People

Thomas J. Fogarty, MD

Founder & Director

Dr. Fogarty is an internationally recognized cardiovascular surgeon, inventor, entrepreneur and vintner. He has dedicated his entire career to improving patient care and has acquired 190 medical patents for his revolutionary work, including the “industry standard” Fogarty balloon catheter and the widely used Aneurx Stent Graft that replaced the open surgery aortic aneurysm. His inventions heavily influence the way surgery is performed today. Dr. Fogarty has been recognized by countless organizations for his contributions to medical science. Dr. Fogarty founded the Fogarty Institute for Innovation on the campus of El Camino Hospital in 2007 to spur medical device innovation, improve patient care and lower healthcare costs.

Craig Straley

Clinical and Regulatory Director

Craig joins the Fogarty Institute with more than 20 years of experience conducting clinical research with a number of successful startups.

He most recently served as director of clinical affairs at Medtronic, following its acquisition of Twelve, where he developed and executed the early clinical studies for its Transcatheter Mitral Valve program. Prior to Twelve, he acted as VP of clinical affairs at Ardian, leading the clinical program and evaluating the first-of-its-kind device for renal denervation. After Ardian’s acquisition by Medtronic, he helped manage the clinical program’s transition and initiated the U.S. Pivotal Trial.

Previously, he worked at Prograft/Gore & Associates and later Radiant Medical, managing feasibility studies, international multi-center pivotal studies and U.S. IDEs, following a stint at Telectronics Pacing Systems in Denver.

Craig holds a BS in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering and an ME from Duke University.

John Morriss

Director of Invention Acceleration

John has 17 years of experience working in the medical devices industry. His focus has been working with early-stage medtech companies to articulate the need, develop the core technology, build the team, train physician users and support clinical cases to refine and improve the patient therapy.

Prior to joining the Institute, he led several efforts through The Foundry medical device incubator, including a role as a co-founder and vice president of research and development at Twelve, the developer of a transcatheter replacement mitral valve (acquired by Medtronic). Before the Foundry, John worked in R&D for Acclarent, Coapt and several companies within consumer product design. He is named on over 80 patents.

John holds a BA from Duke University, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University, and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

Zach Edmond

Clinical Advisor

Dr. Edmonds is a hospitalist practicing primarily at El Camino Hospital and is a site director for the PAMF Department of Hospital Medicine. His clinical interests include bedside ultrasound, oncology, critical care medicine and palliative care. He completed training in innovation through the Stanford Biodesign Fellowship in 2008.

Although primarily a clinician, Dr. Edmonds has an extensive research background as well as experience working in medtech venture capital. He has supported the development of a variety of early-stage medical device technologies in the area, both within and external to the Institute.

As a clinical advisor to the Fogarty Institute, Dr. Edmonds works closely with many of the companies-in-residence, mentoring, assisting with clinical diligence, facilitating clinical research at El Camino Hospital and building collaborations with clinicians in the local community. He has a passion for supporting young innovators and facilitates the clinical shadowing element of the Institute’s Lefteroff Internship program.

Dr. Edmonds holds an MD from the UCLA School of Medicine and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He completed his internal medicine residency training and the Biodesign Fellowship at Stanford University.

Greg Bakan

Chief Operating Officer

Greg brings more than 25 years of experience in the medical device industry to his role at the Fogarty Institute.

Prior to joining the organization, he held senior management positions at several successful startup companies including Ardian, Emphasys Medical, Nevro (NVRO:NYSE) and Fox Hollow Technologies. In aggregate, these startups have generated more than $2.5B in returns to their investors.

His work experience also includes marketing, sales, strategic planning and business development roles at Medtronic (MDT:NYSE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ:NYSE), Guidant and Eli Lilly and Company (LLY:NYSE).

He is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Gayle Kuokka

Chief Financial Officer

Gayle comes to the Fogarty Institute with more than 25 years of experience in a variety of senior management roles in disciplines that include finance, accounting, human resources, manufacturing and operations.

She has a long history working with startups, mostly recently serving as chief financial officer for Biodesy, a company that is developing the first products and systems to rapidly and inexpensively measure structural changes of biological molecules in real time. Gayle was also vice president of finance at Isostent, which was acquired by Cordis, a Johnston & Johnson company; and chief financial officer at Radiant Medical. She later moved to a chief financial officer consulting role for a number of life sciences startup companies. As the owner of her own consulting firm, she was responsible for helping raise more than $200 million in venture funding.

Gayle received her MBA from the Tepper School at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and her BA in economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

Mike Regan

Chief Innovation Officer

Mike comes to the Institute with 35 years of industry experience, spanning a broad range of positions in general management, product development, operations, sales and marketing, clinical, regulatory and engineering.

He most recently served as chief operating officer at Minerva Surgical, a medical technology company focused on women’s healthcare. Prior to that, he was vice president of operations at Emphasys Medical (now Pulmonx), a company that develops therapeutic solutions for patients with emphysema. He was also chief operating officer of Cardeon Inc., which focused on innovative approaches for coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.

Outside of medical technology, Mike worked as a management consultant for Coopers & Lybrand and did stints at Clorox, Walt Disney Imagineering and as a “ski bum” at Copper Mountain in Colorado.

He is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University and holds a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Denise Zarins

Chief Technical Officer

Denise has over 20 years of experience conceptualizing and developing products in the medical device industry.

Denise began her career as a research and development engineer and manager at AneuRx, a startup that was founded by Dr. Fogarty and later acquired by Medtronic (MDT:NYSE). She subsequently joined another Fogarty-backed startup, Bacchus Vascular, which was later acquired by Covidien.

Denise then joined The Foundry, where she co-founded Ardian, Inc., the pioneer of renal denervation for hypertension, heart failure and other associated disorders, which was acquired by Medtronic in 2011. In this role, she was involved in every aspect of product development from concept through early commercialization.

Denise then co-founded Ziva Medical, an early-stage medical device company treating infertility caused by polycystic ovary syndrome. While incubating this company, she was also consulting in the areas of project management, due diligence and intellectual property development.

Denise is named on over 100 patents, has received several awards and is thrilled to have the opportunity to share her experience with the next generation of entrepreneurs. She is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University and received her master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Marquette University.

Corinne Landphere

Strategic Consultant

Corinne has been owner and principal of Corinne Landphere Consulting since April 2000. During this time she has developed a strong and devoted following within the life sciences industry. Corinne has become a “go-to” resource for building teams and developing individuals through her passionate approach to recruitment, retention, assessment and development. Her success in almost 30 years of developing new markets and her breadth of experience working with people allows her to provide guidance in the most challenging situations.

Prior to consulting, Corinne held high-profile sales and marketing positions at Genentech, Guidant and Perclose (Abbott). Corinne holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Indiana University and began her professional career in the E.R. at Methodist Hospital’s Trauma I Center in Indianapolis. Later, she earned a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Notre Dame de Namur University. Since then she has served as mentor and guest lecturer at both schools and others, including Stanford University.

Corinne also enjoys volunteer work with nonprofit organizations, including the American Heart Association, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the American Cancer Society and local women’s shelters. She is an avid runner and a former volunteer coach for Girls on The Run, a national nonprofit prevention program that instills self-esteem and strong values for girls ages 8 to 13.

Gretchen Berstler

Program Manager

Gretchen has 17 years of experience working in the healthcare industry. Currently, as program manager at the Fogarty Institute, she is responsible for assisting with developing, managing and executing educational programs and events for the organization and its companies-in-residence, including the FDA, Ferolyn and Lefteroff fellowships; as well as various marketing and fundraising activities.

