Who We Are

Andrew Cleeland

Chief Executive Officer

As recounted by Greg Bakan

Andrew is a seasoned executive with over 30 years experience in the medical device industry. During this time, he has held key leadership positions in organizations ranging from early-stage startups to large multinationals. In joining Fogarty Innovation he further broadens this range of experience to include managing a nonprofit. The versatility required to be effective across such diverse groups is rare and is a testament to Andrew’s strong leadership skills.

A native Australian who grew up in a suburb of Melbourne, Andrew’s leadership capabilities became evident at an early age. Raised by a single parent, Andrew was forced to grow up quickly and play a supportive role for his mother and brother. These early experiences were formative in shaping the person Andrew would become and the things he would inevitably accomplish.

Andrew’s values and life philosophy were also greatly influenced by sport. His natural athleticism and leadership propelled him into many team captain roles and ultimately competing in Australian Rules Football at a semi-professional level. If you’ve never seen this sport played, do so. It won’t take long to recognize the toughness, teamwork and grit the sport demands, all traits which Andrew continues to bring to every position he holds.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Andrew began his medtech career working for the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. This provided an invaluable introduction to the industry along with an appreciation for the challenges regulators face when balancing innovation with protecting public health. Several years into this role, serendipity presented him with a unique opportunity to work for a company based in the United States. Although he had never lived outside Australia, he saw it as a great opportunity and moved alone to Denver, Colorado, to work for Telectronics. He probably didn’t realize it at the time, but this move exemplifies a classic element of Andrew’s personal and professional mindset: think big, set audacious goals and act boldly. At the time, Andrew expected this to be a two-year position. Thirty years later, he’s still in the U.S., setting and achieving big goals.

Andrew’s rapid career advancement during this timeframe has been impressive. After Telectronics, he accepted a management role at Baxter Healthcare’s Novacor division, and later as vice president of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Bay Area startup company Radiant Medical. Following this, he was CEO of Ardian, which pioneered the use of renal denervation to treat hypertension. Ardian was acquired by Medtronic in 2011 in a transaction valued at over $1.3B which, at the time, was the largest medical device acquisition ever for a pre-revenue medical device company.

Whenever a first time CEO has such a wildly successful exit, the market often wonders: Is the person really that good or were they just lucky? Andrew quickly answered that question by taking the role of CEO at Twelve, a startup in the transcatheter mitral valve space. Several years after his joining, this company was also acquired by Medtronic in a transaction valued at $458M. Back to back successes at such large valuations answered the question – it wasn’t just luck.

Propelled by these successes, Andrew has become a key figure in the medical device community. His leadership, experience and insights have led many organizations to seek his involvement. He currently serves on the board of three venture-funded companies — Saluda Medical, Zenflow, Inc. (chairman) and MMI S.p.A. (chairman). He also holds advisory positions at two top-tier venture capital firms: Longitude Capital and Arboretum Ventures. At a global industry level, he has been invited to serve on multiple initiatives including the UCSF-Stanford Pediatric Device Consortium; the Medical Device Innovation Consortium; and the Singapore government’s Biomedical Research Council (BMRC).

Passionate about healthcare, Andrew is a champion of innovators and innovation in the medtech field. His commitment to mentoring and education is rooted in his passion for helping patients and being a catalyst for positive change. This purpose and drive is captured in one of his favorite quotes, by Mahatma Gandhi: “A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”

“Working at Fogarty Innovation gives me the ability to positively influence the medtech ecosystem and give back in a meaningful and effective way,” summarizes Andrew. “To have worked with such amazing teammates on such impactful programs has allowed me to do something BOTH meaningful and enjoyable…I love the challenge.”

Andrew has received numerous awards and honors and is a frequent invited lecturer at major industry conferences and leading academic institutions. Andrew holds a BS in biophysics from the Swinburne Institute of Technology.

Bernie Andreas

Engineer in Residence

As recounted by Laura Hamilton

With his love of repairing cars, building medical devices, or running a company, Bernie has been a hands-on, key contributor in the medical device industry for more than 30 years.

Bernie attributes his strong personal values and “will do” mindset to his parents, who immigrated from Germany to California a few years before he was born. Growing up, Bernie witnessed firsthand that almost anything was possible with a goal, a plan and a solid work ethic. A key formative example illustrates how he lived out his belief: his goal was to attend college; his plan was to use his talents as a mechanic; and his solid work ethic enabled him to earn and save enough money to cover his University of California, Davis, tuition.

