Professional Partners

Rahul Ballal, Ph.D.
With more than seven years of experience in high-technology and biotech financing, Rahul is practiced in raising capital for startup companies. Rahul was most recently a Senior Associate at ASMR, a $30MM biotech venture capital fund located in Washington DC. Previous to joining ASMR, Rahul was the CEO and founder of Redmind, Inc., a venture backed software start-up that raised $12MM and was acquired by real-time applications vendor Ikimbo Inc. Rahul received a B.S. in biology from Brown University and a M.S. in Bioinformatics from The Johns Hopkins University. He left ASMR to complete his PhD at Georgetown University School of Medicine. He currently works in Business Development at the Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard.

Stephane Budel, Ph.D.
Stephane Budel is a partner at DeciBio, LLC, where he specializes in the analysis of private to mid-cap companies in the life sciences research tools and molecular diagnostics spaces. Stephane’s clients include top 5 management consulting firms, as well as pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies that evaluate opportunities in these complex and fluid markets. In addition to specializing in disruptive life science technologies, Stephane has supported clients facing a broad range of challenging business issues, such as R&D prioritization and various business development activities. Stephane earned his Ph.D. in Physiology from Yale University for his research on the molecular mechanisms of spinal cord injury and schizophrenia. Subsequently, he worked for LEK Consulting as a senior life science specialist, where he built financial models for multiple projects leading to merger and acquisition activities in combined excess of $7 billion. He is the co-founder of DeciBio and continues to consult for startup and established companies, including LEK Consulting.

Tien T. Bui
Tien T. Bui is the Principal of Biozen Consulting, a healthcare strategic consulting firm. Ms. Bui is also on the Leadership Team of the Institute for Drug Resistance which was created to serve as a vehicle for enabling, supporting, and promoting novel, multidisciplinary approaches to tackle the challenges of drug resistance for the research and clinical communities. She has 18 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry having been extensively involved in all aspects of drug and technology commercialization. For seven years she was VP of Sales & Marketing and VP of Medical Affairs and Education for Virology and Oncology, at Monogram Biosciences (formerly Virologic). During that time she started Monogram's first specialty sales force and was in charge of all commercial functions including payer relations, client services, medical marketing, clinical affairs & education and launched 4 new state-of-the-art technologies. Before joining Monogram, Ms. Bui served in various commercial, health policy and strategic product development roles at DuPont and DuPont-Merck Pharmaceuticals from 1990 to 2000. Ms. Bui is a board member of Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center and chairs the Development Committee.

David Cavanaugh
David Cavanaugh is co-vice chair of the Intellectual Property Department, and a member of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group and the Life Sciences/Medical Devices Interdisciplinary Group. He joined the firm in 2001.
Mr. Cavanaugh has broad legal experience in industry and private practice and provides clients with strategic, business-focused counseling in the procurement, management and exploitation of their intellectual property. He has extensive experience in all aspects of intellectual property practice, including IP litigation, patent procurement, technology transfer and licensing, and due diligence for corporate transactions. Mr. Cavanaugh has developed and implemented intellectual property strategies suited for companies at all stages, from early start-up phase to established business phase. He also has multinational litigation experience and has managed nullity proceedings and enforcement actions throughout Europe.
Over the past decade, Mr. Cavanaugh has counseled clients in many technologies, including life sciences and medical devices. His patent experience in the medical device industry embraces diagnostic and therapeutic products in several technical fields, including those of radiology, cardiac implantable devices and catheters. He also has experience in various technologies of medical instrumentation and non-invasive diagnostic techniques.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cavanaugh was a senior patent counsel in the legal department of Boston Scientific Corporation, responsible for the intellectual property matters in the radiology, neurology, urology and endoscopy divisions. Prior to his work with Boston Scientific, Mr. Cavanaugh was associated with Wolf, Greenfield and Sacks in Boston, where he provided patent support to a variety of medical device clients. Mr. Cavanaugh also has been a patent examiner at the United States Patent Office, where he examined patent applications in a variety of technologies.
Mr. Cavanaugh received a JD from George Washington University, where he was selected to study at the Max-Plank-Institute for Comparative Patent Law in Munich. He earned his master's degree at Washington Theological Union and his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Villanova University. He is a member of the Pi Tau Sigma National Mechanical Engineering Honor Society.

Raymond Cohen
Raymond W. Cohen has over 25 years of experience in the medical technology field with a career focused on new product development, creation of intellectual property, venture financing, sales and marketing, strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Cohen is currently the Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Symphony Medical Inc., a venture-capital backed developer of novel biotherapeutic therapies directed toward treating cardiac arrhythmias and congestive heart failure and an advisor to Fjord Ventures LLC., an incubator and financier of early stage life-science companies. Cohen also serves as member of the Board of Directors of Cardiac Science Corp., (Nasdaq: CSCX), a global leader in automatic external defibrillators and diagnostic cardiology devices, BioLife Solutions, Inc. (OTC: BLFS) a manufacturer of cryopreservation products used for human cell and tissue preservation, BioGenex, Inc., a manufacturer of diagnostic laboratory instruments for cellular and molecular pathology and Syncroness, Inc., a privately-held contract engineering and product development firm.

Mr. Cohen is a member of a number of local Southern California organizations, notably, the Orange County AeA, the Forum of Corporate Directors, the Young President’s Organization and OCTANe.

In 2008, Mr. Cohen was named by AeA Private Company Life Science CEO of the Year. Mr. Cohen was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the OC Business Journal in 2002 and was a finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the medical company category in 2004.

