Team Biographies

Dr. Joe Heanue has significant leadership experience in device and instrumentation research & development within interdisciplinary environments.  He previously served as Vice President of Engineering at NexRay and at Signature BioScience.
At NexRay, Joe led the development of a low-dose x-ray imaging system for interventional cardiology. At Signature, he headed a group that delivered prototype RF and microwave spectroscopy instruments to a major instrument partner; the first of these instruments was launched in 2005 by MDS Sciex.

Joe’s extensive research and development experience includes the analysis and design of complex systems, x-ray and gamma-ray detector development, low-noise analog electronics, data-acquisition systems, signal and image processing, high-speed data-processing architectures, and thin-films failure analysis.

Joe holds patents for detector and image processing, spectroscopy, and a patent for medical system imaging architecture that is licensed to a major medical equipment manufacturer.  He received a BS in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley. Joe was a postdoctoral researcher at Xerox PARC, and he has completed the Stanford University Executive Program for Growing Companies. 

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Ed Solomon has over 25 years of experience in advanced engineering, senior management,
and financing of small companies.

From 1993 to 2004, he was Vice President, Advanced Technology for NexRay, where he
defined the system architecture for the company's innovative fluoroscopy imaging system and
developed a large intellectual property portfolio of U.S. and international patents. Ed promoted the company's technology at numerous scientific meetings and corporate partnering discussions, and played a central role in raising the company's $80 million of venture funding.  He recruited the company's scientific advisory board of luminary interventional cardiologists and imaging physicists and developed a core group of enthusiastic early adopters for the company's products.

Prior to NexRay, Ed was Vice President of Engineering at Resumix, a developer and distributor of sophisticated resume processing systems to Fortune 500 companies. From 1986 to 1992, he was a General Partner at Dillon Read Venture Capital, specializing in technology investments in medical devices, information systems, and semiconductors. Previously, he was a Senior Engineer and Project Manager at Oximetrix, a manufacturer of patient-monitoring equipment and drug-delivery systems.

Ed holds 14 patents on a variety of medical devices and has authored numerous technical
publications. He holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of
Cape Town, South Africa, and an MS in Management from the Stanford Business School.

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Barclay Dorman has more than 25 years of marketing, sales, and general management experience in a broad range of medical device companies, from startup to Fortune 10 organizations.  

Most recently, he was Vice President and General Manager of a startup company commercializing new technology for breast cancer detection. Prior to that, he held senior sales and marketing positions at startup companies introducing stereo tactic radio-surgery for cancer therapy, innovative imaging technology for interventional cardiology, digital recording for medical imaging storage, and a specialized cardiac MRI system.

Barclay's hands-on experience in building and managing teams, defining clinical needs, scrubbing significant market and customer issues that impact new technology adoption, and communicating with all the relevant stake holders is useful in his business development role. He received his BA in Economics from Bates College.

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Jack Lloyd has founded and managed several high tech companies in the medical device, medical service and drug delivery areas. Currently he is Founder and Principal in several companies developing drug delivery systems and non invasive measurement and monitoring. Previously he was Founder of Alere Medical (monitoring patients at home for heart failure and other chronic diseases - sold to Inverness, now Alere, in 2007), Founder, President and Chairman of Aradigm (developed, manufactured and licensed devices and systems for aerosol drug delivery for systemic effect, including insulin - IPO in 1996), Founder and President of Nellcor Incorporated (anesthesia monitoring, developer of the pulse oximeter. - IPO in 1987, now part of Covidien), owned patents in digital hearing aid (licensed to ReSound and sold to Siemens in 1995), and Founder and President of Humphrey Instruments (ophthalmic instruments - sold to Smith Kline in 1980, now part of Zeiss).

Mr. Lloyd has served on the public boards of Nellcor, Aradigm, Aspect Medical, and Molecular Dynamics and is a director, investor and advisor to several medical device and drug delivery companies. He presently serves as on the advisory committee to the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and as chairman of the Bioengineering Industrial Advisory Board at Berkeley. He has a BSME from University of California, Berkeley and holds 30 US Patents.

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Gil brings to Triple Ring more than 40 years experience in both Fortune 500 and early-stage technology-driven organizations. During his career, he has held management positions in research and development, sales and marketing, business development, and general management. He previously served as Vice President, Business Development, at Aubrey Group, a product development company in Southern California, where he helped the company enter new markets and achieve record growth in revenues.

Gil was CEO of Virtual Imaging, a venture-backed developer of specialized hardware and software for diagnostic imaging workstations, Executive Vice President and COO of Cemax, Vice President and General Manager of Kodak’s Imagelink Business Unit, Vice President and General Manager of E-Systems’ E-MED Business Unit, General Manager of Varian’s NMR Division, and Director of Perkin-Elmer’s Computer Aided Chemistry Department. Gil began his career at Hewlett-Packard where held a number of product and marketing management positions.

