Board of Directors
Frank Fischer
Chairman of the Board of Directors
President & Chief Executive Officer, NeuroPace
Frank Fischer has more than 25 years of senior management experience in the medical device industry. He has served on the Neuropace Board of Directors since 1998 and joined the company as its chief executive officer in January 2000. Prior to joining Neuropace, Mr. Fischer was president and chief executive officer of Heartport, Inc., a cardiac surgery company, from May 1998 until September 1999 and served on Heartport’s board of directors. Mr. Fischer was president and chief executive officer and a director of Ventritex, Inc., a company that pioneered implantable cardiac defibrillators, from 1987 until the sale of the company to St. Jude Medical, Inc. in early 1997. Mr. Fischer holds an M.S. in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Currently, he serves on the boards of several privately held medical device companies.
Terry Gould
Head of Direct Investments, Adam Street Partners
Terry Gould is Head of Direct Investments for Adam Street Partners. He is responsible for private equity investments, assisting portfolio companies and maintaining venture, entrepreneurial and investor contacts. Prior to joining Adam Street, he held positions with Trinity Ventures and Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Gould holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. Currently, Mr. Gould serves on the boards of several privately held companies.
Ginger Graham (Pharmaceutical Systems Division)
President and CEO, Two Trees Consulting
Ginger L. Graham, President and CEO of Two Trees Consulting, is a public speaker and health care consultant. She is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals and the former Group Chairman, Office of the President for Guidant Corporation, a major cardiovascular medical device manufacturer.
Ginger received a Bachelor of Science in agricultural economics from the University of Arkansas, and holds an MBA from Harvard University.
Ms. Graham serves on the Boards of Directors for Genomic Health, Inc., Proteus Biomedical Pharmaceutical Systems Division, ICAT Managers, the American Diabetes Association Research Foundation where she serves as Vice Chair, and the California Council on Science and Technology. She also serves on the Advisory Boards for Bente Hansen and Associates, the Kellogg Center for Executive Women and the Women Business Leaders of the US Health Care Industry Foundation. Ms. Graham is a member of the Harvard Business School Health Industry Alumni Advisory Board, The University of Arkansas Chancellor’s Board of Advisors, the University of Arkansas Alumni Association Board of Directors and the University of California, San Diego Health Sciences Advisory Board. She serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of Life Sciences publication, frequently speaks at Business Schools and has written for Harvard Business Review.
An avid gardener and horsewoman, Ginger lives with her husband, Jack, in Boulder, Colorado. She devotes much of her free time to mentoring high-potential young women in business and advancing the cause of women’s healthcare.
David M. Lawrence, MD, MPH
Venture Partner, Physics Ventures
Dr. David M. Lawrence, MD, MPH, serves on the Boards of Agilent Technologies, McKesson Corporation, Dynavax Technologies, Raffles Medical Group (Singapore), and Proventys, Inc. He is a general partner in Conduit Venture Partners, and Senior Advisor to Burrill and Company, Health Evolution Partners, and Physic Ventures. He is Special Advisor to the Board of SomaLogic, Incorporated, and to the Founders of MedExpert, Incorporated. He is a member of the RAND Health Advisory Board and a member of the Advisory Board for the RAND COMPARE study on national health reform. He is a founding member of the Lucien Leape Institute of the National Patient Safety Foundation, and on the Advisory Board to the California Prison Health System. Dr. Lawrence conducts an independent consulting and teaching practice focused on health care integration and leadership. He is the author of From Chaos to Care: The Promise of Team-Based Medicine (Perseus Press, 2002).
From 1991 until his retirement in December, 2002, Dr. Lawrence was Chief Executive Officer of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and Chairman of the Board from 1992 until his retirement. Dr. Lawrence served KFHP/KFH as Vice Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer (1990-91); Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Northern California (1988-89); Vice President and Regional Manager in Colorado (1985-88). He was Vice President and Area Medical Director for Northwest Permanente in Portland, Oregon (1981-85).
Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Lawrence served as Health Officer and Director of Human Services in Multnomah County, Oregon; on the faculty of Department of Health Services and Director of MEDEX in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington; as Advisor to the Ministry of Health of Chile; and as Peace Corps Physician in the Dominican Republic and Washington, DC, and Director of the Office of Medical Programs for the Peace Corps.
Dr. Lawrence is a graduate of Amherst College (BA), the University of Kentucky (MD), and the University of Washington (MPH). He is Board Certified in General Preventive Medicine (Johns Hopkins and University of Washington). He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha (Medical Honorary Society) and the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Sciences).
Dr. Lawrence has been recognized as the Outstanding Alumnus of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington (1980); and The Outstanding Alumnus, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky (1995). He was inducted into the Hall of Distinguished Alumni, University of Kentucky (1995); and has received Honorary Degrees from Amherst College (Doctor of Science, 1994), Colgate University (Doctor of Letters, 1995), and the University of Kentucky (Doctor of Science, 1997). He was named Distinguished Advisor to the National Patient Safety Foundation in 2005.
Alan J. Levy, Ph.D.
Chairman, Northstar Neuroscience
Alan Levy, Ph.D. is Chairman and former chief executive officer of Northstar Neuroscience (NASDAQ:NSTR). Currently, he is a Venture Partner with Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Dr. Levy has more than 30 years of senior management experience in the medical device industry. Prior to co-founding Northstar Neuroscience, Dr. Levy served as president and chief executive officer of Heartstream, a company that developed, manufactured, and marketed an innovative automatic external defibrillator that revolutionized the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest. Prior to joining Heartstream, he was president of Heart Technology, which developed, manufactured, and marketed devices for removing plaque from coronary arteries and was sold to Boston Scientific in 1995. Before joining Heart Technology, Dr. Levy was vice president of research and new business development and a member of the board of the Ethicon division of Johnson & Johnson. Levy received his Bachelors degree in chemistry from City University of New York and his Doctorate in organic chemistry from Purdue University. Currently, he serves on the board of Intuitive Surgical, a publicly held company and several privately held medical device companies.
Kathy Murray (Medication Delivery Division)
Director, Covance
Kathy Murray has more than twenty years of senior management experience in the healthcare industry, and is currently a Director of Covance (NYSE: CVD), a drug development services company. From 1998 through 2004, Ms. Murray served in multiple leadership positions with Northwestern Memorial Corporation in Chicago, including chief operating officer of the Hospital and Corporation and chief executive officer of the Foundation. In addition, Ms. Murray served as chief nurse executive in several hospitals and senior vice president of operations at St. Joseph Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ms. Murray was chair of the Governing Council for Metropolitan Hospitals of the American Hospital Association and served on the boards of Target Therapeutics, the Illinois Hospital and HealthSystems Association, Dominican University, Girl Scouts of America, The Joffrey Ballet, The Health Alliance (a group of 30 top women in US health care), and the Economic Club of Chicago. Ms. Murray holds a B.S. in nursing from Kent State University and an M.S. in nursing from Ohio State University
Ben Pless
President and Chief Executive Officer, Autonomic Technologies
Ben Pless has over 25 years of experience developing and bringing to market implantable medical devices. Most recently he was the chief operating officer and chief technical officer of NeuroPace, a privately-held company developing electronic implantable devices for the treatment of neurological disorders, such as epilepsy. Prior to joining NeuroPace in 2000, he was responsible for worldwide development activities for the Cardiac Rhythm Management Division of St. Jude Medical, Inc. Mr. Pless previously served as vice president of product development for Ventritex, Inc. and general manager of its Maven Capacitors division until the sale of the company to St. Jude Medical in 1997. He was a founder of Ventritex where he was instrumental in the development of one of the first implantable cardiac defibrillators. His career began at Intermedics, where he was a development engineer for implantable pacemakers. Mr. Pless is a member of the board of directors of several start-up medical device companies and regularly provides consulting services to the venture capital community. Mr. Pless received a B.S.E.E. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and attended graduate school at Rice University. He is a named inventor on approximately 100 patents and patent applications.
Ryan Schwarz
Managing Director, The Carlyle Group
Ryan M. Schwarz is a Managing Director of The Carlyle Group. He leads the healthcare investing practice in the U.S. Venture & Growth Capital Group, with a particular focus on medical devices, medical technology and healthcare information technology. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of AcuFocus, Lipsonix, NeoVista, Cellutions and PixelOptics. Mr. Schwarz previously served as a vice president in the healthcare group at Robertson Stephens & Co., and was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. Mr. Schwarz holds a J.D., from Harvard Law School and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He received his A.B., from Duke University where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar.
Immanuel Thangaraj
Managing Director, Essex Woodlands
Immanuel Thangaraj is a Managing Director for Essex Woodlands. He has 15 years of experience in operations and venture capital, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of CBR Systems, Acura Pharmaceuticals, Clear Vascular, Medlogics, and Sound ID. Prior to joining Essex Woodlands, Mr. Thangaraj worked for ARCH Venture Partners, a leading venture capital firm with over $1 billion under management. During his initial tenure at AVP, he managed one of its portfolio companies, a medical information company, until its sale to a large hospital supplies company. In 1995 he left AVP to run a telecommunications company until its sale to a public company. Mr. Thangaraj holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Andrew M. Thompson
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Thompson is a co-founder of Proteus. He is also a Managing Member of Spring Ridge Ventures, and has led the incubation of Proteus since inception. From 1994-1999, Mr. Thompson co-founded and served as a director and chief executive officer of FemRx until the company was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Previously, Mr. Thompson co-founded and was chief financial officer for CardioRhythm through its acquisition by Medtronic. He holds an M.A. in engineering from Cambridge University, where he was a United Kingdom National Engineering Scholar, an M.A. in education from Stanford University and a M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Mark J. Zdeblick, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Zdeblick is a co-founder of Proteus. Prior to co-founding Proteus, he served as chief technology officer, Optical switch group of K2 Optronics. Dr. Zdeblick is founder, director and past chief technical officer of Redwood Microsystems, developer of the world’s highest performance microfabricated valves and electro-fluidic integrated circuits. While working in Cal Quate’s group at Stanford, he invented the microfabricated cantilever beam, an important component enabling atomic force microscopy. Dr. Zdeblick holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering (Tau Beta Pi, Phi Eta Sigma) and a B.A. in Architecture, both from the University of Illinois, an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, both from Stanford University.