Charlie Attlan

Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development
Boston Scientific Corporation

Charlie Attlan is our senior vice president, Strategy and Business Development, a position he has held since March 2010. In this role, he has oversight for corporate strategy, business development activity, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures licensing and distribution agreements, venture capital and minority investments. Prior to joining Boston Scientific, Charlie served as senior vice president, Credit Suisse (and its predecessor firm, Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette), and in other roles of increasing responsibility, from 1999 until 2009, and an associate, and in other roles of increasing responsibility, at BT Alex Brown from 1993 until 1999. Charlie graduated magna cum laude, with a B.A. in Economics and Math, from Princeton University.   

David Cassak

Co-Editor-in-Chief
MedTech Strategist

David Cassak has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Cassak co-founded Windhover Information Inc., along with his partner, Roger Longman, in which they spun out exceptional publications such as IN VIVO, START-UP, Medtech Insight, Emerging Medical Ventures and The RPM Report. Cassak also served as Vice President, Content, and Managing Director, Medical Devices for Elsevier Business Intelligence, a Reed Elsevier Company, including the publications The Gray Sheet and The Pink Sheet.  He is a frequent speaker before various companies and trade groups within the medical device industry and is widely known for his vast knowledge and reporting in MedTech.

Andrew Cleeland

CEO
Fogarty Innovation

Andrew Cleeland is a seasoned executive with over 30 years experience in the medical device industry. During this time, he has held key leadership positions in organizations ranging from early-stage startups to large multinationals. In joining Fogarty Innovation he further broadens this range of experience to include managing a nonprofit. The versatility required to be effective across such diverse groups is rare and is a testament to Andrew’s strong leadership skills.

A native Australian who grew up in a suburb of Melbourne, Andrew’s leadership capabilities became evident at an early age. Raised by a single parent, Andrew was forced to grow up quickly and play a supportive role for his mother and brother. These early experiences were formative in shaping the person Andrew would become and the things he would inevitably accomplish.

Andrew’s values and life philosophy were also greatly influenced by sport. His natural athleticism and leadership propelled him into many team captain roles and ultimately competing in Australian Rules Football at a semi-professional level. If you’ve never seen this sport played, do so. It won’t take long to recognize the toughness, teamwork and grit the sport demands, all traits which Andrew continues to bring to every position he holds.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Andrew began his medtech career working for the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. This provided an invaluable introduction to the industry along with an appreciation for the challenges regulators face when balancing innovation with protecting public health. Several years into this role, serendipity presented him with a unique opportunity to work for a company based in the United States. Although he had never lived outside Australia, he saw it as a great opportunity and moved alone to Denver, Colorado, to work for Telectronics. He probably didn’t realize it at the time, but this move exemplifies a classic element of Andrew’s personal and professional mindset: think big, set audacious goals and act boldly. At the time, Andrew expected this to be a two-year position. Thirty years later, he’s still in the U.S., setting and achieving big goals.

Andrew’s rapid career advancement during this timeframe has been impressive. After Telectronics, he accepted a management role at Baxter Healthcare’s Novacor division, and later as vice president of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Bay Area startup company Radiant Medical. Following this, he was CEO of Ardian, which pioneered the use of renal denervation to treat hypertension. Ardian was acquired by Medtronic in 2011 in a transaction valued at over $1.3B which, at the time, was the largest medical device acquisition ever for a pre-revenue medical device company.

Whenever a first time CEO has such a wildly successful exit, the market often wonders: Is the person really that good or were they just lucky? Andrew quickly answered that question by taking the role of CEO at Twelve, a startup in the transcatheter mitral valve space. Several years after his joining, this company was also acquired by Medtronic in a transaction valued at $458M. Back to back successes at such large valuations answered the question – it wasn’t just luck.

Propelled by these successes, Andrew has become a key figure in the medical device community. His leadership, experience and insights have led many organizations to seek his involvement. He currently serves on the board of three venture-funded companies — Saluda Medical, Zenflow, Inc. (chairman) and MMI S.p.A. (chairman). He also holds advisory positions at two top-tier venture capital firms: Longitude Capital and Arboretum Ventures. At a global industry level, he has been invited to serve on multiple initiatives including the UCSF-Stanford Pediatric Device Consortium; the Medical Device Innovation Consortium; and the Singapore government’s Biomedical Research Council (BMRC).

Passionate about healthcare, Andrew is a champion of innovators and innovation in the medtech field. His commitment to mentoring and education is rooted in his passion for helping patients and being a catalyst for positive change. This purpose and drive is captured in one of his favorite quotes, by Mahatma Gandhi: “A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”

“Working at Fogarty Innovation gives me the ability to positively influence the medtech ecosystem and give back in a meaningful and effective way,” summarizes Andrew. “To have worked with such amazing teammates on such impactful programs has allowed me to do something BOTH meaningful and enjoyable…I love the challenge.”