He holds a BSE degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University, and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

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Dr. Geetha Rao has over 20 years of experience in high-risk technologies. She has provided advisory services and interim management to medical device, biotechnology and other life-sciences enterprises with a focus on emerging business challenges and operational excellence that meets best-in-class, international standards. She is an internationally recognized expert in risk management and liability and has served on several international policy making bodies, and as an invited expert to regulatory agencies, including the FDA, ISO Technical Committees, GHTF, and European Notified Bodies.

Previously Geetha has consulted to major multi-nationals in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology, healthcare providers, government agencies, trade associations, non-profit organizations, venture and investment firms, and law firms.  Her focus has been on regulatory and legal problem-solving for submissions, FDA and notified body inspections and audits, adverse events, and liability. She has addressed numerous industry forums and the press on issues of management of product and process quality and business risks.

Geetha is on the board of the ASQ Northern California Biomedical Discussion Group. chairs the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab’s Emerging Business Track for Life Sciences, is guest faculty on Stanford University’s Biodesign Innovation Program, and serves on the Life Sciences Committee for Astia, the leading organization supporting women-founded and women-led start-ups, and as advisor to several non-profits.

Geetha is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and also holds a doctorate from MIT and a masters degree from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She has held Professional Engineer licenses in Civil and Mechanical Engineering in the State of California.

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Rick brings over 25 years' experience in Research, Development and Operations. He has successfully commercialized over 25 products in Medical Devices, Aerospace, Automotive and Consumer products.

Most recently, he was the VP Engineering and Operations for Spinal Modulation where he led the development of implantable neuro-stimulators for pain management. Prior to Spinal Modulation, he was Director of R&D at Guidant (acquired by Boston Scientific), developing devices for cardiac surgery, atrial ablation and vessel harvesting. Prior to Guidant he was founder and CEO of Dreamwings Biomechanics which developed technology licensed to BMW, GM, and several Tier 1 suppliers. Prior to Dreamwings, he was Director of High Voltage Development at St Jude Medical where he developed 3 generations of implantable defibrillators. Prior to St Jude, he was Engineering Manager at Lectus (acquired by Hill-Rom), where he led development of robotic hospital beds for the ICU. Rick served as Captain, US Air Force, where he was Director, Flight Test Engineering on the A-10, F-111 and F-22.

Rick holds 16 patents and has 6 patents pending. He received his BS Aerospace Engineering from Clarkson University and an MBA from University of San Francisco.

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Adam Erlich has 20 years of experience in technology-related business development. Adam previously was VP of Marketing and Business Development at Block Engineering. He was the Founder and President of Igeneco, which provided technology/market analysis and commercialization services. As part of Adam's work at Igeneco, he had a lead role in successful M&A activities for BBN Technologies. Adam was an initial employee at Digital Optics, where he developed the market for lithographically fabricated optics and drove the company's revenue from $200K to $10M.

Adam obtained a BS in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and masters degrees from both George Washington and Columbia Universities.

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Amish Parashar's experience includes leading innovative teams, creating new products, teaching innovation, and advising inventors and entrepreneurs. He has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at CONNECT (San Diego), is a founder of three start-ups, and a founder and board member of a global non-profit organization. His efforts have spanned four continents and include medical devices, safety products, and electric vehicles (all of which have been sold internationally).

Amish is a named inventor on several patents (granted and pending) and has published in cardiac surgery, aerospace, and business. He is a frequent lecturer and has held teaching appointments at Dartmouth College, UC San Diego, and Stanford University. He is currently a faculty member and advisor on Innovation at Singularity University. Amish holds an BA in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College, a BE in Biomedical Engineering from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, and a MSc in Public Health (focus on Health Technology Evaluation) from the University of London. He was recently honored as a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health.

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Science

Dr. Brian Wilfley has over 20 years of experience leading development efforts for medical device and instrumentation companies. He has held senior scientific and engineering positions with Resonex, Inc., Park Scientific, Inc., Signature Bioscience, Inc., and NexRay, Inc.

Combining a broad theoretical background with a highly developed experimental sense, Brian  has experience across the full range of challenges encountered in developing complex measurement-based products. He is able to support the basic research and development of measurement-based equipment, as well as the detailed engineering required to implement it. His  experience ranges from magnetism to x-rays, and includes a broad array of applications including biotech instrumentation, medical imaging, and optical inspection.

Brian is a co-inventor of six issued patents and has authored a number of technical papers. He received his AB in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California at San Diego.

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Dr. Kate Bechtel has nearly 15 years of experience in researching and developing optical instruments for analytical and medical applications. Prior to Triple Ring, she has worked on trace analysis via cavity-enhanced techniques; non-invasive glucose sensing using Raman spectroscopy; and the detection of early stage breast cancer using Raman, diffuse reflectance, and fluorescence. Since coming to Triple Ring in 2007, Kate has worked on a large variety of spectroscopic and imaging systems for different applications, including a spectral domain OCT system for a dermatologic application; a catheter-based OCT system for intra-cardiac profilometry; a novel time-domain system for cerebral oximetry; a wireless handheld tissue oximeter; a light source for photodynamic therapy; and many more. Kate routinely provides consultations and technical landscape surveys in all areas of biomedical optics. In addition, she is well-versed in obtaining grant funding and serves on an NIH SBIR scientific review panel (IMST).

