LATAM Medtech Leaders

Robert serves as the CEO for medAppraise Inc., a health technology startup focused on transforming the health and wellness of employees in large industrial corporations through the use of a state-of-the-art musculoskeletal health evaluation solution. In addition, Robert currently serves as president of RNB Ventures Consulting Inc, which is a medical device/technology consultancy firm. RNB Ventures Consulting aim is to provide medical/clinical affairs consulting expertise to medical device and IVD manufacturers on medical risk determinations and pre-submission expertise for new IVD assays. Prior to that, Robert served in medical leadership roles at Becton Dickinson in the Corporate Clinical Development organization; at Abbott Laboratories Molecular Diagnostics division, GE Healthcare – Lifecare Solutions and Hospira. Robert graduated with a Doctor of Medicine from Rosalind Franklin University/The Chicago Medical School, completed residency training in emergency medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI (served as Chief Resident) and graduated with a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame. Robert holds an active license to practice medicine in the United States.

Ram is a serial entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical and device industry. Ramgopal is Inventor, Founder, and Chief Executive Officer of LensGen, Inc., a clinical-stage medical device company that is developing a novel intraocular lens for presbyopia. The Company has received support from one of the largest medical device companies in the world, and this led to LensGen closing a $28.0 million Series A Financing in May 2018.Currently, he is also Chairman of the Board of 2C Tech Corporation, Inc., an emerging medical device company that is developing a novel nanotechnology application for preservation of vision for patients with degenerative retinal diseases. 2C Tech Completed Series B Financing in 2016 and 2019.Ram co-developed an innovative corneal implant device for presbyopia and licensed the technology to (venture funded) Acufocus, Inc. The company is now commercializing the product on a global scale.Prior to that, Ram founded Tomey Technology Inc., which pioneered the corneal topography imaging technology that is now a standard of care in eye care for LASIK and cataract surgery. This joint venture company was acquired by Tomey Corporation of Japan.

Laura Minarsch, R.T. RCIS, CVT, is a senior clinical affairs strategist and President of MMC Medical International Services. She consults for several novel innovative device companies in the MedTech space and has facilitated numerous acquisitions over her career spanning more than 25 years. Her track record is based on successful and strategically planned “First in Human” submissions and clinical studies in Europe, Canada, South America, New Zealand, and Australia. She has been instrumental in defining key scientific relationships with opinion leaders and strategic partners. Additionally, she has achieved several record critical project timelines resulting in optimized operations and realized corporate objectives.Laura began her career as a Registered Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist, and Interventional Cardiovascular Specialist implementing several first interventional device programs in Europe. Laura has served as a Principal Clinical Affairs Advisor of several medical device companies acquired by Covidien, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson Interventional Systems. 

Guy Vinograd is CEO at bio-T, a seasoned high-tech executive and an expert software architect of cloud platforms for medical devices. As an industry leader he is a popular speaker and the organizer of the meet-up group: Smart IoMT Product Experts of Israel.Guy has co-founded bio-T, the first and leading medical IoT cloud platform designed to enable medical device vendors to fully realize the potential of the data collected by their devices.Guy is considered a leading expert of Amazon Web Services and a creator of best practices for efficient software development in the cloud.

Dr. Aklog is an adult heart surgeon/entrepreneur and Chairman & CEO of PAVmed Inc. (Nasdaq: PAVM), a multi-product medical device company which he co-founded based in 2014 on a portfolio of five of his own inventions. He previously co-founded Pavilion Holdings Group LLC which created four medical device companies including venture-backed Vortex Medical which developed and commercialized his life- saving invention AngioVac® and was sold in 2012 to Angiodynamics (Nasdaq: ANGO).Dr. Aklog received his AB from Harvard College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude in Physics and his MD, cum laude, from Harvard Medical School. He completed his general and cardiothoracic surgical training along with a laboratory research fellowship under Dr. Lawrence H. Cohn at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, serving as Chief Resident in Cardiac Surgery at both institutions.Throughout his career Dr. Aklog has been deeply involved in medical device innovation, serving on the advisory boards of many leading medical device companies, including Guidant, Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, and startups. 

