News from Biodesign Alumni

January 18-20, 2012

Zach Malchano is speaking at the Health Innovation Summit in San Francisco.

November 29, 2011

Jessica Hudak, Fellow from 05-06, spoke at the Bio2DeviceGroup (www.bio2devicegroup.org) about the Biodesign Process.

November 8, 2011

Spiracur, company formed from 2007 Innovation Class, has introduced SNaP® BLUE Foam Dressing Kit at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC).

October 31, 2011

Medici Medical Technologies, whose core technology is based on a 2006 Biodesign concept, has secured a $200k investment commitment towards its seed round of $600k. It aims to use these funds to deliver a completed, working prototype and First-in-Man feasibility study. Medici previously obtained a grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance to develop several real-sized prototypes. The company is founded by Joseph Knight and Bryant Lin from the 05-06 Fellowship year.

October 16, 2011

iRhythm Technologies has raised an additional $7 million in its Series C Equity Round, led by Kaiser Permanente Ventures. Total Series C is now $22M.

October 4, 2011

Spiracur has donated 25 SNaP Wound Care Systems for UCSF IGOT use and training in Tanzania. The expeditions to Tanzania and other developing countries are part of a large-scale study to understand patient care and assess the burden of disease in resource-poor countries in comparison to resource-rich countries.

September 22, 2011

Simpirica Spine has closed a $22M C round of funding led by new investor Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). Existing investors De Novo Ventures and U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) also participated in this round.

September 19, 2011

Congratulations to Niveus Medical, company founded by Brian Fahey from 07-08 Fellowship, for their recent funding round. Niveus receive $600,000 from HealthTech Capital.

September 13, 2011

Spiracur is featured inToday's Wound Clinic in an article entitled 'An Inside Look at Spiracur.'

September 10, 2011

AUM Medical, a device company founded by Fellow Marie Johnson, Fellow 07-08, has taken first prize in the prestigious Minnesota Cup. AUM Medical's technology is an economical, non-invasive device that identifies lethal coronary blockages. Read an article about the history of the device creation.

September 1, 2011

Driptech, start up from former Collab TA Peter Frykman, is turning 3 and to celebrate just won Series A funding. Congrats to Driptech!

August 24, 2011

InSite Medical has received a CE Mark for their Epiphany Epidural Access System.

August 2, 2011

iRhythm is featured in an article entitled Heart Monitors Pose Miniaturization Challenge in DesignNews.

July 26, 2011

Niveus is featured in an article entitled Stretching Dollars As A Small Health-Care Fund.

July, 2011

Marie Johnson has founded AUM Cardiovascular, Inc.

July 13, 2011

Health Canada Issues medical device license to Spiracur Inc. for SNaP Wound Care System.

May 26, 2011

A baby girl, Josephine Rose Hudak, was born to JessicaHudak (2005-06 Fellow).

May 15, 2011

Ellis Garai, 2009-11 Fellow, invented a device that can be used by clinicians to administer Raman nanoparticles to enhance imaging techniques that could help identify tumor areas during colonoscopies. Read more.

May 3, 2011

iRhythm Technologies, Inc., a company that was started from technology of the 05-06 Fellows and founded by Uday Kumar, just announced it has raised $15 million in a Series C private equity financing.

May 1, 2011

Endoluminal Sciences is featured in Start-Up Magazine. They have developed a polymer-based "active sealing" technology called ELS SEAL that can be applied to existing EVAR devices to enhance the long-term durability of the seal against the vessel wall. Read more.

April 12, 2011

Spiracur Inc., the developer of an ultraportable and disposable negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) device, and Highmark Inc., one of Pennsylvania’s leading health insurers, today announced new coverage for the SNaP® Wound Care System and related supplies.

March 21, 2011

The patent application on an Endoluminal Delivery System from the Biodesign Class of 2005 (that lead to establishment of Endoluminal Sciences) has been accepted by the USPTO.

March 16, 2011

Spiracur, the developer of an ultraportable and disposable negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) device, announced that it has been awarded the prestigious American Podiatric Medical Association's (APMA) Seal of Approval for its innovative SNaP® Wound Care System.

February 22, 2011

Insite Medical Technologies was awarded $500,000 through the government's SBIR program for small businesses. This Phase II SBIR is awarded for "improving the safety and efficacy of epidural anesthesia."

February 12, 2011

William Overall, 2002-3 Fellow, has joined HeartVista, a medtech startup in the bay area, as CTO.

February 1, 2011

Spiracur announced that it has raised $35M in its next series of funding. Investors include New York-based Maverick Capital Ltd., Pinnacle Ventures, De Novo Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Leaf Venture Partners.

