bioMérieux
In 160 countries, bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (systems, reagents, software, services) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety.
Contact: Mahala Burn, PhD, Corporate Development and Strategic Financing, mahala.burn@biomerieux.com
BOA Biomedical
BOA Biomedical is a Miraki Innovation focused on combatting infectious disease by providing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic technologies to fight the world’s most deadly infectious diseases and their outcomes including sepsis, antibiotic resistance, pandemics and the threat of bioterrorism.
Contact: Michael McCurdy, Chief Medical Officer, info@biomedical.com
Charm Sciences
Innovative leader in food, water, and sanitation diagnostics for improved well-being.
Contact: Bob Salter, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Business Development, bobs@charm.com
DaVinci Wearables
A smart underwear ecosystem that harnesses the power of precise cycle, fitness, and physical health measurements to empower data-driven lifestyles.
Contact: Christy Fernandez-Cull, CEO and Founder, christy@davinciwearables.com
DxLab Inc.
DxLab Inc. (DxLab) is developing next-generation point-of-care (POC) diagnostic solutions for rapid, on-site detection of dangerous pathogens. Combining proprietary platform technology with novel target detection and signal processing methods, we are advancing a pipeline of rapid POC tests to keep everyone safe from ever increasing pathogens that threaten our health.
Contact: Ho-Jun Suk, CEO and Founder, hojun@dxlab.bio
Ethos Labs
Innovative diagnostics for a better tomorrow. Ethos Laboratories strives to improve the lives of patients suffering from chronic disease through advanced diagnostic development and cutting edge research.
Contact: Joshua Gunn, Chief Scientific Officer, drgunn@ethosrd.com
Folia Health
Folia Health is the platform for capturing actionable patient insights to better understand the burden of disease, patient journey, and impact of therapy across complex and rare conditions.
Contact: Nell Meosky Luo, CEO, nell@foliahealth.com
Foothold Labs
Foothold Labs has developed a next generation portable rapid diagnostic platform that brings lab quality testing into the home. Our NanoRev platform is a low-cost, easy to use, artificial intelligence enabled quantitative platform that uses novel biosensors for highly sensitive and selective testing purposes.
Contact: Sean McIntosh, CEO & Founder, sean@footholdlabs.com
GLX Analytix
At GLX Analytix, we combine a new, proprietary class of biomarker with AI to bring personalized medicine to your healthcare.
Contact: Brian Della Valle, Founder and CEO, brian@glxnalytix.com
Kephera Diagnostics
Kephera Diagnostics is developing new, affordable point-of-care diagnostic tests for emerging infectious diseases on its mobile platform.
Contact: Andrew Levin, President and Scientific Director, alevin@kephera.com
Labrador Health
Labrador is building a platform for at-home early diagnosis of chronic diseases when they are still in the reversible and treatable phase, starting with prediabetes. We utilize technological advancements in AI and microfluidics to offer an at-home non-invasive digital lab.
Contact: Yoav Kessler, Co-Founder & CEO, yoav@labradorhealth.com
LifeSpin
Lifespin – understanding by data. LifeSpin is a health data insights company created to map the human health condition.
Contact: Ali Tinazli, CEO, ali.tinazli@lifespin.de
Primary.Health
Primary.Health brings cost-effective diagnostics programs to populations by simplifying patient experiences and data exchange.
Contact: Chris Zhu, Chief Technology Officer, chris@primary.health
Unilab
Unilab Foundation is the corporate foundation of Unilab, Inc., the leading pharmaceutical and healthcare company in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, that aims to promote and mainstream inclusive, holistic and sustainable healthcare systems and effective STEM education.
Contact: Lilibeth Aristorenas, Executive Director, Unilab Foundation, lilibeth.aristorenas@unilabfoundation.org
West Pharmaceutical Services
West Pharmaceutical Services is the leading global manufacturer in the design and production of technologically advanced, high-quality, integrated containment and delivery systems for injectable medicines. We are a trusted partner to the world’s top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies–working by their side to improve patient health.
Contact: Scott Young, VP Venture & External Collaboration, scott.young@westpharma.com
Zoetis
As the world’s leading animal health company, Zoetis is driven by a singular purpose: to nurture our world and humankind by advancing care for animals.
