News from Biodesign Alumni

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.

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.