Nicholas Mourlas, Senior Director, New Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation (Moderator)

Nick is Senior Director, New Ventures at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, California. In this role, he focuses on medical device innovation in support of the general surgery, orthopedics, and cardiology businesses. His charge is to identify licensing, collaboration, and investment opportunities highly aligned with Johnson & Johnson business strategies by building relationships with entrepreneurs, venture investors, and key opinion leaders. Previously, Nick served as PARC’s Director of Global Healthcare Innovation and as the Xerox Innovation Group’s Healthcare Program Manager. His focus was on developing and executing a high-impact innovation strategy that aligned with the long-term roadmap of the Xerox healthcare businesses by identifying and understanding emerging trends in healthcare and technology. Nick’s start-up experience includes founding companies in orthopedics, cardiology, and radiation oncology. He was the CEO of Tarsus Medical – acquired by Integra LifeSciences (IART), and Acumen Medical – acquired by Medtronic (MDT). Nick holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University where he was the John B. Simpson Biomedical Innovation Technology Fellow in the inaugural year of Stanford’s Biodesign Fellowship Program. He also received his AB in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College and a BE from Dartmouth’s Thayer School.  

Juan Cueva, Senior Associate, 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.

Ben Evans, Managing Director, InHealth Ventures

Dr Ben Evans is the Managing Director of InHealth Ventures, a $50m early stage fund dedicated to investing in innovative technologies and services with the potential to transform health outcomes in the UK, Europe and the US. They back founders who are on a mission to solve painful, pervasive healthcare challenges and support ideas that increase access to care, improve clinical outcomes and reduce the financial burden associated with treatment. Ben originally trained as an NHS Trauma & Orthopaedics surgeon, working on the frontlines of healthcare for many years before finding himself increasingly interested in the potential of tech and innovation in healthcare and moving into the investment space.

Miles Gerson, Partner, Takeda Ventures

Miles Gerson joined Takeda Ventures, Inc. (TVI) in April 2020, as a Partner, and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He brings more than 15 years of experience in life science venture investing, business development, licensing, technology transfer, and corporate engagement for innovation. He has specialized in company formation and investment diligence for both US and European-based venture firms and has served as strategic advisor to startup executives and board members. He has held multiple operational roles spanning founding management, head of finance, business development, and legal for venture-backed and publicly traded companies, and previously served as UCLA’s Managing Officer of Business Development, focusing on expanding commercialization of UCLA’s novel technologies, licensing, and engaging industry for external innovation, spin-outs, and collaborations. Miles holds both a Bachelor and Master Degree’s in Neuroscience from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and a JD/MBA in Strategic Management in Life & Engineering Sciences from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Ashley Ng, Director, McKesson Ventures

Ashley is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing investment opportunities and supporting portfolio management. She brings nearly a decade of experience working with innovative healthcare services and technology companies as an investor and operator. Before joining McKesson Ventures, Ashley was at IBM Watson Health in New York, where she focused on commercializing emerging cognitive technologies in new markets.

Prior to that, Ashley was at Sterling Partners, a middle-market private equity firm, where she focused on investing in healthcare services businesses. Ashley began her career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank. Ashley earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and BS from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Originally hailing from Chicago, Ashley is enjoying being able to be outdoors for all four seasons and spends her weekends searching for the perfect slice of pizza while riding up the leaderboard on Peloton.

Richard Proscia, Senior Associate, Providence Ventures

Richard joined PV in 2019 as a Senior Associate. Prior to joining PV, he sat on the corporate innovation and development team at CVS Health, focused on digital health strategy, partnerships, and investments. Before CVS, Richard spent time on the corporate venture capital and development team at Athenahealth, where he focused on early stage investing, acquisitions, and partnerships for the More Disruption Please program. In his spare time, he also serves as an Advisor for TMCx, the Texas Medical Center Accelerator program and the MassChallenge HealthTech program. Richard is a graduate of Bentley University with a Bachelor’s of Science in finance and accounting.