veterans Health Administration’s Digital & Remote Health Center for Innovation to Impact (DRHCI), where she is working to establish Remote Patient Monitoring policy and implementing solutions for VHA.

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.

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.

Suzanne Shirley, LCSW, is the Director of Community Engagement & Fellowship with the VHA Office of Healthcare Innovation & Learning and holds a faculty position with MIT’s Catalyst Fellowship Program.  In the role of community engagement, Ms. Shirley builds strategies to engage new markets as partners and customers of VHA innovation.  These strategies incorporate a collaborative approach across industries to accelerate mission driven innovation that improves clinical care and lowers cost. A few of these strategic initiatives include VA Pathfinder, VSO Engagement strategy, Elizabeth Dole Foundation’s Respite Relief for Military & Veteran Caregivers, VA program office and field leader innovation offerings, and Mission Daybreak- Suicide Prevention Grand Challenge.  In her role leading the VHA Innovation Fellowship program, Ms. Shirley strategically implements a variety of high-level experiential learning opportunities that aim to shape future thought leaders in healthcare.  The ‘Senior Innovation’ and ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’ Fellowship tracks offer mid-later stage career employees the opportunity to advance their projects with executive mentorship, navigational resources, project management and communications support.  The MIT Catalyst Fellowship offers innovators both within VA and across industries, the opportunity to work together in the design, development and testing of health tech solutions that aim to improve VA care and lower cost.    

Ms. Shirley has been recognized for her leadership and service through awards such as 2020 Arthur S. Fleming, 2021 Service to the Citizen, 2021 Teddy Roosevelt, 2022 ACT-IAC Igniting Innovation and 2022 G2xchange Women in Leadership Impact award.

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.

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.

Dr. David M. Whitaker, MD, FACC currently serves as both the Deputy Chief of Staff and the Associate Chief of Staff for Education at the Tampa VA Medical Center & Clinics. In these roles, he provides oversight to a number of clinical services at the medical center and is responsible for all education programs and nearly 1600 trainees per year who come to the Tampa VA for learning. Prior to these roles, Dr. Whitaker served as the Chief of Cardiology at the Tampa VA as well as the VA Site Director for the Cardiology Fellowship at the University of South Florida where he is an Assistant Professor of Medicine. He has specific interests and expertise in critical care cardiology, valvular heart disease, hyperlipidemia and echocardiography. He has been the Principal and Co-Investigator on a number of clinical trials for novel drug and device therapies for heart failure, hyperlipidemia and hypertension. Dr. Whitaker trained at the University of South Florida where he completed his Internal Medicine residency in 2006 and Cardiology fellowship in 2009.