Gary Gershony, Partner BayMed Venture Partners (Moderator)

Gary Gershony, MD, FACC, FSCAI, FAHA, FRCPC: Medical/Academic Career – Dr. Gershony grew up in Toronto, Canada and attended the University of Toronto where he graduated from medical school at age 23. He continued his training in internal medicine and general cardiology at the University of Toronto where he also served as Chief Medical Resident. Dr. Gershony subsequently completed a fellowship in interventional cardiology at Emory University under the auspices of Dr. Andreas Grüntzig, the inventor of coronary and peripheral angioplasty. From 1993-1997 Dr. Gershony was Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories and Interventional Cardiology at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center. Since 1999 he has practiced interventional cardiology at John Muir Cardiovascular Institute in the San Francisco Bay Area where he is currently the Director of Cardiovascular Research, Education and Technology, and founded a successful Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) program. Dr. Gershony’s research interests include novel devices for complex coronary and peripheral angioplasty, transcatheter valve therapies and local drug-delivery to prevent restenosis. He has participated in numerous multi-center clinical trials as a Principal Investigator. Dr. Gershony is board certified in general cardiology and interventional cardiology and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the Royal College of Physicians, the American Heart Association and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. Dr. Gershony has authored over 100 manuscripts and abstracts in the field of cardiology and is a regularly invited faculty lecturer to the preeminent U.S. and international interventional cardiology meetings. Medical Device Innovation and Industry Career – Dr. Gershony was the Founder of Vascular Solutions, which had a successful IPO in 2000, and for which he served as Chief Medical Officer and a member of the Board of Directors from 1996-2002. Dr. Gershony was the principal inventor of the Duett™ Vascular Sealing Device manufactured by Vascular Solutions. Dr. Gershony was also the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of AngioScore, a medical device company devoted to developing unique angioplasty scoring balloon catheters to address a variety of important clinical needs during coronary and peripheral interventional procedures. He was a member of the senior management team from 2003 until AngioScore’s successful acquisition in 2014. Dr. Gershony has served on the adjunct faculty of the Stanford Biodesign Innovation Program. He also completed an Executive Program in finance and accounting (FANFE) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2007. Dr. Gershony is the author of 11 issued medical device patents. He has been a member of the scientific advisory board or a consultant to numerous medical device companies and venture capitalists in the Bay Area and elsewhere. Dr. Gershony is an active early stage MedTech company investor and mentor, a member of Life Science Angels Medical Device and Digital Health Committee, and a member of the Band of Angels. Dr Gershony is a founding General Partner of BayMed Venture Partners, a venture capital fund focused on maturing early stage Medical Device and Digital Health companies located in North America and Israel.

Alexandra MacLean, Principal TVM Capital Life Science

Alexandra MacLean joined TVM as a Principal in 2020. She has a broad background in business development investments in multiple therapeutic areas in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Most recently she was the Head of Licensing and Business Development at Imbrium Therapeutics. Prior to this experience, Alix held roles in the medical device industry with Plasma Surgical and Covidien. At Covidien, she worked on multiple M&A deals and venture investments to diversify the business. She began her career in the pharmaceutical industry at Merck & Co. in cardiovascular clinical development.

Alexandra (Alix) received a bachelor’s degree from McGill University and a medical degree from Columbia University. She completed her residency in general surgery at NYU Medical Center, fellowships in Trauma Surgery and Critical Care at the University of Miami Medical Center and vascular surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She also holds a MPhil from Cambridge University and a MBA from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Tak Cheung, Principal New Enterprise Associates

Tak joined NEA in 2018 as a Principal on the healthcare team. He focuses on medical device investments.

Prior to NEA, Tak was a Venture Partner at Merieux Development Venture Fund where he led all phases of investment for healthcare startups, including sourcing, diligence and investment approvals. Tak also co-founded Lexington Medical, a commercial-stage medical device startup in the gastrointestinal surgery space. Prior to Merieux and Lexington, Tak was VP of Business Development for the Global Surgical Division at Bausch & Lomb, and was responsible for all business development efforts in the ophthalmic surgical division. Tak has held various corporate and business development leadership roles at Edwards Lifesciences in the Heart Valve Therapy Division and Advanced Medical Optics (acquired by Johnson & Johnson).

Tak received a BS with Honors in Engineering and Applied Science from the California Institute of Technology, an MD from the University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Darshana Zaveri, Managing Partner Catalyst Health Ventures

Darshana Zaveri is a Managing Partner of Catalyst Health Ventures. Darshana is actively involved in all aspects of Fund Management including Investments and Capital Raising. She led Catalyst’s investments in Augmenix Inc. (Acquired by Boston Scientific, NYSE: BSX), nVision Medical (Acquired by Boston Scientific, NYSE: BSX), Maxwell Health (Acquired by Sun Life Financial, NYSE: SLF), Aria CV, Atacor Medical, Panther Therapeutix and Instylla Inc. She was also actively involved with portfolio company Allegro Diagnostics, Inc. (acquired by Veracyte, NASDAQ: VCT). She serves on the Boards of Directors of all the currently active CHV portfolio companies listed above and serves as Chair of the Board of Aria CV.

Darshana brings to Catalyst over a decade of experience in the health care and Life Science Industries. Prior to Catalyst, she was an Investigator at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and an integral part of the drug development programs in oncology, metabolic disease, and immunology. Previously she worked at Genome Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and completed an internship at the United Nations. She has authored several publications and scientific journal articles. She currently serves as a Catalyst of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as a Board Director of Tie Boston (The Indus Valley Entrepreneurs) and as a lead advisor to the Portfolia FemTech fund.

Darshana received an MPA from Harvard University, a Master in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University, and a BS in Biochemistry from Bombay University in Bombay, India.

Juan Cueva, Investor Action Potential Venture Capital

Juan Cueva is a Senior Associate with Action Potential Venture Capital in Palo Alto, CA. Juan was previously an Investment Manager with Applied Ventures, the venture arm of Applied Materials, the semiconductor equipment company. At Applied Ventures, Juan led investments in technologies at the intersection of life science and advanced material engineering. Juan served as Board Observer for Applied Ventures portfolio companies Ultivue, Exo Imaging, and Ontera.

Prior to venture capital, Juan worked in corporate development at Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals, where he identified and evaluated startups developing therapeutics to treat rare diseases. He was also an early employee at Aratome, a startup spun out of Stanford University that developed technology to map and characterize neural circuitry at the nanoscale level.

Juan received an MBA from UC Berkeley, completed postdoctoral training in Neuroscience at Stanford University, received a PhD in Neurobiology from UCLA and BS in Neuroscience in UCLA. He speaks regularly at Haas on Venture Capital. Juan volunteers with Defy Ventures, which provides business guidance to entrepreneurial incarcerated individuals and serves on the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley which grows the high-tech workforce by supporting STEM education for underrepresented primary, secondary, and college students. Juan is originally from Hacienda Heights, CA.