Kevin Schulman, MD, MBA

Dr. Schulman is a Professor of Medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine, Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine for Business Affairs, and serves as Director of the Center for Clinical and Genetic Economics (CCGE) at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). Dr. Schulman also serves as the Director of the Health Sector Management Program, Director of the Center for the Study of Health Management, and Professor of Business Administration at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.

Dr. Schulman also holds appointments in the Duke Center for Clinical Health Policy, serves on the Steering Committee for Duke's new Genome Ethics Law and Policy Center, and the Durham Veterans Administration Health Services Research Unit. Dr. Schulman received his MD degree from New York University, and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Howard A. Rockman, MD

Dr. Howard Rockman is a Professor of Medicine, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at Duke University. He also serves as the Director of the Training Programs in Cardiovascular Research and Medical Genomics at Duke. Dr. Rockman is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and elected member for the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Dr. Rockman serves in several peer review grant committees, including the PGA review committee, the NHLBI PPG parent committee and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Rockman obtained his MD degree from McGill University in Canada.

 

 

Brian H. Annex, MD

Dr. Brian Annex is an Associate Professor of Medicine with Tenure, at Duke University School of Medicine. He is also the Director of the Duke Therapeutic Angiogenesis Research Program, and a Staff Cardiologist at the Durham Veterans Administration Medical Center. Dr. Annex is member of the Board of Trustees of the Society of Vascular Medicine and Biology, member of the vascular medicine working group in the NIH/NHLBI and member of Duke University’s Medical Center Institutional Review Board. In 2001, Dr. Annex received the Established Investigator by the American Heart Association. Dr. Annex received his MD degree from Yale University School of Medicine. He is Board Certified in Internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases and interventional cardiology.

 

Barry Myers, MD, Ph.D., MBA

Dr. Myers has been a member of the Duke faculty in Biomedical Engineering since 1991. He is Senior Associate Dean for Industrial Partnerships and Research Commercialization in the Pratt School of Engineering where he facilitates technology transfer and industrial interaction, including serving as Project Director for $500,000/year Coulter Translational Research Partnership. He is Director of Duke University’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization which is dedicated to creating applied, interdisciplinary classes and co-curricular activities that link the principles of management and education with faculty research innovation to promote research commercialization on campus. Dr. Myers has run a biomechanics consulting firm for 13 years and is an Executive-in-Residence at Pappas Ventures, a bioventure capital firm that invests in early stage biotechnology, pharma, drug delivery, and medical device firms. Dr. Myers research examines the biomechanics of head impact neck injury with the goal of injury prevention. He is considered by many as the preeminent researcher in his field worldwide, having over 100 manuscripts and publications on the subject. Among Dr. Myers many honors are the Stapp Award of Recognition, and the Isbrandt Award for automotive safety from the Society of Automotive Engineers. He is the six-time winner of the Stapp Award for research in impact biomechanics, more than any other individual, and also the Bertil Aldman award for impact biomechanics research. Dr. Myers has worked with all major organizations concerned with safety in the United States including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment. Because of his breadth of experience in injury prevention, Dr. Myers was appointed to the position of Senior Scientific Advisor to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control for two years. He has also consulted with most major automobile manufactures and automotive racing organizations worldwide. Dr. Myers is also a highly regarded educator. He is a Distinguished Professor at Duke University, having received the Bass Chair in recognition of his accomplishments in research and teaching. He is the faculty advisor to four student best graduate student paper competition winners at national meetings. He was responsible for the revision of the Pratt School of Engineering undergraduate curriculum to be implemented in 2004. He has served as Director of Undergraduate Studies and the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Jeffrey T. Glass, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Jeffrey T. Glass is the Director of the Pratt School of Engineering’s Master of Engineering Management Program at Duke University and holds the Hogg Family endowed chair in Engineering Management and Entrepreneurship. He is also a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Jeff is involved in the study of Innovation Management in technology-based organizations with a focus on the early stages of research and development. The management of intellectual property and the formation and financing of new ventures are also topics of interest. His technical research involves the development and processing of new materials, including carbon nanotubes, chemical vapor deposited diamond and diamond-like carbon thin films. Jeff holds an adjunct appointment at the Kenan Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina where he teaches executive courses on Managing Innovation. Formerly, Jeff was a founder and Co-Director of The Institute for the Integration of Management and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and held the Joseph F. Toot, Jr. endowed chair in the Case School of Engineering. Prior to his appointment at CWRU, he was the Vice President of R&D for Kobe Steel USA Inc. and directed their Electronic Materials Center where he focused on new product development. Prior to joining Kobe Steel’s Electronic Materials Center, he was a tenured faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University and continues to hold an adjunct appointment with that department. Jeff has published over 118 papers and book chapters, edited six books and is a co-inventor on 11 patents. His paper entitled, ““Managing the Ties Between Central R&D and Business Units,” received the 2004 Industrial Research Institute’s Maurice Holland Award given to the best paper published in Research-Technology Management in 2003. He has been a short course instructor for several professional societies and companies and has organized numerous conferences. He has given over 50 invited presentations in 12 different countries. He served as a member of a Presidential Science Advisor’s committee for the assessment of diamond technology in Japan and has received two teaching awards and the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator award. Jeff received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Virginia. He has been an Advisory Board Member for new ventures, consulted for venture capital firms and fortune 500 companies, and testified as an expert witness in patent litigation.

