Archives: Speakers

From his early exposure as an undergraduate research fellow at the lab of Leroy Hood at Caltech where the automated DNA sequencer was developed, to bringing cutting edge life-sciences tools to the market at Life Technologies Corp. (acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.), Ben has both seen and led scientific and technological transformations that have changed our world for the better.

Professional experiences: Life Technology, McKinsey and Company, Los Angeles Dodgers

Education: Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University

Hayley Lewis serves as the Senior Vice President of Operations, where she oversees the functional areas of Nonclinical, R&D, Analytical Development and QC, Operations and Engineering, Manufacturing, and Regulatory Affairs, and continues to be responsible for overseeing all regulatory interactions with the FDA and other government agencies. Hayley joined the company as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality in October 2015. Prior to joining Zosano, Hayley spent over 11 years in Regulatory Affairs at Depomed, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, where she was involved in the approval of 3 commercial products. Over the course of her career, she has enabled 9 investigational products to be studied in humans, 6 of which have advanced to completion of Phase 3 trials. Hayley’s pharmaceutical development experience, spanning over 20 years, covers solid oral dosage forms, and combination products such as systemic and local inhalation products, a single entity combination injectable, and transdermal systems. Ms. Lewis received a B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Greenwich in England, and has attained several management diplomas from Kellogg School of Management, as well as Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Nick Damiano is a serial entrepreneur with broad experience in medical devices and digital health. He has 15 years of experience as a healthcare entrepreneur, innovator, and leader. He is currently Co-Founder & CEO of Zenflow, which is developing a novel office-based therapy to relieve symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a urologic condition that impacts quality of life over 500 million men globally. The company has raised over $60 million in funding and conducted successful clinical trials in five countries. Zenflow is backed by leading venture firms including Invus and F-Prime and was one of the first medical device companies funded by Y Combinator, the world’s leading startup accelerator.

Prior to Zenflow, Nick was an Innovation Fellow at Stanford University. Before Biodesign, he co-founded Avail MedSystems (f.k.a. Nurep), a company developing telemedicine solutions for medical device procedures that has raised over $100 million in venture funding. In this role, Nick led the successful technical development effort to bring the company’s product to market and also played key roles in strategy, sales, and fundraising. Prior to Avail, he worked in engineering roles for several small medical device companies, including developing critical algorithms for the world’s first leadless cardiac pacing system at EBR Systems.

Outside of Zenflow, Nick plays an active role in mentoring and advising medtech and healthcare entrepreneurs and startups. He has served as an advisor in various capacities at StartX, Y Combinator Startup School, Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, and the Rosenman Institute. He is also a Venture Partner at Pioneer Fund, a venture fund led by Y Combinator alumni.

Nick grew up on the east coast and earned his M.S. and B.S. with Distinction in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.

Norm Gitis has earned Ph.D. in Engineering, has authored over 150 scientific papers, three books and over two dozen patents, chaired and organized over three dozen international scientific conferences.

Norm founded and ran two profitable test-instrumentation companies, Center for Tribology, Inc. in Mountain View (1994-2000) and CETR in Campbell (2000-2011). He was twice named by the Business Journal the CEO of Top 20 Fastest Growing Private Companies in Northern California.

He is a managing partner of Lymo Ventures, Board chair of two medtech startups, Board observer of two other medtech startups. His investment portfolio includes two dozen med-tech and a half-dozen biotech startup companies. Norm serves on screening committees of Life Science Angels and Band of Angels, both in Silicon Valley.

Ms. Verma is Director of Global Clinical Affairs with Natus Medical, founder and President of ClinVitals and Advisory member with Wai Technologies bringing extensive expertise in Medical Device clinical research and product development. A recognized health care and life science leader with more than 20 years of mentoring experience, leadership skills, strategic thinking in multi-therapeutic acumen. Ms Verma has served several start-up and public firms encompassing all phases and types of Medical Device clinical research.

Lukas Turkiewicz is Head of Sales Project Business of Laufen in Germany and is leading the German Project Team. Lukas is contact person and sparring partner for key hotel operator groups, investors, developers, interior designers and architects and connects them with the world of Laufen.