Past MIx Moderators

Ms. Chen is a Bioengineer and Scientist by training, most recently at Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences). She has experience driving innovative diagnostic platforms (R&D), product management, and technology commercialization in the healthcare space. At IntuitiveX, she leads the consulting team to assess technology and provide support to life science entrepreneurs in their commercialization journey. She holds a B.S. in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Applied Bioengineering from University of Washington.

David Ferrera is an engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and advisor with more than 25 years experience in the medical device field successfully developing products, founding companies, and managing them from concept through commercialization. He’s currently Chief Technology Officer of Balt which is dedicated to advancing therapies in hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke.

After completing his undergraduate degree at Washington University in St. Louis, Juan Espinoza received an Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) at the Immunotherapy Unit of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. Successively, Juan attended the USC Keck School of Medicine, receiving his MD in 2010. Juan completed his pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in 2013, and in 2014 he became an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the USC Keck School of Medicine.

Richard loves start-ups and Modulim is his third such venture in medical devices. After graduating from UCLA, Richard was commissioned as a naval officer and served nine years on guided missile cruisers in the Pacific. After the Navy, Richard practiced law and later earned an M.B.A. from USC.

He caught the start-up bug during the dot.com boom and has never looked back. He is not just a manager, but also is co-inventor on four US patents, and is involved in number of Orange County charities.

Results-oriented executive with a proven track record in building and growing companies. Creates and implements key strategies. Manages programs, P&L, technical projects and worldwide teams in various sectors. Quickly grasps complex technology concepts. Connects to customers, resellers and VARs, technologists and executives, and works effectively with all of them. Demonstrated experience in leading, developing, and contributing to teams that achieve results. Accomplished, analytical, big-picture thinker who promotes a shared vision and thrives in challenging, fast-paced environments where innovative ideas and pragmatic methods are valued. A leader through empowerment, integrity, and personal example / individual contributor with rich international background.

With over thirty years in the Healthcare Industry, over twenty as a senior level executive, Ms. Helfer brings Serial Entrepreneurship and C- level business leadership, Corporate and Business Development, Operations Management, Product Development, R&D, and International Sales and Marketing expertise for high growth Fortune 500 companies and start-up companies. She has been involved as a founder or founding team member of six companies. Helfer has raised over $80MM in funding from angels, corporations and venture capitalists and is an angel investor.

Kathryne Cooper is a native Angelino passionate about growing and funding early stage companies and creating an ecosystem to support entrepreneurs. She is the head of CTIP’s investment arm, where she selects medical device companies with commercialization potential, high clinical impact, and proprietary technology for investment and support. Kathryne holds a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University, an MBA from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business and a Certificate in Venture Capital Finance from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Bertran F. Cooper, M.D. Scholarship Fund at the Howard University College of Medicine.Kathryne nerds out connecting innovative people, products and ideas.

Rick is a serial entrepreneur in the medical device industry with multiple successful exits. He started as an engineer in-house at Guidant (now Boston Scientific). After Guidant, Rick joined the Cameron Health team, and was instrumental in developing the world's first implantable subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD) that didn't require any leads/wires to be attached to the heart.

Experienced medical device executive with expertise in investor presentations, fund raising, building teams, product development, operations management, Class II and Class III Medical Device clinical trials, and start-up organizations. Hands-on experience with peripheral cardiovascular devices from concept through commercialization.

Dr. Tolomiczenko currently serves as Director of Medical Innovations at the UCI School of Medicine. His interdisciplinary experience as a clinician, researcher, professor and administrator jointly inform his inclusive approach toward fostering cultures of innovation and entrepreneurship conducive to stakeholders aiming to translate ideas into products that improve health and healthcare delivery. This role builds on a track record of linking engineering and medicine as well as other schools and departments at academic institutions with clinicians and staff at healthcare delivery settings for almost twenty years.

Kirby Dick is a two time Emmy-award winning and two-time Academy award-nominated
documentary film director. Kirby founded the Los Angeles-based company Chain Camera
Pictures that produces critically acclaimed documentaries for international theatrical and
television release. The film company, led by Kirby and Amy Ziering, produces groundbreaking,
investigative documentaries about contemporary social issues.

Mr. Stanton J. Rowe, also known as Stan, now CEO of the NXT Biomedical Incubator has been the Chief Scientific Officer of Edwards Lifesciences Corp. since 2008 and serves as its Corporate Vice President of Advanced Technology. Mr. Rowe served as a Scientific Advisor at Ascent Biomedical Ventures. He Founded Percutaneous Valve Technologies (sold to Edwards).

Mr. Rowe served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Percutaneous Valve Technologies Inc. (PVT). He served as the Corporate Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning at Datascope Corp. Prior to this, Mr. Rowe served as a Vice President of Business Development at Johnson & Johnson's Interventional Systems Division (JJIS), responsible for Johnson & Johnson's coronary stent development efforts. At JJIS and the related Cordis Corporation, he held a variety of positions with increasing levels of responsibility, including heading Johnson & Johnson's Business Development, Advanced Technology, Worldwide Clinical Research and Marketing groups. Mr. Rowe joined Cordis after having held several positions in product management for various medical device companies.

He serves as a Director of InSeal Medical Ltd. Mr. Rowe also serves as Director of Remon Medical Ltd. He serves as a Board Member of NeuralAnalytics and the Discovery Science Center in Orange County. He serves as a Director of Zift Medical, LLC. He served as a Director of Biomerix Corporation. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Alabama.

Dr. Dale M. Willard is a Northwest Life Science Facilitator, Serial Entrepreneur, Small Company Mentor, and Ph. D. Chemist. He currently catalyzes life science economic activity as Business Development Manager at Life Science Washington. He also mentors companies through the WIN Program at the Life Science Washington Institute and University of Washington’s CoMotion and serves on a Washington State Department of Health Coronavirus Vaccine Security workgroup. For over 14 years he founded and led two acquired companies that commercialized a lab-on-a-chip technology utilized in clinical diagnostics, ultrapure water monitoring, and process monitoring in biofuels, foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. He has mentored over 20 companies, served as Principal Investigator on over 15 research grants, authored over 15 scientific papers, and served as expert reviewer on numerous NIH, NSF, USDA, and DOE review panel

As COO at Diality, a home hemodialysis startup, Jahnavi is responsible for the overall operations of the company. Over her career, she has been involved in a multitude of electro-mechanical and software medical devices. Her experience and leadership have been focused on developing and delivering medical device design and manufacturing services and solutions, providing outstanding client service, and driving profitable revenue growth.

Kwame Ulmer serves as the Principal at Ulmer Ventures, a regulatory strategy consulting firm. He brings nearly twenty years of experience evaluating medical technologies in the government and serving in senior operating roles at medical device companies. Mr. Ulmer previously served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Implant Direct, a Danaher Corporation operating company.

Vijay Dhaka has over 20 years of healthcare technology experience at early stage medical technology startups, with experience in: raising venture capital, go-to market strategy, product design leadership, IP, technology licensing, sales, and marketing. As a consultant at McKinsey & Co. he focused on pharma, and hospital systems driving innovation through organizational transformation and private equity due diligence.