January 1, 2011

Zachary Edmonds, 2007-08 Fellow, was promoted to Partner within the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

January 25, 2011

Spiracur, a company formed from the Biodesign Innovation class in 2007, has secured CE Mark approval for SNaP Wound Care System.

January 24, 2011

Dorothea Koh, 2007-08 Fellow, has recently transitioned to Medtronic to be their International Senior Market Development Manager. She'll continue to reside in Singapore.

January 21, 2011

Former student, Juan-Pablo Mas, has joined Morgenthaler Ventures. In his email that he wrote to inform us of the move he said "The class and the process fundamentally changed what I wanted to do with my life, and I know I’m not the only student that can say that."

January 18, 2011

Spiracur, a company founded from the 2006-07 Innovation Class, announced it has been added to Marathon Medical's existing Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract, administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Read the press release.

January 4, 2011

Santiago Ocejo, Global Fellow in 2006-07, has been invited to WHO at Geneva as a consultant to their initiative on Medical Devices for developing countries. He was invited to evaluate 84 technologies from all around the world that are applicable or designed for developing countries.

January 3, 2011

Boston Scientific Corp. said Tuesday is completed its acquisition of heart valve replacement device developer Sadra Medical Inc. Ken Martin, Fellow 04-05, is CEO of Sadra.

January 2, 2011

Driptech, the low cost drip irrigation system invented by Peter Frykman, former TA to the Biodesign Innovaiton class, recently revisited the Shanxi farmers in northern China after one planting season of using Driptech. They conducted an extensive survey and found that on average, farmers were using 30-50% less water and increasing their yields by 30%.

December, 2010

The FDA has downclassified the Spiracur SNaP Wound Healing device to Class II (from Class III.)

November 19, 2010

Boston Scientific Corp. agreed to acquire closely held Sadra Medical Inc. for as much as $386 million to compete in the $2.1 billion market for implantable cardiac valves that don’t require open-heart surgery. Ken Martin, Biodesign Fellow 2004-05, is the CEO of Sadra.

November 1, 2010

Vascular Pathways, a company founded by Amir Belson (Fellow 2002-03), gets $14M in Series B equity funding.

September 29, 2010

Spiracur, Inc. today announced important results from a clinical study highlighting the safety and efficacy of its SNaP Wound Care System for the treatment of chronic lower extremity wounds. The data was presented this week at the Fall 2010 Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) in Anaheim, Calif.

September 28, 2010

Christian Eversull (Fellow, 2001-02) has been appointed as Clinical Assistant Professor (Affiliated) of Medicine at Stanford. He also received a Teaching Excellence Award from the School of Medicine.

May 13, 2010

St. Jude Medical, Inc. and iRhythm Technologies, Inc. announced today they have entered into partnership with a focus on iRhythm's Zio(TM) Patch. iRhythm also announced closure of a $10 million private equity round of financing, which was led by St. Jude Medical and included existing investors Mohr Davidow Ventures and Synergy Life Science Partners. Proceeds will be used to support the commercial launch of the Zio Patch. The announcement was made concurrent with Heart Rhythm 2010, the Heart Rhythm Society's 31st Annual Scientific Sessions, in Denver.

April 10, 2010

iRhythm, a company that was started from technology of the 05-06 Fellows and founded by Uday Kumar, has been awarded the Medical Design Excellence Award for 2010. The awards are announced in the April issue of Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry magazine.

February 20, 2010

InSite Medical Technologies, maker of a medical device used to safely deliver epidural anesthesia during childbirth and other procedures started by the 2007 Fellows, has just brought in $1.06 million of an expected $2.08 million round of equity, according to a filing with the SEC.

January, 2010

Brian Fahey, Marie Johnson and Ross Venook are quoted in an article in The Scientist, Monetize your Science.

October, 2009

Darin Buxbaum, Student in 2007, will be featured on a panel in the GSB class " Evaluating Entrepreneurial Opportunities" talking about opportunities in the healthcare industry.

October, 2009

Bryant Lin, 05-06 Fellow, has been promoted to Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University's Medical Center.

November, 2009

Biodesign Alumni Association starts a blog.

August, 2009

Insite is pleased to announce that they have just completed their feasibility trial in humans for the Epiphany epidural system. They treated 7 patients with overwhelming success in accessing the epidural space with no major complications. We will be moving onto design modifications for a commercial device, 510(k) submission and further fund raising.

August, 2009

David Miller, 01-02 Fellow, has recently moved to Austin Texas, to join Apollo Endosurgery. He is a program manager there.

June, 2009

Spiracur, developer of a device used to heal small wounds effectively, has brought in $20.3 million in a second round of funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Leaf Venture Partners and De Novo Ventures. Spiracur has raised $24.3 million since its inception in 2007.