After graduating from UC Davis with bachelor’s degrees in both mechanical engineering and materials science, Bernie applied for what he believed was an ideal engineering opportunity with a medtech company, a position he learned during the interview had already been filled. At that point, his career could have taken a drastic turn when he was offered more senior engineering positions at companies in other fields. 

However, undeterred in his desire to follow his passion and armed with that “will do” mindset, Bernie got his first taste of the medtech world by joining DVI, a company that later became part of Guidant, in an entry-level position. He was quickly promoted to a role as an R&D engineer, designing and developing medical devices. That began an illustrious career in the medtech industry, where he has helped create therapies that have improved the quality of life of tens of thousands of individuals.

Over his career, Bernie has held senior management roles with both industry pillars and startups, including Chrono Therapeutics, Johnson & Johnson, Acclarent, The Foundry and Perclose. His decades of R&D engineering experiences provided him a solid foundation in innovation that led to him earn more than 100 medical device patents and co-found two companies, Xtent and ReSept Medical Inc.

Bernie appreciates the opportunity he has at Fogarty Innovation to work alongside a group of professionals who have already achieved excellence in their careers and now share their years of industry experience to mentor, support, educate and elevate the next generation of medtech innovators. 

In his spare time, you can find Bernie serenading his fantastic family, or playing golf, or hiking. And if you know Bernie and his giving spirit, you wouldn’t be surprised to find him helping out his neighbors.

Greg Bakan

Director of Strategic Initiatives

As recounted by Andrew Cleeland

Greg has a deep passion for medtech. “A major driver for my interest in this field is the purpose-driven nature of the work. We’re developing products and services that directly improve patients’ lives.” Another attraction is that successful medtech innovation truly requires the integration of science and business know-how, both of which are areas of keen interest for Greg as reflected in his educational background.

That’s why he has devoted over 30 years to the medical device industry, holding senior management positions at several successful startup companies, including Ardian, Emphasys Medical, Nevro and Fox Hollow Technologies. In aggregate, these startups have generated more than $2.5 billion in returns to their investors, reflecting the impact on the thousands of patients who benefitted from their therapies.

Earlier in his career, he built a strong foundation working at larger, well-established companies, holding positions in marketing, sales, strategic planning and business development at Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Guidant and Eli Lilly and Company. Greg feels this early experience was invaluable and laid the foundation for his success in start-ups. “My time at the larger companies afforded me incredible training, the chance to work on a wide range of projects across many sectors, and most importantly, the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the best and brightest leaders in our industry,” notes Greg. Another advantage Greg sees in this early career experience is that it allows him to understand and work more effectively with larger companies which is critical since they form an important funding and exit pathway for medtech start-ups.

Greg sees his work with Fogarty Innovation as not only allowing him to pursue his passion for the medtech space, but also as a way to give back to an industry which has afforded him so many unique opportunities. He fondly recalls the many people throughout his career who were willing to take the time to share their insights, experience, and advice. This mentoring has had a life-changing impact on him both professionally and personally. The hope of “paying forward” this gift is a large part of what attracted Greg to Fogarty Innovation.

Fogarty’s Companies in Residence CEOs in turn have a great amount of respect for Greg’s keen strategic mind and seek him out to help them think through the chess moves they must consider as they steer their companies forward. As one of them said, “One of the things that attracted me most to Fogarty Innovation was my interaction with Greg and, now that I’ve joined, I am fully convinced that my collaboration with him and the rest of the management team has been incredible. He is a trusted resource.”

In his free time, Greg enjoys working with his hands, whether it’s woodworking or restoring old cars, and riding motorcycles. He also has a passion for teaching and occasionally gives guest lectures at Fogarty Innovation and Stanford University.

Greg holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology from the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Gretchen Berstler

Program Manager

As recounted by Birgit Johnston

With 17 years of experience working in the healthcare industry, Gretchen is always ready to extend a hand and tackle new programs and projects.

Prior to joining Fogarty Innovation, Gretchen oversaw a number of key communications initiatives at El Camino Health, including supporting internal services programs, managing events, directing patient and physician outreach and developing marketing campaigns. “Working with such a close-knit team of like-minded individuals was a real privilege,” she said. “While we weren’t in direct contact with the patients, we felt that the programs we launched went a long way towards supporting the hospital’s mission to heal, relieve suffering and advance wellness.”

Striving to continue making a deep impact on patients’ lives, she joined Fogarty Innovation as one of its first employees. As program manager, she plays an important role in supporting both the education and incubation programs by developing, managing and executing educational programs and events for the organization, its companies-in-residence, the FDA and the Ferolyn and Lefteroff fellowships. “I am honored to have been part of the organization since its inception and while we have grown, our mission to advance human health and personalized approach is still what we live by.”

