Innovation Growth Board

Paul LaViolette

Paul LaViolette is the managing partner, chief operating officer, and innovation growth board chairman at SV Health Investors. He brings over 34 years of global medical technology management experience. Paul was most recently chief operating officer at Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC), an $8 billion medical device leader. During his 15 years at BSC, he also served as group president cardiovascular, group president endosurgery, president-cardiology, and president-international as the company grew revenues over 20 times. Paul integrated two dozen acquisitions and led extensive product development, operations, and worldwide commercial organizations.

Joe Cunningham, MD

Managing Director, Santé Ventures

Joe Cunningham is a Founding Partner and Managing Director of Santé Ventures, an early-stage life science and healthcare venture capital company based in Austin and Houston, Texas. Prior to this, he was a healthcare Venture Partner with Austin Ventures and Vice Chair of the Ascension Health Ventures investment committee. He is also the former Chief Medical Officer of the Providence Health System and Executive Director of the 300-physician Providence Health Alliance, both part of the Ascension Health system. He has extensive management experience and is recognized nationally for his expertise in healthcare delivery systems, physician associations and compensation models. Joe serves on Advisory Boards for United Healthcare and Health Services Corporation (BC/BS). He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Quality Assurance and Peer Review. Cunningham received his BS and MD degrees from Texas A&M University and his MBA from Baylor University.

Jean-François Formela, MD

Partner, Atlas Venture

Jean-François Formela focuses on advances in biology and drug discovery technologies as well as novel therapeutics. He is chair of the board of IFM Therapeutics and KDAC Therapeutics, and serves on the boards of F-star, Intellia Therapeutics, Kyn Therapeutics, Navitor, RaNA Therapeutics, which he co-founded, and Spero Therapeutics. Jean-François has been involved in the formation of Adnexus, ArQule, Arteaus Therapeutics, Cellzome, deCODE, Exelixis, MorphoSys, NxStage and SGX Pharmaceuticals. He has also been an investor in Achillion, Annovation Biopharma, CoStim Pharmaceuticals and Horizon Pharma, and a board member of Biochem Pharma and Novexel. Jean-François joined Atlas Venture in 1993 to build the U.S. life sciences franchise. Prior to joining Atlas, he worked at Schering-Plough, where he directed U.S. Phase IV studies and was responsible for the marketing of Intron A. Jean-François began his career as a medical doctor and practiced emergency medicine at Necker University Hospital in Paris.

Jan Garfinkle

Founder & Managing Partner, Arboretum Ventures

Jan Garfinkle founded Arboretum on the premise that innovation is key to delivering value in healthcare, a principle she developed working in the medical device industry for over two decades. Her investments focus on promising medical technologies that enable meaningful healthcare system savings while maintaining great clinical outcomes. Jan has board roles in more than 25 investments across six funds including notable exits with HandyLab, Esperion, NxThera, CardioMEMS and NeuMoDx. Garfinkle served on the National Venture Capital Association’s Board of Directors from 2015-2020 and in her last year, was the Board Chair. In 2020 she testified at the US Senate on “Expanding American Entrepreneurship Outside Traditional Hubs”. She earned a BS in Bioengineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Adele Gulfo

Chief of Commercial Development, Roivant Sciences

Adele Gulfo is the Chief of Commercial Development, Roivant Sciences. Previously, she served as Chief Strategy Officer, EVP and Head of Global Commercial Development at Mylan. As a member of Mylan’s Executive Leadership Team, she focused on key growth drivers, including expansion into new geographies and the development and growth of its global specialty pharmaceutical franchise. Previously, Gulfo served as president and general manager of Pfizer’s U.S. Primary Care business unit, which included the Managed Markets and Commercial Operations for all of Pfizer’s Biopharmaceutical business units. Under her leadership, Pfizer’s U.S. Primary Care business generated more than $13 billion in revenue. Earlier in her career at Pfizer, Gulfo was instrumental in the development, launch and commercial success of LIPITOR, which became the world’s best-selling medicine.

Reid Huber, PhD

Partner, Third Rock Ventures

Dr. Reid uber joined Third Rock Ventures in 2018 as Partner. Third Rock is one of the industry’s preeminent life sciences company creation firms based in Boston, MA. At Third Rock, Huber is focused on discovering, launching and building highly innovative, value-creating, product engine-focused companies across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to Third Rock, Huber was at Incyte Corporation where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Under Huber’s leadership, Incyte’s research labs brought forward more than 25 therapeutics into clinical development over 16 years, including the janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors ruxolitinib (Jakafi®) and baricitinib (Olumiant®). Before joining Incyte, Huber held scientific research positions at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Huber received his PhD in molecular genetics from the Washington University School of Medicine and held pre- and post-doctoral fellowships at the National Institutes of Health. Huber serves on the Board of Directors of Bellicum as well as the B+ Foundation.