For the decade prior to 2006, Cohen served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cardiac Science (Nasdaq: CSCX). In 2004, Cardiac Science was ranked as the 4th fastest growing technology company in North America on Deloitte & Touche’s Fast 500 listing based on its dramatic 5 year growth of over 60,000 percent. From 2002 to 2005, Cardiac Science was ranked #24, #3, #1, and #5 in Deloitte and Touche’s Orange County’s Fast 50 listing. Today, Cardiac Science is a leading developer and manufacturer of diagnostic cardiology systems and automated public-access defibrillators, generates over $200 million in revenue, markets its products in over 70 countries worldwide and has over 500 employees located in offices in the U.S., Denmark and the U.K. During Mr. Cohen’s tenure at Cardiac Science, his company held 77 issued patents and was recognized by Inc. Magazine on “The Innovation 50 - a listing of the most inventive small companies in entrepreneurial America.

Mr. Cohen holds a B.S. in Business Management from the State University of New York at Binghamton and is an Accredited Public Company Director since 2004, having completed the Director Training & Certification Program at the U.C.L.A., Anderson Graduate School of Management.

John Eberts
John Eberts has over 25 years of experience in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry. He worked in engineering, marketing, business development and sales before establishing his own consulting practice. His career began with American Hospital Supply and has also included Colgate Palmolive, Kendall Corporation, IVAX Corporation, McGaw, B. Braun Medical, PurePulse Technologies, Edwards Lifesciences, and Bioniche Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Eberts has most recently been involved with start-up companies in the pharmaceutical and medical records software arena as well as helping to enhance the business of medical equipment companies. His experience includes work with trauma surgeons, urologists, ophthalmologists, hepatologists, gynecologists, oncologists, neonatologists, hematologists, and orthopedists.

The education background of Mr. Eberts includes a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University as well as an MBA from Pepperdine University and an MA degree from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Eli Eisenberg
Eli has over 25 years of hands on experience in the financial and business management of entrepreneurial companies.

As founder and CEO of Straight Line Management™ Eli specializes in providing financial expertise and mentoring to high-potential early stage companies. He helps them to increase profitability, secure funding, evaluate and capitalize on opportunities, streamline financial operations, and get the financial side of the business under control.

Since launching my Straight Line Management consulting company in 1991, Eli has served as a trusted advisor to more than 60 early-stage companies, both traditional and web based, across a variety of industries including software and game companies, high and low tech manufacturing companies, wholesale distribution companies, product and services companies and non-profit organizations.

Prior to starting Straight Line Management he served as Chief Financial Officer for three high technology companies, served in senior financial and operational management positions (including VP of Finance and VP of Operations) in several other high growth companies, and established, ran and sold his own successful consumer products company.

Eli has extensive experience in strategic planning, capital raising strategies, financial management and forecasting, business plan preparation, and development and streamlining of management reporting systems and controls. He received my MBA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976 and became a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California is 1978. Eli is also a Fellow of the Larta Institute, where he conduct workshops and mentoring sessions for entrepreneurs.

Farida Fotouhi
Farida Fotouhi is President and founder of Reality2 LLC, a marketing and advertising company. She has spent 30 years working with clients ranging from major national brands to start-ups, in just about every business category.

Reality2 helps companies define what they stand for (branding) and what they should say to whom (positioning strategy). Then, the firm executes unified programs based on the strategy. Program elements can be a new website, logo, sales literature, presentations, trade show displays and ad campaigns in all media. The Reality2 “package for startups” includes positioning strategy, corporate image, website, brochure and PowerPoint.

The company is named after its reality-based approach, which starts by analyzing three key realities: what customers care about, the competitive environment, and the client’s true strengths. Instead of overlooking the truth or hiding it, as marketing is sometimes accused of doing, Reality2 uses core truths to drive results.

One of Farida’s noteworthy traits is the ability to distill highly complex concepts into simple and compelling messages, whether the client is in technology, higher education or financial services. She thinks this capability comes from her and her team’s multi-cultural background.

She spent her childhood overseas as the daughter of an American diplomat, and consequently speaks Japanese, Portuguese, some French, Hausa, and casual Spanish. Her ability to build bridges between different cultures has been an asset in today’s fragmented marketing environment. Reality2 is in effect a “translator”, helping clients talk to each target audience in its own language.

For 25 years she and her creative partner Jorge Alonso headed up one of LA’s top mid-sized advertising agencies, Fotouhi Alonso. Her current company, reinvented as Reality2, is the result of a desire to work more closely with clients one-on-one.

Farida was graduated cum laude from Middlebury College in Vermont. She lives in Mandeville Canyon with her husband Mike Freehling and their Rhodesian Ridgeback Shaka Zulu. She is an avid equestrian and competes in show jumping events.

Scott Fox
Scott Fox is the Author of the worldwide best-selling book, “Internet Riches” (AMACOM), and Director of The Liminal Success Institute, a Los Angeles-based think tank dedicated to entrepreneurship, e-business, and small business success.

Mr. Fox is also a successful serial entrepreneur, expert advisor on e-commerce startups and online marketing strategies, and motivational speaker. He has built companies, started online businesses, and consulted for web sites ranging from small startups to celebrity properties for Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Larry King, to major corporations like Live Nation.

With expertise based on his personal success in e-commerce, today Scott Fox focuses on helping entrepreneurs worldwide realize their business and personal potential. His book, Internet Riches, his official web site, ScottFox.com, and his blogs, the E-Business Success Blog and WebSiteToolReviews.com all help in this mission by providing practical, timely, and specific advice to small business owners worldwide.

A widely quoted expert, his work has been covered by press outlets including the Boston Globe, LA Business Journal, Toronto’s Globe & Mail, Philadelphia Inquirer, Smart Money magazine, and radio programs and blogs worldwide.

Mr. Fox writes, speaks, and teaches worldwide on Internet entrepreneurship and small business topics, including inspiring and informative speeches on innovation, e-commerce trends, blogging, and web marketing. As a keynote speaker or workshop leader, he regularly speaks at conferences, schools, events, and on radio programs nationwide.

Based in Los Angeles, he is a graduate of The University of Michigan and Stanford Law School, a mentor to students at Harvard Business School, and serves on the Board of the Technology Council of Southern California. He is also a member of both the Recording Academy and the Television Academy and holds a US Patent for an e-commerce innovation.

