Thierry Thaure has over 35 years of experience in medical device technology as an entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He has demonstrated repeated success in building businesses with disruptive technologies and driving their market expansion.

Mr. Thaure was co-founder and CEO of Cephea Valve Technologies, a company that developed a percutaneous mitral valve replacement technology, which was purchased by Abbott in 2019 for $200M. Previously, he served as CEO of EndoGastric Solutions (formerly EsophyX); SVP of Accuray, a leader in radiosurgery, which he helped take public; and founding Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Intuitive Surgical.

Mr. Thaure also held key management roles at Guidant, Origin Medsystems, and Edwards Life Science. Mr. Thaure holds a B.S. in chemistry and biomedical engineering from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Michel Gagner, M.D., obtained a Diploma in Sciences at the Seminaire de Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke in 1978 and his M.D. from the Faculte de Medecine de l’Universite de Sherbrooke in Canada in 1982. He finished his surgical training at McGill University in Montreal from 1982-1988. During his residency, he completed two years of a Ph.D. program on human lipolysis in sepsis at the Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University from 1984-1986. Dr. Gagner also completed fellowships in hepatic surgery at Hopital Villejuif in Paris, France, and pancreatico-biliary surgery at Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, from 1989-1990.

Upon completion of his fellowships, he was recruited to the Universite de Montreal School of Medicine, Hotel-Dieu de Montreal, where he was Assistant Professor of Surgery (1990-1995). He served several years at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland where he co-founded the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center (1995-1998). He was appointed the Franz Sichel Professor of Surgery and Director of the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York from 1998-2003. Dr. Gagner joined Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York as Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Section of Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery from2003-2007. Until recently, he served as Chair of the Department of Surgery at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami and as Professor of Surgery at Florida International University. Dr. Gagner is currently Chief of Surgery of the Westmount Square Surgical Center and is a senior attending at the Hopital du Sacre Coeur in Montreal.

Dr. Gagner is known for his contributions in the field of minimally invasive surgery, in particular the first description of laparoscopic adrenalectomy for Cushing syndrome and pheochromocytoma (1992), first description of laparoscopic pancreatectomy (distal and proximal) (1992-93), first description of endoscopic neck surgery with parathyroidectomy in 1995, first transgastric cholecystectomy in 1997 (NOTES), first description of laparoscopic duodenal switch for obesity in 1999, and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy in 2000. More recently, he was co-surgeon for the first world transatlantic robotic cholecystectomy, between New York City and Strasbourg, France, with the only surgical article published in Nature in 2001.

Dr. Gagner has published over 544 works, comprised of original articles, chapters, and books on minimally invasive surgery. He has been visiting professor and operated in over 60 institutions in 48 countries. He has held prominent positions in more than 35 societies and organizations and has served on the editorial boards of 12 surgical journals.

Dr. Gagner also has received a number of honorary memberships and awards throughout his career. His most recent contributions focus on innovative upper digestive tract surgery such as bariatric and endoluminal gastric procedures.

Ronald Galovich has over 30 years of extensive experience in the Medical Device and Life Science industries, developing and leading global commercial organizations. Prior to joining GT Metabolic Solutions, Ron held senior executive leadership positions in sales, marketing, national accounts, professional education, and general management within organizations such as Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company; Tyco Healthcare (now Medtronic); Zimmer Biomet; Baxter; and Bristol Myers Squibb.

Mr. Galovich has extensive global concept and commercialization experience, having launched numerous novel and disruptive technologies in bariatric surgery, general surgery, cardiovascular surgery, orthopedic surgery, women’s health, and infection prevention.

Mr. Galovich recently held the Chief Commercial Officer position at Standard Bariatrics, an early-stage startup, where he led all initial commercial, market development, launch, and scale-up activities for the revolutionary stapling technology. Results drove a dramatic increase in market value culminating in an acquisition by Teleflex Inc. for $300M. Mr. Galovich holds a B.S. in marketing and economics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Griffin Vincent, Ph.D., has more than 30 years of experience in scientific, regulatory, and business leadership across the healthcare ecosystem within medical technology and combination products, payers, data analytics and population health, and management and diligence consulting. Her career began serving patients as a clinical and research nurse in neonatology, neurology, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases.

Dr. Vincent has expertise leading and growing functional talent and organizations along the product lifecycle, including research, clinical, regulatory, health economics, reimbursement, medical affairs, and market access. In addition, she has guided business leadership including serving on executive teams, as chief operating officer for two global research companies, and as president of an outcomes research division. Her industry trajectory includes early-stage companies, such as Seismed Instruments, and PatientPoint, and large multinational organizations, such as UnitedHealth Group (UHG), Medtronic, BD, and GE Healthcare. Dr. Vincent has significant experience in the policy area and was appointed in January 2022 as an industry representative to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) CMS Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC).

Dr. Vincent holds a B.S. in nursing, M.A. in kinesiology, and Ph.D. in health services research and policy, all from the University of Minnesota. She was awarded full scholarships from the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research and DHHS for her doctoral training, and her dissertation focused on patient adherence to complex medical therapies to maximize health and economic efficiencies and reduce disease burden.

Todd Krinke brings innovation and actualization to 18 years of medical device experience, with more than 20 issued patents and many pending applications. At Conventus Orthopaedics, Mr. Krinke developed the Conventus CAGE™, a nitinol device with three indications to treat periarticular fractures: distal radius, proximal humerus, and proximal radius. 

Mr. Krinke has also been Director of Research and Development for Endometabolic Solutions, where he developed an incisionless gastric bypass procedure, and Director of Product Engineering for Travanti Pharma, where he invented a new drug transfer system for a combination transdermal iontophoretic patch and led a 200-patient, 10-center Phase II clinical trial. At St. Jude Medical, Mr. Krinke developed the Gen II Symmetry nitinol anastomotic connector, percutaneous mitral valve repair, and carotid stent technologies. Mr. Krinke holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering and mechanics from the University of Minnesota.

Antonio Torres, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Surgery at Complutense University Medical School, Madrid, Spain. He leads the General Surgery Department at Hospital Clinico San Carlos. He was President of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO) from2011-2012 and Chairman of IFSO´s Board of Trustees from 2015-2019.

In addition, he runs the Multidiciplinary Unit for Obesity Treatment at the University Hospital Madrid, Monteprincipe.

Dr. Torres has been involved in bariatric and metabolic surgery since 1985 having already performed more than 10.000 primary and revisional bariatric or metabolic procedures.

He pioneered a new hypoabsortive procedure: SADIS procedure (Single Anastomosis Duodeno-Ileal anastomosis with Sleeve). Dr. Torres is also an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (2022) (Hon F.A.C.S.).

Helmuth T. Billy, M.D., has been in private practice in Ventura California for over 20 years where he is the senior surgeon at Ventura Advanced Surgical Associates, specializing in laparoscopic bariatric and minimally invasive surgery (MIS). He has been a national leader in bariatric and revisional surgery, introducing cutting edge and innovative operations for the treatment of obesity in Southern California. He was one of the first surgeons in the state to incorporate the single anastomosis duodenal ileostomy (SADI procedure) into his practice. Dr. Billy has some of the most extensive experience utilizing the one anastomosis gastric bypass (OAGB) for the treatment of morbid obesity, and he was instrumental in the recent announcement by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) endorsing OAGB as a recognized operation for the treatment of obesity.

With over 20 years of experience as a bariatric surgeon, he was involved in establishing the first bariatric surgery programs at the Sutter Hospital system in Northern California. Since moving his practice to Ventura in 2002, he has been the Director of Bariatric Surgery at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura. Both hospitals are recognized by the America College of Surgeons (ACS) as accredited bariatric programs. Dr. Billy is a member of the core teaching faculty at Community Memorial Hospital, where he is active in graduate medical education of surgical residents and medical students. He has been the president of the Southern California Chapter of the ASMBS and is currently an at-large member of the executive council of the ASMBS.

Dr. Billy obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He subsequently received his medical degree at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine. Since 2001, Dr. Billy has been active in the education of surgeons as a faculty member teaching the placement of the lap-band system. He has educated and proctored surgeons throughout the western U.S. in various techniques in laparoscopic bariatric surgery. He has also been involved in MIS fellowship training and has lectured and taught principles of bariatric surgery in Mexico, Taiwan, India, the UK, and throughout the Middle East. He held a teaching position at Hamad General Hospital in Doha, Qatar, spending over five years directly mentoring and teaching advanced MIS techniques in both bariatric surgery and complex revision operations. Dr. Billy has achieved an international reputation as an accomplished surgeon and educator in the fields of MIS and bariatric surgery.

He has been a faculty member at numerous national educational events and surgeon training workshops. He has been a featured speaker at the annual meeting of the ASMBS and the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO). He has authored multiple publications and textbook chapters, including the recently published second edition of the ASMBS Textbook of Bariatric Surgery.