James F. Jordan is President/CEO at Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and a healthcare professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Jordan is an accomplished Fortune 20-level executive with strong experience in the industry, consulting, and academia and is a recognized expert in market development and guiding the successful formation of entrepreneurial start-up businesses in the life sciences and healthcare industries. Prior to joining the PLSG, Mr. Jordan served as Senior Vice President of a $3 billion division of McKesson Corporation and at Johnson & Johnson. He has leveraged this experience in several startup ventures and is active on several boards of directors. His experience also includes consulting engagements with numerous companies, including Medtronic, Frost & Sullivan, and Otsuka Pharmaceutical.Most recently, Mr. Jordan published his second book, The Intellectual Property Pyramid Assessment: A Novel Method for Creating a Sustainable Competitive Advantage. This is a complement to his first book, Innovation, Commercialization, and Start-Ups in Life Sciences, which provides expert guidance for start-up life sciences companies, from initiation to exit. His third book, to be published in 2019, is titled, Health Systems: an Overview. This book details the U.S. healthcare system, market, and business models.

Luis is the CEO and Founder of Theradaptive and developed the concept for targeted therapeutic delivery during and following a combat tour in Iraq where several of his soldiers suffered severe extremity injuries. Previously, Luis was the co-founding Deputy Director of the Department of Defense Regenerative Medicine Program and led the department's largest recombinant biologics program through Phase II. Luis was a DARPA Service Chief Fellow and Academy Professor at the United States Military Academy, West Point. Luis received his PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow.

Etienne Nichols is a Medical Device Guru and Mechanical Engineer who loves learning and teaching how systems work together. He has manufacturing and product development experience, even aiding in developing combination drug-delivery devices, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Etienne has managed cross-functional teams for updating legacy products as well as developing new medical devices. His expansive knowledge, experience, and passion for medical devices are evenly matched with how much he enjoys helping customers work efficiently through the design and development process to bring safe, high-quality products to market.

Ruben is the CEO of Alandra Medical. He has dual qualifications in engineering and technology entrepreneurship combined with 16 years of experience in medical device development. Self-motivation, adaptability, trainability, and entrepreneurial drive are his key tools for achieving personal and business goals. Ruben started his career developing hardware and software for medical devices, spending countless hours reading scientific papers, twitching circuits, refining algorithms, and preparing technical reports to deliver products right on time. In a nutshell, his experience as an engineer revolves around developing Class I and II active and sterile medical devices (bio-instrumentation and software); this includes defining design inputs and producing design outputs following state-of-the-art industry standards such as ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IEC 62304 and the IEC 60601 series.

Ernesto has 27 years of experience leading healthcare strategies to drive access and expansion for new products, developing value propositions for public and private stakeholders, and assessing global market opportunities for healthcare companies. He has worked for both government agencies and global healthcare companies in roles ranging from strategic marketing and new product development to health economics and reimbursement. Also, Ernesto led several Market Access projects across the US, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East; Ernesto is the CEO and Founder of ValueConnected.Ernesto also coordinates the ValueConnected team in applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science to address significant unmet needs in healthcare, accelerating the adoption rate of medical technologies that can generate value for patients, payers, and providers. He holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, US, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fundação Armando Ávares Penteado(FAAP), in São Paulo, Brazil.

Dr. Antonio Trujillo is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Health with expertise in health economics, the economics of aging, and applied econometrics. Antonio is the co-director of the Master of Health Science (MHS) in Global Health Economics degree program. He teaches an advanced econometrics course on program impact evaluation using observational data and a course on behavioral economics and public health.

Carlos Medina is a Medical Doctor who works with health technology professionals to help them make the best technology for patient care available across Latin America. Carlos has witnessed the many benefits and risks that come with applying technology to solve health problems and is dedicated to helping others follow the best practices available and avoid the missteps that can derail their health technology problems. He has had the privilege to work with local and international companies across most countries in Latin America, helping them to achieve multi-million sales results and establish lasting and efficient global-local collaborations. He is a Licensed Medical Doctor in Mexico City. He is working on finishing his Master's degree in Information Technology for Healthcare while leading the Medical Devices workgroup of the Mexican HealthTech Association.

Yoku Sashida is the CEO & Co-Founder at Kenko Solutions, a company dedicated to managing and developing biomedical projects based on technology. He is responsible for opening economic relationships, capturing technology-based projects, forming work teams to carry out technological development, and administrative and financial accounting. The first product of its own is ecglove, the wearable able to determine the state of the heart in less than 60 seconds.