This wide-ranging expertise allows Scott Fox to write, advise, and speak to audiences and clients worldwide.

Michael Gollin
Michael Gollin is a patent attorney who has pioneered intellectual property strategies that help clients put their ideas to work. He chairs the Life Sciences group, and has more than two decades' experience in intellectual property law and related areas including technology transfer, food, drug, and cosmetics law, and environmental law. He focuses on strategic counseling, and builds teams that prosecute patents and trademarks, negotiate intellectual property agreements, and litigate patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret cases.

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS
Mr. Gollin represents biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, among others -- from start ups through emerging-growth companies to multinational publicly traded companies.

SIGNIFICANT MATTERS
Mr. Gollin has built and managed worldwide intellectual property portfolios of hundreds of patents and trademarks, conducted due diligence and intellectual property audits, and negotiated hundreds of licenses and other agreements.
His litigation and dispute resolution experience includes a successful appeal of a pharmaceutical patent decision to the Federal Circuit, dismissal of a patent suit against a client, revocation of a competitor's European patent, and prevailing in a trademark lawsuit and oppositions.

Christian Haller
Christian Haller is a partner and Vice President at MPR Design, where he specializes in providing strategic guidance, corporate development and leadership to pre-revenue to mid-cap life sciences companies in the medical device, diagnostics, and laboratory instrument fields.  His clients include the largest medical device and pharmaceutical companies but his specialization is early to growth stage start-ups.  Christian has successful started four businesses of his own and assisted over one hundred start-ups to attain commercial success.  At MPR, he is the Entrepreneur in residence.  To his clients he is a problem solver, trusted advisor, facilitator, and strategist, combining analytical methods, creative vision, operating experience, promotional skills and a wide network of relationships to design and implement business strategies that deliver real and sustainable value.  He has extensive experience as a manager, consultant, and executive with substantial experience in national and international business development, marketing, sales, and strategic analysis.  
Christian sits on the board of  BioActive Regenerative Therapeutics, which has developed a ground breaking cell technology.
Christian has extensive working experience in Asia, North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean.

Dave D Hood MS, MBA, PMP
Dave D Hood is President of DH3 & Associates, a consulting company focusing on performing technology assessments and developing strategies for product development and business development. Specializing on medical products for the time critical functions and procedures throughout the continuum from point of injury through patient stabilization including the ER, OR, and ICU environments. Emphasizing the pursuit and capture of non-dilutive funding coupled with institutional and strategic investors.

For more than five years, Mr. Hood also served as a Senior Advisor for the Principal Assistant for Acquisitions at the US Army Medical Research and Material Command. Prior to founding DH3 & Associates, Mr Hood was the Co-Founder and President of Integrated Medical Systems where he was also co-inventor of the company’s core product line. Prior to being selected to guide this successful spin-out from Northop Grumman, he served as a Senior Program Manger successfully guiding the development and deployment of various integrated sensor systems for high performance aircraft, missiles, and satellites including the stealth bomber and the Global Positioning Satellites (GPS). He also guided successful projects pioneering intelligent transportaion systems and high performance fuel efficient, environmentally friendly engines and brake systems for autombiles and motorcycles.

Mr. Hood has worked with the US Congress and European governments to sponsor funding for innovative medcial products. He holds 3 patents and has been the stimulus for more than 2 dozen. He has published and presented extensively in the US and Europe. He taught graduate school courses in Project Management, Business Management, Operations Management and Entrepreneurship. He is a certified Project Management Professional and has received executive training from the University of Southern California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He is also Chairman of the Long Beach Sailing Foundation, a 501c organization that owns a fleet of matched sailboats used for team building experiences as well as amateur and professional racing events including the Congressional Cup. He is also Head Coach for a club softball team that provides inner city and disadvantaged teenage girls an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of teamwork and sportsmanship.

James K. Hu
James K. Hu currently serves as Associate General Counsel at Martek Biosciences Corp. At Martek, James focuses on technology and licensing transactions, corporate collaborations, IP matters, regulatory, and merger and acquisitions. Prior to joining Martek, James was the Director of Legal Affairs of Focus Diagnostics, where he was the chief legal officer of the company and guided the company through three successful acquisitions and ultimate sale of the company to Quest Diagnostics. Prior to joining Focus, James was a partner of Helios Concepts, where he provided strategic consulting and management services to early-stage biotechnology and information technology companies. Prior to Helios, James co-founded and served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of AegiSoft Corp. James was instrumental in growing Aegisoft from a start-up to a multi-million dollar company and was the company's chief strategist and negotiator in several rounds of private venture financing, international licensing and strategic partnerships and eventually in the sale of the company to RealNetworks, Inc. Prior to Aegisoft, James was one of the founding employees and served as the Director of Corporate Development for Stem Cell Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to Stem Cell, James was the Associate Director of Technology Transfer for Temple University focused in life sciences technology and medical devices. James also held various corporate development and legal positions with Cytogen Corp. and the Cornell Research Foundation. James earned a J.D. from Syracuse University and a B.S. in Microbiology, Molecular Genetics, and Economics from UCLA. James currently sits on the Board of the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association.

Ed Jameson
Ed is a second-generation CEO of Jameson & Company, LLC, which was founded by his father Gordon in 1977. Ed joined our firm in 1988, having previously served as a senior consultant in the small business and tax departments at Price Waterhouse, Boston.

Ed has helped clients secure billions of dollars in government grants and contracts. He has extensive experience in the indirect rate recovery process and has settled hundreds of incurred cost submissions. In addition to overseeing all client relationships, Ed consults on cost recovery, strategic and tactical management issues, and contract and grant cost procurement.

Tomas Landh
Tomas Landh is since 2008 Director (Strategy and Sourcing) at Novo Nordisk, Diabetes Research Unit, where he is responsible for scouting and evaluation of in particular, protein therapeutics and new drug delivery technologies. Tomas is also deeply involved in fostering partnerships with academia and biotech industries and in strategic initiatives with the Diabetes Research Unit.

Tomas joined Novo Nordisk in 2003 as responsible for among other things sustained release projects. In 2005 Tomas was recruited to the Diabetes Research Unit with scouting for external technology opportunities for oral delivery of proteins as his main responsibility.

Prior to joining Novo Nordisk, Tomas was R&D Director and Chief Scientist at Camurus AB (1997-2002), a lipid drug delivery company and CEO for Lipid Research Foundation (2001-2003), a foundation sponsoring applied lipid research. Preceding his entrepreneurial career, he was Professor at State University New York at Buffalo doing basic research on cubic cell membrane morphologies and drug delivery. He received his PhD in Biophysical Engineering from Lund’s Institute of Technology, Lund Sweden.

Tomas has more than 20 years of experience in drug delivery research and drug development at virtually all levels along the R&D development pathway. He has authored a number of scientific papers and book chapters on cell membrane morphologies, pharmaceutical formulations and holds a number of patents. Tomas is also engaged on Science Advisory Board for biotech start ups.

Scott Leese
Scott Leese founder Dynamic Coaching Strategies a consulting and coaching firm specializing in advisory support of entrepreneur’s inventors and start-up teams.

Responsibilities include:

Evaluation and alignment of market viability
Commercialization strategic planning and process.
Alignment of decision making strategies that accelerate market entry, position and time-to-market.
Generating linkages between inventors, research institutions, investors and industry leaders.
Advisory rolls in technology transference, adaptation and facilitation.
Management and team innovation consulting and coaching.
Scott was invited to join the Larta Institute as an advisor for the National Institutes of Health program back in October of 2007. Scott has recently been involved in the Keiretsu So-cal forum as well as the So.Cal Tech forum.

Furthermore Scott’s expertise falls in the areas of Executive development, Presentation preparation and the amplification of innovation process through the fields of TRIZ, NLP, and Six Sigma. Scott has worked with current and former executives from Unocal, Gartner Group, and Nexxan Technologies.

Scott and his family live in Thousand Oaks California. He holds a Masters in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University and spent 9 years as a volunteer for the Malibu Mountain Search and Rescue Team.

Jane Love
Dr. Jane M. Love is co-vice chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Department, and a former member of the firm's Executive Committee. Dr. Love is a registered patent attorney with a practice focused in three main areas:
representation of clients before the US Patent and Trademark Office including patent preparation and prosecution, strategic patent portfolio management, patentability assessments, freedom-to-operate assessments, and patent interferences;
IP litigation related to patents in the pharmaceutical and life sciences areas, and
strategic IP advice related to corporate transactions including due diligence, and competitive landscape analysis.

Patent Advice: Dr. Love advises her clients on how to create and shape an intellectual property portfolio to protect valuable ideas and discoveries. Dr. Love prepares and prosecutes patent applications and manages large portfolios of patents in the US and globally. Dr. Love serves clients in the life sciences areas, especially in the fields of biotechnology, molecular biology, biology, biochemistry, immunology, nanotechnology and chemistry. Dr. Love has been entrusted with obtaining IP protection on significant innovations such as gene and protein therapeutics, molecular diagnostics, vaccines, treatment methods, pharmaceutical compounds, and formulations. Dr. Love is experienced in providing strategic patent advice to large and small companies, biotech and pharmaceutical start-up companies, universities and research institutions.

IP Litigation: Dr. Love utilizes the experience she has in core IP areas to represent clients in IP litigation related to life sciences patents. In particular, Dr. Love has litigation experience in the areas of antibody technology, Hatch-Waxman litigation related to pharmaceutical molecules, and synthetic peptide therapeutics.

IP Advice in Transactions: Dr. Love provides advice to large and small companies, as well as to potential investors, with regard to intellectual property that may form the basis of value in technology-related transactions. Dr. Love has experience in IP due diligence, invalidity and non-infringement opinions, patentability assessments, freedom-to-operate analyses, competitive landscape analyses and overall patent strategy.

Patent Interferences: Dr. Love is one of the few patent practitioners with significant experience in the difficult area of patent interference practice before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. In addition, her practice includes representation in other contentious proceedings such as reexaminations at the USPTO, and advice as co-counsel with European agents in Opposition proceedings.

Casey Crawford Lynch
Casey Lynch is also a managing director at NeuroInsights, where she works with companies to develop and implement strategic business plans and helps investors identify and profit from opportunities in neurotechnology. She is co-author of The Neurotechnology Industry Report, a comprehensive market analysis and strategic investment report on the brain industry and is the Managing Editor of Neurotech Insights, the neurotechnology investment newsletter. Casey is also on the Board of Directors of The Neurotechnology Industry Organization, a trade association for commercial neuroscience, and the founder and president of The Neurotechnology Development Foundation, a new non-profit formed to support translational research.

Previously, Casey was the co-founder and CEO of Aspira Biosystems, a venture backed drug discovery platform-company, which was acquired by Nanomune Inc. in 2004. Prior to the four years building Aspira, Casey oversaw toxicology screening and evaluated new product opportunities at Centaur Pharmaceuticals. There, she established disease model testing paradigms for multiple sclerosis, uveitis, and other neurological disorders.

Casey conducted primate preclinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease treatment at the Wadsworth Medical Center in Los Angeles and researched the neurological basis of schizophrenia and epilepsy at UCLA. Her graduate work on neurotrophic factor cell biology and neurodegenerative diseases was carried out in the Mobley lab at UCSF/ Stanford University and was funded by the NSF and an Alzheimer's Association Zenith Award. In addition to a BS in neuroscience from UCLA, she has an MS in neuroscience from UCSF and has completed the Management Development for Entrepreneurs (MDE) program of the Anderson School of Business.

Ram May-Ron
Mr. May-Ron serves as FreeMind Group's Managing Partner
(www.freemindconsultants.com). FreeMind is the leading consulting
firm focusing on assisting both academia and industry to maximize
government funding opportunities in support of their life science R&D
activities. FreeMind's team of analysts and writers submits over 250
applications annually for some 400 plus clients. Many of the submitted
applications focus on large funding opportunities with $10M award per
project and more, and on average FreeMind triples its clients' chances
for success.
Mr. May-Ron has led FreeMind's activity both in the US and
Internationally for the past 8 years with both the financial market, as a
mechanism for supplementary funding in life science industry and
academia alike. In his previous position at FreeMind, Mr. May-Ron
served as the company's Director of Professional Services and Top
Strategic Analyst. Mr. May-Ron is a frequent presenter and speaker in
the fields of government funding, alternative funding strategies in the
life sciences market, and on industry-academia collaborations.

Steve Maylish
Throughout his career, Mr. Maylish has worked in a variety of medical device companies in various roles. Presently he is VP of Business Development for Source Scientific, LLC, a medical device contract engineering and contract manufacturing firm. At Source Scientific, he is responsible for sales and marketing efforts. Prior to Source Scientific, he was Director of Business Development at Aubrey Group, another medical device service provider. Prior to that, he was associated with several large medical device companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Shiley, Sorin Biomedical, Baxter Healthcare, and Edwards Lifesciences. His past management experience includes serving as Director, Cardiopulmonary Marketing, at Edwards Lifesciences, and as Director of the Hardware Division, at Jostra Bentley.

Mr. Maylish has mostly been involved in marketing medical devices related to cardiac surgery and has coordinated product launches both in the U.S. and abroad. In 1999, he was instrumental in the integration of both Cobe Cardiovascular and Avacor perfusion businesses into Baxter Healthcare. As Baxter Healthcare spun-off Edwards Lifesciences, he assumed responsibility for Cardiopulmonary Marketing. With the subsequent purchase of the Bentley division from Edwards Lifesciences by Jostra Bentley, he became responsible for the strategic direction and implementation of the company’s hardware division. His prior management experience also includes serving as an International Service Manager and Product Manager for Sorin Biomedical, and Senior Product Manager for Baxter Healthcare. Mr. Maylish has an A.S. degree in Electronics from RETS Electronics Institute, Broomall, PA, a B.S. in Business from the University of La Verne, La Verne, CA and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine.

Barrett McGrath
Barrett McGrath is an executive with more than 24 years of commercial and business development experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has worked with mid-size companies as well start-up and emerging Life Sciences concerns. Most recently, Barrett served as Executive Director, Alliance and Portfolio Management with Novaquest (formerly PharmaBio Development), the strategic investment unit of Quintiles Transnational. In this capacity, he was responsible for oversight of new and established product development and commercialization partnerships with early stage and emerging biotechnology companies.

Barrett has also served as a consultant to the Life Sciences industry, providing both commercial and business development services to privately held companies, and helping guide them through several levels of financing, including IPOs. Notable among these is Tercica Inc., founded in 2001 and having an IPO in 2003. During this engagement, Barrett had an instrumental role in Tercica’s successful migration from New Zealand to the United States, the raising of a Series A financing, and closing the in-licensing of their lead compound, IGF-I, from Genentech.

Barrett’s career began in 1982 with American Critical Care, a pharmaceutical division of American Hospital Supply Corporation (ACC was subsequently acquired by Du Pont Pharmaceuticals). During his tenure at ACC/Du Pont, he held positions of increasing responsibility in sales and marketing/brand management. Barrett then joined Genentech in 1989, where he remained for 11 years, and again held positions of increasing responsibility in sales management and marketing management.

Barrett received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration/Marketing from the University of Tennessee in 1982. He is married, with three children, and resides in Los Altos, California.

Richard P. Ormond
Richard Ormond is an Associate in the firm's Los Angeles office, with expertise in intellectual property, e-discovery, remedies and litigation, including bankruptcy litigation. Representative of his clients are national lending and financial institutions, popular international clothing companies, a national upscale restaurant chain, state and federal receivers and international technology companies.

Bilingual and biliterate in Spanish, Mr. Ormond was twice chosen as a Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Star (2005 and 2006). He represents both institutional and entrepreneurial clients in litigation, dispute resolution, intellectual property matters including copyright, trademark, trade secret and trade dress claims e-commerce and e-discovery matters, domain name litigation and enforcement of meta-tag rights. Mr. Ormond has tried cases before the Los Angeles Superior Court, as lead trial counsel, the United States District Court, Central District of California and the Bankruptcy Court of the United States District Court Central District of California and has arbitrated before JAMS, Alternative Dispute Resolution and the American Arbitration Association.

Mr. Ormond chairs the Buchalter Nemer Pro Bono committee, co-chairs the firm's Diversity Committee, founded its Hispanic Attorneys Committee and co-chairs the firm's litigation MCLE committee. He is the author of numerous articles and teaches Continuing Legal Education courses on New Developments in e-Discovery, Considerations for Complex Litigation, Basics of Receivership Law and Practice, and Lender Security in Intellectual Property.

In addition to his practice, Mr. Ormond is actively engaged in civic and professional organizations, among them, Uncommon Good, a nonprofit organization of which he is a board member, and Bet Tzedek House of Justice, which provides free legal services to Los Angelenos who need them. Professionally, he is an active member of the National Hispanic Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, of which he is a member of the Remedies Section Executive Committee and co-chair of the Remedies Section Recruitment/Membership sub-committee, and the California Receivers Forum.
Mr. Ormond earned his bachelor's degree at the University of California, Los Angeles and his J.D. at the University of San Diego School of Law. He also studied international law and business law at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He is admitted to the bars of California, U.S. District Court Central District of California, and the U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit.

Robert D. Patti
Robert D. Patti is a quality professional with diverse industry experience in the design, manufacture and quality of high technology products for worldwide consumer, aerospace, telecommunication, electronics, medical and industrial markets.

