People

Fellows
Faculty
Independent Advisory Panel

By involving clinicians, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and business people in research and professional development programs, Catalyst fosters an innovation ecosystem that produces high impact people and technologies. Fellows discover and lead collaborative project teams, guided by a cadre of multiprofessional leaders and mentors.

Emerging biomedical innovation leaders

Catalyst Fellows collaborate with one another and with practicing professionals in areas relevant to healthcare to identify and develop a new biomedical research projects. Working together and with the guidance of Catalyst faculty and mentors, they identify medical needs that can be met with innovative technologies, build multiprofessional teams to design these new technologies, and launch projects that show strong potential for healthcare impact.

2023 Fellows

Halimat Afolabi, MBBS
2023 spring cohort
Applied Medical Artificial Intelligence Researcher, University California San Francisco

Paul Albear, MD, MBA
2023 spring cohort
Chief Plastic Surgery, James A. Haley VA Medical Center, Tampa FL

Laura Bajor, DO
2023 spring cohort
Staff Psychiatrist, James A. Haley VA, Tampa, FL

Javier Cubas, PhD
2023 spring cohort
Associate Professor, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid;
Fellow, Rafael del Pino-MIT Fellowship on Deep-tech entrepreneurship

Emily DeFraites, MD, MPH
2023 spring cohort
Section Chief, Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery Services, Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System

Elisa Gómez de Lope, MSc
2023 spring cohort
Doctoral candidate at University of Luxembourg & Visiting researcher at University of Cambridge

Enrique Gutiérrez, PhD
2023 spring cohort
Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics, Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain

Danielle J. Harper, PhD
2023 spring cohort
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Nathali R. Lizerbram
2023 spring cohort
Manager, Strategy and Consulting at Accenture

Amar D. Mandavia, MA, PhD
2023 spring cohort
Medical Informatics Fellow at Boston VA

Tom Rust, PhD
2023 spring cohort
Systems Scientist,
Office of Healthcare Transformation,
Department of Veterans Affairs

Vimig Socrates
2023 spring cohort
Clinical Informatics Graduate Student, Yale University

Keir Warner, MD
2023 spring cohort
Clinical Informatics Fellow,
Emergency Department Attending Physician,
VA Boston Healthcare System

Lina Williamson, DVM, PhD
2023 spring cohort
Head of Entrepreneurship, 
Hospital Clinic of Barcelona

Current Phase 2 Fellows

Akshar Abbott
2022 spring cohort
Ophthalmologist, Veterans Affairs VISN 23 Technology-based Eye Care Service program

Lola Baird, LICSW, ACSW
Polytrauma/TBI Social Worker at VA Boston Healthcare System

Zachary Buono
2022 spring cohort
Biomedical Engineer at the US Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center

Alexandra Buscher
2022 spring cohort
Senior Manufacturing Engineer, Stryker Neurovascular

Martha Duffy, MD, MPH
2022 spring cohort
Interprofessional Advanced Fellow in Addiction Treatment and Primary Care Physician at VA Boston

Mark Drinkwater, NP
Acute Care Nurse Practitioner at VA Boston Healthcare System in Emergency Services

Beatriz Garcia Santa Cruz, MsC
2022 spring cohort
Doctoral Candidate at the University of Luxembourg

Rey Johnson
2021 spring cohort
Software Engineer
3M Health Information Systems
Salt Lake City

Natrina Johnson, MS
Candidate in Health Services Research at Boston University School of Public Health, and researcher in the VA Boston Healthcare System

Lars Lofgren
2021 spring cohort
Graduate Research Fellow University of Utah
Salt Lake City

Smitta Patel, MD, MPH, MBA
2022 spring cohort
Chief of Innovation, Department of Mental Health at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center

Alison Quinn
2021 spring cohort
Staff Physician, Psychiatrist Memphis VA Medical Center Memphis

Jason Ramirez
2021 spring cohort
Staff Physician
Salt Lake City Veterans Health Administration
Salt Lake City

Ravi Rasalingam, MBChB
2019 spring cohort
Staff Cardiologist, Medicine/Cardiology, Boston VA Healthsystem

Amos Raymond, MD
2022 spring cohort
Assistant Chief, Emergency Department, VA Medical Center, Memphis

Aparna Repaka, MBBS
2022 spring cohort
Staff Physician, Gastroenterologist, VA Boston Healthcare System

Debarghya Sarkar, PhD
2022 spring cohort
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital

Taylor Wahlig
2021 spring cohort
Post Doc University of Utah
Salt Lake City

Tarsha Ward, PhD
2019 spring cohort
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School

Fellows Alumni

Mercy Asiedu, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Iliyana Atanasova, PhD
2012 cohort
Associate Director of Global Oncology Forecasting at Sanofi Genzyme

Margaret Bennewitz, PhD
2012 cohort
Assistant Professor in Biomedical Imaging, West Virginia University

Soledad Betanzos-Lara, PhD 
2012 cohort
Patent agent, Goodrich, Riquelme y Asociados

Vyda Bielkus, MBA
CEO Health Yoga Life, EMBA Candidate at MIT Sloan School of Management

Judith Birkenfeld, PhD
2014 cohort
MULTIPLY MSC Action Fellow at IO-CSIC, Visual Optics and Biophotonics Group

Aurelien Bourquard, PhD
2013 cohort
Chief Data Scientist and Cofounder, Leuko Labs

Tracy Bruen
2021 spring cohort
Clinical Assistant Professor / Director MS Clinical Nutrition and Dietetic Internship University of Memphis
Memphis

Ian Butterworth, MSc
2013 cohort
CTO and Cofounder, Leuko Labs

Chris Carr, ScD
2019 spring cohort
Research Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Molecular Biology

Carlos Castro González, PhD
2013 cohort
CEO and Cofounder, Leuko Labs

Jon Champagne, PA-C
2019 spring cohort
Physician Assistant, Cardiac Electrophysiology, West Roxbury VA

Ryan Coe, PhD
2013 cohort
Engagement Manager at Triangle Insights Group

Susan Conover, MS
2016 cohort
CEO and Cofounder, LuminDx

Shivang Dave, PhD
2011 cohort
CEO and Co-Founder, PlenOptika

Jake Drutchas
2022 spring cohort
Master’s Candidate, MIT Integrated Design and Management

Nicholas Durr, PhD
2011 cohort
Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University

Victor Ekuta
2021 spring cohort
Academic Mentoring Seminar Instructor
MIT
Boston

Yigitcan Eryaman, PhD
2011 cohort
Assistant Professor at Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota

Osasere Evbuomwan, PhD
2012 cohort
Assistant Professor of Chemistry at University of San Francisco

Berta Martí Fuster, PhD
2014 cohort
Head of Communications & Partner Relations, Oncoheroes Biosciences

Luca Giancardo, PhD
2013 cohort
Assistant Professor, University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston

Germán González Serrano, PhD
2011 cohort
Independent Researcher and Scientific Consultant

Tobias Hahn, PhD
2013 cohort
Director Strategic Programs, OSRAM

Amy Hanson, RN
Assistant Nurse Manager VA Boston Healthcare System

Anna Jagielska, PhD
2019 spring cohort
Research Scientist, ŸMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Mani Sai Suryateja Jammalamadaka
2022 spring cohort
Graduate Research Assistant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Javier Jimenez Gonzalez, PhD, MBA
2012 cohort
CEO and Cofounder, NBS

Ara Kassarjian, PhD
2011 cohort
Founder and Consultant Musculoskeletal Radiologist at Elite Sports Imaging

Nahun Kim
MS Candidate at MIT’s Integrated Design + Management

Robert Karl Kosior, PhD
2011 cohort
Resident in Psychiatry at University of Manitoba

Eduardo Lage, PhD
2011 cohort
CTO and Co-Founder, PlenOptika

Wencke Lehnert, PhD
2012 cohort
Head of Medical Physics, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf

Jonathan Li, PhD
PhD Candidate in Computational & Systems Biology at MIT

Daryl Lim, PhD
2011 cohort
COO and Co-Founder, PlenOptika

Bevin Lin, PhD
2012 cohort
Program Director, Buck Institute for Research on Aging

Amy Linsky, MD
2019 spring cohort
Physician, Internal Medicine, VA Boston Healthcare System

Cristina Lois, PHD
2012 cohort
Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School

Joaquín López Herraiz, PhD
2012 cohort
Associate Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Jie Luo, PhD
2013 cohort
Assistant Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Carlos Sanchez Mendoza, PhD
2013 cohort
Head of Data Science at Snappet Connected Learning

Sam Miles
2021 spring cohort
Informatics and Education RN Memphis VAMC
Memphis

Asif Naseem, PhD
2014 cohort
President & Chief Executive Officer, Paragon Development Systems (PDS)

Vicente Parot, PhD
2011 cohort
Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University

Ritu Raman
2021 spring cohort
Postdoctoral Fellow MIT
Boston

Anita Ranade
2021 spring cohort
Chief of Business Office
VA Boston Healthcare System
Boston

Paolo Renigar
2021 spring cohort
Education Program Specialist Veterans Affairs
Salt Lake City

Aasia Romano, MD
2019 spring cohort
OBGYN Physician, Clinical Instructor for Harvard Medical School, Veteran Affairs Healthcare System Boston

Álvaro Sánchez-Ferro, MD
2013 cohort
Chief Medical Officer and Cofounder, Leuko Labs

Colas Schretter, PhD
2012 cohort
Senior Research Scientist, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Fatima Shahzad
2021 spring cohort
Senior Project Manager
VA Boston HealthCare System / Boston VA Research Institute (BVARI)
Boston

Jonathan Sherrod, MD
2022 spring cohort
Staff Anesthesiologist, Memphis VA Medical Center

Sanjit Singh, BS
2022 spring cohort
Mixed Reality Developer, MPLEX

Luis Rubén Soenksen, MSE
2014 cohort
Venture Builder in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare at MIT

Chelsey Solar, PhD
Fellow in Medical Informatics at VA Boston Healthcare System

Smithri Sunil, PhD
Candidate in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Boston University

Eric Swart, MD
Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts

Jack Tsao
2021 spring cohort
Staff Neurologist Memphis VAMC
Memphis

Jason Tucker-Schwartz, PhD
2014 cohort
Director of Marketing and Business Development, SpectraWAVE

Esra Abaci Turk, PhD
2013 cohort
Research Fellow at Boston Children's Hospital

Christine Zhang
MBA Candidate MIT Sloan School of Management

Kai Zhang, PhD
Senior Manager, Clinical Biomarkers and Diagnostics, Amgen

Representing the spectrum of biomedical innovation and care

Catalyst Faculty come from the worlds of medicine, science, and business, and provide to Fellows and one another their unique perspectives on health care and technology innovation. Any stakeholder in the healthcare arena ready to collaborate across disciplines and accelerate innovation is welcome.

Catalyst 2023 Faculty

Pamela Bellino MA, OTR/L
Director of Patient Safety, VA Boston Healthcare System

Eric Bruns, MBA
Director, EES SimLEARN Division, VHA Employee Education System

Mike Catania, MBA
Director of Innovation at the VA Greater Los Angeles

Leonardo DaSilva
Director, VA New England Center for Innovation Excellence (NECIE)

Stephan Gaehde, MD, MPH
Boston VA Medical Informatics Fellowship Program Director and Chief of Emergency Services

Dimitra Georganopoulou, PhD
Venture Partner, FundRx

Martha Gray, PhD
Director, MIT linQ

Anh Hoang
Chief Science Officer at Sofregen

Jacob Hooker, PhD
Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport MGH Research Scholar
Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School

Daniel Hurtado, PhD
Visiting professor, MIT;
Associate professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Angela James, PhD
Vice President, Head of Clinical Pharmacology, MacroGenics Inc

Mahnaz Maddah, PhD
Director of Machine Learning for Health at the Broad Institute

Tim Padera, PhD
Associate Professor in Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School

Anne Quaadgras, PhD
Director of the MIT Sloan Health Systems Initiative, Senior Lecturer at the Sloan School of Management

Ravi Rasalingam, MBChB
Catalyst Alumnus ’19
Staff Cardiologist, Medicine/Cardiology, Boston VA Healthsystem

Indra Sandal, PhD, MBA
Chief of Innovation, Tampa VA Hospital

Pranjul Shah, PhD
2022 spring cohort
Head of the Incubator at the University of Luxembourg

Andy Shin, JD, MPH
COO, AHA Center for Health Innovation

Suzanne Shirley, LCSW
Director of Community Engagement & Fellowship with the Veterans Health Administration Innovation Ecosystem (VHA IE)

Nancy R. Steele, MA
Vice President, Strategy & Innovation at Pfizer, retired & Mentor, Entrepreneurship for All

Iván Uray, MD, PhD
Senior Research Scientist & Associate Professor, Dept of Oncology, University of Debrecen Hungary

Ben Vakoc, PhD
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School

Catalyst faculty, 2018–2022

Pamela Bellino MA, OTR/L
Director of Patient Safety, VA Boston Healthcare System

Lydia Bourouiba, PhD
Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering;
Affiliate Faculty of Harvard Medical School