Jesko von Windheim, Ph.D., MBA

Jesko von Windheim is Chief Executive Officer at Nextreme Thermal Solutions, Inc. He helped spin Nextreme out of RTI International, where he was Entrepreneur in Residence and VP of Commercialization. Prior to joining RTI, Jesko was involved with numerous spin-offs from MCNC, Corp. (also a research organization), the most recent of which was Cronos Integrated Microsystems which sold to JDS Uniphase. At Cronos Jesko was VP of Marketing and Business development and he later ran the business unit as General Manager for JDS Uniphase. Jesko holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics, a master's degree and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler business school.

 

Jon Fjeld, Ph.D., MBA

Jon Fjeld is Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Fuqua and Professor of the Practice of Strategy. Fjeld has spent over twenty years in marketing, engineering and general management in start-ups and public companies, as well as five years in academia. From December, 2000, until July, 2004, he served as vice president of engineering for Align Technology in Santa Clara, CA. Between 1995 and 2000, he served as CEO of two RTP venture backed firms: Geomagic, a 3D software company and NetEdge Systems, a data networking equipment company. Prior to that, Fjeld spent 13 years at IBM, where he served in a number of management and executive positions within the networking and software business units. He began his professional career as an assistant professor in the philosophy department at Duke University. Fjeld holds a Ph.D. and MA in philosophy from the University of Toronto, an MBA from Duke University, an MS in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a BA in mathematics and philosophy from Bishop's University.

Rose Ritts Ph.D.

Rose Ritts is the Executive Director of Duke’s Office of Licensing & Ventures. With a demonstrated track record of new product and business development in biotechnology, medical devices, and high-tech markets across startup, corporate and government environments, Dr. Ritts oversees the licensing and ventures operations of Duke University and Duke Medical Center with an emphasis on a proactive approach to licensing, new company formation and technology development. Her experience includes designing implantable devices; serving as a program manager for biowarfare defense systems at DoD's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; managing a biotechnology and materials business unit within a large New Jersey corporation; performing IP and technical due diligence as a consultant to venture capital firms; and most recently as founder and CEO of a venture-capital-funded biotech startup, PowerZyme Inc, in Princeton, New Jersey. Ritts received her BS in biomedical engineering from Duke, her MS and PhD from Stanford in electrical engineering, and graduated from Stanford's Entrepreneurial Executive Management Program.