Contact: Stephane Shu Kin So, Director of Research Alliances and External Innovation, stephane.shukinso@zoetis.com
Program Leads
Trey Toombs is the Head of Operations and Outreach for the Wyss DxA Industrial Participant Program, applying his program management experience to help develop, launch and operationalize this new endeavor and facilitate collaborations that will accelerate the advancement of diagnostics. Trey also serves as a Program Director for the Brigham Research Institute, where he works closely with faculty and institutional leaders to create and execute initiatives to foster new interdisciplinary and interdepartmental research and raise the visibility of the broader research enterprise. Previously, Trey was a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Colorado State University and his B.S. from Virginia Tech. Contact: jtoombs@bwh.harvard.edu
Bob Cunningham is responsible for engaging members of the business and philanthropic communities in the Institute’s mission of improving healthcare and the environment by accelerating the movement of breakthrough technologies from the laboratory to the market. To harness the power of the Institute’s renowned faculty and network of collaborating institutions to solve global challenges requires a community of dedicated supporters, like founding donor Hansjörg Wyss, who seek not only to enable the fundamental research needed to develop innovative solutions, but also see the results rapidly deployed for the public good through the Institute’s successful model of technology translation and product commercialization. Bob supervises the Strategic Engagement team to manage the Institute’s relationships with companies, foundations, and family offices to identify areas of mutual interest, and mobilize the resources to effect real-world change. Contact: robert.cunningham@wyss.harvard.edu
Pawan Jolly, Ph.D., M.Sc., is a trained biomedical engineer with extensive experience developing diagnostic technologies for various industrial and medical applications. Pawan joined the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator as a technology lead to address pressing unmet needs. Pawan has gained his experience by working in both academia and industries across different countries. At the Wyss, Pawan leads the Sensors Team on the Bioinspired Therapeutics and Diagnostics Platform through innovation and translation. Pawan has established several academic and industrial collaborations and led many projects, including eRapid, Project Abbie, and integrating new sensors with Organ-on-Chip technology. His current interests are biosensors, diagnostics, biologically inspired technologies, and commercialization. Before joining the Wyss, Pawan worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bath, United Kingdom. He completed his Ph.D. as a Marie Curie Fellow in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Bath, and completed his M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering in Germany. Contact: pawan.jolly@wyss.harvard.edu
Alex Li works closely with the Institute’s technical teams to strategize and translate technologies into market opportunities for commercialization. Prior to joining the Institute, Alex worked in seed venture capital where he managed and supported healthcare startups to reach successful exits through acquisition, licensing, and further financing rounds. Alex has also worked in agricultural biotechnology research to promote sustainability. He holds an M.B.A., Master of Business and Science (M.B.S.) in Genomics, and a B.S. in Biotechnology from Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Contact: alexander.li@wyss.harvard.edu
Advisory Team
Members of the Wyss DxA IPP Advisory Team bring their broad experiences and diverse backgrounds to help guide and grow the program to benefit its participants.
Sophie Allauzen is a Diagnostic expert with 20 years of experience in R&D, business development, and portfolio management in various industries/organizations managing full lifecycle (R&D, planning, commercialization, and registration) of novel diagnostic tests/systems globally. Her experience includes the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she oversaw the malaria, neglected diseases and emerging disease diagnostic programs, Novartis Diagnostics as Head of Blood Testing running the NAT/Immunohematology product portfolio and Bio-Rad managing the R&D department for the development of bead multiarray immunoassays. Prior moving to the U.S., Sophie worked at Sanofi Diagnostics Pasteur in France, in R&D working on the development of various tests for infectious diseases.
Elliot P. Cowan, Ph.D., is Principal and Founder, in 2013, of Partners in Diagnostics, LLC, providing consulting on the regulation of in vitro diagnostics to IVD manufacturers, and is the Chief Regulatory Officer of TestZone, dedicated to making spaces safer in the midst of pandemics. This followed a 20-year career at the US Food and Drug Administration, where he led the regulation of all blood donor screening tests and retroviral diagnostics. Elliot was also a member of the Laboratory Technical Working Group for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), providing technical assistance for laboratory quality assurance issues in PEPFAR focus countries, advised the World Health Organization on the development of its Prequalification of Diagnostics Programme, and assisted in building regulatory systems for diagnostics in Sub-Saharan Africa. Elliot received a B.A. from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Biology and Biomedical Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.