May, 2009

Sadra Medical, whose CEO is Ken Martin, 05 Fellow, announced it has raised $30 million in new investment capital.

April, 2009

Driptech, the company started by Peter Frykman, former TA for Biodesign, is progressing to the final round of the Stanford Social E Challenge.  Judges awarded the project one of the top 6 spots.  The top 3 will share a pool of $50k as divided by the judges. 

April, 2009

InSite Medical Technologies has just completed a feasibility trial in humans for the Epiphany epidural system. They treated 7 patients with overwhelming success in accessing the epidural space and no major complications. Next steps include design modifications for a commercial device, 510(k) submission and further fundraising.

March, 2009

Steve Eichmann, 06-07 Fellow, has been promoted to Industrial Design Director, WorldWide R&D for J&J/Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. His image is used on their advertising at ASCRS.

Feb, 2009

Uday Kumar and iRhythm are featured in an article in the California Healthcare Institute's California Biomedical Industry 2009 Report. Read full article.

Jan, 2009

InSite Medical Technologies (from Fellows, year 2006-07) just received an SBIR phase II grant from the NSF for $500K. They are planning to perform their first human use in March and hope to push through a 510(k) by summer.

Dec, 2008

Shubhayu Basu has joined the global Cardiovascular Innovation Center which is a statewide effort to create medical device related companies and expertise in the cardiovascular arena in the state of Ohio. The CIC is currently housed within the Cleveland Clinic.

Nov, 2008

Dan Riskin has been appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Mohr Davidow Ventures. Dan will focus on healthcare information systems and business
models.

Oct, 2008

StemCor Signs Agreement With Hospira to Market New Medical Device to Oncologists and Hematologists. StemCor Systems, Inc., a medical device company developing systems for Enabling Regenerative Medicine(TM), announced that it has signed an agreement with Hospira, Inc. to develop and commercialize StemCor's proprietary system for the harvest of bone marrow.

Oct, 2008

Akshay Mavani, 07 Biodesign Student, has founded CuraSeal Inc. an Advanced Fistula Closure Systems company. Initial seed funding has been raised and they are now on track to submit for a 510K approval for the new device. Mavani was formerly involved with Spiracur.

Sep, 2008

Jessica Connor, 05-06 Fellow, has joined both Baxano, Inc. as their Intellectual Property Manager and Shay Glenn, LLP as a Patent Agent. Baxano, Inc. is a medical device start up developing tools to restore spine function and preserve healthy tissue. Shay Glenn, LLP is an intellectual property law firm representing early stage medical device companies, the entrepreneurs who found them and the investors who fund them.

Sep, 2008

Aimee Angel, 02-03 Fellow, leaves Hong Kong and is promoted to "National Marketing Manager, Australia and New Zealand" for Abbott. She will be based in Sydney.

Aug, 2008

Bilal Shafi, 05-07 Fellow, was selected as one of MIT Technology Review's Top 35 Innovators under 35. An article and video are on the TechReview website. Read the press release (pdf).

July, 2008

Evan Anderson, 02-03 Fellow, recently moved to Spiracur, a Biodesign spinoff. He will be Manager, R&D.

June, 2008

Ashish Mitra and Martin Ng, former Biodesign students, have co-founded Endoluminal Sciences to further develop the technology they began in Biodesign. They are based in Sydney, Australia and have recently received $2 Million in backing from GBS Venture Partners in Melbourne.

June, 2008

Marie Johnson, 07-08 Fellow, is now Director of Fellowships for University of Minnesota's new Medical Device Center. Read the press.

May, 2008

Joe Knight, 06-07 Fellow, has been invited by the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Masinde Muliro University of Science and technology in Kakanega, Kenya as a guest lecturer on the art of innovation.

January, 2008

Aimee Angel, 02-03 Fellow, has been transferred to Hong Kong to be Product Marketing Manager for Abbott Vascular's Drug Eluting Stent in the Asia Pacific region.

October, 2007

Former Biodesign student, Theo Tam, created his own medical device while at Duke University. He started ImaGyn, a company founded on an effective and affordable device called the cerviScope. This device will assist clinicians in developing worlds in the early detection of cervical cancer. Utilizing this device, the examination can be completed in minutes eliminating the need for laboratory evaluation which can take days to produce results.

March, 2007

John MacMahon, former student and co-founder of Kerberos Proximal Solutions, has recently been appointed CEO for Mitralign.

March, 2006

NeoGuide Medical Systems, a device company started by Amir Belson and Matt Ohline recently received FDA approval for their device, an articulated, robotic colonoscope system.

February, 2006

Innovation Fellow Alumnus (01/02) David Miller’s company, Innospine, was recently acquired by Kyphon.