Andy Hurd

Operating Partner at Cressey and Company

Andy Hurd is an Operating Partner at Cressey and Company, previously serving as Chief Executive Officer of Mede Analytics, bringing with him over 25 years of experience in healthcare IT, including product and market innovation as well as strategic partnerships. Hurd was CEO of Epocrates, which was purchased by athenahealth. Prior to Epocrates, he served as chairman and CEO of Carefx, which was acquired by Harris Corporation in 2011. During his tenure at Carefx, the company achieved strong growth in revenue, income and shareholder value. Before Carefx, Hurd held senior management positions at WebMD and QuadraMed Corporation. Hurd holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northern Arizona University, and he is a member of the board of directors of Ability Networks and the Cleveland Clinic Innovations Advisory Board.

Keith Kerman, MD

Operating Partner and Senior Advisor with The Riverside Company

Keith Kerman, MD is an Operating Partner and Senior Advisor with The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm focused on growth businesses. Kerman has 20 years of experience in healthcare-related private equity, venture capital, and operating roles, and has been an executive, investor, and board member at numerous healthcare businesses and organizations. Prior to joining Riverside, Kerman was a Managing Director and led the healthcare practice at Primus Capital Funds, and was previously a General Partner with Morgenthaler Ventures. Kerman also was an operating executive at U.S. Healthcare, where he was president of the company’s subsidiary providing managed care services to self-funded health plans. Prior to U.S. Healthcare, he was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, a member of the clinical faculty at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics at The Wharton School. He has an AB and an MD from Brown University, and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Adam Koppel, MD, PhD

Managing Director, Bain Capital Life Sciences Fund

Adam Koppel rejoined Bain Capital in 2016 as Managing Director of the Bain Capital Life Sciences Fund. He had initially joined Bain Capital Public Equity in 2003 where he was a leader within the healthcare sector until mid-2014. During the period mid-2014 to mid-2016, Koppel was at Biogen where he served as EVP of Corporate Development and Chief Strategy Officer. He sits on the Board of Directors of PTC Therapeutics (NASD: PTCT) and Trevena (NASD:TRVN). Prior to initially joining Bain Capital in 2003, Koppel was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Co in New Jersey where he served a variety of healthcare companies. Koppel received an MD and PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He also received an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Palmer Scholar. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with an AB and AM in History and Science.

Liz Kwo, MD

President, Vanna Health

Dr. Liz Kwo has spearheaded transformative medicine as a serial physician entrepreneur. With extensive experience across multiple healthcare sectors, she propels companies to the forefront of digital innovation by leveraging groundbreaking technologies. Kwo authored “DIGITAL MD: Revolutionizing the Future of Care” and served as Deputy Chief Clinical Officer for Elevance, a health insurance company dedicated to modernizing care for 43 million Americans. Prior to this, Kwo was CEO and co-founder of InfiniteMD, a technology-enabled platform for international medical second opinions, and co-founder and President of New Pathway Education and Technology Group. Kwo is on the board of Asensus Surgical, Walmart Mexico and Central America, BlueWind Medical and ChroniSense Medical. Kwo is board-certified in Preventive Care and Occupational Medicine and received a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University, an MD from Harvard Medical School, an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPH from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

John Lepore, MD

SVP, R&D Pipeline GlaxoSmithKline

John Lepore is SVP for R&D Pipeline at GlaxoSmithKline, where his group is responsible for R&D activities across neuroscience, rare diseases, respiratory, and metabolic and cardiovascular disease. His group is also responsible for novel models of drug discovery based on partnerships with academia. Lepore received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and trained in internal medicine and cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Following post-doctoral training at the Harvard School of Public Health, Lepore joined the faculty of the Cardiovascular Medicine Division at the University of Pennsylvania where he was an attending physician on the academic cardiology service. Lepore joined GSK in 2006 and held a number of roles including head of clinical pharmacology and translational medicine for cardiovascular R&D, head of the Heart Failure Discovery Performance Unit, and head of the Metabolic Pathways and Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area Unit.

Barbara Lubash

Barbara Lubash is a Director and Advisor for corporate and non-profit boards. She serves on the boards of Advanced ICU Care, CareConnectMD, Clew Medical and the Solve ME/CFS Initiative. Lubash is a member of the Mass General Brigham Innovation Advisory Board, the Health Policy and Management Executive Council of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is an Advisor to STEMAdvantage. In her prior careers as a health care executive and later as a venture capitalist, Lubash led and advised innovative healthcare and service organizations. She was co-founder and Managing Director of Versant Ventures, and before that a Venture Partner at Crosspoint Ventures. Prior corporate boards include CodeRyte, Cogent Healthcare, Concerto HealthCare, Redbrick Health, Titan Health and Vantage Oncology. She was Board Chair of the California HealthCare Foundation. Lubash was also a senior executive at PacifiCare and Mass General Brigham, and held management roles at Hewlett Packard and the Harvard Community Health Plan. She received a BS from Tufts University and a Master’s in Health Policy and Management from Harvard University.

