Trailblazing a Path of Innovation

E. Selemon Asfaw is the Chief Financial Officer at Optum Health, where he is responsible for leading the strategic financial direction for a portfolio of value-oriented health care delivery businesses. The portfolio offers direct physical and behavioral care to patients in a variety of settings and provides population health management to health plans and government agencies. Prior to this role, he was Director of Corporate Development at United Health Group and led M&A strategy and transaction execution on behalf of Optum Health. Earlier in his career, Selemon was an Investment Banker with Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the Healthcare Group in New York City, where he spent most of his time covering Biopharmaceutical clients. He completed a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Minnesota and received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Sundu Brahmasandra is an accomplished serial entrepreneur and brings more than 20 years of impressive leadership in all aspects of novel IVD product development, strategic planning, and operational management. Most recently Sundu was the COO of Strata Oncology. Prior to Strata, Sundu was the President & COO of NeuMoDx Molecular where he led the development of a multitude of molecular diagnostics assays on the revolutionary NeuMoDx 288 and NeuMoDx 96 Molecular Systems. NeuMoDx was acquired by QIAGEN in 2020. Prior to NeuMoDx Sundu co-founded HandyLab, Inc and led the development of the HandyLab Jaguar (aka BD MAX) System. HandyLab was acquired by BD in 2009. Sundu holds a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT-Madras and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Andrew Cleeland is the CEO of the Fogarty Institute and is a seasoned executive with 30 years in the medical device industry in both the private and public sectors. Prior to joining the Fogarty Institute, he was Vice President and General Manager of Medtronic’s (MDT:NYSE) Transcatheter Mitral Valve business following its 2015 acquisition of Twelve Inc., where he was President and CEO. Prior to Twelve, he was President and CEO of Ardian Inc., the pioneer of renal denervation for hypertension, heart failure, and other associated disorders, which was also acquired by Medtronic in 2011. He is currently Vice Chairman of The Foundry, the premier medical device incubator based in Menlo Park, CA. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Biophysics) from the Swinburne Institute of Technology.

Robin Damschroder, MHSA, FACHE is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Henry Ford Health System, a $6.5B health system that includes six hospitals, seven major medical centers and manages more than 650,000 covered lives. She also served as the COO, West Market – Saint Joseph Mercy Health System and has held various executive financial and operations leadership roles at University of Michigan Health System. Robin started her career in 1989 with Deloitte & Touche and grew within the organization to become a senior manager, before joining Henry Ford Health System as an associate controller in 1998. She holds two degrees from the University of Michigan, a Bachelor’s in General Studies and a Master’s of Health Services Administration from the School of Public Health.

Garth Graham MD, MPH, FACC is a cardiologist, researcher and public health expert who currently serves as Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health Partnerships at Google Health and YouTube. He previously served in two administrations as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and was Assistant Dean for Health Policy and Chief of Health Services Research in the department of medicine at the University of Florida School of Medicine, President of the Aetna Foundation as well as Vice President & Chief Community Health Officer at CVS Health. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Garth obtained his MD at Yale University School of Medicine, MPH at Yale School of Public Health, Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. He holds three board certifications including internal medicine, cardiology, and interventional cardiology. He also holds an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Regis College.

John P. Groetelaars most recently served as president, CEO and a board member at Hillrom from May 2018 until the company’s acquisition by Baxter International, Inc. for $12.4B in December 2021. At Hillrom, he had enterprise responsibility for a global healthcare technology company with $3B in revenue and more than 10,000 employees. John led a transformation of Hillrom’s business, successfully launching a new connected-care strategy and vision, growing the portfolio, and driving record financial performance. In addition, he championed and actively led diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging initiatives across the company, which led to record levels of employee engagement, and external recognition from DiversityInc, Forbes, and many other organizations. Prior to joining Hillrom, John held executive roles at Becton Dickinson and C.R. Bard. Earlier in his career, John held international leadership positions at Boston Scientific Corporation and positions in general management, marketing, business development, and sales with Guidant and Eli Lilly. John earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University, and an MBA from Columbia University.

Bill Hawkins is the Former Chairman and CEO of Medtronic. He is currently advising private equity and venture capital groups and serving on multiple for-profit and non-profit boards. Bill was President and CEO of Immucor from Oct 2011 to July 2015. Prior to Immucor, he served as Chairman and CEO of Medtronic. Bill assumed the role of CEO in 2007 and became Chairman of the Board in 2008. He joined Medtronic in 2002 as SVP and President of Medtronic Vascular. Prior to Medtronic, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Novoste Corp. Nasdaq (NOVT). He was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering and is an AIMBE Fellow. Bill is Lead Director at Immucor and is Vice Chair of the Board of the Duke University Health System. Bill received his bachelor’s degree in electrical and biomedical engineering from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Virginia.

Jo Carol Hiatt, MD, is the former Vice President of Health Economics and Patient Value at the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC), where she coordinated efforts between CMS, private payers, and advocacy groups to ultimately improve patient access to innovative medical devices at a reduced cost. She joined MDIC following her most recent tenure leading teams to review new technologies to inform evidence-based clinical technology options for Kaiser Permanente, one of America’s leading health care providers and nonprofit health plans. She is a general surgeon and partner emeritus with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG). Dr. Hiatt received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her medical degree from Duke University. She trained in general surgery at UCLA. In addition to her clinical degree, Dr. Hiatt received an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Richard Kuntz, MD recently retired from Medtronic, where he had held several executive leadership roles after joining the company in 2005. Most recently, Rick was Senior Vice President, Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, overseeing the company’s medical affairs, health policy and reimbursement, clinical research activities, and corporate technology. Rick has expertise in many areas of healthcare, including clinical trial design and FDA regulatory processes. Prior to Medtronic, he was the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI). Rick has directed over 100 multicenter clinical trials and has authored more than 250 original publications. Rick received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, completed his residency at the University of Texas Southwestern, and completed fellowships at Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Rick also holds a Master’s in biostatistics from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Kirk Malloy, PhD is the founder and principal at BioAdvisors, LLC, where he provides strategic consulting services to life science, diagnostics, and genomics companies. Prior to founding BioAdvisors, Kirk held executive leadership roles at Illumina, Inc. from 2002 to 2016, most recently as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Life Sciences and Applied Markets. Before Illumina, he held various commercial leadership positions at Biosite Diagnostics and QIAGEN Inc. Kirk serves as a board member and advisor for several life science companies, including Nanostring Technologies (Nasdaq: NSTG), Jumpcode Genomics, Tagomics, Phoseon Technology, and Verogen, where he served as the company’s founding CEO. Kirk earned his B.S. in Biology from the University of Miami, and his MS and PhD from the University of Delaware and held post-doctoral and instructor positions at Boston University and Northeastern University.

Jeff Williams is the former CEO and Chairman of the Board at NeuMoDx Molecular and has more than 20 years of experience leading companies in life sciences and diagnostics. Jeff’s past experience includes serving as President & CEO of Accuri Cytometers, where he led the company through a period of rapid commercial growth to a sale to Becton Dickinson in March 2011 for $205 million. Prior to Accuri, Jeff was President and CEO of HandyLab, Inc., a clinical diagnostic company that was acquired by Becton Dickinson in November 2009 for $275 million. Jeff also served as President and CEO of Genomic Solutions Inc., a life science products company he co-founded in 1997, culminating in an IPO on Nasdaq in 2000 and merger with Harvard Biosciences, Inc. in 2002. He received a BS in Biology from Alma College and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.