Kate holds one patent and has authored several scientific papers. She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, her Ph.D. in Analytical/Physical Chemistry from Stanford University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Spectroscopy Laboratory.

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Dr. Tobias Funk is a Principal Physicist on the science team at Triple Ring Technologies working on dose reduction strategies in X-ray imaging. He has over 10 years of experience in the development of instrumentation for science and medicine.

His focus is in the areas of X-ray imaging, SPECT/CT imaging, and modeling and simulations of complex systems. Tobias has worked as a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and in the Department of Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco.

He received his MS and Ph.D. from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany and has authored over 20 peer reviewed publications.

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Dr. Waldo Hinshaw has over 25 years of experience in the development of medical imaging systems. His experience includes the development of basic science as well as program management. He is an author of the first MR imaging patent and has written many patents and peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Waldo was an Associate Professor in the Harvard Medical School with an appointment in the Radiology Department of the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was the program manager for the early MR imaging program at Technicare (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson). Later, he was the Chief Operating Officer at Biomagnetic Technologies, a San Diego company that built magnetic brain scanners based on superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDS). He directed the MRI engineering team at the Toshiba facility in South San Francisco and later the engineering team at Imatron, the company that produced an ultra-fast x-ray CT scanner based on a swept electron beam x-ray source. Waldo has been a consultant for the last several years working on a wide range of development projects.

Waldo received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of North Carolina and continued his NMR research at the University of Nottingham in England.

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Dr. Jamie Ku has over 10 years of experience in the design, development, and manufacture of imaging systems and components.  He has a track record of complete product development cycle from concept to production for several radiation imaging systems and optical imaging components.  He has also the proven ability to conduct failure analysis and troubleshoot at all stages of product development and in product applications.  

Jamie has held senior engineering, project management, and engineering management positions at a startup company and at PerkinElmer Optoelectronics.  At PerkinElmer, he worked on flat panel X-ray detectors, CCD sensors and cameras, CMOS sensors and cameras, and imaging detector read-out ICs.  He was on the grant proposal review committee of NIH Vision System.  Prior to PerkinElmer, he was working with position sensitive optical detectors, novel optics, and radiation detection systems at Lexitek.  His areas of expertise include radiation detection, UV-IR light detection, optics, and imaging system engineering.  

Jamie received his Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory.

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Henry Liu has over 7 years of experience developing life science instruments and other technology applications, at both small and large companies.   He has performed extensive testing component and high throughput automated instruments for the biotech industry.

In addition to his product development experience, Henry held a senior position at Cafepress.com, where he transformed a startup facility to a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility able to accommodate peak season demands  of over 450% from normal, and perfected the art of on-demand printing on dark garments.

Henry received a BS in Chemistry from University of California, Irvine.  He holds one patent in well-based biosensor detecting molecular or cellular events, and another pending patent for adjustable area platen.

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Dr. Paul Chandler has over 31 years of experience in acoustic R&D and systems engineering in the medical ultrasound, medical device, and oceanographic industries. He has held senior scientific and research positions with Acuson, POINT Biomedical, SPAWAR Systems Center, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Philips Ultrasound, BC Tech, and USAcousticsTech.

With the ability to apply his broad theoretical and experimental skill set at all levels of the R&D process, Paul has contributed as a sensors and instrumentation engineer, experimentalist, image analysis engineer, systems engineer, project and functional manager, innovative technology investigator, and new business development entrepreneur.

Paul holds 22 patents for ultrasound beamforming, second harmonic imaging, ultrasound contrast agent technologies, 3D imaging, and ultrasound based physiological assessment. He received a BA in Biology from the University of California, at Los Angeles, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Radiological Sciences from the University of California, at Irvine.

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Dr. Jeffrey Arthur Schuster has led the development of multiple aerosol drug delivery platforms including microprocessor controlled and all mechanical systems, in therapeutic areas including pain management (post operative and break-through cancer pain) and diabetes management. In addition, Dr. Schuster has contributed to the development of needle-free jet injectors, implantable pumps, and flow cytometry systems. He has authored several peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on aerosol drug delivery. He is a named inventor on 31 issued US patents and numerous foreign cases, in the areas of generation of liquid aerosol generation for pulmonary delivery and needle free injection using micron sized liquid jets, and has also managed multiple patent portfolios in these areas encompassing hundreds of U.S. and foreign cases. Jeff was also the primary investigator on a phase II SBIR grant, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, focused on the development of an inhalation based mass vaccination system for measles and other diseases.

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Dr. Roger Tang has spent his entire career bridging the disciplines of biology and engineering in both industrial and academic environments. Currently, he specializes in providing Project Science, Engineering, and Management expertise across a fascinating array of projects which cut across Engineering and Biology.