Luis Santiago is PEGASI's CEO and CTO. By training, he is a social communicator and marketing and public relations professor. By profession, he is a self-taught programmer, technology project manager, and Product Owner, with more than 14 years of experience in the area. He has ventured into banking, IT, and Digital Health. Luis was recognized in 2016 as one of the Young Leaders of the Americas by the American State Department, and in 2020 as one of the 35 Innovators under 35 in Latin America by the MIT Technology Review magazine. He has participated in dozens of international forums and events pointing out the importance of Healthcare digitalization in Latin America.

Dave is the Co-Founder & Executive Chairman at MultiFunctional Imaging, a University of Utah startup company that provides software solutions for improving the efficiency and accessibility of multi-tracer imaging with PET, PET/CT, and PET/MRI scanners. Dolan’s career has been built on successes centering around the commercialization and customer adoption of innovative MedTech products/services. Spanning from Fortune 500 corporations through startups, businesses have benefitted from his track record of success in turning medical device innovation into record growth, high market share, and attractive market valuations. He is a trusted business leader who draws upon an analytical and data-driven approach with KOLs, advising boards of directors, investors, C-level executives, and other stakeholders in identifying and capitalizing on opportunities to advance each organization’s strategic vision.

Josh Cohn has 15 years of experience in the medical device field, rising to National Sales Director of PENTAX Medical, a major endoscope provider. He has a strong history of leading successful sales organizations, building winning strategies, and launching disruptive programs aimed at changing marketplace conventions. As product champion and strategist for all EUS sales, he has attended hundreds of procedures and has established relationships with key opinion leaders, hospital and ASC administrators, and device distributors. In his current role as CCO, Josh will be responsible for the pre-and post-commercialization Sales and Marketing strategy designed to ensure the integrated commercial success of the organization.

Mr. Bigio is a professor in the biomedical engineering department, responsible for the Senior Capstone Design project. Currently, he is also serving as the department head. He comes to the university after having spent 30 years of professional experience working for large multinationals in different parts of the world, including the development of high technology start-ups in Silicon Valley, commercialization of technology used in large infrastructure projects, and coordinating strategic projects for a multinational consortium. Mr. Bigio clearly understands current challenges and opportunities in the biomedical engineering field. He is very focused on improving the education and skills of graduates in order to provide companies with better employees. He has been working with the Biomedical engineering students during their senior capstone design project to address two important aspects of their education; help them improve on the ‘soft’ skills that future employers expect from them, and also teach them about how to become entrepreneurs to give them employability alternatives and promote a much-needed activity in our country.

Widy is the Co-Founder and CEO of two technology companies with vast experience ranging from robotics, product design, fabrication, and automation to the electronic assembly of consumer products, food and beverage tech, biotech, medical devices, and pharmaceutical industries. Widy spent 40+ years living in Puerto Rico, and 20+ supporting pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies with a presence in multiple Latin American locations. He led an automation firm that exposed him to FDA regulations, manufacturing, and compliance during that time. Today, he leads a medical device company with a unique RPM product to capture biomarkers and allow those to be maintained in a safe digital format for exchange with healthcare professionals or as a personal health tracking system.

Mauricio A. Berdugo, MD, MPH, is currently the Director of Medical Affairs at Humacyte, Inc. Mauricio has worked in different capacities within the CRO, pharma, diagnostics, and biotech industries in the USA and globally, including Latin America, Europe, and Asia over the past 9 years.  His clinical and academic research stems from HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, renal disease, and orthopedic spine surgery. Mauricio graduated from medical school at the Universidad Evangelica de El Salvador, completed his Master of Public Health degree from Kaplan University, and he is currently pursuing a Fellowship with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

James has more than 25 years of medical device experience and is currently the CEO of Conformal Medical. Prior to joining Conformal, he led Saranas and private companies such as Drawbridge Health, and Aptus Endosystems as their President, CEO, and member of the board of directors. He held a similar role at the publicly traded medical laser company, Cutera from 2017 to 2019. He was part of the management team that led the turn-around at Cyberonics where he was the EVP & Chief Commercial Officer. James spent 17 years at Boston Scientific in various roles and functions including business development, marketing, and general management. Most of his career at Boston Scientific was spent working and living in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Additionally, Mr. Reinstein has served as a board director for several medical companies, including publicly traded Mainstay Medical in Dublin, Ireland, Pixium-Vision based in Paris, France, and Monteris Medical a privately held company located in Minnesota. James began his professional career with Proctor & Gamble after earning his Bachelor of Arts in Marketing (BA) degree from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia in Athens. He also completed graduate studies at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.