Speaker Biographies
James Arps, PhD, Director, ProMed Pharma, LLC
Jim has over 20 years of experience managing product development and commercialization of medical devices, advanced coatings, and drug delivery technology. He has worked with both industry and academic partners, guiding products through all stages of development from conceptualization through to customer release. At ProMed Pharma, he oversees program development activities for polymer-based drug releasing implants and combination device components. He works with a team of engineers to develop new drug delivery vehicles as well as robust manufacturing processes and platforms for controlled release of drugs from a variety of materials for applications in cardiovascular, women’s health, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology. He has a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Vanderbilt University and an M.S. in Management of Technology from the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Andy Behr, Technology Manager, Electronic Materials Business, Panasonic
Andy Behr is a Technology Manager with Panasonic Electronic Materials. He leads a Silicon Valley based research and marketing team responsible for developing and launching leading-edge electronic materials. His team also conducts technology and business scouting which involves “triangulating” strategic level market demands, business drivers and technology advancements to anticipate unmet needs for enabling materials. Andy holds a bachelor of biology degree and a master of business administration degree. He has more than twenty years of experience in material technologies such as photoresists, adhesives, encapsulants, conductive materials, fluoro-chemicals, abrasives, films and tapes. Andy began his career in research and has subsequently held positions in marketing and leadership.
Eckardt Bihler, PhD, Business Development Manager, Dyconex, Switzerland
Dr. Eckardt Bihler,graduated with a PhD in solid state physics from the University of Stuttgart in 1990. In his 25 year career in the microelectronics industry he collected considerable experience in ceramic and organic packaging, semiconductor design and printed circuit board processing technologies. Since five years he works for Dyconex AG, a speciality flex PCB shop in Switzerland, as a business development manager. His special interests are with LCP and its use for any kind of miniaturized medical electronic devices.
Mark Buccini, Director, Business Unit Strategy, Texas Instruments
Mark E. Buccini is responsible for advanced product platform architecture, strategy and execution as a staff member at Texas Instruments supporting the company’s Kilby Research Labs. He has 32 years' practical experience that spans a range of ultra-low power application areas including, energy harvesting, personal medical devices, human machine interface, energy metering, smart grid, wireless sensor networks, intelligent motor drives and voice recognition. In addition to strategic responsibilities for TI, Mark has authored over 100 article and papers that have been published around world including in the Wall Street Journal, Dallas Business Journal, IEEE, EDN, APEC, ESC, Sensors Expo and even Nuts and Volts among many others. The technical workshops he has authored have been delivered live to over 20,000 engineers worldwide.Mark lives in Allen, Texas, is married with two children and has a Bachelor's of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan.
Ahmed Busnaina, PhD, William Lincoln Smith Professor, Distinguished University Professor and Director, NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing, Northeastern University
Ahmed A. Busnaina, Ph.D. is the William Lincoln Smith Chair Professor and Director of NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing and the NSF Center for Nano and Microcontamination Control at Northeastern University, Boston, MA. He specializes in Nanoscale defects removal, mitigation and characterization, chemical and particulate contamination in semiconductor processes and in the fabrication of micro and nanoscale structures. He authored more than 300 papers in journals, proceedings and conferences. He serves on the editorial advisory board of the Semiconductor International Magazine, the Journal of Particulate Science and Technology and the Journal of Environmental Sciences. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Adhesion Society, a Fulbright Senior Scholar in addition to numerous listings in Who's Who (in the World, in America, in science and engineering, etc.).
Aida Ebrahimi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, Penn State University
Aida Ebrahimi received her BSc and MSc degrees from University of Tehran, Iran, and PhD degree from Purdue University, all in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Since 2017, Ebrahimi has been an Assistant Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering and an IGDP faculty of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. Prof. Ebrahimi’s research interests include point-of-care platforms for healthcare and environmental monitoring, study/functionalization/application of 2D materials for biochemical sensing, and study of cellular biophysics using lab-on-chip platforms. Ebrahimi is a recipient of the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship Award, Rising Star in EECS, and Meissner Fellowship Award. She is a member of the IEEE Electron Device Society (EDS), the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and the American Physical Society (APS).