Sean McCarthy, D.Phil., MBA, Principal

Sean McCarthy obtained his BS in Biochemistry and Pharmacology from King’s College London, Doctorate of Philosophy from Oxford University and an MBA from UC San Diego Rady School of Management. McCarthy has ten years of operating experience in the biotechnology industry in business development, program management and research management. He has held positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and SGX Pharmaceuticals, an oncology focused biotechnology company located in San Diego, where he served as Vice President of Business Development. Under his leadership SGX entered into a wide range of strategic partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly, Roche and Novartis, with whom a $515M oncology alliance was forged in March 2006 to develop novel therapies for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Prior to SGX, Sean was responsible for research into gene discovery and for management of several drug discovery programs at Millennium. His discovery team invented novel genomic techniques for the identification of therapeutic proteins and played a central role in a major alliance with Eli Lilly. He is the author of 17 peer reviewed scientific publications and an inventor on 29 issued patents and filed patent applications. Sean joined Pappas Ventures in August 2006 and is a board observer at CoLucid Pharmaceuticals.

Jan Bouten, MBA

Jan joined The Aurora Funds in 2003 as part of the investment team and focuses on Information Technology as Senior Associate. He came to Aurora with strong operating experience in the high tech industry. At Aurora, Jan spends his time sourcing and evaluating new investments opportunities, and he also gives strategic and marketing support to existing portfolio companies. He is on the Board of Mobile-Mind and is actively working with Centice, Nextreme and StrikeIron. In addition, Jan is involved in lecturing at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and Fuqua School of Business, and also at NC State's School of Management. Jan worked in sales engineering and business development at Larscom, and was part of the core team that successfully built the European presence of this telecommunication equipment manufacturer. He gained hands-on experience at a startup running technical support for K-NET R&D, a video conferencing manufacturer. Prior to that, he began his career as a support engineer and later as a marketing engineer at Madge Networks, a leading enterprise networking manufacturer. During his time as an undergraduate student, Jan founded and ran a software and hardware engineering company. Jan holds a BS Software Engineering from Fontys University in Holland, an MSc in Human-Computer Systems focusing on Artificial Intelligence from DeMontfort University in the UK, and an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, where he received the Dean's Recognition Award for Leadership.

Andrea S. Lukes, MD, MHSc, FACOG

Dr. Lukes received her Bachelor’s degree in religion from Duke University in 1988 and a combined Medical degree and Master’s degree in statistics from Duke University in 1994. She completed her Ob/Gyn residency at the University of North Carolina in 1998. After completing her residency, she joined the faculty at Duke University as an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Medicine. She served on Duke’s faculty from 1998 to 2007 during which time she co-founded and served as the Director of Gynecology for the Women’s Thrombosis Clinic at Duke. As Director, Dr. Lukes participated in numerous research programs supported by the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control, as well as multiple industry-sponsored FDA trials. She has actively consulted with industry regarding development and implementation of research protocols, including communications and presentations to FDA. 

Dr. Lukes left her academic position at Duke in 2007 to begin Carolina Women’s Research and Wellness Center (CWRWC), and become a lead consultant to the Carolina Research Foundation (CRF) and the Founder and Chair of the Ob/Gyn Alliance. Dr. Lukes currently directs a large number of research programs and serves as a key investigator on multiple studies. She is a consultant to many companies on development and implementation of research protocols and gynecologic devices. Further, she is a speaker and proctor for many minimally invasive gynecologic procedures done within a physician’s office. She actively teaches and speaks for multiple companies and organizations internationally and within the United States.

 Her clinical interests include abnormal uterine bleeding and hemostatic disorders (adult and adolescent), contraception, management of uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and menopause, as well as hysteroscopy, endometrial ablation and minimally invasive gynecology. She established an interdisciplinary network (Internal Medicine, Hematology, Gastroenterology, and Cardiology) associated with CWRWC in which she maintains a private practice with her partners. Dr. Lukes is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology.