ABK Biomedical Board of Directors

Dr. Berez is Chairman of the ABK Biomedical Board of Directors. He is the founder and CEO of Alembic, LLC, a medical device development company in Mountain View developing new devices for Interventional Neuroradiology. Cathera, Inc, an Alembic company, developed a suite of microcatheters optimized for intracranial navigation.  Cathera was acquired by Medtronic in 2018. Palmera, Inc, an Alembic company, is developing new technologies for the minimally invasive treatment of stroke that have the potential to improve outcomes for patients that are currently treated, as well as widen the scope of patients that can benefit from therapy.

At his previous company, Chestnut Medical, he led the development of the Pipeline Embolization Device for the treatment of complex intracranial aneurysms. In 2012, Pipeline was recognized as a top ten medical device innovation by the Cleveland Clinic.  Today, it is being used to treat aneurysm patients all over the world and represents a $150MM annual franchise for Medtronic. Chestnut Medical was acquired by ev3 in 2009.  Prior to that Dr. Berez worked at Smart Therapeutics where he helped develop the Neuroform and Wingspan intracranial stents, and Endovasix.

Dr. Berez is currently an investor, advisor, and director to privately held medical device companies focused on capital-efficient medical device development.  He is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Medicine, where he received his MD degree.  His postgraduate training was at UCSF/Mt. Zion in Internal Medicine, and Stanford University in Radiology and Neuroradiology.

Mike Mangano is the President and CEO of ABK Biomedical. Mike is an accomplished global executive leader with over 25 years’ experience in the medical device industry. Over this time, he served as a member of senior leadership and executive committees and has a long history of success in building dynamic teams, leading organizational change, creating and shaping strategies, and executing programs leading directly to increased shareholder value. These accomplishments include his recent role as CEO of ReShape Medical, and his success in growing Sirtex Medical, an Interventional Oncology medical device manufacturer, from $34 million in revenue to over $130 million, during his six-year term as President of the Americas. 

Prior to his role at Sirtex Medical, Mike served 15 years at Boston Scientific, where he functioned in many key roles and most recently as Director of International Distribution Management. Mike brings pragmatic leadership to ABK with his vast experience in sales/marketing management, product development, strategic planning, international business, M&A, project management, and business model development. His experience and guidance will help take ABK Biomedical to the next level in delivering commercial excellence for our customers and the patients that will benefit from our innovative products.

Ketan Patel is a Partner with F-Prime Capital and has worked in the healthcare sector as an investor, consultant, and physician. Prior to joining F-Prime Capital in 2007, Dr. Patel advised biopharmaceutical and medical device companies on brand strategy, clinical development plans, and business development activities in the corporate consulting division of Leerink Swann & Company. Dr. Patel served as a physician at the VA Boston Healthcare System and at Weill Cornell Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he completed his internal medicine training

Dr. Patel focuses on investing in therapeutics and medical device companies and has served on the Board of Directors of ABK Biomedical, Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS), Avalyn Pharma, Caplin Steriles, Comanche Biopharma, Eywa Pharma, Ivenix, Laurus Labs (NSE:LAURUSLABS), Medwell Ventures, Menlo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MNLO), NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), NFlection Therapeutics, Pediatrix Therapeutics, Rallybio (NASDAQ:RLYB), Vicept Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan). Dr. Patel is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine, where he received both his MD and MBA as part of that institution’s Healthcare Management Program and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed his undergraduate studies in biology and economics with highest honors at Rutgers University..

Carissa is the Director of Venture Capital at Medtronic. As part of the Medtronic’s ventures team, she works closely with Medtronic leadership to identify new business needs and is responsible for sourcing, recommending, and managing new investment opportunities. Since joining Medtronic Ventures in 2016, she has led and managed investments that have resulted in multiple successful exits and she currently holds board director and observation seats at several Medtronic portfolio companies.

Carissa is passionate about working with management teams and other investors to bring new innovations to market to improve patient outcomes. Before joining Medtronic Ventures, Carissa held various operating roles in strategy, business development, marketing, and research and development at Medtronic, Covidien, and Philips. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and her MBA from Harvard Business School.

James joined Santé Ventures in 2009 and is an emergency medicine physician. Prior to joining Santé, James served in the Air Force and was Vice-Chair of Emergency Medicine at Wilford Hall Medical Center, an academic level-one trauma center. He completed two tours in Iraq as a Critical Care Transport Team Chief and Emergency Department Commander before separating honorably as a Major in 2008.

James is an Oversight Committee member for the University of Michigan’s Michigan Translational Research & Commercialization program, an early-stage granting body for life science companies. He is also a Mentor in the Coulter Program at Michigan and a Board Member of the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care.

James is board-certified in emergency medicine and completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He earned his MD from the Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST), his MBA from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, and his BS in bioengineering from the University of Michigan.

Ricky Sharma is a physician-scientist leader of medical research at Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company.  Professor Sharma’s career vision is to develop personalized multidisciplinary care for every patient with cancer.

Over the past two decades, Professor Sharma has led practice-changing international clinical trials and global initiatives to bring stakeholders together to improve combination treatments for patients with cancer.In addition to his role as Head of Clinical Affairs at Varian, he is a Clinical Oncologist and an Honorary Clinical Professor at University College London. Prior to joining Varian, Professor Sharma was the Chair of Radiation Oncology at University College London, UK. Professor Sharma has extensive experience of Board Membership of charities and the medical device industry.

Professor Sharma graduated in Medicine from the University of Cambridge and obtained a PhD from the MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Leicester. He was an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford. In addition to his Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicans and Royal College of Radiologists, he was recently elected as a Senior Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management.

James McLaren is a Managing Director of TM Capital Corp. a middle-market investment bank, where he is co-head of the firm’s healthcare practice. He brings an extensive background in corporate finance and the healthcare industry to ABK Biomedical’s Board. James joined TM Capital from Asante Partners, which he founded more than twenty years ago to provide quality strategic advice to middle-market healthcare companies. Previously, James had a twenty-year career advising corporate clients at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he served as head of European Corporate Finance in London and of International Corporate Finance in New York, leading teams that executed significant global transactions.

James is a director of CorVista Health, based in Toronto and Washington DC, that is developing a machine learning-based cardiac diagnostic platform to provide rapid, non-invasive tests to diagnose multiple cardiovascular conditions, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, and pulmonary hypertension. James is also an advisory board member of Radius Ventures, a New York-based firm focused on the healthcare industry, and was a director of Montreal-based RTP Pharma until its sale to Skye Pharma. James earned a BA with Honors in Economics from Oxford University, UK.

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