Previously, he managed the Research Group and Ideation activities at Molecular Devices, LLC. His industrial career started in 2001 at a biotechnology startup, Signature BioScience, Inc., which developed some of the first label-free assay technologies based on bioimpedance. Signature's technologies were eventually commercialized as the CellKey(r) System, now part of the Molecular Devices portfolio. Before his industrial career, he was an Assistant Adjunct Professor in Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco, where his research focused on cancer imaging (primarily using x-ray, CT, and molecular imaging). Roger received his PhD in Bioengineering from the Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering at the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco. He also holds an MS in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona and a BS in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology.

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System Architecture

Gus Lowell has over 20 years experience in systems and software engineering, product specification development, and product planning, with experience in the medical device field, semiconductor processing, and internet servers.

His background includes expertise in pipelined data processing, image and signal processing algorithm development, distributed processing, embedded systems, real-time and event-driven systems, fault-detection and safety-critical systems, and structured analysis and object-oriented design. He has designed high-speed digital imaging processors and systems; analog/digital, data acquisition, and machine-control interfaces; and sensor interfaces.  He is skilled in coding in a number of assembly languages and C++/C/Pascal/Fortran.

Gus has held senior engineering and project management positions at both Fortune 100 and startup companies, including Abbott Laboratories, Tetris Systems, and NexRay, and in the military space program for the United States Air Force.

He holds three patents and has authored a number of scientific papers. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

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Dr. John Heanue has more than 15 years of experience with design, implementation, integration, and deployment of microfabricated optical systems. He served as Director of Product Engineering at Santur Corporation, where he led the development of a widely-tunable semiconductor laser module for optical telecommunications. He previously led a group responsible for opto-mechanical engineering of large port-count MEMs-based optical cross-connects at Xros Corporation/Nortel Networks. John also has extensive experience in optical data storage systems through positions at Seagate Technology, Quinta Corporation, and Optitek. Other projects have included high-power fiber lasers, optical imaging for medical applications, and LWIR imaging systems.

John received S.B. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in both Electrical Engineering and Physics, and Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics from Stanford University. He holds 39 issued U.S. patents and has authored numerous publications.

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Technology & Product Development

Muslim Tyebjee has over 25 years of experience developing medical systems for companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies. His experience spans product development, operations, quality systems, and customer support for products ranging from patient life support devices to imaging/patient monitoring systems.

Muslim's development projects have included anesthesia machines, ventilators, SvO2 monitoring and dual oximetery systems, infusion pumps, low dose X-ray fluoroscopy systems, heart-lung bypass machines, high speed blood separation devices, and eye surgical products.

Muslim has extensive experience in project management, design control, SOPs, requirement analysis, fault tree analysis, FMECA, and verification/validation with emphasis on software validation of complex medical device systems.  He has successfully commercialized products which involved UL/IEC/CSA 60601-1 certification, FDA 510(k) approvals, and GMP manufacturing.  Muslim has held senior management positions at BC Tech Inc. as Vice President of Product Development, and at CardioVention as Director of Instrument Development. Prior to that, he held positions with NexRay, Inc., Abbott Labs (now Hospira), Oximetrix, and Ohmeda.

Muslim is holder of one patent. He received his BSEE from Northrop University and his MSEE with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University.

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Manisha Patel has expertise in establishing Quality Management Systems and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.

She joined Triple Ring Technologies in 2008 with an in-depth understanding of ISO 13485 Medical devices, Quality Management Systems and Food and Drug Administration's Quality System Regulations (QSR). She has over 4 years of experience in directing development and implementation of QMS related policies and procedures throughout the organization. She specializes in writing design verification protocols, running experiments/tests and in writing reports for medical devices. Additionally, Manisha conducts internal and external audits and creates specialized in-house training. Manisha has two years of experience as a teaching assistant at NIT (National Institute of Technology), India. She also possesses a strong academic background in Biomedical Engineering. Her academic career included projects such as: developing self-regulated drug delivery devices, working on MEMS technology for treating Glaucoma, and designing a neural prosthesis that automatically controls the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Manisha holds a Bachelors of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Sarvajanik College of Engineering Technology (S.C.E.T.) in India and a Masters in Biomedical Engineering from University of Southern California. She is also an active member of American Society for Quality (ASQ) and serves as Chair for the ASQ Biomedical Northern California Discussion Group.

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Mike Hayden has over 25 years of experience developing complex medical devices and managing multi-disciplinary teams. He has managed major product developments from inception through first shipments and has extensive experience in requirements definition, software development, systems engineering, product verification/validation, design controls and project management.

Mike held senior management positions at Zonare Medical Systems, Accuray and Acuson. As Senior Vice President, Product Development at Accuray, he managed the Engineering, R&D, Manufacturing and Service groups for the image guided, robotically controlled CyberKnife® radiosurgery system. He was instrumental in procuring the company's first 510(k) approval and completing the third generation system that supports full body radiosurgery.