Prior to joining the Institute, Gretchen held a number of positions at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, Calif., including serving as marketing and project coordinator, where she oversaw marketing and communications programs for key internal services lines; managed events; directed patient and physician outreach; coordinated direct marketing and advertising campaigns; and developed collateral and web content. During her tenure, she successfully managed the launch of several new hospital programs.

Previously, Gretchen served as project coordinator for Qwest Cyber Solutions, acting as an operational liaison to the sales force team for client telecommunication systems implementation. She studied at West Valley College in Saratoga, Calif.

Marilyn Enderson

Business Manager

Marilyn began her career in healthcare 17 years ago as an executive assistant and office manager, acquiring diversified experience in startup environments while providing administrative, office management and human resource support.

Prior to joining the Fogarty Institute, she was executive assistant to Andrew Cleeland when Twelve was acquired by Medtronic. In addition, she acted as the office manager for the Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair (TMVR) team.

Previously, she was an executive assistant at Spinal Modulation, which was acquired by St. Jude Medical, where she provided full support to the CEO and VP of finance and administration. She also served as executive assistant and office manager at BiPar Science, Inc. and NeurogesX, Inc.

Marilyn received her Bachelor of Applied Science in behavioral sciences from Notre Dame de Namur University.

Birgit Johnston

Communications Consultant

Birgit Johnston is the founder and principal of Johnston Communications. She has over 20 years of professional communications experience with a strong emphasis in strategic positioning, media relations, message development, collateral, writing projects and social media.

Prior to consulting, Birgit was a senior manager of corporate communications for Solectron Corporation (now Flextronics), one of the world’s largest providers of complete product life cycle services, responsible for developing and implementing all global media relations activities, including developing and implementing global pro-active media outreach and increasing senior executive visibility.

Birgit also created and led the Communications Department at Community Foundation Silicon Valley (now Silicon Valley Community Foundation), a nonprofit that donated over $500 million in grants to worthy projects locally, nationally and internationally. She also directed the Communication Department at the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group (now the Silicon Valley Leadership Group) and was an integral part of a team that planned and executed a series of grand opening events drawing more than 100,000 people, media and community luminaries for the opening of the San Jose Arena, now the SAP Center.

Birgit holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a master’s degree from the University of San Francisco. She is a recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women in Industry Award. She is fluent in Italian and French. Birgit is an outdoor enthusiast, a former scholarship tennis player with the University of Colorado, an off-road triathlon age group World Champion and winner of the Silicon Valley Marathon.

Tom M. Krummel, MD

Chairman of the Board

Dr. Krummel joined the Board of Directors of the Fogarty Institute in 2014, and shortly thereafter was appointed chairman. He has been co-director of the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign since 2002. Dr. Krummel holds the Emile Holman Professorship and is chair emeritus of the Department of Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, as well as Susan B. Ford Surgeon-in-Chief Emeritus at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

Throughout his distinguished career as a pediatric surgeon, Dr. Krummel has been a pioneer—first in the early adoption of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO) in treatment of neonatal cardiopulmonary collapse. Thereafter, he drove the application of information technology in simulation-based surgical training and surgical robotics, serving as an early advisor to ComputerMotion, Inc. He directed one of the first National Institute of Health Phased Innovation programs that developed collaborative-based simulation systems and was awarded two Smithsonian Information Technology Innovators Awards for his work.

Dr. Krummel is a vigorous consultant to the medical device industry, serving on multiple scientific advisory boards and boards of directors. He has helped orchestrate four successful exits and has 20 more early- to late-stage companies in his portfolio.

As a leader, Dr. Krummel has served as president of the International Scientific Committee at IRCAD-University of Strasbourg, France; chair of the board of directors of the American Pediatric Surgical Foundation and as board member at the Morgridge Institute for Research at the University of Wisconsin.

Frederick St Goar, MD

Vice Chairman of the Board

Dr. St Goar is an interventional cardiologist practicing at El Camino Hospital and the Medical Director of the Norma Melchor Heart and Vascular Institute based at El Camino.