Andrew has received numerous awards and honors and is a frequent invited lecturer at major industry conferences and leading academic institutions. Andrew holds a BS in biophysics from the Swinburne Institute of Technology.

Paul Conover

Partner
Knobbe Martens

Paul N. Conover is a partner in our Orange County office. He leads teams of attorneys in strategically obtaining patents domestically and internationally, performing due diligence in transactions involving intellectual property, developing and implementing licensing strategies, performing market clearance and engineering design-around efforts, and enforcing patents and defending against patents in the pre-litigation stages.

 Mr. Conover holds degrees in physics, history, and law, and he works with clients in multiple areas of technology, including many types of medical devices, optics, and consumer products. He has spoken at many events on intellectual property topics, including in Brazil, India, and the United States. He has also published on many intellectual property topics, including regarding the recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court on patent law.

 Mr. Conover joined the firm in 1997 and became a partner in 2003.

Steven Farmer

Senior Partner & Co-Owner
ABIG Health

Dr. Steven Farmer is a board-certified cardiologist and is co-owner and Senior Partner of ABiG Health.  He previously served as Chief Strategy Officer for Coverage at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  In that role, he led an effort to streamline and accelerate the development of evidence-based coverage policies.  He was the principal architect of the Transitional Coverage for Emerging Technologies (TCET) pathway and led the initiative to incorporate real-world evidence into coverage decision-making.

David Filmore

Executive Editor
Market Pathways

David Filmore has been covering the medical technology sector as a writer and editor for about 20 years, previously serving as the executive editor/editor-in-chief of industry-leading publications The Gray Sheet and Medtech Insight. He specializes in the regulatory and reimbursement dynamics that impact device and diagnostics companies' ability to succeed in the marketplace. Earlier in his career, David was an editor with the American Chemical Society, producing content for professionals in the pharmaceutical industry and analytical instrumentation space, and he has also worked in the pharmaceutical industry.

Laura Findeiss

Principal
Rubrum Advising

Laura Findeiss, MD, MHA is a Principal at Rubrum Advising and former Director of the Division of Policy and Evidence Review at CMS, where she led the team drafting national Medicare coverage policy. She was previously Chair of Radiology at University of Tennessee Medical Center and Chief of Service for Radiology at Grady Health System in Atlanta, then served as legislative staff in the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee prior to going to CMS. Dr. Findeiss continues to practice clinically and is a past president of the Society of Interventional Radiology.  

Paul Grand

Founder & CEO
MedTech Innovator

Paul Grand is the founder and CEO of MedTech Innovator. He created and managed MedTech Innovator as a program within RCT Ventures from 2013 – 2016. In 2016, with the financial support of RCT and other sponsors, Paul left to run MedTech Innovator as a stand-alone company. He spent 11 years as Director and Managing Director at RCT Ventures, the investment arm of Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. Prior to RCT, Paul was co-founder and CEO of startups in the medtech, pharma, and tech sectors.

Christine Knoblauch

Vice President Business Development
Johnson & Johnson MedTech

Coming soon.

Irfan Lateef

Partner
Knobbe Martens

Irfan Lateef is head of the firm’s Electrical, Semiconductor & Computer Technology Litigation committee and also leads the firm’s Japan practice. With over two decades of experience, Irfan ranks among the premier IP litigators in the "World's Leading Patent Professionals" for the Patent 1000 guide by Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine. Clients turn to Irfan to tackle some of their most technically complex issues. His engineering background gives him the ability to master the technology. His experience includes advanced signal processing and digital and analog circuitry. With a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, he possesses unique insight for medical device litigation. He is familiar with noninvasive patient monitoring, breath analyte monitoring, blood component separation, atrial fibrillation devices, ECG and EEG signal processing, imaging (e.g., MRI), and acoustic signal processing.

Mark Leahey

President & CEO
MDMA

Mark Leahey is the President & CEO for the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA), a national trade association in Washington, DC that represents hundreds of research-driven medical technology companies. Mr. Leahey's responsibilities include advocating on behalf of the entrepreneurial sector of the medical device industry to Congress, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and other federal and state agencies. He has lobbied for a more reasonable user fee for smaller companies, worked to open access to the hospital marketplace by challenging the exclusionary and anti-competitive nature of certain large group purchasing organizations (GPOs), as well as ensure that medical device technologies are reimbursed adequately. Mr. Leahey has  been named one of the medical device industry's top lobbyists and sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of Medical Product Outsourcing. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and a graduate of Georgetown University, the Georgetown Law Center and Georgetown's McDonough School of Business.