Prior to Accuray, Mike spent 14 years at Acuson developing premium quality diagnostic ultrasound products. He was Project Manager and key contributor for both the revolutionary Sequoia GI512 and CV256 products that have to date generated over $2 billion in revenue.

Mike holds one patent. He received an MSEE from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BSEE from Rice University.

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Doug Gallinat has over 25 years of experience in software engineering in the medical device and defense industries. Within the defense industry, he has worked on Kalman filter-based inertial navigation and over-the-horizon target tracking systems. Within the medical device industry, he has held key roles as primary architect, developer, and software project manager for diagnostic ultrasound systems, mechanical ventilators, and invasive glucose monitors and has led investigations into and solved several infusion pump issues affecting large installed bases.

His background includes expertise in real-time embedded systems, the software architecture of large systems, the Unified Modeling Language (UML), product line development, algorithm development and implementation, and software development methodologies. He is skilled in several programming languages, modeling/simulation tools, and operating systems including the following: C/C++, Java, C#, various assembly languages; Matlab and VisSim; QNX, Green Hills Integrity, uC/OS-II, Unix, Linux, and NucleusOS.

Doug has held positions with Siemens Medical Solutions (Acuson), Covidien, Zonare Medical Systems, Luminous Medical, Boeing (McDonnell Douglas), and Raytheon (Tiburon Systems). He holds three patents and received his BS in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana.

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Pallavi Chakravarty has years of experience in software development in the mobile wireless industry. Her experience ranges from the research and development of innovative algorithms (for wireless networks) to the design and development of the simulators that run these algorithms. At IRI Computer Communication Corp., she developed algorithms for the placement of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) to enhance the throughput of ad-hoc mobile wireless networks. While there she also developed a product for the Office of Naval Research to simulate different network scenarios and improvements in network throughput with the use of UAVs. The work received commendation from Admiral Mullen, the then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pallavi holds a BS (with Distinction) in Electrical Engineering from Mumbai University and an MS in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles. Her work has been published in IEEE WiMob.

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Atila has extensive experience in software architecture, design, implementation, and in leading software teams to successful product delivery. Atila was a principal software engineer with St. Jude Medical, where he redeveloped real-time software architecture and framework that was successfully deployed in a robotic catheter guidance system and in a radio frequency ablation class III medical device. Atila has lead software teams and developed software for St Jude's CONFIRM implantable cardiac monitor, and PROMOTE line of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, and holds several issued patents. Prior to joining SJM, Atila functioned as senior architect and principal software engineer in semi-conductor, telecom and medical device industries, notably Tokyo Electron's next generation etching machines (at Azad Tech.), KLA-TENCOR's Viper wafer defect detection, Cemax-Icon's DICOM based PACS system, and software design/development of a custom billing system for Globalstar - a provider of mobile satellite voice and data services (at KPMG). Atila earned an MS degree with distinction in Biomedical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo and holds a BS+ in Computer Science from Sharif University of Technology..

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Peter Holst has more than 25 years of design experience, mostly in medical device development including visual field testers, IV and enteral pumps, surgical robots, cholesterol testers and glucose meters, and various aerosol drug delivery technologies.  He has experience leading cross functional teams in the development of both battery powered and user energized portable devices.

Peter has experience in design for high volume manufacturing using various component manufacturing methods including plastic injection molding, metal injection molding, casting, powder metal, sheet metal and machined components.  He also has background in the design of low volume capital equipment medical mechanisms and systems.  He has experience in DOE and analysis of experimental data, and brings a disciplined, data driven, approach to the design of complex mechanical systems.

Peter is a named inventor on 9 patents, with several applications pending, and has authored or co-authored a number of posters and papers.  He has a BSME from Northwestern University and an MSME with a concentration in dynamics and controls from Santa Clara University.

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Alan Baldwin has nearly ten years experience in mechanical design and electronics packaging. He has acquired skill in creating and managing complex assemblies, heat transfer analysis, finite element analysis, and prototype fabrication. His design approach is to meet with all stakeholders early to make sure requirements are compatible, and to build consensus around a common solution.

Alan's experience has touched upon many areas including integration of ruggedized systems in military vehicles (BAE Systems), electric motor design (Emerson Motor Company), high power radio-frequency waveguide layout (Selex Sistemi Integrati), design of fiber optic amplifiers and transceivers (Agere Systems), and laser test and measurement (Photon, Inc.).

Alan holds BS (magna cum laude) and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

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Daniel Menig has a background in machine design and motion control for semiconductor and machine tool equipment.  He lead a small team in the design and development of a miniature 5 axis CNC mill for MDA Precision. While working at LAM Research’s research and development lab, he participated in developing a new wafer coating system. Daniel has spent significant time in machine shops prototyping and developing various mechanisms resulting  in excellent hands on skills and intimate understanding of manufacturing processes.

Daniel holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a mechatronics concentration from California Polytechnic State University(San Luis Obispo).

