Keith Kerman, M.D. is the principal of Field Medical Partners, a healthcare business advisory and investment firm. Dr. Kerman has served as a board member, management advisor, and chief medical officer, to a number of healthcare service, healthcare information technology, and medical device companies. He has 20 years of experience in healthcare related private equity, venture capital, and operating roles, and has been an executive, investor, and board member at more than 25 healthcare businesses and organizations.

Prior to founding Field Medical, Dr. Kerman was a Managing Director and led the healthcare practice at Primus Capital Funds, a growth equity and middle market buyout firm, and was previously a General Partner with Morgenthaler Ventures. Dr. Kerman was an operating executive at U.S. Healthcare, where he was president of the company’s subsidiary providing managed care services to self-funded health plans. Prior to joining U.S. Healthcare, he was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, was a member of the clinical faculty at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and was a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics at The Wharton School. He has an AB and an MD from Brown University, and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kerman currently serves on the Board of Directors of AxioMed Spine Corporation, Cleveland Heart Labs, and Physicians Pharmacy Alliance. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), is a member of the Cleveland Clinic Innovations Industrial Advisory Board, and is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Cleveland Clinic’s Global Cardiology Innovation Center.

William T. Abraham, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.C. is Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He also serves as Deputy Director of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. Dr. Abraham earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, following which he completed his residency in Internal Medicine and fellowships in Cardiology and Heart Failure/Cardiac Transplantation at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He previously held faculty appointments at the University of Colorado, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Kentucky. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and in Cardiovascular Diseases. Dr. Abraham’s research interests include the role of the kidney in heart failure, neurohormonal mechanisms in heart failure, sleep disordered breathing in heart failure, and clinical drug and device trials in heart failure and cardiac transplantation. Dr. Abraham has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American College of Cardiology, and the Aetna Quality Care Foundation and has participated as Principal Investigator in more than 100 multicenter clinical drug and device trials. In addition to authoring more than 600 original papers, abstracts, book chapters, and review articles, Dr. Abraham has co-edited a leading textbook on heart failure entitled Heart Failure: A Practical Approach to Treatment. Dr. Abraham serves on the editorial boards of several major journals including Congestive Heart Failure and Journal Watch Cardiology. He is also a scientific reviewer for such publications as Circulation, the European Heart Journal, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Abraham has been recognized as one of the “Best Doctors in America” for six consecutive years.

Dorothy H. Air, PhD is Associate Senior Vice President for Entrepreneurial Affairs at the University of Cincinnati. Her primary responsibilities include assisting faculty in start-up company activity related to new technology development; developing a network of commercialization/business resources for the university; and developing entrepreneurial programs to promote entrepreneurship in the university and community. Her accomplishments include: PI on a Pre-seed Fund grant by ODOD Third Frontier Program for $1.1 million; PI on a $600,000 NSF Grant, Cincinnati Creates Companies, which includes an educational and mentoring program for entrepreneurs and a business plan competition; and Senior Investigator on a $27 million grant from ODOD Third Frontier to establish the Center for Computational Medicine. She developed and runs the UC Launch Pad, which provides gap funding and mentoring to advance the most promising research technologies. She is a co-founder of SoundingBoard and serves on the Boards of Directors of BIO/START, Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC), Hamilton County Business Center and the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association. Dr. Air was the initiator of the Ohio Valley Affiliates for Life Sciences (OVALS), a consortium of 5 universities in Ohio and Kentucky and the AFRL, to create university-industry networking opportunities and visibility for the research and commercialization capabilities in the region. She has served as the chair of the effort for the last seven years. In 2005, she was appointed by the University of Cincinnati as a loaned executive to CincyTechUSA, where she serves as vice President of Operations for CincyTechUSA for part of her time. Her responsibilities at CincyTech include developing entrepreneurial resources and identifying and developing technology business opportunities. She was a member of the 3-person leadership team that developed CincyTech’s Entrepreneurial Signature Program Proposal, which received a $14.8 million award from the State of Ohio. In 2006, she was recognized by Women’s Business Cincinnati as one of the Top 10 Women in Technology in the Cincinnati Region, and she is the recipient of the 2007 Leading Women of Greater Cincinnati for Entrepreneurship. Dr. Air serves on the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport Board, an entity of significant regional economic importance.