Lisa Friedersdorf, Director, National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, National Nanotechnology Initiative
Dr. Lisa Friedersdorf is the Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office. She has been involved in nanotechnology for over twenty-five years, with a particular interest in advancing technology commercialization through university-industry-government collaboration. She is a strong advocate for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and has over two decades of experience teaching at both the university and high school levels. While at the NNCO, Lisa has focused on building community and enhancing communication in a variety of ways. With respect to coordinating research and development, her efforts have focused on the Nanotechnology Signature Initiatives in areas including nanoelectronics, nanomanufacturing, informatics, sensors, and water. A variety of mechanisms have been used to strengthen collaboration and communication among agency members, academic researchers, industry representatives, and other private sector entities, as appropriate, to advance the research goals in these important areas. Lisa has also led the establishment of a suite of education and outreach activities reaching millions of students, teachers, and the broader public. She continues to expand the use of targeted networks to bring people together in specific areas of interest, including the Nano and Emerging Technologies Student Network and the U.S.-EU Communities of Research focused on the environmental, health, and safety aspects of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology entrepreneurship and nanomedicine are areas where new communities of interest are developing. Prior to joining the NNCO, Lisa served in a number of roles at the intersection of academia, industry, and government. At Lehigh University, Lisa served as the associate director of the Materials Research Center and director of the industry liaison program. In this role, she oversaw dozens of membership programs and was responsible for developing and coordinating multi-investigator interdisciplinary research programs including a multimillion-dollar public-private partnership in microelectronics. As director of the Virginia Nanotechnology Initiative, she led an alliance of academic institutions, industry, and government laboratories with an interest in nanotechnology across the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the University of Virginia, she served as managing director of the nanoSTAR Institute and led the development of pan-university initiatives as a program manager in the Office of the Vice President for Research. Additionally, Lisa has been active in the start-up ecosystem assisting small companies with business development and access to resources and as an advisor to vet emerging technologies for investors. Lisa earned her PhD and MSE in Materials Science and Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central Florida.
Paul Galvin, PhD, Head of ICT for Health Strategic Programmes and Head of Life Sciences Interface Group, Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork
Dr Paul GALVIN is Head of the ICT for Health Strategic Programmes and Head of the Life Sciences Interface Group at the Tyndall National Institute, where he drives an “ABC ecosystem” through collaborations with leading academic researchers, global leaders in the medtech and pharma industries, and with clinical experts. This ensures that the Tyndall ICT for Health research programmes deliver real impact in terms of clinical utility and commercial opportunity, through novel solutions for diagnostics, connected health, drug delivery systems, cardio and neural recording and modulation, and minimally invasive surgery. Dr Galvin has led several multidisciplinary national and international research projects which leverage nano and ICT solutions for challenges in healthcare. Dr Galvin is a funded investigator in the Science Foundation Ireland Insight Centre for Big Data Analytics, currently Chair of the Medical Devices Working Group in the European Technology Platform for Nanomedicine, leader of the Working Group on Health Monitoring Sensors within the European Sensor Systems Cluster, and a member of the ESTHER (Emerging and Strategic Technologies for HEalthcaRe) Task Force. working with the European Commission and Medtech Europe, towards a new 'Industry Driven Initiative' for stimulating innovation in Healthcare in Europe. He also has an extensive track record of multidisciplinary research which has been funded by national, EC and industry programmes worth in excess of €7m. He has published research articles in leading international peer-reviewed journals across a range of scientific disciplines
Ray Huang, Principal Engineer, Exponent
Ray Huang is the General Manager of Exponent Hong Kong. His expertise is in product liability, intellectual property, emerging technology due-diligence, and technology dispute resolution. He has worked in Europe, Asia and North America advising industrial and legal clients with a focus on devising strategic plans to address technical risks involving safety, quality, compliance, and reliability for hardware and software in TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications) and consumer electronics space. He also specializes in conducting United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) product recall investigations and establishing proactive testing, risk management, safety, quality and reliability programs for companies around the world.