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Kevin Dunk has an educational background in the fields of aerospace engineering, applied mathematics and civil engineering. He specializes in test fixture design, system testing, fluid ingress testing, root cause analysis and reliability analysis. Kevin has also worked on bill of materials and design history files for MQA processes.

Kevin holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering with a Minor in Mathematics from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

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Mike Pinkney has over 18 years of experience in electromechanical design for medical device and biotech applications.  He has worked at Novo Nordisk Delivery Technologies, Aradigm, Nellcor, and Vista Labs.

Mike has an AA/AS degree in Electromechanical Design, and has participated in a wide variety of CAD education and certification programs.

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Alan Tepe has a wide range of engineering experience. He has completed projects for Fortune 100 medical device and aerospace companies as well as several startup companies. These projects have largely focused on product design, including system modeling and manufacturing development. Alan has a firm grasp of the mathematics used to simulate real world systems, as well as practical manufacturing and design experience. He currently has one patent application pending.

Alan holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a Mechatronics concentration from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

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Sophia is a Mechanical Engineer at Triple Ring where has contributed to projects for clients in industries ranging from aerospace to medical devices. She previously was a Bioengineer at Minnow Medical (formerly Vessix Vascular, now part of Boston Scientific). While there she developed testing protocols, circuit designs, flow analyses, and laboratory experiments related to intravascular ultrasound.

Sophia holds Bachelors (Sc.B.) and Masters (Sc.M.) degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University and serves as a high school robotics team mentor.

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Christian Walton has 25 years of experience in product development - over half at the director level and above in the field of medical devices. He has managed large cross-functional teams in the development of various pieces of complex diagnostic capital equipment, as well as performed development functions for injectors, catheters and other delivery systems, and implants.

Christian is named on over a dozen patents, and has worked closely with radiologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, dermatologists and plastic surgeons, cardiologists, and audiologists in the development of numerous successful medical devices. He has held engineering and executive and management positions at R2 Technology, Natus Medical, Circle Medical Devices, Vital Insite, Raychem Corp (now Tyco), and Beta Phase. In addition, he has consulted with AorTx/CardiacMD, Aesthetic Sciences, Tympani, and Tessera.

He holds Mechanical Engineering degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University (BS) and Stanford University (MS).

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Dr. Winston Sun has nearly 20 years experience in systems architecture and algorithm development for imaging, video and wireless communication systems. His background spans mixed-signal, digital ASIC and RF chips, boards and systems, with specific expertise in mapping real-time signal processing algorithms into embedded system solutions. GSM basestations, soft switches for VoIP, QAM demodulators for digital set top boxes, CDMA cellular handsets, WiFi chipsets and X-ray fluoroscopy systems are examples of products he has designed and implemented.

Winston has held systems architect, engineering management, and business development positions at PMC-Sierra, Atheros Communications, Applied Signal Technologies, Hyundai Wireless and Nexray Medical.

Winston received a BS in Electrical Engineering from UCLA, and a PhD in EE from the University of California at Berkeley.  He holds three patents, and has authored/presented numerous scientific papers.

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Leonard Cygnarowicz has over 25 years experience in digital hardware and firmware development for a wide variety of Silicon Valley firms in the area of medical electronics, industrial controls, instrumentation, robotics, telephony, optical networks, computer peripherals and semiconductors.

Leonard has worked on a variety of projects, including a full body MRI imaging system, a Gamma camera, a DNA instrument, pick and place and cartesian robots, an instrument for seismic exploration, large memory system development, manufacturing test systems, T1 and DS3 computer telephony, ATM based network equipment, optical network equipment, development platforms, microprocessor emulators, video peripherals, computer design, laser printer controllers and computer peripherals for a variety of standard buses.

Leonard's skills include hardware and firmware development on a wide variety of microprocessors, microcontrollers and digital signal processors; programming in Verilog, C and many assembly languages; and hardware design from gate level through large complex FPGA's.  In addition to direct design activity, he has managed projects and development departments.

Leonard received a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and has continued his studies at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley.  He holds two U.S. patents.

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Willem Ouborg has 4 years experience developing and testing products containing cutting edge technologies, including applications of carbon nanotubes.

At Intematix, Willem helped develop a carbon nanotube based electrode for hydrogen fuel cell applications, including a patent pending technique of catalyst and Nafion deposition.   At Nonomix, he helped develop gas sensors based on single wall CNTs.  He led the prototyping of an ammonia monitor, and integrated complex FTIR equipment and software to create an ammonia reference sensor.

Willem holds a BSEE and MS in EE/MEMS from UCLA.

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Jivko Mihaylov has years of experience in product development of Medical Devices. His background includes systems engineering/integration, multi-disciplinary product development, analog and digital design, and SolidWorks 3D mechanical modeling. In his previous role as a Product Development Engineer at Xoft Inc Jivko acquired valuable skills and knowledge pertaining to X-Ray systems, high voltage equipment, and implantable medical devices. He also led three products from conceptualization and development to commercialization in a short amount of time. In addition, his interest in mechanics and automation along with well-developed hands-on skills in fabrication and welding make him an asset to any engineering organization.