Mr. Patti has over 30 years experience in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry. He has held executive level positions with: Baxter, G.D. Searle, Medtronic, Technicon and Siemens Pacesetter Systems. In addition, he has consulted domestically and internationally for such companies as: Eli Lilly, Siemens Medical, National Medical Care, and many other firms including the FDA. He has performed over 60 quality systems audits in 14 countries to QSR, GMP, and ISO requirements.

His experience includes assisting companies in recovering from FDA: 483s, Warning Letters, Consent Decrees and Import Embargos. His product experience includes: IVDs, Drugs, OTCs, and a broad variety of all three classes of Medical Devices. He is versed in quality systems implementation, sterilization processes, bioburden control, the MDR, customer complaint evaluations, clinical evaluations, regulatory approvals, metrology, recalls, field notifications, product test and inspection, vendor control, corrective and preventive actions.

He holds a BS in Electronic Engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA and is a Professional Quality Engineer in the State of California. He has served as an Examiner for the California Governor's Golden State Quality Awards and is a Senior Member of the American Society of Quality, Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the Instrument Society of America. He is also a member of the Southern California Biomedical Council.

Patti has ten years experience with California Manufacturing Technology Consulting.

David Pyrce
David J. Pyrce is a skilled executive with more than 25 years of diverse senior management experience. Mr. Pyrce's background includes investment banking, venture capital, asset management, business development, product development, marketing and sales.

David Pyrce is the Founder and the Managing General Partner of the Jaguar Investment Group, LLC, an investment management firm focused on opportunistic investments. Prior to forming Jaguar, Mr. Pyrce was President of Bear Creek Capital Management, LLC, an investment management firm and Managing General Partner of Bear Creek Capital Partners, LP, a limited partnership investing in public and private equity as well as direct investments. Previously, Mr. Pyrce worked at First Security Van Kasper, a San Francisco investment banking firm, as Managing Director of Investment Banking and General Partner of their venture capital fund. Mr. Pyrce joined the Company as a Vice President and Senior Analyst.

Mr. Pyrce began his professional investment activities while part of the venture capital group of SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals. While at SmithKline, Mr. Pyrce managed the roll-up strategy for the Company's clinical laboratory group, acquiring a portfolio of regional clinical labs across the country. Mr. Pyrce soon learned that owning, repositioning and ultimately disposing of these medical office properties was a highly profitable business.

Mr. Pyrce was Chief Business officer of Inovio AS, an Oslo, Norway-based biopharmaceutical firm developing monoclonal antibodies, protein therapeutics and vaccines. Mr. Pyrce negotiated the sale of Inovio to Genetronics Biomedical, a San Diego-based firm with similar product development programs, with the company renamed, Inovio Biomedical Corporation.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Pyrce was Vice President of Corporate Development of Vical Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, and was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Baxter Healthcare.

A graduate of Northern Illinois University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Biology, Mr. Pyrce holds a Master of Business Administration in Financial Management from the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is also an alumnus of the Advanced Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.

Ruchika Raval
Ruchika Raval is President of Global Biopharmaceutical Regulations (GBR Inc). GBR is a consulting firm that primarily focuses on helping early stage companies strategize, plan and implement their Regulatory, and Quality Assurance program. GBR consultants represent industry experience from development, process optimization to market research, regulatory research, dossier preparation, monitoring GXP compliance capable of supporting pre-IND to license application.

As a Principal for her consulting practice Ms. Raval brings 23 years industry experience including research, audit, planning, and regulatory compliance and dossier preparation for US, EU and emerging markets. She has been invited as a speaker at BioInvest, RAPS, PDA and ASQ.

Before starting her consulting practice in 2000, Ms. Raval served in senior management roles at Bayer, Chiron Vaccine. She also worked at Baxter Healthcare Corporation where she addressed the viral risk reduction for the plasma products. She is affiliated with Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (India - program committee), Parenteral Drug Association (board member), National Alliance of Women Business Owners (member), and American Society for Quality (member). She has been invited as a speaker at Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS) National Meeting, American Society for Quality, Abbot Vascular and other corporate/organizations.

Ruchika holds a Masters in Bacteriology, Certification as a Lead Auditor from RABQSA and RAC certification for US-FDA and EU regulations. In her free time she volunteers at a homeless shelter and is training for her first marathon.

David Roth
Dr. Roth is presently the Senior Vice President of Research and Development at CODA Genomics, Inc., in Laguna Hills, CA, a privately held biotechnology company spun out of technologies invented at, licensed from, and developed in close collaboration with scientists at UC-Irvine beginning in 2005. CODA applies its proprietary technologies using computational and synthetic biology to design and build genes for optimal protein expression and function. CODA’s business model is to drive revenues via synthetic gene programs for optimized protein production for clients and partnering to solve customers' demanding protein challenges. David is responsible for creating, developing, and executing CODA’s product and technologies pipeline, developing and managing the intellectual property portfolio, and creating business and academic alliances for grants and contracts (including the NIH and DOE), collaborations, and strategic relationships. He works closely with CODA’s Market Development, Business Development, Operations, and Sales and Marketing teams to conceive, propose and manage corporate- and USG- funded partnerships.

Prior to his work at CODA David spent 3 years as the VP-R&D at Gene Therapy Systems, Inc., a startup biotech company in San Diego specializing in molecular tools aimed at the DNA, RNA and protein delivery markets, and the development of proprietary platform technologies for antigen discovery used for vaccine and diagnostic product development. At GTS David identified new funding opportunities, spearheaded and wrote successful collaborative grant and contract applications, and worked as the business development and lead scientist to promote and raise money for the company by identifying and negotiating contracted services, strategic alliances and partnerships with vaccine and diagnostic companies, US government (including NIH and the NMRC) and international agencies, and non-profit organizations. He designed and oversaw the development of new catalog-driven products and wrote new patent applications for novel products invented in-house. David also created and directed collaborations between GTS and biotechnology, pharmaceutical, vaccine and diagnostics partners (strategic alliances, joint ventures, grant- and contract-based collaborations and partnerships), academic and institutional collaborations, and scientific consultants.