In parallel with his clinical work, Dr. St Goar has been an active participant in the cardiovascular medical device industry, including helping to found Evalve and HeartPort. Widely published, he serves as a consultant for various established medical device companies and startups and is listed on multiple medical device patents.

He works closely with the Fogarty Institute for Innovation and continues to mentor and support Fogarty companies that have graduated, including HeartFlow and InPress Technologies. Dr. St Goar has a passion for supporting young entrepreneurs and thus has a special interest in the Institute’s Lefteroff and Ferolyn fellowships and regularly mentors fellows in the Biodesign program at Stanford School of Medicine.

Dr. St Goar attended Harvard Medical School and completed his medical and cardiology training at Stanford University.

Angela Macfarlane

Director

Angela founded and currently serves as CEO of ForSight Labs, an ophthalmic incubator formed in 2005 in partnership with Dr. Eugene de Juan, Jr., MD, and The Foundry. She served as president and CEO of NEXIS Vision, Forsight VISION4 (through acquisition), and Forsight VISION5 (through acquisition). The portfolio has started six companies and collectively raised over $200M in capital, returning over $550M to date with an additional $550M in milestones.

Prior to joining the ForSight Labs team full-time, Angela served as chief technology counsel to The Foundry through multiple medtech startups, and served as technology counsel for Thomas J. Fogarty, MD, a renowned physician and entrepreneur, as part of nine companies.

She previously served as in-house counsel at several medical device startup companies, including TransVascular, Inc. (acquired by Medtronic), AneuRx, Inc. (acquired by Medtronic), and VidaMed Inc. (through IPO, acquired by Medtronic).

Angela received her Bachelor of Art in business administration from San Francisco State University, and her J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. She is an inventor on over 25 U.S. patents and currently serves as a mentor in the Ferolyn Powell Fellowship program.

J. Casey McGlynn

Director

Since joining Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as a partner in 1978, Casey McGlynn has been a member of the firm’s board of directors, and its policy, nominating and compensation committees. He joined the board of directors of the Fogarty Institute in 2013 after working closely with the organization over the years.

McGlynn focuses on organizational funding and corporate representation of companies in the information technology, life sciences and telecommunications industries. As a strategic business partner, McGlynn offers focused resources and capabilities to meet the most critical needs of startup and emerging growth companies, including private and venture capital financing, public offerings, university licensing and strategic collaborations.

He received his Bachelor of Science and Juris Doctor degrees from Santa Clara University.

Stacy Enxing Seng

Director

Stacy Enxing Seng is a venture partner with Lightstone Ventures and a member of the board of directors for Hill-Rom, Sonova AG and Solace Therapeutics. She also serves as an advisor for the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

Enxing Seng has spent the last 30 years in medtech with a proven track record for leading technologies and companies from early concept and development through global market leadership. Prior to refocusing her contributions to venture and board of director work, she served as president of Covidien’s Vascular business. Enxing Seng joined Covidien through the $2.6B acquisition of ev3, where in 2001 she was a founding member and executive officer responsible for leading ev3’s peripheral vascular division from inception. Prior to ev3, Enxing Seng also held various positions at other high- profile medtech organizations including Boston Scientific, SCIMED Life Systems, Baxter Healthcare and AmericanHospital Supply.

She is a frequent speaker and panelist at healthcare industry events as well as events focused on authentic leadership, where she provides insight on building vibrant and winning cultures, innovation and owning your career. Enxing Seng especially enjoys addressing these topics in the context of women’s leadership, communication and empowerment. She has been named as both one of the “Top 100 Women in Business” and “Favorite Role Model for Women in Business” in Minnesota.

Enxing Seng received an MBA from Harvard University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in public policy from Michigan State University.

Lewis Wexler, MD

Director

During 30 years in medical education, Dr. Lewis Wexler has served as chief of cardiovascular radiology and co-director of the Stanford Catherization Angiography Laboratories. His bibliography includes more than 200 published articles, book chapters and abstracts on various aspects of cardiac and vascular imaging and interventions.

Throughout his career, Dr. Wexler has held many public service positions. He was an original founder of the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and the president of the North American Society of Cardiac Imaging (NASCI). He received the first Gold Medal Award from NASCI in 2002, and was also named Physician Volunteer of the Year by the California affiliate of the AHA.

Allan Will

Director

Allan Will is an operating executive with extensive experience founding, funding, operating and selling medical device companies. Will currently serves as CEO of EBR Systems; and chairman of the board of Fractyl Labs and Setpoint Medical.

Previously, as chairman of Ardian, Will led negotiations of the company’s acquisition by Medtronic, one of the largest venture-funded medical device company acquisitions in history. Will was also a founding managing director in Split Rock Partners’ Silicon Valley venture capital office, focusing on the therapeutic medical device field. Will joined Split Rock’s predecessor entity SPVC in 2002 after more than 20 years in operating roles, the last 17 as CEO of various Bay Area venture-backed startups.

Most recently, Will was founder, chairman and CEO of The Foundry, where he co-founded 11 companies including Ardian, Evalve and Concentric Medical.

Prior to The Foundry, Will was CEO of AneuRx, founded by Dr. Fogarty, to develop stent grafts for aortic aneurysms. AneuRx was acquired by Medtronic in 1996. During this period Will and Dr. Fogarty co-founded Adjacent Surgical, which was sold to General Surgical Innovations in 1996. In 1994, Will led a $2 billion leveraged buyout attempt of the Eli Lilly cardiovascular device businesses, which later became Guidant Corporation. Previously, Will was president and CEO of Devices for Vascular Intervention (DVI), which was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company in 1989.

Will is also an inventor on more than 30 issued patents.

He earned his master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981.

Tracy Lefteroff

Former Director

Former global managing partner of Venture Capital Industry Services and National Life Sciences, Tracy Lefteroff oversaw services to privately owned and venture capital-funded companies worldwide.

Lefteroff was key to the development of strategic collaborative agreements with many of the major international pharmaceutical companies and assisted in several high-profile industry mergers. He also co-authored the firm’s Practice Standards and Aids for the Life Sciences Industry.

Lefteroff was with PricewaterhouseCoopers for approximately 25 years. He served on the board of directors of the Stanford Venture Laboratory, the Fogarty Institute for Innovation, the Biotechnology Industry Organization “BIO” and the California Healthcare Institute. He was also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California, Washington and Idaho Societies of CPAs.

Andrew Cleeland

Chief Executive Officer

Andrew 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. Together these two acquisitions totaled $1.5B.

Andrew began his career with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration, progressed to large med tech companies in Telectronics Pacing Systems and Baxter Healthcare (BAX:NYSE), then onto the Silicon Valley start-up space working with Radiant Medical, Ardian and Twelve.
He is currently vice chairman of The Foundry, the premier medical device incubator based in Menlo Park, Calif., and serves as a director for two venture-funded companies, nVision Medical and Saluda Medical.

Andrew has received numerous awards and honors, and is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University. He is passionate about healthcare and a champion of innovators and innovation in the medtech field. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (biophysics) from the Swinburne Institute of Technology.

Our people make things possible.

Thomas J. Fogarty, MD

Craig Straley

John Morriss

Zach Edmond

Greg Bakan

Gayle Kuokka

Mike Regan

Denise Zarins

Corinne Landphere

Gretchen Berstler

Marilyn Enderson

Birgit Johnston

Tom M. Krummel, MD

Frederick St Goar, MD

Angela Macfarlane

J. Casey McGlynn

Stacy Enxing Seng

Lewis Wexler, MD

Allan Will

Tracy Lefteroff

Andrew Cleeland

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