Jivko is a co-author of a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (APM) in 2009.

He holds a BS in Industrial Technology with Electronics and Computer Systems concentration with a minor in Business Management from San Jose State University. His studies included analog/digital design with OrCad and MultiSim, C/C++ programming, microcontrollers, semiconductor fabrication, and network management. Jivko also holds an MBA with Technology concentration from Walden University, MD.

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Roger Stenerson has over 25 years of experience in hardware, software, ASIC, and FPGA design primarily in Digital Signal Processing and Reed-Solomon error correction systems.

Most recently Roger was at BroadLogic Network Technologies supporting customers that used the QAM  demodulation and multi-channel video processing chips, reference design boards, and software developed by
the company.  He also developed software and Matlab models for DSP blocks in the QAM demodulation chip.

He has also held engineering positions at Ampex Corporation, Applied Signal Technology, and Hyundai Electronics America.

Roger holds five patents.  He received a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oregon State University.

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Julia Sloane came to the Triple Ring team from UCLA where she earned recognition for her work in socio-cultural anthropology, medical anthropology and research journal production. Along with her ethnographic and anthropological tool set, Julia brings 7 years of experience with public health and international project collaboration through her work with Medicine in Action and The Friends of Ruwenzori Foundation.

Previously, Julia has studied group dynamics and cultural flux in groups ranging from the ancient Maya civilization to current-day San Francisco musicians. She is now interested in applying neuro-phenomenology, socio-cultural and medical anthropology to technological innovations and corporate maturation.

Julia holds a Bachelors of Arts with honors in Anthropology from University of California, Los Angeles and a certificate in Tibetan Buddhist Theology from Cambridge University.

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In Vitro Technologies

Ryan was trained in genetics and cell biology at the University of California at Davis. Since 1988 he has worked in several biotechnology companies and as an independent biotech consultant focused on adding value to early stage therapeutic and technology efforts.

Early in his career Ryan worked in teams that applied cutting edge genetic engineering technologies to advance the development of gene therapy and cellular therapeutics. In 2002 Ryan transitioned to research and product development for biopharmaceutical instrumentation, where he held customer-facing positions related to the introduction of novel technologies. In this role, Ryan grew to be a recognized expert in label-free biosensors, presented at numerous international scientific conferences, and was invited to chair several scientific symposia.

Ryan is co-inventor of five US patents, has published multiple scientific communications, developed many applications for the drug discovery market, and lead collaborations worldwide with well-known pharmaceutical research teams from companies like Merck, Amgen, J&J, Novartis and AstraZeneca.

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Laura Vitez has over 25 years experience in the life sciences industry. Since 2003 she has served as a consultant to small and mid-sized private biotechnology companies, designing and executing optimized business development strategies. Previously she has held lead business development roles at Signature Biosciences, Schwarz Pharma, Burrill & Company, and Cell Genesys.

Laura has participated in alliances generating more than $2 billion in reported value for her clients and companies. These include the acquisitions of Intellikine by Takeda, and Rinat by Pfizer; profit sharing agreements including Intellikine with Infinity/Purdue, KaloBios with Sanofi-Pasteur, and Rinat with Genentech; and multiple other arrangements including Maxygen with Codexis, Signature with MDS Sciex, Schwarz with Aryx, and Cell Genesys with Hoechst Marion Roussel.

Laura began her career at the bench, working in labs at Somatogen Inc., National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Northwestern University, and Indiana University. She holds a BA in mathematics and chemistry and an MS in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology.

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Program and Project Management

Walt Cecka has over 25 years of experience in design and development of medical devices and drug/device combination products. Mr. Cecka has held senior management and development engineering positions at Nektar Therapeutics, Bio-Molecular Technologies, Baxter Healthcare Corporation (Novacor Division), Cholestech Corporation, Nellcor, Inc., and Beckman Instruments (Spinco Division).

At Triple Ring, Walt continues to lead a diverse set of programs, from the very complex such as the development of an Inverse-Geometry Tomographic Fluoroscopy System for cardiac intervention, to the simple such as providing risk analysis evaluations and documentation for a range of medical device applications. On the Business Development and Regulatory sides, he is active in assisting prospective clients evaluate technologies as related to intended clinical applications, as well as advising on pathways to registration and reimbursement.

Prior to his arrival at Triple Ring, his product development leadership experience includes the development and commercialization of several first-to-clinic and first-to-market products, including Nektar's (now Bayer's) inhaled Amikacin combination product, the Exubera (tm) pulmonary insulin inhaler, Novacor's N-100 bridge to transplant heart assist pump, and diagnostic products for rapid lipid panels and blood gas monitoring (CO2 and anesthesia agents). His skill sets also include product development planning and program management in FDA and EMEA/ISO environments, system product design, plastic component material selection and design, and design transfer for high volume manufacturing.

