PETER GOMBRICH - KEYNOTE

Co-Founder of St. Jude Medical

Topic: The Founding, Development and History of St. Jude Medical 
 

Peter Gombrich is a serial entrepreneur who founded three medical device companies, including St. Jude Medical, a global medical device company and Fortune 500 company acquired by Abbott in 2017.   St. Jude Medical was founded in 1976 to further develop bi-leaflet artificial heart valves.  The company now has more than 18,000 employees working in 20 locations, and sells products in over 100 countries.  

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Peter also founded and served as the CEO and Chairman of Integrated Microcircuits, an outgrowth of St. Jude Medical.  After St. Jude, Mr. Gombrich founded and was CEO of CliniCom, a provider of bedside clinical information, which was sold to McKesson.  Following CliniCom, Peter founded and led AccuMed/Molecular Diagnostics, a cytopathic laboratory products company, which he took public.  

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Since CliniCom, Peter founded Diamics and OncoGenesis, two women’s healthcare companies focused on cervical cancer screening. 

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Peter holds a BSc degree in electrical engineering from the University of Denver, and an MBA from the University of Denver.

TAK CHEUNG, MD, MBA

Principal, New Enterprise Associates (NEA)

 

Tak is a Principal on the New Enterprise Associates (NEA) healthcare team, with a focus on medical device investments. 

 

Prior to NEA, Tak was a Venture Partner at Merieux Development Venture Fund where he led all phases of investment for healthcare startups, including sourcing, diligence and investment approvals. Tak also co-founded Lexington Medical, a commercial-stage medical device startup in the gastrointestinal surgery space. Prior to Merieux and Lexington, Tak was VP of Business Development for the Global Surgical Division at Bausch & Lomb, and was responsible for all business development efforts in the ophthalmic surgical division. Tak has held various corporate and business development leadership roles at Edwards Lifesciences in the Heart Valve Therapy Division and Advanced Medical Optics (acquired by Johnson & Johnson).

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Tak received a BS with Honors in Engineering and Applied Science from the California Institute of Technology, an MD from the University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

DAVID NEUSTAEDTER, PHD

Vice President of Venture Capital, Medtronic
Former Director of Venture Capital, Coviden

Former Director of Commercial Strategy and Advanced Technologies, Stryker

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As Vice President of Venture Capital at Medtronic, Dave works closely with Medtronic’s leadership and business development teams regarding minority investments. He has lead a large number of investments and has served as a Director or Observer on over 15 Boards including superDimension, Medina, Setpoint, PQ Bypass, MD Revolution and numerous undisclosed companies. Prior to Medtronic, Dave served in similar roles at Covidien and Stryker. While at Covidien, he also led a process to develop a white space growth strategy for the company. Earlier in his career, Dave was a healthcare-focused strategy consultant, supporting clients on decisions regarding internal product development and acquisition opportunities across the medical device, diagnostic and biopharmaceutical industries. He received a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of British Columbia, and an MBA from Yale.  

BRYAN GRULKE

Partner, Volcano Capital

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Bryan Grulke is a Partner at Volcano Capital, an early stage health care venture capital firm based in New York City.   Volcano Capital is an evergreen fund, backed by a family office, that operates free from the constraints of traditional venture capital funds.  The fund typically invests in early to mid stage medical device companies with a focus on interventional radiology, spine/orthopedics and minimally invasive surgery.

 

Prior to joining Volcano Capital, he worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company and in the corporate strategy group at Philips International. Bryan graduated from Harvard Business School and Duke University, summa cum laude with a BS degree in Economics.

DR. JAMES MIN

Director of the Dalio Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging at New York–Presbyterian Hospital/Weill-Cornell Medical Center

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Bio to Be Added