Stephen Levin

Co-Editor-in-Chief
Market Pathways

Stephen Levin served as Executive Editor & General Counsel at Windhover Information followed by Editor-in-Chief of Medical Devices for Elsevier Business Intelligence, where he directed the company’s editorial coverage of the medical device industry. Before that, Stephen was Senior Counsel to the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where he directed Senate investigations into a wide variety of areas including health care fraud and abuse, international organized crime, and corruption in federal contracting programs, while also participating in other Senate investigations including the Whitewater inquiry.  Before joining the Subcommittee, he was with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice.

Alvin Liu

Endowed Professor in artificial intelligence and AI Oversight Team
Johns Hopkins University

Partner
PTX Capital

Dr. T. Y. Alvin Liu is a retinal surgeon and endowed professor in AI at Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM). At JHM, he serves on the AI Oversight Team, a leadership team that oversees all AI initiatives across the entire health system. As an interdisciplinary strategist at the intersection of venture capital, startup companies and health systems, he specializes in the implementation and scaling of AI technologies in both clinical and operational domains. In addition to being an advisor/Medical Director for healthcare AI startup companies, he is a partner at a healthcare-focused venture capital fund.

Josh Makower

The Yock Family Professor, Professor of Medicine and of Bioengineering
Stanford University Schools of Medicine and Engineering

The Byers Family Director and Co-Founder
Stanford Mussallem Center for Biodesign

Josh Makower is the Yock Family Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering at the Stanford University Schools of Medicine and Engineering, and is the Byers Family Director and Co-Founder of the Stanford Mussallem Center for Biodesign.  Josh is the Founder and Executive Chairman of ExploraMed, a medical device incubator that has created 10 companies over the past 20 years. He is also a Senior Advisor to Patient Square Capital, and an Advisory Venture Partner with Sofinnova Partners. Josh currently serves on the boards of Elevage, ExploraMed, Moximed, Willow, X9, Coravin, SetPoint Medical and VentureWell.

Josh holds over 300 patents and patent applications for various medical devices in the fields of cardiology, ENT, general surgery, drug delivery, plastic surgery, dermatology, aesthetics, obesity, orthopedics, women’s health, and urology. He received an MBA from Columbia University, an MD from the NYU School of Medicine, and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.  Josh is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of The National Academy of Inventors and The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, was awarded the Coulter Award for Healthcare Innovation by the Biomedical Engineering Society in 2018 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Galway in 2024 for his work supporting and inspiring the creation of BioInnovate Ireland which has had a profound impact on the Irish Medtech Innovation Ecosystem.

Biren Mehta

Vice President, Venture Investments, MedTech
JJDC

Based in Irvine, California, Biren Mehta is the Vice President, Venture Investments – MedTech, where he initiates and manages equity investments to drive business innovation and deliver new and sustainable business for the MedTech sector. He is responsible for existing and new MedTech investments on the West Coast, ensuring targeted strategic options are shaped for success. Biren plays a critical role in building and maintaining networks in the venture capital community, entrepreneurs, startups, incubators and accelerators and other venture organizations that fit the strategic interests of the MedTech sector, sourcing new opportunities for the sector and positioning JJDC as the partner of choice.

 Most recently, Biren was Vice President of Business Development for the Cardiovascular & Specialty Solutions (CSS) Group and J&J Vision. This represents a portfolio of six diverse, high-growth businesses within MedTech.   In this role, he provided strategic leadership in executing acquisitions, investments, distribution transactions, and other collaborations to support the growth and innovation agenda of these businesses.

 Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Biren was a medical device analyst at Roth Capital Partners. In that role, he wrote and published recommendations on publicly traded small and midcap medical device companies. Before joining the investment bank, he worked as a project manager and software engineer at Intralase Corporation, now owned by J&J Surgical Vision.

 Biren completed his bachelor’s degree in Cybernetics at UCLA. He earned master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Southern California. He also earned his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Reed Miller

Senior Writer/Market Analyst
Medtech Strategist

Reed is an experienced editor, journalist, and content creator who has been reporting on the medical device and diagnostics industry since joining the news staff of FDC Reports' The Gray Sheet in 2000. Most recently, he served as the commercial/R&D manager for Citeline's Medtech Insight, a digital descendant of The Gray Sheet, helping to shape the overall editorial direction of Citeline's medtech offerings while writing and podcasting extensively about cardiovascular technology. He also wrote for a physician audience as a member of theheart.org's award-winning heartwire team and worked with pharma industry compliance experts at HCPro. Reed has a BA in religion from the College of William & Mary and an MA in philosophy of religion from Boston University. He lives and works in his hometown of State College, Pennsylvania.

