Board of Directors
Rodney D. Altman, M.D.
Senior Partner, CMEA Capital
Rodney D. Altman, MD joined CMEA Capital in 2006 and focuses on investments in medical devices, diagnostics and biotechnology therapeutics. Prior to joining CMEA, he was a founder and managing director of Aphelion Capital. Previously, he also worked at Piper Jaffray Ventures and was a partner at TVM Techno Venture Management. Before joining TVM, Rod practiced emergency medicine for 10 years. He was the Assistant Medical Director of the emergency department at MacNeal Hospital in suburban Chicago and a Clinical Instructor at the University of Chicago. On a limited basis, Rod continues to practice emergency medicine at Stanford University Medical Center where he is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine in the Department of Surgery.
Rod graduated from McGill University's Faculty of Medicine as a University Scholar and from University of Chicago's business school with honors.
Rod serves as a director on the boards of Baxano and SurgiQuest. He is the Chairman of the Board of VasoNova. Previous board appointments include InSound Medical and Visiogen.
Jeffery Bleich, M.D.
Founder, Baxano, Inc.
Jeff co-founded Baxano in 2005. He was President and CEO of the company for four years. Dr. Bleich has over 20 years of clinical experience, with board certification in Pain Management, as well as in Anesthesiology. He currently practices anesthesiology at Stanford University Medical Center; is an executive in residence with Prospect Venture Partners, a healthcare dedicated venture capital firm; and contributes to medical device development at IDEO, a company that specializes in innovation and design.
Jeff completed a Masters Degree as a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a Pain Management fellowship at the University of Washington, an anesthesiology residency at UCLA, an M.D. from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School, and a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University.
David Clapper
David served as President and Chief Executive Officer of SurgRx, Inc., a medical device manufacturer, until the acquisition of SurgRx by Ethicon Endo-Surgery in December 2008. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors at Baxano, Inc., Mr. Clapper is a member of the Boards of Directors of DFine, an electrosurgical system developer, and Sierra Medical, a surgical device company. From 1999 until 2004, Mr. Clapper served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Novacept, a medical device company, until Novacept's acquisition by Cytyc Corporation. David also served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Focal, Inc., a developer of surgical sealant. Prior to joining Focal, Mr. Clapper was employed at various divisions of Johnson & Johnson. Previously, Mr. Clapper served as a member of the Boards of Directors of St. Francis Medical Technology, Conor Medsystems, and Pulmonx.
Dave holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing from Bowling Green State University.
William T. Harrington, M.D.
Partner, Three Arch Partners
Bill has been a partner at Three Arch Partners since 1999 where he focuses on investments in medical device, healthcare service and biotechnology opportunities. He trained at UCSF and practiced as an interventional radiologist. Dr. Harrington has broad clinical experience with a wide variety of medical devices, minimally invasive surgical procedures and related clinical trials. He has been closely involved in the formation and growth of many Three Arch portfolio companies. Bill serves on the boards of several private companies, including, Centerre Healthcare, Cameron Health, Benvenue Medical, Baxano, Inc., Nevro and VetCentric, among others.
Bill received his B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from Tufts University, his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley. Bill is a CFA charter holder.
Russell Hirsch, M.D., Ph.D.
Managing Director, Prospect Venture Partners
Russell co-founded Prospect Venture Partners II and III. Prior to establishing Prospect Venture Partners II and III, Dr. Hirsch was a member of the Health Care Technology Group at Mayfield. Russell played a key role in Mayfield's investment activities in the biotechnology and medical device sectors. Prior to Mayfield, Russell was at the University of California San Francisco, where he was engaged in biomedical research. In addition to serving on Baxano’s board, Russell serves or has served on the Board of Directors of Intuitive Surgical, Hansen Medical, Opus Medical, Orquest, AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Visiogen, DFine, SentreHEART, Portola Pharmaceuticals, and several other privately-held companies.
Russell holds an M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco and a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago.
Frank M. Phillips, M.D.
Midwest Orthopaedics
Professor, Director, Section of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, Rush University
Medical Center
Dr. Phillips specializes in the spine and has special interests in cervical and lumbar reconstructive surgery. He also has expertise in motion preserving and minimally invasive spinal procedures. Dr. Phillips has participated in the development of a number of minimally invasive spinal techniques and also motion preservation technologies. Dr. Phillips' basic science research efforts have focused on biomechanics of the spinal reconstruction as well as biologic strategies including gene therapy to promote spinal fusion and intervertebral disc regeneration.
Before joining Midwest Orthopaedics, Dr. Phillips served as the Director of The Spine Center at The University of Chicago. Dr. Phillips is currently a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Head of the Section of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery at Rush University Medical Center. He has published and lectured extensively on spinal topics. He also frequently directs spinal educational courses for other spinal surgeons. Dr. Phillips is currently the Vice President of the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and is on various committees of the North American Spine Society and the Spine Arthroplasty Society. He has also received numerous research grants. Dr. Phillips is the Principal Investigator of various national US FDA clinical trials evaluating cervical and lumbar disc replacement procedures.
A medical graduate from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Dr. Phillips completed his orthopaedic residency at The University of Chicago Medical Center. In addition, he served a spine fellowship at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Dave Schulte
Director, Kaiser Permanente Ventures
Dave has extensive experience working with entrepreneurs and growth companies as a venture capitalist and investment banker. He joined Kaiser Permanente Ventures in 2003 and focuses primarily on investments in medical device technology in the cardiovascular, orthopedics, respiratory and diabetes markets. He has also completed investments in health care services companies.
Dave serves on the Board of Directors of Atheromed, GMD, Hemosphere and Vapotherm. He is or was actively involved with KP's investments in Glumetrics, Proteus Biomedical, Pulmonx, ValenTx, Valeritas, CHF Solutions (sold to Gambro) and Nursefinders (sold to Goldman Sachs).
Prior to Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Dave executed health care and technology equity, debt and M&A transactions for JPMorgan, UBS, and Piper Jaffray. Dave earned a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts from St. John's University.
Jim Shapiro
General Partner, Kearny Venture Partners
Jim has been a general partner of Kearny Venture Partners and its predecessor funds since January 2000. He focuses on investments in the Medical Device industry. Jim currently serves on the boards of directors of CVRx, Hansen Medical, SpinalMotion, TranS1 and TriVascular2. He is a co-founder of SpinalMotion. Mr. Shapiro has previously served on the boards of directors of companies including Appriva (acquired by eV3), Eyeonics (acquired by Bausch & Lomb), Fox Hollow Technologies (acquired by ev3), LuMend (acquired by Johnson and Johnson), TriVascular (acquired by Boston Scientific), and X Technologies (acquired by Guidant). From 1984 to 1999, Jim led Alex. Brown's healthcare investment banking practice on the West Coast, providing financing and M&A advisory services to both emerging growth and established healthcare companies. Before joining Brown, Jim was an associate at Goldman Sachs and a financial analyst at Bank of America.
Jim holds an A.B. with laboratory research honors from Princeton University, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.