David began his industry career at Collateral Therapeutics, Inc. in San Diego, where he was the Director of Research and Technology for over 4.5 years where he planned and managed R&D projects in these integrated fields: cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, rodent physiology (rats, mice, transgenics), large animal physiology and pharmacology (pigs, rabbits), and process development. David directed and coordinated internal interactions between these departments: research program planning and management, quality assurance, regulatory affairs (including FDA interactions), legal/in-house counsel (patents, licensing, intellectual property), process development and manufacturing (GLP, GMP, QC), pre-clinical and clinical development, product development, human resources, financial planning and budgets. He also provided leadership during evaluation and prioritization of programs and projects during acquisition/transition phases of Collateral Therapeutics with Schering AG-Germany, and it’s wholly owned US subsidiary, Berlex Biosciences.

Prior to working in the biotech industry, David was an Assistant Professor and Director of the Molecular Physiology Laboratory in the Department of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Along with running successful research programs, he was also the recipient of the University’s Teaching Excellence Award given by the Student Organization for Alumni Relations (SOAR) for tenure track faculty for the 30-75 undergraduate student class size.

David received his BS, MS and PhD degrees at UC-Berkeley in the laboratory of Prof. George Brooks, PhD, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UC-San Diego School of Medicine with Prof. H. Kirk Hammond, MD, in Molecular Cardiology.

Steve Runnels
Mr. Steve Runnels has more than twenty-six years of successful and proven international business management experience in the healthcare industry. He is the Chief Executive Officer of ProteoTech, Inc., a drug development company with therapeutic programs in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

He has held the position of President and CEO of several start-up biopharmaceutical companies, executive vice president and Board member of publicly traded NeoTherapeutics, Inc. (NEOT: NASDAQ) and Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Sigma-Aldrich, a Fortune 500 company. He has extensive business experience covering strategic planning, development of domestic and international sales and marketing teams and development of an international distributor network.

He has led drug discovery and in vitro diagnostic product development activities in the therapeutic areas of Central Nervous System, Oncology, Clinical Cytogenetics, Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Immunohematology and Diseases of Bone and Cartilage.

Mr. Runnels is a Senior Industry Advisor for the National Institutes of Health Commercialization Assistance Program (NIH-CAP), managed by the Los Angeles Regional Technology Association (LARTA). He is on the Advisory Board for Extension Courses in Medical Product Development, at the University of California – Irvine. Mr. Runnels holds a B.S. in Cell Biology and certification from the American Society of Clinical Pathology as a specialist in Immunohematology. He has an MBA in International Business and is a Ph.D. candidate in Management.

Ronald Schoengold
Ronald Schoengold has been an active contributor to the biomedical environment for over 40 years. As a consultant to both large and small companies in the biotechnology industry, he offers expert advice to companies that must comply with regulatory and quality system requirements. Schoengold is certified in regulatory affairs and has a proven track record for integrating quality and regulatory requirements with technical, organizational and business development needs. He offers advice on the effective commercialization and maintenance of medical products and services. Schoengold has specialized training and hands-on experience in developing screening and diagnostic products in gastroenterology (e.g., Hemoccult® colorectal cancer screening tests), infectious disease and point-of-care devices, reagents and test systems. He is currently listed as a senior advisor to the Larta Institute (National Institutes of Health, Commercialization Assistance Program). Schoengold has published, presented or contributed to more than 16 scientific publications including a book chapter on point-of-care testing. He holds 8 patents related to point-of-care diagnostics.

Greg Scott
Mr. Scott is President and co-founder of Life Science Angels, a private equity investment group that has invested in ten early stage biotechnology and medical device companies since its launch in 2005. He is also founder and CEO of Centient Consulting, a consulting firm providing business and investment strategy services to emerging and established life science companies. Mr. Scott has helped launch more than twenty startups as founder, angel investor, board member and advisor. He is also the Executive Editor of The Centient Biotech Investor™ and the Managing Editor of The Golden State BioBusiness News™. Mr. Scott previously held senior management positions with MCI, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Capgemini.

Michael A. Swit
Michael A. Swit, Esq., is a Vice President at THE WEINBERG GROUP INC., a preeminent international scientific and regulatory consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., where he develops and ensures the execution of a broad array of regulatory and other services to pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic, and biotech clients, both directly and through outside counsel. His expertise includes FDA development strategies, compliance and enforcement initiatives, recalls and crisis management, submissions and related traditional FDA regulatory activities, labeling and advertising, and clinical research efforts. While his own practice focuses today on drugs, biologics, and therapeutic biotech products, both he and his firm also have extensive experience with device, IVD, and other life sciences companies, as well as those in the food and dietary supplement industries.

Mr. Swit has been addressing critical FDA legal and regulatory issues since 1984. His vast and multi-faceted experience includes serving for three and a half years as corporate vice president, general counsel and secretary of Par Pharmaceutical, a prominent, publicly-traded, generic drug company and, thus, he brings an industry and commercial perspective to his work with FDA-regulated companies. Mr. Swit then served for over four years as CEO of FDAnews.com, a premier publisher of FDA regulatory newsletters and other specialty information products for the FDA-regulated community. His private FDA regulatory law practice has included service as Special Counsel in the FDA Law Practice Group in the San Diego office of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe and with the Food & Drug Law practice at McKenna & Cuneo, both in the firm's Washington office and later in San Diego. He first practiced FDA regulatory law with the D.C. office of Burditt & Radzius.

Mr. Swit has taught and written on a wide variety of subjects relating to FDA law, regulation and related commercial activities, including, since 1989, co-directing a three-day intensive course on the generic drug approval process and editing a guide to the generic drug approval process, Getting Your Generic Drug Approved. A former member of the Food & Drug Law Journal Editorial Board, Mr. Swit also has been a prominent speaker at numerous conferences sponsored by such organizations as RAPS, FDLI, and DIA. He earned his A.B., magna cum laude, with high honors in history, from Bowdoin College, and his law degree at Emory University School of Law. Mr. Swit is admitted (inactive) to the D.C., Virginia and California bars.