Walt has co-authored several peer reviewed posters, has articles published in trade association magazines and newsletters, and has patent applications in respiratory care and pulmonary drug delivery devices pending. He is an active member of IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America), and holds a BSME degree from California Polytechnic State, San Luis Obispo.

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Mark has over 25 years of experience developing complex optical systems in a variety of industries, including: semiconductor equipment, aerospace, data storage, and medical device. He has managed a number of multidisciplinary teams in startups and established companies, and has significant expertise in optical systems design, lens design and system analysis, and opto-mechanical engineering. Most recently, Mark held senior management positions at Thorlabs, Inc. and InfraRedX, Inc. As Vice President of Business and Advanced Development at InfraRedX, he led the prototype development of the first combination optical/ultrasound coronary catheter that was successfully demonstrated in a live patient case for the TCT conference in May 2009. He was also instrumental in developing and driving the relationships for sourcing of key technologies and partnerships. In addition, he managed InfraReDx's intellectual property portfolio, including patent prosecution, in-licensing, and strategy. Mark is named on one patent.

Mark earned a MS in Electrooptics from Tufts University, a BS in Optics from the University of Rochester, and an MBA from Babson College.

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Jessica has more than 25 years of medical device development and program management experience. She has led cross-functional project teams and brought more than 15 innovative medical device products to market. Her experience includes the design and development of high volume disposable and reusable medical products. She has been granted six patents and holds a BS in Mechanical enginering from California Polytechnic State University and a MS in Engineering Sciences (Bioengineering) from UC San Diego.

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Manufacturing & Engineering Operations

Nick Lopez has 25 years experience developing systems involving vacuum, high voltage, electron device, and RF/microwave technologies. Nick's experience includes wafer inspection systems, X-ray fluoroscopy systems, thermal processing and brazing systems, high power electron sources, megawatt-level microwave sources, lasers, and ultra high vacuum (below 1.0x10-10T).  

Nick specializes in transferring products from engineering to production. He has worked in startups and large companies where he has managed departments of up to 130 people with $4M of monthly product shipments.  He has implemented TQM and has expansive knowledge of JIT implementations. He has held manufacturing and senior management positions at KLA-Tencor, Varian/CPI, Nexray Medical/Cardiac Mariners, Altair, and Kodak.

Nick holds a BSEE from the University of California at Davis.

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Petre Vatahov has over 25 years of experience in product and process development in applications such as  hermetic seals (glass to metal, glass to ceramic, ceramic to metal, metal to metal), thermal processing, ultra high vacuum, high voltage, thin film deposition and processing, and failure analysis.

Most recently Petre was Principal Engineer at Xoft Inc. where he was involved in the development of a miniature  X-ray source, and transferring it into production.  Previously, he held development engineering and management positions at Candescent Technologies Inc. (a flat panel display developer) and DZU Corp. (a hard disk  manufacturer).

Petre received his BS and MS in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Sofia, Bulgaria.

He is co-inventor of four issued patents.

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Legal

Joe Lin has more than fifteen years of experience in both patent and corporate law. He has held positions at Blakely Sokoloff Taylor & Zafman, Morrison & Foerster LLP, Silicon Genesis Corporation (as General Counsel and Vice-President, Corporate Development), and O2 Micro, Inc. (as General Counsel).

He has extensive patent prosecution and litigation experience, having overseen the prosecution of dozens of domestic and international filings and led successful trial teams in multiple cases, including invalidation of competitor’s patent in crucial “bet the company” litigation (Soitec v. Silicon Genesis Corporation, D. Mass).

While at O2 Micro, he led trial teams in four successful jury trials obtaining verdict of willful trade secrets misappropriation, invalidation of all asserted claims of major competitor’s patents and noninfringement of all asserted claims (O2 Micro International Ltd. v. Monolithic Power Systems, Inc., N.D. CA), obtaining verdict of willful infringement and Court award of attorneys’ fees (O2 Micro International Ltd. v. Taiwan Sumida Electronics, Inc., E.D. TX), obtaining verdict of willful infringement (O2 Micro International Ltd. v. Beyond Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. et. al., E.D. TX) and obtaining favorable settlement on the last day of trial (O2 Micro International Ltd. v. Rohm Co., Ltd.).

As both an outside counsel and in-house attorney, he has advised on M&A, Securities, and implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. He has represented venture capital firms and issuers in over 40 venture capital and private placement transactions, led the securities team in the initial public offering of O2 Micro International Ltd. on Nasdaq, and represented underwriters in public offerings involving Siebel Corporation (Nasdaq: SEBL) and Credence Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: CMOS).

He received his JD from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1993, and is BS with Distinction in both Electrical and Engineering and Materials Science from the Cornell University, College of Engineering in 1987. He was admitted as a Member of the State Bar of California, December in 1993 (No. 168,913), registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (No. 38,225), and admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

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Sabrina David, Patent Scientist