Joonso Jeong, PhD, Professor, Pusan National University, Korea
Joonsoo Jeong received B.S. and Ph.D. from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Seoul National University, Korea, in 2009 and 2015, respectively, where he has worked for polymer-based retinal implant. He was a postdoctoral associate in Brown university from 2016 to 2016 in Nurmikko group for the next-generation BMI project, "Neurograin". He has recently joined as a assistant professor in Pusan National University.
Farah Laiwalla, MD, PhD, Senior Research Associate, Neuroengineering and Nanophotonics Laboratory, Brown University
Farah Laiwalla M.D./Ph.D is a Senior Research Associate at the Brown University School of Engineering. She has a B.S in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Lafayette College, and an M.D and Ph.D in Biomedical engineering from Brown University. She has over fifteen years of experience in microelectronics design for biomedical applications and translation of neurotechnologies, and her current research focuses on the design of microscale sensors for next generation wireless implantable brain computer interfaces.
Mehran Mehregany, PhD, Veale Professor of Wireless Health Innovation, Director, Case School of Engineering San Diego, Case Western Reserve University
Mehran Mehregany is an innovator, researcher, educator, and an entrepreneur. He has founded, financed and managed a number of technology startups since 1990. He is also a visionary of ‘open innovation’ and founder of NineSigma, Inc., a leading global provider of open innovation solutions and a forerunner of the field. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986 and 1990, respectively. He joined Case Western Reserve University in 1990 as an assistant professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1994 and full professor in 1997. He is currently the Founding Director of Case School of Engineering San Diego, where he has developed and launched graduate programs in wireless health and wearable computing in 2011 and 2014, respectively. He holds the Veale Professor of Wireless Health Innovation endowed chair, and previously held the Goodrich (2000-2015) and the George S. Dively (1997-2000) endowed chairs. He has a secondary appointment in the Biomedical Engineering Department. Mehregany is well known for research, education and commercialization in his areas of interest. He has 400+ publications describing his work, holds 28 U.S. patents and is the recipient of a number of awards/honors. He is the editor of the first Wireless Health textbook titled “Wireless Health: Remaking of Medicine by Pervasive Technologies” (2014) and the author of the book titled “Innovation for Engineers” (2017).
Deborah Munro, PhD, Adjunct Faculty, OHSU Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation, Oregon Health and Science University; Biomedical Engineering Research Consultant, Munro Medical, LLC
Dr. Deborah Munro is the President of Munro Medical, a biomedical research and consulting firm in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has worked in the orthopaedic medical device field for almost 20 years and holds numerous patents, mostly in the area of MEMS sensors for spinal fusion. She taught mechanical and biomedical engineering at the University of Portland for eight years, and she is now at the University of Canterbury, where she is developing a minor in medical engineering and pursuing research. Her current interests include developing new medical device and sensor solutions for companies and assisting them in their regulatory compliance efforts.
John Murad, Point-of-Care Director, Director, U.S. Marketing, Abbott
John has over 20 years of executive experience in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Laboratory Diagnostic businesses with Abbott and P&G. He has consistently demonstrated the ability to develop, motivate, coach, maximizing opportunities while achieving critical business goals and objectives. John has successfully implemented marketing strategies and led effective teams to maximize business objectives. He had led sales and marketing teams for billion dollar brands and has led consumer based value-add programs to drive patient satisfaction and compliance.
Valery Petrenko, PhD, Professor, Pathobiology, Auburn University
Valery A. Petrenko, Professor in Auburn University; graduated from Moscow State University, U.S.S.R (1972); received PhD and D.Sc. degrees in chemistry from the Zelinski Institute of Organic Chemistry (1976) and Moscow State University (1988), Ranks of Senior Scientist (1984) and Professor in Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Biology (1992). He served as Senior Scientist (1977-1982), Laboratory Head (1982-1985), Associate Director of Research, Institute Director (1985-1989), Vice President of Research and Professor (1989-1993) in the Association “Vector” (Novosibirsk, Russia). In 1993 he joined the faculty of University of Missouri-Columbia as Visiting and Research Professor, and in 2000—the faculty of Auburn University as Professor. He is recipient (PI) of grants from the ARO, DARPA, NIH-NCI, Calvert Research, LLC, and AURIC. He is recipient of the Pfizer Animal Health Awards for Research Excellence (2006, 2011), Auburn University's Scholarship Incentive Award (2014), Auburn President's Outstanding Collaborative Units Award in Pharmaceutical Engineering. He is member of National Academy of Inventors Chapter (2013), Auburn University Research Initiative in Cancer (AURIC), National Cancer Institute (NCI) Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer (2009) and Phi Zeta Honor Society of Veterinary Medicine. His research interests include monitoring and detection of biological threats, diagnosis of infectious and cancer diseases and tumor targeting.
Ronen Polsky, PhD, Principal Member of the Technical Staff, Physical Biological & Chemical Microsensors Department, Sandia National Laboratories
Dr. Polsky is a Principal Member of Technical Staff in the Department of Micro and NanoSensors at Sandia National laboratories with extensive expertise in biosensors and bioelectronics, surface chemistry, advanced fabrication, and novel nanomaterials. Current activities focus on the use microneedles as transdermal sensors to monitor health and human performance sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Radislav A. Potyrailo, PhD, Material Characterization & Chemical Sensing, GE Global Research Center
Radislav Potyrailo is a Principal Scientist at GE Global Research leading the growth of GE’s wireless, wearable, and industrial chemical and biological sensing technologies for diverse applications. He holds MS in Optoelectronics (Kiev Polytechnic Institute) and PhD in Analytical Chemistry (Indiana University). He has been leading programs on inventing sensing systems and bringing them from lab feasibility studies, to field validation, and to commercialization. Radislav has been Principal Investigator on programs funded by AFRL, DARPA, DHS, NETL, NIH, NIOSH, and TSWG. He delivered 80+ invited and 10 keynote lectures, has 115+ granted U.S. Patents and 150+ publications.
Cliff Raskind, Senior Director, Smart Devices & IoT, Strategy Analytics, Inc.
Cliff Raskind draws on over two decades in wireless, mobility and IT to help Strategy Analytics’ clients win and succeed. His primary responsibilities encompass analyzing, tracking and forecasting the transformation of the smart device and IoT markets. Cliff also guides clients across the ICT spectrum to better anticipate key strategic issues and separate hype from reality with respect to potentially disruptive technologies and business models. His insights and recommendations rely on deep analyst and industry-side experience working with device vendors, operators and a wide range of b2b and b2c solution providers. Cliff was an early member of SA’s Global Wireless Practice from 1999 to 2007, returning to the company in 2015 after working for Nokia where he ultimately led their Device Intelligence group on a global basis. He later joined Nokia’s HERE location unit leading KPIs and strategic target setting for the Map Platform Group. Prior to originally joining SA he was a Product Marketing Manager for EDS specializing in cellular billing systems. Cliff holds a B.S. in Business Management with a concentration in Finance from Northeastern University, where he graduated with honors.
Reza Sehdehi, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Reza is a doctoral candidate at The University of Auckland (UoA). He received an engineering undergraduate degree, specialising in electronics, power electronics and wireless power transfer from the UoA. Reza has experience working for a number of companies including Apple NZ (Formerly known as PowerbyProxi), 3iinnovation (wirelessly powered lighting products) and TruTest Group (wirelessly powered fence energisers). He is currently working on powering miniaturised biomedical implants at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. His research focuses on discovering the opportunities that capacitive power transfer (CPT) has to offer with regards to biomedical applications.
Rohan Sonawane, MD, Clinical Manager, Diabetes, Medtronic
Dr. Rohan Sonawane is currently the Clinical Marketing Manager at Medtronic, in the diabetes healthcare segment. He is a physician and MBA by background and has over 10 years of experience in the healthcare industry, across various domains such as medical education, medico-marketing, strategy, product launches and global marketing. He is currently leading the US projects and supporting OUS teams in effective integration of Medtronic’s CGM and insulin pump devices in the clinical trials for better, faster and more economical outcomes. He has also worked with big pharma, CRO, genetics and bariatric groups to offer them effective solutions for their clinical trials.
Larry Stevens, Senior Regulatory and Quality Consultant, The FDA Group, LLC; Principal, One Way Consultants, LLC
Mr. Stevens has over 20 years of FDA experience encompassing virtually all of the FDA field positions. He also has eighteen years of industry experience as a mid-level manager and senior executive in clinical, regulatory, and quality in the medical device industry. He has personally designed quality systems, prepared regulatory submissions (510(k), IDE and PMA) and managed 7 multi-center clinical trials for class 3 medical devices. From 1989-1993, was the Industry Representative on the FDA Circulatory Systems panel which reviewed over 30 PMA clinical studies for cardiovascular device. He currently serves as an expert witness for cases involving FDA regulation compliance for medical devices. He regularly performs webinars regarding FDA and issues regarding clinical studies and medical devices. Finally, he is a seasoned educator/speaker with over 250 public presentations to audiences ranging from senior executives, physicians, technical personnel, other medical personnel, major media, and the general public.
Joseph Wang, PhD, SAIC Endowed Chair, Distinguished Professor, Chair of Nanoengineering Department, University of California, San Diego
Dr. Wang is SAIC Endowed Chair, Distinguished Professor, Director of the UCSD Center of Wearable Sensors, and Chair of the Department of Nanoengineering at University of California, San Diego. Prof. Wang's research interests include nanomotors and nanorobots, nanomedicine, wearable on-body sensors and biofuel cells, flexible and stretchable materials, bioelectronic detection of proteins and nucleic acids, management of diabetes, remote sensing, the development of techniques for ultra trace measurements and of on-line flow detectors. He has authored over 1000 research papers (h-index 121), 35 patents, 40 chapters and 12 books. Prof. Wang has presented more than 300 invited and plenary lectures and has been awarded many prestigious international awards. He is currently serving as the Chief-Editor of the international journal Electroanalysis and has served on the Editorial Board of several major international journals.
Juan Manuel Artés Vivancos, PhD, Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, Biophysics Photosynthesis & Energy en Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam/VU
Juan M. Artes Vivancos obtained his Ph.D. in biotechnology from the University of Barcelona doing research in single-molecule bioelectronics and electrochemistry. He did a postdoc in the University of California Davis, developing new methods for the electrical detection of oligonucleotides using nanoscience tools. In a second postdoctoral experience funded by the European Research Council, he explored new spectroscopy methods for the study of ultrafast biophysical phenomena, such as photosynthesis. From September 2018, he has joined the chemistry department at UMass Lowell as an assistant professor, researching biophysics and new sensors for a variety of applications. He has contributed 20 publications that have received more than 450 citations.
Vaibhav Vohra, Vice President and Head of Product Management, SAP Digital Interconnect, SAP
Vaibhav Vohra is the Vice President and Head of Product Management for SAP Digital Interconnect. He has launched award winning IoT and other Cloud products at SAP to simplify the connection of enterprises and the last mile. The mission of SAP Digital Interconnect is to connect everyone, everything, everywhere. Prior to that, he was involved in portfolio and strategy management for SAP’s innovation group. Before that, he worked in the aerospace design field.