Physician Advisors

Mark C. Bates, MD

Interventional Cardiologist; Expertise in translating ideas into successful medical devices

  • Extensive clinical and academic experience with complex cardiac and vascular intervention/ surgery (>10,000 cases, >100 publications and 20 book chapters)
  • Serial entrepreneur and inventor with over 60 issued/pending US patents including stents, drug delivery, cell therapy, nanocomposites, carotid flow reversal, carotid filters, thrombectomy, heart failure, embolic materials, arterial crosslinking…
  • CEO and founder or founding member of 17 companies with 7 exits. Architect of 3 joint ventures.
  • Led innovation transformation efforts in a large medical device company resulting in the development of a corporate venture fund, internal accelerator and intrapreneurial models.
  • Honoree and namesake of the Mark C. Bates, MD Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Research and Excellence, established via a large endowment to support recruitment and retention of academic leaders.
  • Chair or board member of multiple for-profit and non-profit entities.
  • Consultant and advisor to attorneys and companies for patent strategy or litigation.

Kush R Desai, MD

Interventional Radiologist, Physician Leader in Value Analysis/Supply Chain 

  • Chief of Interventional Radiology, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
  • Professor of Radiology, Surgery, and Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
  • Systemwide Medical Director of Supply Chain/Value Analysis at Northwestern Memorial HealthCare
  • National and Global Principal Investigator of numerous device trials
  • Associate Editor of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR)
  • Over 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters

William A. Gray, MD

Interventional Cardiologist, Physician Leader in Structural Heart and Peripheral Vascular Trials

  • System Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Main Line Health 
  • Professor of Medicine, Sidney Kimmel School of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University; Professor, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research; Phillip D. Robinson Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine 
  • Co-Director, Lankenau Heart Institute, Wynnewood, PA
  • Specializes in cardiac/structural and peripheral arterial disease with special interests in novel nonsurgical modalities for stroke prevention (carotid stenting, left atrial appendage occlusion, and PFO closure), the management of mitral and tricuspid regurgitation and aortic stenosis, and arterial disease affecting the legs.
  • Holds several medical device patents and has served as global/national Principal Investigator for over 20 clinical trials in coronary, endovascular, and structural heart interventions, leading to multiple FDA device approvals and clearances.

Andrew Holden, MBChB, FRANZCR, EBIR, ONZM

New Zealand-based Interventional Radiologist with Extensive Experience in Medical Device Development and Early Human Trials

  • Director of Northern Region Interventional Radiology Service and Professor of Radiology at the University of Auckland. Co-Director of the Vascular Intervention Research Unit at Auckland Hospital.  
  • Co-Director of the Charing Cross Symposium in London.
  • Has been involved in over 100 medical device trials, often as Principal Investigator, including many “first in human” trials .
  • Author of over 150 articles in peer reviewed journals and five book chapters. He has presented over 700 times at major scientific meetings.
  • Past-President of the Asia-Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR). 
  • Awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) medal for his contribution to vascular and endovascular interventions.

Michael Lichtenberg, MD

European-based Angiologist; Physician Leader in Advising Medical Device Innovation

  • Chief Medical Officer, Angiology Clinic and Vascular Centre Arnsberg and Chief Medical Officer, German Venous Centre Arnsberg
  • Chief Executive Officer Vascular Scientific Department Arnsberg
  • President of the German Angiology Society (DGA)
  • Numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters

Mahmood Razavi, MD

Interventional Radiologist with Extensive Experience in New Device Development and Commercialization

  • Director of Clinical trials at the St. Joseph Heart & Vascular Center
  • Founder or Co-Founder of 6 medical device companies including Trivascular, Mitral Interventions, Neuravi, DeVoro Medical, R3 Vascular, and Razmodics with an exit value of over $800 million to date
  • Past Chief Medical Officer of 4 early stage companies focused on development and commercialization of medical devices
  • National or Global Principal Investigator of 15 sponsored clinical trials
  • Author of over 300 peer reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters

Eric Secemsky, MD

Interventional Cardiovascular Specialist and Healthcare Analytics Expert

  • Director of Vascular Intervention and an interventional cardiologist within the CardioVascular Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center 
  • Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
  • Section Head of Interventional Cardiology and Vascular Research at the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research where his research involves utilizing real-world data to perform comparative effectiveness and outcomes research, with a focus on the treatment of peripheral vascular disorders. 
  • Global principal investigator on more than a dozen trials. 
  • Author of more than 300 publications.
  • Associate Editor at Vascular Medicine and is on the Editorial Boards at Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions and JSCAI. 
  • Writing member of the 2024 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Management of Lower Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease and is a writing member of the upcoming ACC/AHA Guideline on the Management of Pulmonary Embolism.
  • Co-Chair of SCAI's Vascular Disease Council and Board of Directors for the VIVA Foundation and the PERT Consortium 

Patrick Troy, MD

Pulmonary and Critical Care Leader with a Focus on Value Analysis

  • Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine
  • Division Director of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut
  • Leader in healthcare team dynamics
  • Active Advisor/Consultant for large medical technology companies and venture-backed start-up companies

Healthcare Economics Advisors

Peter Markell, CPA

Health System Senior Executive and Finance Leader

  • Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Brown University Health
  • Former Vice President of Administration and Finance, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Mass General Brigham for 22 years.
  • Audit Partner, Ernst and Young
  • Certified Public Accountant
  • Extensive insight into healthcare administration, technology, supply chain management, physician interaction, and finance.

Paul Rudolf, MD, Esq

Reimbursement Specialist

  • Physician and lawyer widely recognized for his ability to assist clients in navigating the Medicare regulatory environment.  
  • Extensive experience serving as a Medicare Part A/B Contractor Medical Director as well as leading the development of hospital, physician, and clinical laboratory payment policies at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). 
  • Represented CMS at the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel and the AMA/Specialty Society Relative Value Update Committee 
  • After leaving the government, was a partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter for 15 years.  
  • Currently advises a wide range of clients on Medicare coding, coverage, and reimbursement issues.  
  • Works at the intersection of FDA and CMS regulations to help clients develop strategies that are most likely to result in Medicare coverage and payment. 
  • Regularly meets with CMS staff and political appointees on a wide variety of issues related to coverage and payment.
  • Clients range from large publicly traded manufacturers, to venture funded mid-stage companies, to early-stage angel funded start-ups, and include physicians, clinical laboratories, independent diagnostic testing facilities, medical device companies, and developers of remote monitoring equipment, software and artificial intelligence

Regulatory & Engineering Advisors

Dorothy Abel, BSBME

Regulatory Specialist

  • Retired senior regulatory review scientist with over 30 years’ experience as the FDA expert in vascular and endovascular devices.  
  • Former FDA primary liaison to various medical professional societies to develop least burdensome clinical evaluations for vascular and endovascular grafts. 
  • Co-founder of the Early Feasibility Study Program and participant in additional CDRH initiatives to promote innovation in medical devices.  
  • Convener or project leader for the ISO Vascular Prostheses Committee for over 25 years, co-leading the development of standards for vascular grafts, endovascular grafts, and vascular stents, with participation in the standardization of vena cava filters.
  • American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineering (AIMBE) Fellow.
  • Focus areas include device evaluation strategy development, clinical evaluation strategic planning, FDA submission planning, drafting or review of FDA submissions, and FDA meeting support.

Ben Wolf

Mechanical Engineering Consultant

  • Mechanical Engineer with 20+ years of industry experience
  • R&D, design controls, product development of cardiovascular implants and ancillary devices
  • Development of in vivo boundary conditions for use in device development, computational analysis, and non-clinical testing
  • Test method development expertise for devices, including aortic, peripheral vascular, and heart valve devices
  • Cardiovascular implant durability testing and computational modelling methods and strategies
  • Extensive experience in root cause analysis for bench and clinical device failures