Jonathan Norris

Managing Director
HSBC

Jonathan Norris joined HSBC’s Innovation Banking Division in April 2023. He manages healthcare venture relationships and works with investors and companies on commercial banking and debt products. In addition, for more than a decade, Jonathan has written comprehensive reports on the venture healthcare ecosystem, covering venture fundraising, investment, valuations and exits. These reports have been widely cited in the ecosystem and he often speaks at major investor and industry conferences. He has more than 24 years of healthcare banking experience. Jonathan earned a B.S. in business administration from the University of California, Riverside, and a J.D. from Santa Clara University.

Michael Ryan

VP, Venture Capital & Business Development
Boston Scientific Corporation

Coming soon.

Elton Satusky

Partner
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Elton Satusky is a partner in the Palo Alto office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Elton represents both public and private enterprises as their outside general counsel and serves as a key strategic advisor from their inception throughout their life cycle. He advises on complex venture capital and corporate finance transactions, corporate law and governance, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings. 

Elton has a particular focus on companies in the medical device, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and digital health sectors and serves as co-editor of The Life Sciences Report, a semi-annual newsletter on the life sciences industry published by the firm. He is also a board member and founder of US-Japan Medtech Frontiers, a nonprofit corporation that has hosted annual cross-border healthcare conferences in Japan for the past decade. In addition, Elton is a frequent guest lecturer at universities, industry and trade group conferences, accelerators, and incubators.

Mark Secrest

Managing Director and Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking
BTIG

Mark Secrest is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at BTIG, focused on medical devices, life sciences tools and diagnostics companies. Prior to BTIG, he was a Managing Director and Head of Medical Devices M&A in Healthcare Investment Banking at Stifel. Previously, Mr. Secrest held several investment banking roles at Cowen between 1998 and 2010, including Head of Medical Technology M&A and Chairman of their Fairness Opinion Review Committee. Between 1995 and 1998, he was a Director in the M&A division at UBS. Mr. Secrest was instrumental in the development and growth of UBS’ M&A effort, and was responsible for the execution of the firm’s M&A assignments for North American clients outside of financial institutions. He began his career in the M&A team at Kidder, Peabody. Mr. Secrest earned a BA from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Angie Volk

Vice President Business Development
AVS

Angie Volk currently leads all Commercial and Business Development activities for Amplitude Vascular Systems, a start-up company in the Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL) space. She spent the majority of her career at Boston Scientific, gaining cross-functional experiences across R&D, Marketing, Medical Affairs, Sales, and Sales Operations. Volk also led the Urology and Critical Care commercial team at Becton Dickinson, as well as the U.S. Sales team for 3M's Medical Solutions Division, now Solventum.

She is especially passionate about building high-performing cultures grounded in transparency and shared accountability, as well as talent development and upskilling across functions. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from North Dakota State University and an MBA in Marketing from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Michael Wasserman

Partner & COO
Elevate Medical Technologies

Michael Wasserman, Ph.D. is a Partner and COO of Elevage. Michael has over 30 years of experience in healthcare as a scientist, entrepreneur, executive, and investor. Prior to Elevage, Michael served as Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity. Michael spent 17 years at H.I.G. Capital, a diversified private equity firm with over $60 billion in assets. As a Managing Director of H.I.G.’s BioHealth platform, Michael sourced, executed, and managed a diverse investment portfolio of healthcare business across stages, sectors and geographies. Michael worked closely with management teams and portfolio companies in key areas such as R&D, product development, market access, commercial and corporate strategy, equity and debt financing and achieving liquidity through M&A or IPO. Michael has served on the boards of numerous growth stage business including HyperBranch Medical Technologies (Stryker), NeuWave Medical (Johnson & Johnson), VertiFlex (Boston Scientific), amongst others.

Michael has also founded, held prominent operating roles, and sold several private healthcare businesses. Earlier in his career, Michael worked directly for, or as a consultant to, emerging technology businesses, and in the corporate finance, pharmaceutical and clinical research industries.

Michael is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. He is also on the Board of Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP), where he chairs the Investment Committee, the Board of ORT Canada, the Faculty of Science Advisory Board at McGill University, and is a Member of The Board of Trustees Research Committee at The Center for Addiction and Mental Health.

Michael received his B.Sc. from McGill University and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Neuroscience from the University of Toronto.

Bernard Zovighian

CEO
Edwards Lifesciences

Bernard J. Zovighian is CEO and a Board Director of Edwards Lifesciences, bringing 30 years of global medtech leadership from both Edwards and Johnson & Johnson. Since joining Edwards in 2015, he has led the Surgical and Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies businesses. As CEO, he is advancing the company’s structural heart innovation with sharpened focus and expanded opportunities to transform patient care worldwide. Grounded in Edwards’ Credo, patient-first culture and unique innovation strategy, Zovighian and the global team are united in driving sustainable growth and extending the company’s leadership.