Sharon Knight is healthcare startup executive, board member and investor with deep experience in finance, planning and operations. After leading diverse functions and multinational teams at companies such as KFC, Gap, and Electronic Arts, she entered the startup world, joining One Medical Group, an innovative primary care provider, in 2012 as President, overseeing its growth from 4 offices in San Francisco to 15 offices. Most recently, she was President and COO of Hawthorne Effect, a startup that is transforming how clinical trials are conducted. She is also the founder of Avik Ventures through which Sharon has made 14 investments and advised more than 30 companies.
David Levine, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., is a practicing general internist and clinician-investigator at Brigham Health and Harvard Medical School. He is active in clinical and translational research through a focus on optimizing quality time at home by shifting care home, decentralizing care, digital health technology, and measuring the quality and experience of health care. He is medical director for strategy and innovation for the Brigham Health Home Hospital and co-chair of the Hospital at Home Users Group. He sees his role as helping patients achieve the right care at the right time in the right place by designing, implementing, and evaluating innovative interaction spaces among a care team, technology, caregiver, and a patient. David received his undergraduate degree from Pomona College in biology and politics. He earned his master’s in teaching in special and secondary science education and served as a high school chemistry teacher and science department chair in Chicago Public Schools. He received his medical degree from Washington University in St Louis and completed his residency at New York University and Bellevue Hospital in internal medicine – primary care. He completed a general internal medicine fellowship at Brigham Health and Harvard Medical School and received his master’s in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Michael J. Natan, Ph.D. has over 25 years of entrepreneurial activity in the life science space. Michael is currently CEO of Spear Bio Inc., a start-up focused on ultrasensitive protein diagnostics. During 2020, he was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard, and a Principal at 3PoundFlax, LLC, helping seed-stage life science companies with strategy, IP, operations, and financing. He was previously President, CEO and a Director of Ultivue Inc., the leader in whole-slide tissue multiplexing technology. Prior to joining Ultivue, he was an Executive Director, New Business Development for Cabot Corporation. In 2010, Cabot acquired Oxonica Materials Inc., for which Michael served as CEO. Prior to Oxonica, Michael was a co-founder and CEO of Nanoplex Technologies Inc. (acquired by Oxonica), and served as CTO and then as VP, Business Development for SurroMed, the first biomarker discovery company. Dr. Natan started his professional career as an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor with tenure, and Full Professor of Chemistry at Penn State University from 1991-1999. His education comprised a degree in Chemistry with Honors from Yale University (1981), a Ph.D. in Chemistry from MIT (1986), and postdoctoral research at Northwestern University (1987-1991).
Jim Niemi has over 25 years of experience in medical device research, development, and commercialization. His prior interests and experience include neuromuscular stimulation and control, stochastic resonance for human neuromotor applications, advanced medical imaging, implantable smart sensors and materials, as well as bioreactor and automation design. Jim is currently the Lead Staff Engineer for the Living Cellular Devices focus area of the Wyss Institute focusing on applications of synthetic biology, in conjunction with traditional devices, for primarily diagnostic applications. Jim received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and his M.S. in BioEngineering from Brown University. Contact: james.niemi@wyss.harvard.edu
Richard Novak, Ph.D., is the founding CEO of Unravel Biosciences, Inc., which he spun out from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University to develop therapeutics for orphan CNS diseases using a novel AI drug prediction and in vivo screening platform. Prior to Unravel Bio, he was a Lead Engineer at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University where he managed the Microengineering Team and led development of human Organ Chips, Organism-on-Chip screening platforms, and analytical and diagnostic instrumentation for accelerating therapeutics discovery and precision diagnostics. Richard received his PhD in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley/UC San Francisco where he developed microfluidic single cell analytical and diagnostic platforms for forensic, therapeutic, and basic research applications. He is the founder of Future Scientist, a nonprofit that works with resource-poor communities to design sustainable solutions through their prototyping and development hub in Panama. Richard also is a founder and director of Rhinostics Inc., a medical consumables company that has developed an automatable sample collection platform that accelerates and expands access to respiratory, blood, and genomic laboratory testing through integration with existing lab automation instruments.
Mac Strafford is a healthcare professional with a background in management consulting. She currently oversees population health projects at Optum and previously served as a consultant at Bain & Company in the private equity practice. Throughout 2020, Mac also led Testing & Therapeutic efforts at a COVID-19 relief nonprofit called Stop the Spread. In this role, Mac supported over 100 diagnostic companies by connecting them with resources to accelerate their development timeline and enable greater scale.