Thomas M. Krummel, M.D., is a Venture Partner at Santé Ventures. He joined Santé in 2021 from Stanford University, where he currently serves as Co-Director at the Byers Center for Biodesign and as the Emile Holman Professor Emeritus for the Department of Surgery in Stanford University’s School of Medicine.

For over 35 years, Dr. Krummel has served roles as surgeon, innovator, educator, and leader. In his position with the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign for nearly 20 years, he has guided the teaching of medtech invention to teams of doctors, engineers, and business professionals through interdisciplinary research and education at the emerging frontiers of engineering and the biomedical sciences. More than 3.4 million patients have been treated with tools and technologies originating in this program. There are now 18 similar programs on three continents, with 227 graduates.

Dr. Krummel is the recipient of the William E. Ladd Medal for 2020, the highest honor nationwide in pediatric surgery. He received one of the first Phased Innovation R21/R33 grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to develop a simulation-based surgical training system. He has earned two ComputerWorld Smithsonian Awards for his work with surgical training systems and robotics and has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Krummel is Chair of the Board of Directors at Fogarty Innovation, a not-for-profit medtech educational incubator. He also serves on numerous boards of directors for Eclipse Regenesis, Morgridge Institute for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, NewGen Surgical, and ULink. In addition, he served as President of the International Scientific Committee at IRCAD, University of Strasbourg, France. Dr. Krummel also serves as a consultant to the medical device industry and has served on boards of directors and scientific advisory boards of more than 20 successful early-stage medtech device start-ups.

He received his M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin and his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Jane Buchwald is Chief Scientific Research Writer and CEO/Founder of the medical research writing and statistical analysis firm, Medwrite Medical Communications in Wisconsin.. She directs scientific writers and biostatisticians in development of original manuscripts from the data-analysis phase through publication in peer-reviewed articles. As a scientific research writer and editor, she has authored or contributed to more than 1,340 scientific documents, including more than 350 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters with a concentration in general and metabolic/bariatric surgery. Her work has appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Obesity Surgery, Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, Diabetes Care, and the British Medical Journal.

In addition to academic collaborations, Ms. Buchwald has worked with more than 70 biomedical and pharmaceutical companies and scientific publishers to develop medical product and surgical procedure materials, books, and continuing medical education programs.

Ms. Buchwald is author and director of the 25-chapter “live” and E-Learning postgraduate course“Writing and Publishing a Research Article of Excellence (AOE),” a curriculum designed for physicians and healthcare professionals that details the development of peer-reviewed medical articles. The AOE course fills a training gap in scientific literature preparation that bridges clinical research and evidence-based practice. The course is presented in medical centers, global congresses, and U.S. military medical andsurgical residency programs.

Ms. Buchwald also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Minnesota Physician journal and as Technical Editor of The Report of the United States Surgeon General in 1994 (DHHS/CDC). She received the American Medical Writers Association’s Eric Martin Award for Excellence in Medical Writing, voted by the more than 5,000 peer membership committee. She is an active member and course director in the International Federation for Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO). Ms. Buchwald was educated at Macalester College, Cambridge University, and the State University of New York.

Marielle Doyon completed a chemical engineering degree from Université Laval and completed her Ph.D. in pharmacology at Université de Montréal. Dr. Doyon is a registered patent agent and specializes in the drafting and prosecution of patent applications in various technology fields. She also provides validity, infringement, freedom-to-operate and patentability opinions, particularly in the fields of medical devices, chemical engineering, and life sciences. Her academic research focuses on smooth muscle cell apoptosis induced by specific classes of antihypertensive drugs and on the implication of matrix Gla protein in the development of systolic hypertension in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Jeremy Lawson is a chemical engineer and a registered patent agent in both Canada and the United States. Mr. Lawson provides intellectual property counsel to business of all sizes in a wide range of technologies. He specializes in the drafting and prosecution of patent applications, patent portfolio management, due diligence, opinions on patent matters, and strategic counsel for pre-grant and post-grant patent challenges.

Both Dr. Doyon and Mr. Lawson are partners with ROBIC, an internationally renowned firm founded in 1892 with a reputation for excellence intellectual property.

Business Development – GT Japan

As head of training for Autosuture Japanese Distributor during the launch of the first generation of mechanical staplers and endoscopic stapling, Yoshiki Kawabata oversaw the training of 3,000 Japanese surgeons. He continued his career in MIS surgery becoming head of Sales, then VP, for Ethicon End-Surgery. He then moved to St. Jude Medical and other multinational companies. Over the last few years, he helped U.S. start-up companies including HeatFlow, Inc., and Palette Lifesciences Inc., enter the Japanese market with great success.