Prior to joining Early Stage Partners as Managing Director in mid-2008, Mike Bunker was District Manager at C.R. Bard Access Systems (NYSE: BCR), successfully managing a field sales operation. He joined Bard in 2003 as Director, Corporate Business Development, to build a capability to evaluate technologies for investment or acquisition. In that position, the team Mike led evaluated over 400 medical technologies for Bard’s six division and closed 14 acquisitions, licenses, and divestitures. Prior to joining Bard, Mike was, consecutively, Senior Marketing Manager, Global Defibrillation Systems and Senior Associate, Corporate Development at Medtronic (NYSE: MDT). In the former position, he led a global product launch in cardiac rhythm management, including leading the FDA submission team and setting clinical, regulatory, reimbursement, and manufacturing strategy. Mike also worked for Rand McNally and Apogee Enterprises earlier in his career. Mike is a graduate of Miami University (B.S., 1989) where he studied Marketing, and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University (M.B.A., 1998). Sits on the Boards of: Juventas

Mr. Coburn has been Executive Director of CCI since its establishment in 2000 and is responsible for all activities and outcomes of the department. He is a recognized authority of technology commercialization and has consulted and spoken on the subject throughout North America and in 18 countries. He leads a team of a dozen industry veterans. Mr. Coburn serves on the board of directors of CleveX, Merlot Therapeutics, PeriTec, PrognostiX, and BioEnterprise. He is a trustee of Hathaway Brown School, Northeast Ohio Council of Higher Education, and Town Hall of Cleveland. He is a former director of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation ( NYSE:USU) and author of numerous articles and book chapters on technology commercialization. He was editor and co-author of Partnerships, a key reference book on technology commercialization. His Master’s Degree is from George Washington University.

Dr. Paul E. DiCorleto is Chair of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute (LRI), and Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine, Case School of Medicine. The LRI is home to over 190 principal investigators and 1200 employees performing biomedical research. Dr. DiCorleto received his undergraduate training in chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his doctorate in biochemistry from Cornell University. Dr. DiCorleto’s research, which has been continuously funded by NIH for over 27 years, focuses on the molecular and cellular basis of atherosclerosis. He has been with the Cleveland Clinic for 28 years, having served previously as Chairman of the Department of Cell Biology, and as an Associate Chief of Staff. He is currently a member of the Clinic’s Board of Governors and Board of Trustees. On a national level, he has chaired multiple NIH and American Heart Association review panels, as well as several national conferences on research into heart and vascular disease. He has published over 100 articles in his field and serves on the editorial board of multiple scientific journals. Dr. DiCorleto is a Community Trustee of Cleveland State University and a member of the Association of American Medical College’s Advisory Panel on Research. He is also a director of Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (CBLI) – a publicly traded, Cleveland Clinic spin-off company.

For over 25 years, Bob Easton, Chairman of Scisive Consulting LLP, has been recognized as a leader in healthcare business consulting. He has built and led two top firms, beginning with the founding of The Wilkerson Group in 1985. He has led scores of market development and strategic advisory assignments for clients, including large and specialty pharmaceutical companies, early-stage through publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies, and diagnostics businesses. He has influenced the decision-making of numerous healthcare professionals and supported hundreds of client executives in Australia, Japan, Canada, U.S., Europe, and Israel. His interest in healthcare began when he managed a medical diagnostics business for Union Carbide. Mr. Easton has been highly visible in the industry, having written and spoken about multiple industry issues in scores of venues. He is a recently elected Director of the New York Biotechnology Association (NYBA). He has served on eight medical company Boards including Apex Bioventures, CollaGenex, and Cepheid. He also serves as Chairman of Gilda’s Club of New York City, which provides social and emotional support to people living with cancer. Mr. Easton holds two degrees in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Dr. Erhardt has been the director of the University of Toledo Center for Drug Design and Development since its inception in 1995. His involvement encompasses all aspects of pharmaceutical research and development, ranging from the design and synthesis of small-molecule therapeutics to the advanced clinical study of marketed drugs and diagnostic agents. In this capacity, the CD3 participates in a wide range of collaborative research activities throughout the University of Toledo and surrounding medical research community. Dr. Erhardt received his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Minnesota and conducted his post-doctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin.

Rich has been a successful CEO of several medical technology companies, both prior to and after co-founding De Novo in 2000. Following De Novo’s investment in CryoVascular Systems, Rich became CEO, growing the initial 5 person start up team to a company of 20 employees. He was instrumental in developing the clinical and product strategies and hiring the executive team. In 2002, Rich led Paracor Medical, another De Novo portfolio company. He grew the company from 4 to 22 employees, refined the product strategy, raised its Series B financing and hired his replacement CEO. Prior to co-founding De Novo Ventures, he was the co-founder and CEO of CardioThoracic Systems (“CTSI”), a company he led to an initial public offering in only 7 months in 1996. CTSI, the market leader in disposable instruments and systems for performing minimally invasive beating heart bypass surgery, was ultimately acquired by Guidant Corporation in November 1999. Before that, Rich was the CEO of Cardiovascular Imaging Systems (“CVIS”). As CEO, he orchestrated a successful IPO and ultimately sold the company to Boston Scientific Corporation in 1995. In addition, Rich founded Saratoga Ventures in 1996, a venture capital partnership that has provided seed financing to startup medical technology companies, including Atrionix, Oratec, Enteric Medical, Trivascular, and Endotex. At Saratoga, Rich was Chairman of Oratec, which was sold in 2001 to Smith & Nephew PLC. Mr. Ferrari also co-founded The Medical Technology Group, which spun out Integrated Vascular Systems, an early stage femoral artery closure company which was sold to Abbott and Angiosense, a needle-free, jet injection, local drug delivery company. Early in his career, Rich held the position of Executive Vice President and General Manager of ADAC Laboratories. Rich holds a BS degree from Ashland University and an MBA from the University of South Florida. Rich sits on the boards of BenVenue, CardioMind, MyoScience, Ovalis, Paracor Medical, Pulmonx, Simpirica, Spinal Kinetics and Spinal Modulation. His prior board involvement includes TriVascular.

Dr. Peter Fitzgerald is the Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Technology and Director of the Cardiovascular Core Analysis Laboratory (CCAL) at Stanford University Medical School. He is an Interventional Cardiologist and has a PhD in Engineering. He is Professor in both the Departments of Medicine and Engineering at Stanford. Presently, Dr. Fitzgerald’s laboratory includes 14 postdoctoral fellows and graduate engineering students focusing on state-of-the-art technologies in Cardiovascular Medicine. He has led or participated in over 95 clinical trials, published over 300 manuscripts/ chapters, and lectures worldwide. Peter has been principle/founder of eleven medical device companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has transitioned eight of these start-ups to large medical device companies. He serves on several boards of directors, advised dozens of medical device startups as well as multinational healthcare companies in the design and development of new diagnostic and therapeutic devices in the cardiovascular arena. In 2001, Peter co-founded LVP Capital, a venture firm, focused on medical device and biotechnology start-ups in San Francisco.

Dr. Fortune has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare, life sciences and information technology sectors. He was previously President and Chief Operating Officer of New Era of Networks; Vice President at Monsanto; Vice President, at Bristol Myers Squibb;, Group President at Baxter International; and VP R&D at Baxter International. Dr. Fortune currently serves on the board of directors of Parexel International Corp, as well as several private life sciences companies. He has been responsible for nurturing start-up activities from idea to prototype to standalone business. He has also been involved in some 30 M&A transactions from sourcing the company to closing the deal and successfully integrating the result. Pat has served on the engineering and scientific advisory boards of The University of Wisconsin, the University of Illinois, and the University of Chicago. Pat holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, an MBA from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin.