Sandra Thompson
Dr. Sandra Thompson has represented clients in the fields of semiconductors, electronics, chemicals and chemical intermediates, solar and solar-related technology, transportation technology, including the design and utility of parts and systems, fuel cells, hybrid and electric engine technologies, green (sustainable) chemistries, cleantech technologies, bio-based and biodegradable plastics, waste/sludge management and conversion, fibers, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, computer software, children's products and telecommunications. Her experience extends into the fields of chemistry, green technology, biochemistry, semiconductor materials, electronics, electronic materials and plasma physics.

She received her B.S. in 1990 as well as her M.A. in 1991 from the College of William & Mary. Dr. Thompson earned her J.D. in 1998 from Campbell University, Norman Wiggins School of Law. She also received her Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Department of Chemistry at North Carolina State University. Her dissertation is entitled "Control of Volatile Organic Compounds with a Pulsed Corona Discharge." As a doctoral candidate, Dr. Thompson worked at both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

She is a member of the Orange County Bar Association, where she was Chair of the Intellectual Property Section. She is also a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the California State Bar, the American Chemical Society, SEMA, the Society of Women Engineers, and the Society of Applied Spectroscopy. Dr. Thompson also Co-Chaired the American Chemical Society 2003 Western Regional Meeting. Dr. Thompson is the Past Chair of the Chemistry and The Law Division of the American Chemical Society and the Chair of the Orange County Section of the American Chemical Society.

Dr. Thompson has presented several papers and presentations at American Chemical Society National Meetings directed to United States, PCT and Foreign Chemical Patent Practice, Inventorship Issues, Ethics and Intellectual Property, Corporate IP Strategies, the Strategic Uses of Printed Publications, and Alternative Careers in Chemistry.

Dr. Thompson is active in the community, as well as representing several non-profit corporations and groups. Dr. Thompson represents Delta Gamma Fraternity, Delta Gamma Foundation and Southern California Siamese Rescue. Dr. Thompson is president of the Delta Gamma House Corporation at the University of California - Irvine, as well as being active in the Junior League of Orange County.

Monica Alfaro Welling
Ms. Welling has over 18 years of experience in strategic planning and marketing in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical devices. Her unique career in the life science industry has allowed her to touch every aspect of the development and commercialization process of early and late stage development products and new therapeutic applications. In addition Ms. Welling has experience launching products, medical devices, and new product indications, both domestically and internationally.

Prior to co-founding Strategic Links, which provides business solutions for life science companies, Ms. Welling served as Senior Vice President for Hythiam, an early stage company focusing on the medical treatment of addiction. She was a corporate officer and member of the Executive Leadership Team, overseeing all of the company’s marketing, planning, and strategic operations. While there, Ms. Welling supported several rounds of fund raising, and developed and implemented the commercial platform for the company. This resulted in the roll-out of a robust data package plan, an innovative strategy to create initial awareness and early adoption, and an infrastructure to support company growth. Largely as a result of her initiatives and management, the company grew to a market cap of $350M in the 3 years she was there.

In addition to her experience at Hythiam, Ms. Welling held senior level positions at Novo Nordisk and Allergan. She was the first commercial person to manage a drug and device development program during her tenure with Novo Nordisk, and she created several best practices to manage project risks and ensure cross-functional management buy-in, which was implemented throughout the company. At Allergan, she led the commercial development of new medical therapeutic areas for BOTOX, one of the most successful pharmaceutical brands ever to be marketed in the USA. These strategies and initiatives resulted in significant expansion of its use in the medical community.

Ms Welling has a Masters in Business Administration from Odense University in Denmark as well as a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Irvine.

Mark Wittman
Mark Wittman, MD, MBA is an entrepreneur, consultant, and physician, with significant experience in both clinical and management positions. In 2004, he was a cofounder of Alba Therapeutics, a Baltimore based biotechnology company devoted to the inflammation, autoimmune space. He assisted in company formation, capital raise efforts, and business development initiatives. The lead candidate is currently in phase II human
clinical trials.

Dr. Wittman was a managing director of COLDWATER ASSOCIATES, LLC, a capital advisory and strategic management consulting company that was initially formed as Coldwater Financial, LLC in June 2001. The partnership had two additional directors. Dr. Wittman's focus was on the life sciences space, dealing with clients and investors in all sectors of life sciences investments.

Dr. Wittman was a co-founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development for My Life.com, an Idealab! Company, an internet healthcare company devoted to improving the quality of life through a portfolio of web-enabled medical devices that allowed users to automatically send their health data to a secure, personalized life record.

Dr. Wittman served as a strategic business development consultant to Edwards Lifescience, critical care division, where he assisted in the launch of a minimally invasive hemodynamic monitoring system, performed clinical sales support for the product, and assisted on several product development initiatives.

Dr. Wittman was the principal of MW Consulting, Inc., a consulting firm dedicated to areas of strategic development, and product and market analysis. Examples of clients included Viso Health, a start-up a telemedicine company that was focused on remotely diagnosing and treating patients, thereby maintaining the health of its patients and significantly decreasing medical costs.

Dr. Wittman has served clinical and management roles in Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia, and Critical Care Medicine. He has served as the Associate Director of Surgical Critical Care at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center as well as the Co-Chairman of the Department of Anesthesia at Midway Hospital Medical. He has had significant
experience in liver transplant anesthesia and critical care. He has also been quite involved with the development and testing of new anesthesia and critical care products.

Dr. Wittman holds a Doctor of Medicine from Northwestern University, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, a Masters in Public Health from University of California Los Angeles, and a Bachelors of Arts in Biology and Psychology from Washington University. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia, and Critical Care Medicine, having obtained postgraduate training at Harvard Medical School.