Heather L. Davidson, MD
Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine;
Deputy Chief of Staff and Hospitalist Physician at VA Boston HCS

Russel Eng
Industrial Engineer – Systems Redesign VA Boston & VA New England Health Care System (VISN 1)

John Flaherty, MD, MPH
Chief Emergency Medicine, Memphis VA Medical Center

Lars Frølund, PhD
Research Director, MIT Innovation Initiative
Visiting Fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management

Stephan Gaehde, MD, MPH
Boston VA Medical Informatics Fellowship Program Director and Chief of Emergency Services

Dimitra Georganopoulou, PhD
Venture Partner, FundRx

Karen Golmer, MBA
Innovation Manager MIT Desphande Center for Technological Innovation

Martha Gray, PhD
Director, MIT linQ

Peter Hansen, PhD
Founder of Union Biometrica, Inc.

Anh Hoang
Chief Science Officer at Sofregen

Jacob Hooker, PhD
Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport MGH Research Scholar
Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School

Beth Kahn, MS
Associate Director, NE I-Corps
NSF I-Corps Instructor

Andy Levine, MS
CEO and President, Conformal Medical

Fiona Murray, PhD
Associate Dean for Innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management
Co-Director of MIT Innovation Initiative

Emily Niederst, PhD
Director of Scientific Initiatives, Alana Down Syndrome Center

Tim Padera, PhD
Associate Professor in Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School

Alice Lin Pomponio, MPP
Advisor, Red Sky Partners

Contessa “Tess” Ramos, MSNED
Chief of Education/ DLO Center for Learning Excellence George E. Wahlen, Salt Lake City VA

Ravi Rasalingam, MBChB
Catalyst Alumnus ’19
Staff Cardiologist, Medicine/Cardiology, Boston VA Healthsystem

Andy Shin, JD, MPH
COO, AHA Center for Health Innovation

Karthik Sivashanker, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine;
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrist, VA Boston Healthcare System

Nancy R. Steele, MA
MIT linQ Faculty

Collin Stultz, MD, PhD
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

Iván Uray, MD, PhD
Senior Research Scientist & Associate Professor, Dept of Oncology, University of Debrecen Hungary

Ben Vakoc, PhD
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School

Providing insight and wisdom to refine projects

Like the Catalyst Faculty, members of the Independent Advisory Panel (IAP) represent a diversity of experience, expertise, and perspectives. IAP members provide fresh, unbiased analysis and guidance to Fellows over the course of project discovery and development. Current and past members are included here.

Satish Annadata, MD, MPH, MBA
Chief Medical Officer of Behavioral Health, UnitedHealthcare Health Plan of Nevada

Saurabha Bhatnagar, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Head of Technology & Performance, UnitedHealthcare

Bonnie Charland, PhD
Associate Director of Quality Management, VA Boston Healthcare System

Heather Davidson, MD
Deputy Chief of Staff, VA Boston HCS; Hospitalist

Melinda Decker, MS, MBA
Chief Commercial Officer, Mymee

Samuel “Mooly” Dinnar, PMB
Founder of Meedance,
Instructor at Harvard and MIT

Will Febbo
CEO of OptimizeRx

Christiana Iyasare, MD
Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Medicine Innovation Program;
Co-Founder, Dyrnamix, Inc.

Julia Jackson, MBA
Director, Digital Health at Sage Therapeutics

Angela James, PhD
Global Development Project Leadership in Oncology at Astellas Pharma

Jochen Klucken, MD
Chair of Digital Medicine, University Luxembourg, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Central Hospital Luxembourg

Terry Keane, PhD
Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development at VA Boston Healthcare System

Emily Lindemer, PhD
Director of Data Science and Analytics at Wellframe

Daphne Psacharopoulos, MBA
Advisor, Digital Health, Strategy & Commercialization

Jagesh Shah, PhD
Vice President, Gene Therapy Technologies at Sana Biotechnology, Inc.

Joseph M. Smith, MD, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, BD

Tonya Smoot, PhD
Senior Director of Biostatistics for Therapeutics, Inc.

Barry Stein, MD, MBA, FSIR, FACR, RPVI
Chief Clinical Innovation Officer at Hartford HealthCare

Frances Toneguzzo, PhD
Intellectual Property and Business Strategy Consultant

Ryan Vega, MD
Chief Officer, Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs