Soumyadipta Acharya, MD, MSE, PhD
Soumyadipta Acharya, MD, MSE, PhD, is an assistant research professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He also serves as the graduate program director of the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design in the Whiting School of Engineering.
Dr. Acharya was the chief architect of a new and innovative graduate program in bioengineering innovation and design that has attracted top engineering students, outside funding, and numerous awards. He also runs a program in global medical technology innovation, which focuses on developing appropriate healthcare technologies for resource restrained customers globally. Dr. Acharya’s research focuses on neural engineering. He has published over 40 peer reviewed articles and book chapters. He is the recipient of the NASA space act board award (2008) and the NASA tech briefs award (2006).
Rebecca Bagley
Rebecca O. Bagley is president and chief executive officer of NorTech, a regional nonprofit technology-based economic development organization that serves 21 counties in Northeast Ohio. In her position, Ms. Bagley leads the organization’s effort to develop regional technology clusters. Recently, Ms. Bagley and her team launched an advanced energy initiative to work with public and private sector partners to accelerate commercial activity in the region’s advanced energy industry.
Prior to joining NorTech, Ms. Bagley served as deputy secretary for the Technology Investment Office of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). Before joining DCED, Ms. Bagley worked for several investment banks, most notably JPMorgan Chase, where she advised energy and technology companies on merger and acquisitions and raising capital in the high yield-bond group and oil and gas group.
Ms. Bagley holds a BS from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Charles J. Bruce, MD
Charles Bruce, MD is a consultant and professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, and is director of interventional imaging at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Bruce’s clinical interests include valvular heart disease and Marfan syndrome, and all aspects of echocardiography. He is also involved with translational research in new technology. Delivery of health care has to change fundamentally, and he believes that remote monitoring is an essential component of the solution.
Over the past decade, he has led a multidisciplinary group working closely with industry to develop a broad-based platform for remote monitoring. His training and experience as a physician both in South Africa and the United States has provided him with insight and perspective into the challenges of health care delivery, particularly when resources are constrained.
Dr. Bruce received his medical degree from the University of Cape Town in 1986, and completed his residency at Groote Schuur Hospital at the University of Cape Town. He completed his fellowship training at Mayo Clinic. He was a Mayo Foundation Scholar in 2000.
Dr. Bruce also enjoys teaching and has authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters.
Matthew Callaghan, MD
Matthew Callaghan, MD is founder of the OneBreath ventilator and a graduate of the Stanford University biodesign program. OneBreath is a portable ventilator that runs on a 12-volt battery for six to 12 hours at a time, and costs only a fraction of the price of a conventional ventilator.
Dr. Callaghan’s scientific interests include wound healing, diabetes and vascular biology. He plans in his future work to focus clinically on trauma, burns and critical care. He has received recognition from organizations including the American Medical Association, American College of Physicians and Alpha Omega Alpha.
Dr. Callaghan graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with degrees in product design and biology, and from State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn with a degree in medicine. He completed his surgery internship at the University of California at San Francisco.
Richard Gephardt
Dick Gephardt is president and CEO of Gephardt Government Affairs, where he provides strategic advice to clients on issues before the House, Senate and Executive Branch in the federal government. Mr. Gephardt has brought successful resolution for clients on issues related to negotiations, crisis management, and strategic communications. He represents a broad array of Fortune 100 clients on Capitol Hill and before the Administration, in addition to serving as public spokesperson for clients on coalitions to bring about policy solutions to healthcare reform and climate change.
Prior to founding Gephardt Government Affairs, Mr. Gephardt served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives, representing Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District. Mr. Gephardt was elected as House Democratic Leader for more than 14 years, as Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995 and Minority Leader from 1995 to 2003. In this role, Mr. Gephardt emerged as one of the leading strategists of the Democratic Party’s platform and chief architect to landmark reforms ranging from healthcare, pensions, education, energy independence and trade policy.
Mr. Gephardt earned a bachelor’s degree in science from Northwestern University and juris doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School. He has been married to his wife Jane for 38 years and they have three children, Matt, Chrissy and Kate.
Martha Gray, PhD
Martha Gray, PhD, has led a multifaceted career in which she has conducted research to better understand and prevent osteoarthritis, led a preeminent academic unit, and served the profession through work with organizations and institutions. Her research has centered over the past 15 years on ways to nondestructively visualize cartilage macromolecules in vivo and in vitro. Many in industry and academia are now using the MR method developed by her group, known as dGEMRIC.
Dr. Gray is the J.W. Kieckhefer Professor and former director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). During and since her 13 year tenure as head of HST, she shepherded its vigorous growth so that now it boasts a community of over 400 students, 65 faculty and nearly 200 affiliated faculty who create a multi-disciplinary and multi-professional environment in classrooms, hospitals and laboratories and seek to advance human health. Most recently her efforts have focused on advising other institutions and governments as they pursue similar efforts.
Dr. Gray was the first woman to lead a science or engineering department at MIT. She is an elected fellow of the AAAS, the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE). She is associate editor of the Annual Reviews of Biomedical Engineering.
Her training includes a BS in computer sciences from Michigan State University, an MS in electrical engineering from MIT and a PhD in medical engineering from HST, and completed her postdoctoral work at Tufts University and the State University of New York Stony Brook.
She currently resides in Arlington, MA with her husband Dick and their three teenage children Andrew, Dora and George.
A. Seth Greenwald, DPhil (Oxon)
Dr. A Seth Greenwald, DPhil (Oxon) is a nationally recognized bio-academician, thought leader and educator with more than 35 years of experience as a productive researcher, and is well-published in areas of joint biomechanics and artificial implants. Currently, he serves as director of Orthopaedic Research Laboratories (ORL), a medical research and education firm dedicated to improving patient outcomes through providing bench-top performance data and design optimization for orthopaedic implant systems.
Prior to joining ORL, Dr. Greenwald served as director of orthopaedic research and education at the Cleveland Clinic Health System, and as director of orthopaedic research at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. He has received numerous prestigious honors and awards, most notably the Kappa Delta for recognition of outstanding orthopaedic basic science research, and is a National Science Foundation Science Faculty Fellow.
Dr. Greenwald received his BS in physics and engineering from Mount Allison University, his MS in engineering mechanics from Columbia University, SM in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate in orthopaedic and engineering sciences from Oxford University.
Al Hammond, PhD
Al Hammond, PhD is a senior entrepreneur at Ashoka, and co-founder and executive chairman of Healthpoint Services. Dr. Hammond is a serial entrepreneur with five prior startups to his credit. He also founded the Base of Pyramid concept.
As the author of the landmark analysis The Next 4 Billion, Dr. Hammond has spent over 10 years understanding the complexities of the base of the pyramid market and what makes ventures in that space succeed. He has a decade of experience working with scalable business models for low-income communities and is a respected leader and mentor for many social businesses. Dr. Hammond has a BS in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and a PhD in applied math from Harvard University.
William J. Heetderks, PhD, MD
William J. Heetderks, PhD, MD is the director of extramural science programs at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), NIH. The extramural program supports approximately 800 research and training grants at universities and research centers throughout the United States in fields of bioengineering and biomedical imaging.
Before joining NIBIB, Dr. Heetderks was at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, where he directed the neural prosthesis program.
Dr. Heetderks received his PhD in bioengineering from The University of Michigan. He received his MD degree from the University of Miami and is certified in internal medicine.
Mike Hess
Mike Hess is the vice president of Innovation Excellence at Medtronic. He has been at Medtronic for 20 years, beginning as a biomedical engineer in the pacemaker research department. He has also worked in product development/systems engineering, clinical trial management, program management and product planning and marketing. As VP of Innovation Excellence, Mr. Hess leads the Medtronic research and development council, which is primarily focused on R&D productivity. He also leads activities focused on improving the culture of innovation and collaboration at Medtronic, and serves as the primary sponsor of internal technical employee organizations.
Mr. Hess is a Medtronic Technical Fellow, a member of the Bakken Society, and has about 25 issued patents and numerous publications. He has a BS in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a MS in software engineering from the University of St. Thomas.
He resides in Minneapolis, MN with his wife and five children.
Raj Jammy, PhD
Raj Jammy, PhD is vice president of Materials and Emerging Technologies at SEMATECH. He is responsible for leading the consortium’s efforts to tap into emerging technologies with disruptive scaling potential. Prior to this position, Dr. Jammy served four years as director of SEMATECH’s Front End Processes division.
Dr. Jammy began his career in the industry at IBM’s Semiconductor Research and Development Center in East Fishkill, NY, where he worked on front-end technologies for deep-trench DRAMs. He subsequently became manager of the Thermal Processes and Surface Preparation group in the DRAM development organization. In 2002, Jammy moved to T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY to manage IBM’s efforts in high-k gate dielectrics and metal gates.
Dr. Jammy received a doctorate in electrical engineering from Northwestern University. He holds more than 50 patents and is an author/co-author of over 150 publications/presentations.
Trevor Jones
Trevor Jones is chairman and CEO of ElectroSonics Medical Inc., a biomedical device company, which he co-founded in 2007. Before forming ElectroSonics, he served as chairman and founder of BIOMEC Inc., an entrepreneurial company founded in 1998 engaged in the development and commercialization of biomedical engineered devices and systems. In 1978 he started TRW Inc.’s Automotive Electronics organization. Mr. Jones has served on the boards of Echlin, Inc. and Libbey-Owens Ford in a number of capacities including chairman, vice chairman and CEO.
In 1982 Mr. Jones was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and was cited for “leadership in the application of electronics to the automobile” after serving for more than 10 years in numerous executive positions, which included Director of Automotive Electronic Control Systems and Director of Advanced Project Engineering for General Motors. Prior to his automotive experience Mr. Jones was involved in the aerospace industry on the Apollo computer program and the B52 bombing navigation system. In 2004, he was named the Northeast Ohio Entrepreneur of the Year for Innovation by Ernst and Young, and in 2010 the OFCC gave Mr. Jones its Life Time Achievement Award for his contributions to the development of fuel cells. Mr. Jones has been awarded 16 patents, has lectured and authored numerous papers on automotive electronics, occupant safety, fuel cells, international human resource management and entrepreneurship. He is a Fellow of IEE(UK), IEEE, and SAE and an Hon Fellow IMechE(UK).
Mr. Jones completed his formal engineering education in electrical engineering at Aston Technical College in 1952 and in mechanical engineering in Liverpool Technical College in 1957. In 2008 Cleveland State University awarded him an Honorary Dr. Science and cited him for his contributions in fuel cell technology and biomedical device development. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Wisconsin and a Chartered Engineer in the United Kingdom. He and his wife, Jennie, reside in Bratenahl, Ohio and Naples, Florida.
A. Jay Khanna, MD, MBA
A Jay Khanna, MD, MBA is an associate professor in the departments of orthopaedic surgery and biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, and is co-director of the Division of Spine Surgery at Johns Hopkins Orthopaedics Surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital. Dr. Khanna also serves as the Clinical Director for the Johns Hopkins Center for BioEngineering, Innovation and Design (CBID), and is the director of the annual Johns Hopkins Orthopaedic Surgery Review Course, and Co-Director of the annual American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Board Review Course.
Dr. Khanna is actively involved in research and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and multiple book chapters on topics in spine and orthopaedic surgery. His research interests include the evaluation of clinical and functional outcomes of the spine surgery, advanced imaging of the spine including intraoperative image guidance, and the study of spine biomechanics. Dr. Khanna recently edited and published a textbook entitled MRI for Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Dr. Khanna obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from Georgetown University and the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, then went on to the Cleveland Clinic Spine Institute where he completed a fellowship in spine surgery in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Neurosurgery.
Uday N. Kumar, MD
Uday N. Kumar, MD is a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist and the founder and Chief Medical Officer of iRhythm Technologies Inc., a venture- and corporate-backed medical device company focused on developing new devices and systems for cardiac rhythm monitoring. Dr. Kumar is also the Fellowship Director for the Stanford Biodesign Global Programs of India and Singapore.
Dr. Kumar has served as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Lecturer in Bioengineering at Stanford University, where he was a Biodesign Cardiovascular Innovation Fellow. As a Fellow, he focused on identifying and developing solutions to unmet clinical needs in the field of cardiac electrophysiology (EP) which helped form the basis for iRhythm Technologies Inc. Dr. Kumar also helped to launch Biomedical Modeling Inc., a company that created models from imaging data using rapid prototyping techniques for use in numerous medical areas.
Prior to joining Stanford University, Dr. Kumar completed fellowships in cardiac EP and cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He previously completed his training in internal medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia University. Dr. Kumar received his BA magna cum laude in biochemistry from Harvard College in 1994, and his MD from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Kumar grew up in Rhode Island, and is originally from Bangalore, India.
Lesa Mitchell
Lesa Mitchell is a vice president with the Kauffman Foundation, where she has been responsible for the Foundation’s work in understanding the policy levers that influence the advancement of innovation from universities into the commercial market and the new relationships between philanthropy and for profit companies. Under Ms. Mitchell’s leadership, the Foundation is defining and codifying alternative commercialization pathways, and identifying new models to foster innovation. Ms. Mitchell was instrumental in the founding of the Kauffman Innovation Network/iBridge Network, the Translational Medicine Alliance, and the National Academies-based University-Industry Partnership and was a leader in the replication of innovator-based mentor programs across the U.S. In addition, Ms. Mitchell serves on the boards of the Regenerative Medicine Foundation and the University of Kansas Institute for Commercialization.
Prior to joining Kauffman, Ms. Mitchell spent 20 years in global executive roles at Aventis, Quintiles and Marion Laboratories and ran an electronic clinical trials consulting business in support of global pharmaceutical clients.
Ashesh Shah
Ashesh Shah is the president, CEO and co-founder of Maxx Medical, an orthopaedic implant company focused on the rapidly growing Asian market. Mr. Shah has been instrumental in developing the commercial value of Maxx’s IP, building an IP framework, securing funding and developing a global organization that has already achieved US, EU and other countries’ regulatory approval for several products. Mr. Shah is also actively pursuing other entrepreneurial activities in healthcare and technology that leverage his cross-cultural expertise. He is an owner/advisor to several companies including NursePride, Clincall, MiPro Orthopedics, Vizualize Health, Vizualize Education and Lingo Media.
Prior to joining Maxx Medical, Shah served as a general partner with the DCP Group, a boutique consulting firm specializing in cross-border advisory services and commercialization opportunities designed to assist clients in evaluating market opportunities, developing market penetration strategies, and building relationship networks to accelerate their success in international markets. Mr. Shah primarily managed activities for the South Asia and Middle East regions, creating organizations that delivered over $50 million in revenue from these regions.
Mr. Shah holds degrees from the Wharton School of Business and the Moore School of Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Joseph Smith, MD, PhD, FACC
Joseph Smith, MD, PhD, FACC is chief medical and science officer of the West Wireless Health Institute, where he leads initiatives to identify and accelerate the use of wireless health solutions to advance the Institute’s mission of lowering health care costs.
Prior to joining the West Wireless Health Institute, Dr. Smith was vice president of emerging technologies for Johnson & Johnson in the Corporate Office of Science and Technology. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president and chief medical officer of Guidant/Boston Scientific, Cardiac Rhythm Management. He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Smith has published in the areas of cardiac electrophysiology, has been a consultant to many small companies involved in the advancement of innovative medical technologies and holds a number of patents in the area of signal processing and catheter and defibrillator design.
Dr. Smith holds an MS in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a PhD in medical engineering and medical physics from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and an MD from Harvard Medical School.
Lynn Andrea Stein, PhD
Lynn Andrea Stein, PhD, is a founding faculty member of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. Stein’s research, at Olin and over a decade on the faculty of MIT, spans the fields of artificial intelligence, programming languages, and engineering and computer science education.
Dr. Stein is a co-author of the foundational documents of the semantic web and the “mother” of a humanoid robot and an intelligent room. She is also active in the engineering and computer science education communities, a member of curricular advisory boards, and a frequent speaker at educational conferences on work including pioneering curricular applications of inexpensive robotics and an innovative curriculum for introductory computer science. In 2009, Stein was named the founding director of Olin’s Initiative for Innovation in Engineering Education.
Dr. Stein holds an AB (cum laude) in computer science from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and MS and PhD degrees in computer science from Brown University.
John Sullivan
John Sullivan is director of systems research and development for Johnson & Johnson’s Diabetes Care. In this position, he leads Systems Engineering and Integration for the diabetes care business of Johnson & Johnson. His organization is responsible for the research and development of new products creating a world without limits for people with diabetes.
Mr. Sullivan has 30 years professional experience in product development in the Healthcare/Medical Device and telecommunications fields. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Sullivan led the Global Systems Engineering organization of GE Healthcare’s Healthcare-IT division.
Charles M. Vest, PhD
Charles M. Vest, PhD is president of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, where he was elected to serve in 2007, and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
As president of MIT, he was active in science, technology, and innovation policy, in building partnerships among academia, government and industry and in championing the importance of open, global scientific communication, travel and sharing of intellectual resources. During his tenure, MIT launched its OpenCourseWare (OCW) initiative, co-founded the Alliance for Global Sustainability, enhanced the racial, gender and cultural diversity of its students and faculty, established major new institutes in neuroscience and genomic medicine and redeveloped much of its campus. Dr. Vest has also served as director of DuPont and of IBM, and on numerous federal committees and commissions.
Dr. Vest has authored a book on holographic interferometry, and two books on higher education. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from fourteen universities, and was awarded the 2006 National Medal of Technology by President Bush. Dr. Vest earned his BS in mechanical engineering from West Virginia University, and his MSE and PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.
Youseph Yazdi, PhD, MBA
Youseph Yazdi, PhD, MBA, is executive director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design.
Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Yazdi was corporate director in the Corporate Office of Science & Technology at Johnson & Johnson, where he was responsible for helping to build Johnson & Johnson’s open innovation network, and for using that network to nurture health care innovation.
Dr. Yazdi was the recipient of the Johnson & Johnson Standards of Leadership Award in 2007, and named a Fellow for the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and recipient of four Design Contest Innovation Awards from Ethicon Endo-Surgery in 2009.
Dr. Yazdi received his BS in electrical and computer engineering from Rice University, his MS in electrical engineering and PhD in biomedical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, and his MBA in entrepreneurial management from The University of Pennsylvania.