Jan Garfinkle specializes in medical technology investments, utilizing her educational background in biomedical engineering, extensive operating experience, and industry connections to select and nurture outstanding companies. Her investing activities primarily focus on FDA 510(k) and PMA medical device and diagnostics companies. Jan has been a member of the board of directors of Arboretum portfolio companies including HandyLab (acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company), NXThera, Uptake Medical, and VasoNova. Prior to founding Arboretum in 2002, Jan spent 20 years in senior management positions in entrepreneurial healthcare companies. Jan was Founder and President of Strategic Marketing Consultants, a consulting firm focused on the commercialization of healthcare technologies for start-ups and large medical device manufacturers. Earlier in her career, Jan worked for two successful medical device start-up companies, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems (ACS) and Devices for Vascular Intervention (DVI). Each of these companies was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company for more than $100 million and became the foundation for Guidant Corporation, which Eli Lilly later spun out in 1994. She joined each company early in its development and held key management roles in marketing, clinical research and sales. She began her career as a manufacturing engineer and production line manager for Proctor and Gamble. Jan has served on a number of advisory boards focused on capital formation and enhancing the commercialization of promising technologies. She is the past President of the Michigan Venture Capital Association. She is a member of the Commercialization Advisory Board of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC) at the Cleveland Clinic and a member of the Health Care Advisory Board at the University of Michigan. Jan also serves as a member of AdvaMed’s National Venture Capital Advisory Board. Jan earned a BS in Bioengineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeff Gold is CEO of Velomedix, Inc, a venture backed company developing innovative technology for the rapid induction of therapeutic hypothermia to treat patients experiencing a cardiac arrest, heart attack or a stroke. Previously, he was a Venture Partner of Longitude Capital where he focused on investments in medical devices. Prior to Longitude, Mr. Gold was Chief Executive Officer of CryoVascular Systems, a medical device company developing treatments for peripheral vascular disease, from 2001 to 2005. CryoVascular was acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation in 2005. Between 1997 and 2000, Mr. Gold was COO and Executive Vice President of CardioThoracic Systems, a medical device company focused on developing products to enable off-pump open-heart surgery. CTSI completed an IPO in 1996 and was subsequently acquired by Guidant Corporation. Prior to CTSI, Mr. Gold spent 18 years with Cordis Corporation, the primary cardiovascular device subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. While at Cordis he co-founded Cordis Endovascular Systems, a subsidiary focused on developing technologies for treating patients experiencing, or at risk of, a stroke. He currently serves on the Boards of Access Closure, AngioDynamics, Corindus, and Velomedix. He also is a member of the Executive Committee of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Florida. Mr. Gold holds an MBA from the University of Florida and a BS in Engineering from Northeastern University, and is a graduate of GE’s Manufacturing Management Program.

Reggie Groves joined Medtronic in June 2002 as the Vice President and General Manager, Patient Management. After successfully launching the new business, Reggie was asked to lead the Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management – Quality and Regulatory functions. Currently, she serves as the Vice President and General Manager of AF Solutions where she provides overall leadership and direction for AF Solutions which is focused on finding solutions to treat atrial fibrillation. Before coming to Medtronic, Reggie was the Global Managing Partner, Enterprise Services for Scient, Inc. an internet consulting group. Prior to Scient, Reggie was the CFO for Kaiser Permanente-SE Division, CFO for Egleston Children’s Hospital and SEM at McKinsey & Company. Reggie received her Master of Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business. She has a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Florida. She is a registered Pharmacist in Florida and Tennessee. She currently sits on the board of MedMined, Inc. and the Health Advisory Group for the Medtronic Foundation. Reggie was honored with the “Women Changemaker” award by the Business Journal in 2003 and was awarded the “Wallin Award” for her leadership contributions in 2006.

Dr. Gullans has been a founder to several early-stage businesses, including RxGen, where he served as CEO. Prior to running RxGen, Dr. Gullans served for two years as the Chief Scientific Officer at U.S. Genomics in Boston following an 18 year career as an academic research scientist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. As a faculty member in the Departments of Neurology and Medicine, Dr. Gullans published more than 100 original scientific papers, and built a record of achievement in the field of functional genomics and advanced technologies. As Director of the BWH Biotechnology Center, he established the first large-scale public database of gene expression in human tissues. Dr. Gullans received his doctorate in physiology from Duke University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University in 1985. He has served as an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology and Physiological Genomics and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Gullans currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of U.S. Genomics, GenPat77, GeneOhm, Biomodels LLC, and GeneXP. He has also been an advisor to the venture capital community for many years, most notably working with CB Health Ventures.

Don has extensive clinical and scientific expertise with respect to cardiology, extensive medical practice management experience and he has been the founder and director of numerous life sciences companies. Immediately prior to the founding of CLS, Don was the senior vice president and provost for health affairs at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was responsible for three hospitals, more than 1000 faculty and over $240 million in funded research. Previously, he was chief of cardiology at Stanford University and co-director of the Falk Cardiovascular Research Center at Stanford University. Among his many professional honors, he has been the president of the American Heart Association and a trustee of the American College of Cardiology. He has also been a member of the editorial boards of 13 professional journals, including the American Journal of Cardiology, Drugs, Drug Delivery, In Pharma, British Journal of Clinical Practice, Chest, Heart and Lung, Practical Cardiology, Clinical Cardiology, Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy. He is also an author of seven books and more than 585 scientific articles and reviews. In addition to Don’s professional accomplishments, he has been the chairman of the Advisory Science Board for Hewlett Packard, a member of the Strategic Advisory Panel of Boston Scientific, a member of the Worldwide Science Advisory Board of Bristol Myers and chairman of the Cardiology Advisory Panel of Procter and Gamble. Don has also received the Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence by the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research. Don has been very active as an entrepreneur over the last twenty years. He was a founder with Barr of cardiac catheter company EP Technologies (IPO, then acquired by Boston Scientific), a founder with Barr and Nelson of women’s health company Vesta (acquired by Pfizer), a founder of atrial fibrillation medical device
company AtriCure (ATRC) and a founder of the University of Cincinnati life sciences incubator BIO/START. In addition to his CLS board seats, Don is also a board member of the international
clinical regulatory organization Kendle International. He was also a board member of the successful medical device company SciMed (acquired by Boston Scientific). Don holds an MD from the University of Alabama, School of Medicine and a BA in chemistry from Birmingham Southern College. He also received an honorary Doctor of Law from Birmingham Southern College.

John Mack is a medical device executive who has built strong relationships with senior executives in the medical device industry and the financial community over the past 20 years. Mr. Mack has strong qualifications in business development, integration, finance, marketing, strategy, operations, and P&L management. Mr. Mack joined Medtronic in 1996. He is currently the Vice President of Business Development, Strategy and Portfolio Management for the Structural Heart Business. His responsibilities include leading strategy development and planning, portfolio management, business development, integration management, market analytics and competitive intelligence. Mr. Mack serves on numerous Boards of Medtronic investment portfolio companies. Mr. Mack previously led global Marketing for the Heart Valve Division and held various leadership roles in Finance within Medtronic. Prior to joining Medtronic, Mr. Mack worked for Arthur Andersen, LLP. Mr. Mack graduated with high distinction from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelors of Science in Business and Accounting.

Mr. More joined Frazier Healthcare Ventures in 2008 as a General Partner and is a member of the firm’s biopharma and medical device investment teams. Prior to Frazier Healthcare, Mr. More was a Partner with Domain Associates, having joined the firm in 1996 as a Kauffman Fellow and becoming a Partner in 2000. From 1997-1998, Mr. More served as the Chief Operating Officer of Small Molecule Therapeutics, a Domain portfolio company subsequently purchased by Morphochem AG. And from 1992 to 1995, Mr. More was with Pharmacia Biotech in sales. Prior to joining Pharmacia, Mr. More held a research position at Somatogen, a company developing a recombinant blood substitute that was subsequently bought by Baxter. While attending business school, Mr. More worked with MedVest, an early-stage venture group in Washington, D.C. Mr. More managed successful investments in and served on the boards of ESP Pharma (acquired by Protein Design Labs, Inc.), Proxima Therapeutics (acquired by Cytyc Corporation), Onux Medical (acquired by C.R. Bard), NovaCardia (acquired by Merck), Esprit Pharma (acquired by Allergan) and IntraLase (acquired by Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.). Mr. More serves as an advisory board member for Montagu Newhall Associates, Okapi Ventures, The Medical Industry Group of the NVCA and The Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center. He is also a past founding board member of the Kauffman Fellows Program. Mr. More received his MBA from the Darden School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and a BA from Middlebury College.

Steven E. Nissen MD is Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Nissen came to the Cleveland Clinic in 1992. He served for 9 years as Vice-Chairman of the Department and five years as Medical Director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center (C5), an organization that directs multicenter clinical trials. In 2006, he was appointed Chairman.National leadership positions include a term as President of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the professional society representing American cardiologists (March 2006 to March 2007). Dr. Nissen has served numerous ACC committees and working groups, and currently serves as a member ACC Board of Trustees. Steven Nissen earned his medical degree from the Michigan University School of Medicine in Ann Arbor. He completed Internal Medicine internship and residency at the University of California, Davis in Sacramento, and Cardiology Fellowship at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington. Dr. Nissen’s research during the last two decades has focused on application of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging to the assessment of progression and regression of coronary atherosclerosis. Contributions to scientific literature include being author/coauthor of more than 300 journal articles and 60 book chapters. As a physician/scientist, Dr. Nissen consults for many pharmaceutical companies on the development of new therapies for cardiovascular disease, but maintains a longstanding personal policy of requiring companies to donate all related honoraria directly to charity so that he receives neither income, nor a tax deduction. In recent years, he has also written extensively on the subject of drug safety. In 2001, he was co-author of the first manuscript that raised concerns about the safety of rofecoxib (Vioxx), which was withdrawn from the market 3 years later. In 2005, he re-analyzed data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support approval of muraglitazar, a new agent to treat diabetes and lipid disorders. Despite a recommendation by an FDA Advisory Panel to approve this new agent, Dr. Nissen’s study reported that muraglitazar doubled the risk of major adverse cardiovascular outcomes and the Agency halted approval. In 2007, he was the author of a manuscript that demonstrated that the widely used diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia™) raised the risk of myocardial infarction, resulting in a “black box’ warning by the FDA 6 months later. Dr. Nissen served as a member of the CardioRenal Advisory Panel of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for 5 years, and as Chairman of the final year of his membership. He continues to serve as Advisor to several FDA committees as a Special Government Employee. In July 2008, while serving as guest member of the Endocrine and Metabolism Advisory Panel, Dr. Nissen recommended a new approach to approval of diabetes drugs, which was ultimately adopted by the Agency in November 2008. Steven Nissen is also known for his role in public policy discussions, particularly in the area of drug safety. He has testified in both the Senate (Health Education and Labor Committee) and House of Representatives (Energy and Commerce Committee) on the need to reform the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He was actively involved in discussions with Congress on the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 that added additional regulatory authority for the Agency. Professor Steven Nissen was selected for the Outstanding Scientist Award by the Cleveland Clinic in 2004. Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Medicine Fellows have awarded him the Outstanding Teaching Award, an annual recognition, on 3 occasions. He also received Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cardiovascular Research from the Gill Heart Institute of the University of Kentucky in 2004.

Mr. Palefsky has 39 years of experience as an entrepreneur, manager and investor in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. Mr. Palefsky has been a Managing Director/General Partner/Managing Member of Montreux since 2002 and was a Venture Partner of Montreux from 1999 to 2002. Immediately prior to joining Montreux as a General Partner, Mr. Palefsky was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of a Montreux portfolio company, NeurogesX. Mr. Palefsky was the Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer, and/or Director of Collagen from 1978 to 1997. Collagen was a developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices for the treatment of defective, diseased, traumatized or aging tissues. It was sold to Inamed in 1999. Collagen and its affiliated companies made a number of venture capital investments during Mr. Palefsky’s tenure. In addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Mr. Palefsky was directly responsible for these investments and, in each case, served as Collagen’s representative on the board of directors. In addition to his activities at Collagen, Mr. Palefsky has been active in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries during his entire career. His activities have included serving on the boards of numerous public and private companies, providing advice and guidance to companies, entrepreneurs and managers with regard to industry trends, strategy and making private investments. Mr. Palefsky received his M.B.A. in 1971 from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and his B.S. from the City College of the City University of New York in 1967. Mr. Palefsky served as an officer in the United States Public Health Service from 1967 to 1969 and was honorably discharged with the rank of Lt (jg). Mr. Palefsky was a member of the Young President’s Organization from 1984 to 1997 and is currently a member of the World President’s Organization and The Chief Executives Organization. Mr. Palefsky currently is a member of the board of directors of four other Montreux portfolio companies: Avantis, PulmonX, NovoStent and PercSys. He is also actively involved in managing Montreux’s investment in Asthmatx.. He previously served on the board of directors of Questcor (AMEX: QSC), Coalescent (sold to Medtronic, 2004), Enteric (sold to Boston Scientific, 2002), and Pro-Duct (sold to Cytyc, 2002).

Matthew Pollman, consultant, has held a number of leadership positions in the development of cardiovascular therapeutics and diagnostics. He has most recently served as Medical Director, R&D, for Abbott Vascular. In this role, Dr. Pollman was the principal medical and scientific advisor for the R&D and Business Development organizations. Prior to this role, Dr. Pollman was the Director of New Ventures, Guidant Corporation where he led a multi-disciplinary in-house start-up incubator tasked with identifying, exploring and incubating through PhI/PhII clinical trials, novel therapeutic opportunities utilizing emerging device or combination product technologies. Dr. Pollman has also directed therapeutic/diagnostic target discovery and development efforts as Director of Cardiovascular Biology and Molecular Medicine for Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Pollman is a cardiologist and cardiovascular molecular biologist and has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles. He has served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and Morehouse School of Medicine.

John is founder and Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures in Cincinnati and brings 13 years of venture investing and 13 years of research and R&D management experience in biotechnology, devices, and diagnostics. John was a Managing Director of Senmed Medical Ventures from 1989 until 2003 and served as a member of the investment committee. He also led the emerging medical technology investment efforts. He represented Senmed on the board or as board observer to several Senmed portfolio companies, including Allergenics, Athersys, Merix BioScience, Transplant Therapeutics, and Optosonics and currently represents Triathlon on the board of Kereos and is an observer to the board of Endocyte. Prior to joining Senmed Medical Ventures, John spent 13 years with Battelle Memorial Institute serving in various research, research management, and business development capacities at Battelle Memorial Institute most recently overseeing Battelle’s international biotechnology activities. Locally and regionally, John was among the early organizers of Bio/Start, Cincinnati’s biomedical business incubator and currently serves on its Board of Trustees. He is also a trustee of Omeris, Ohio’s life science economic development organization. John also holds an adjunct appointment in the department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics in the School of Medicine and Public Health at Ohio State University. He has authored numerous scientific publications and holds four patents in the fields of virology and immunology. John earned a BS degree in Microbiology, as well as MS and PhD degrees in Microbiology and Virology from The Ohio State University.

Dr. Simon is Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Director, Harrington-McLaughlin Heart & Vascular Institute, University Hospitals Case Medical Center; Director, Case Cardiovascular Center and Herman K. Hellerstein Professor of Cardiovascular Research, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College. After earning his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, he completed his internal medicine residency and cardiovascular medicine fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and interventional cardiology training at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston. He joined the faculty of Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he rose through the ranks to Associate Director, Interventional Cardiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. A recipient of numerous research awards, Dr Simon was elected into the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of University Cardiologists, and the Association of American Physicians. He is a recipient of the prestigious MERIT Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the Society of Cardiac Angiography and Interventions. Dr Simon’s main area of research interest is the role of inflammation in vascular injury and repair. His research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. As Director of the Ohio Cell-based Therapy Consortium-Cardiovascular, Dr Simon is committed to advancing stem cell and regenerative medicine efforts to treat advanced heart and vascular disease. He is an active interventional cardiologist and continues to play a leading role in clinical trials investigating new devices and anti-thrombotic drugs. Dr Simon has published extensively in peer-reviewed basic science and clinical journals. He also serves on the Editorial Boards of Circulation and Journal American College Cardiology, and recently completed a stint as Associate Editor for Circulation where he continues to serves as Guest Editor.

Immanuel Thangaraj has 17 years of experience in operations and venture capital. Mr. Thangaraj began his venture career at ARCH Venture Partners (“AVP”), a leading venture capital firm with over $2 billion under management, which makes early stage technology and healthcare investments. In his initial tenure at AVP, he managed one of its portfolio companies, HealthQual, a medical information company, until its sale to Nellcor, a large hospital supplies company. In 1995, Mr. Thangaraj left AVP to run a telecommunications company until its sale to a public company. Mr. Thangaraj joined Essex Woodlands in 1996. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of CBR Systems, Inc., Acura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Halsey Pharmaceuticals) (NASDAQ: ACUR), Clear Vascular, Inc., Proteus Biomedical, Inc., Medlogics Device Corporation, and Sound ID. He is also responsible for Essex Woodland’s investment in Novacept (sold to Cytyc) and two Chinese companies, Microport Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd and China Cord Blood Services Corporation. Mr. Thangaraj holds a B.A. and a M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Geoff Vince earned his B.Sc in Medical Sciences and Chemistry from Leicester DeMontford University and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Liverpool. Coming in the early 1990s to Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), Dr. Vince pursued research in ultrasound imaging of coronary artery disease. From 1992 to 2005, he advanced from Research Fellow to Associate Staff and developed an imaging system to capture and evaluate images of the interior of the coronary artery. As a full-time scientist, he obtained and published his research findings in such well-regarded journals as Circulation, American Journal of Cardiology, and International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging, among others. He served on Study Sections for peer review of grant proposals at the National Institutes of Health and carried forward teaching and mentoring duties for students and junior investigators. In 2005, he stepped into the corporate world and gained experience over many successful years on the international front, first as Director of Research, then Vice President for Clinical and Advanced R&D for Volcano Corporation in San Diego. These years involved broad exposure to issues of innovation, technology transfer, industry standards, and collaborative international agreements. As of mid 2011, Dr. Vince has returned to Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute as BME Chairman, holding The Virginia Lois Kennedy Chair in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Therapeutics. An inventor/co-inventor of several biomedical systems, he has filed over 60 applications and holds 12 U.S. patents. Perhaps the most notable is one based on his early efforts at Cleveland Clinic – “Virtual Histology”; this intravascular ultrasound imaging system was later refined and commercialized into what is now Volcano’s “VH®” system, a widely used real-time imaging modality to visualize plaque composition within arteries. Thus his own experience is a sterling example of the GCIC’s aims: showing how research from a not-for-profit institution can be leveraged for translational/clinical applications and successfully commercialized for the betterment of patient care worldwide.

Dennis W. Wahr, MD, FACC most recently was the Founder, President and CEO of Lutonix which he co-founded in 2007 until it’s sale to CR Bard in December, 2011. Previously, Wahr founded Velocimed in 2001 and lead the company as President and CEO until it was acquired by St. Jude Medical in 2005. Between 2005 and 2007 Wahr was a Managing Director at Rivervest Ventures. He has served on the Board of Directors of numerous medical device companies including Lutonix, Velocimed, Accumetrics, and IDev among others. Wahr is a board certified interventional cardiologist who trained in cardiology at the University of California San Francisco and spent more than 14 years in clinical practice at the Michigan Heart and Vascular Institute in Ann Arbor, MI where he was Chief of Cardiology and actively involved in clinical research.

Dr. Wrubel has ten years of experience in venture capital and has been associated with a large number of private companies, including such now publicly traded companies as Pozen Pharmaceuticals, OraPharma, and GenVec. Prior to starting Foundation Medical Partners, Dr. Wrubel was an investment professional with Canaan Partners and more recently Highland Capital Partners, where he specialized in biotechnology and medical device investments. Dr. Wrubel serves on the board of directors of EndoGastric Solutions, Inc., CardioMEMS, Inc., IlluminOss and Circulite, Inc. Dr. Wrubel began his business career as a consultant at The Wilkerson Group, a health care-focused management consulting company. Dr. Wrubel completed a pediatric internship at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He holds an A.B. from Lafayette College, an M.D. and Masters in Public Health from Tufts University, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. Dr. Wrubel serves on the Translational Research Advisory Committee of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and is a member of the Health Leadership Council of Save the Children.