Amir Nashat

Managing Partner, Polaris

Amir Nashat is a managing partner in Polaris’ Boston office. Nashat joined Polaris in April 2002 and focuses on investments in healthcare, consumer products and energy. Nashat currently represents Polaris as a Director of AgBiome, aTyr Pharmaceuticals, BIND Therapeutics, Fate Therapeutics, Promedior Pharmaceuticals, Receptos, Scholar Rock, Selecta Biosciences and Sun Catalytix. He has also served as a Director of Adnexus Therapeutics, Athenix Corporation, Avila Therapeutics, Living Proof and Pervasis Therapeutics, and served as a Board Observer of GI Dynamics. In addition to his role as an investor, Nashat has also served as the initial CEO of Living Proof and Sun Catalytix Corporation. Prior to joining Polaris, Nashat completed his PhD as a Hertz Fellow in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Dr. Robert Langer. Nashat also earned both his MS and BS in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ben Pless

CEO, Pivotal Design Labs

Ben Pless has over 25 years of experience developing and bringing to market implantable medical devices and is currently CEO of Pivotal Design Labs, a medical device consulting organization. Most recently he was President and CEO of Autonomic Technologies, developing a minimally invasive neurostimulator to treat severe headache. Prior to that he was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technical Officer of NeuroPace, a privately-held company developing electronic implantable devices for the treatment of epilepsy. Before joining NeuroPace in 2000, he was responsible for worldwide development activities for the Cardiac Rhythm Management Division of St. Jude Medical, Inc. Pless previously served as Vice President of product development for Ventritex, Inc. and General Manager of its Maven Capacitors division until the sale of the company to St. Jude Medical in 1997. He was a founder of Ventritex where he was instrumental in the development of one of the first implantable cardiac defibrillators. His career began at Intermedics, where he was a development engineer for implantable pacemakers. Pless received a B.S.E.E. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and attended graduate school at Rice University.

Alfred Sandrock, MD, PhD

CEO, Voyager Therapeutics

Dr. Alfred Sandrock has been CEO of Voyager and a Board member since 2022. Sandrock joined Voyager following a career in biopharmaceutical drug development, including 23 years at Biogen where he identified and developed therapies for a variety of serious diseases. While at Biogen, Sandrock served in positions of increasing responsibility, culminating as Executive Vice President, Research and Development. He also served as Chief Medical Officer and held a seat on the Biogen Executive Committee. Over the course of his tenure, he led the discovery, development and regulatory approval of medicines including ADUHELM™, PLEGRIDY®, SPINRAZA®, TECFIDERA® and TYSABRI®. Sandrock earned a B.A. in human biology from Stanford University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University.

Sue Siegel

Board Director & Trustee

Sue Siegel has driven game-changing ideas and powered companies that advance industries and improve lives for more than three decades. With experience across industries, she is helping companies identify and seize transformative digital opportunities. As GE’s Chief Innovation Officer and CEO of GE Ventures, Siegel led the development and acceleration of innovation across GE for seven years. She oversaw investment in startups, creating and scaling new companies, and commercializing GE’s intellectual property. Before joining GE, Siegel was a General Partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, where she spearheaded investments in personalized medicine, digital health and life sciences. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Siegel led Affymetrix as President and a board member, where she drove the company’s transformation to a global genomics leader. Siegel also held executive leadership roles at Bio-Rad, DuPont and Amersham. Siegel is currently a board member at Align Technologies, Illumina, MIT’s The Engine and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Siegel has been recognized in Fortune’s “34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care” and as one of “The 100 Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley” by Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Gaurav Singal, MD

Physician, Faculty, and Investor

Gaurav Singal, MD, is a physician, computer scientist and entrepreneur who has spent the last 20 years designing and building software and data products that enhance patient care and enable the development of new medicines. Most recently, he served as Chief Data Officer of Foundation Medicine through its acquisition by Roche, where he oversaw the design and development of its real world data platform. Prior to Foundation Medicine, Singal developed AI solutions for patients and physicians, including a natural language processing chart review platform at Mass General Brigham that led to a spinout and acquisition by eviCore. Previously he founded and led a number of startups spanning clinical trial analytics and AI-enabled clinical decision support. Singal earned his BS in computer science and electrical engineering from Columbia University and an MD from Harvard Medical School. Singal is currently advising, investing and incubating a portfolio of companies spanning diagnostics, therapeutics and AI. He continues to practice as a physician, faculty and member of the Board of Advisors at Harvard Medical School, where he directs a course on healthcare applications of AI.

Paula Ness Speers

Partner and Managing Director, Health Advances

Paula Ness Spears co-founded Health Advances over 25 years ago, and now advises senior level client engagements focused on strategies to evaluate and optimize the value of developmental and marketed products and services, business units and companies in the healthcare arena. Spears is a frequent advisor for Comparative Effectiveness and Pricing/Reimbursement/Market Access projects, as well as developing overall growth strategies for companies and new products in development. Spears has worked with clients of all sizes across the device, therapeutics, diagnostics, health IT and services sectors, as well as with investors and non-profit organizations. Spears started her strategy consulting career at Bain & Company where she led engagements across a range of industries, including healthcare. Spears graduated from Dartmouth College with honors in International Government and received her MBA from Columbia University, where she earned Beta Gamma Sigma honors and was an International Fellow.