Education is where she thrives—closely interacting with the students as she helps them learn the ins and outs of developing a medical device and explore different career paths, whether with a startup or larger company. She especially loves to hear from them later in life to learn how well they are doing and see how they are already giving back to the community, appreciating how their internship influenced their future success.

Gretchen also welcomes the chance to help support the entrepreneurs, watching them as they conquer their daily challenges and seize opportunities to develop and advance therapies, with the promise that one day they may help improve or save the lives of a significant number of patients.

An Ohio native, Gretchen likes to cook, particularly Italian favorites. She loves spending time at the coast for its beauty and fresh air and has recently found a new passion in meditating, which helps her tackle new challenges and opportunities that come her way.

Peter Carlotto

Engineer in Residence

As recounted by Birgit Johnston

Whether he’s fabricating car parts in his backyard workshop or medtech devices at Fogarty Innovation, Peter is in his element building things and working with his hands. Like many Fogarty staff who found their inspiration in different fields, Peter’s initially came from the automotive sector; he’s been tinkering with cars since high school, where he discovered an affinity for identifying and solving various issues his classmates had with their vehicles.

After high school he joined De Anza College Auto Technology program, where he excelled at troubleshooting and helped lead the school’s participation in state and national competitions.

That led him to mechanic roles with BMW and Nissan and an initial plan to own his own shop. But then he got into car racing, and the experience offered the ideal background to pivot to fabricating and maintaining the cars.

Peter got his first taste of medical technology through a college friend who was working for one of Dr. Fogarty’s startups, Microline Surgical, a company dedicated to delivering precision instruments for minimally invasive surgery. It turned out that the initial troubleshooting they were doing with the wiring was very similar to the type of engineering work Peter was doing as a lead car mechanic, and he joined the company full time. It suited him fine as he was a hands-on kind of guy, who enjoyed going from the “napkin” design to market, improving through all the iterations to develop a product and get it to the end users.

He stayed there for 12 years until the company was eventually sold, when he began working as a consultant. One day he stumbled upon an article on Fogarty Innovation which caught his eye since he had met Dr. Fogarty while at Microline.

His interest piqued, he toured the facility and met the Terumo Medical Innovation team, which resides at the organization, and joined their team as an R&D engineering consultant. While there he parlayed his expertise in maintaining equipment into a position with Fogarty Innovation’s machine shop, which turned into a full-time job in 2021. It’s the perfect match for his skills and desire to constantly improve each prototype or part he builds.

He loves the opportunity to work with so many different technologies and is able to indulge his interest in passing on his skills by training the Lefteroff interns on how to program and run select machines.

No big surprise, but Peter spends much of his free time racing cars – he has three of his own. And, he also loves to camp and boat camp, with a race car or dirt bike along for the trip behind his motor home.

Zach Edmonds, MD

Chief Medical Officer

As recounted by John Morriss

As a hospitalist practicing at El Camino Health’s Mountain View hospital and a site director for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) Department of Hospital Medicine, Zach is, first and foremost, a clinician. He describes his hospitalist role as being the patient’s primary care physician while they are in the hospital. This involves building a rapport with the patient, identifying their needs, bringing the necessary resources together, and finding solutions. He says he is proudest of his professional success when he receives a note from a patient thanking him for the positive role he played in their care and the difference he made in their life during a time of great vulnerability and need.

He brings that passion to the companies and his projects within Fogarty Innovation and Stanford Biodesign as well. Zach provides what he describes as a clinical lens, a practitioner’s point of view, as he assesses potential innovations to anticipate whether they would be adopted by physicians and hospitals. Because he shares patients in common with physicians across various specialties, Zach understands his colleagues’ perspectives and the possible inertia that must be overcome to change clinical practice and adopt a novel system. Yet Zach remains an avid believer in innovation as he sees countless examples of unaddressed clinical needs in his daily life — conditions and diseases that lead to pain, suffering, and loss of life. “I am passionate about medtech for its potential to help address these unmet needs,” says Zach.

Fogarty Innovation is an opportunity he appreciates for the chance to support the efforts of young innovators. Zach plays a key role in clinical diligence, facilitating clinical research, and building collaborations with community physicians. He blends his clinical perspective with a business background, stressing that even early stage projects should establish how they will be cost-effective solutions.

He believes his work with Fogarty has enhanced the rest of his career, allowing him to be part of an incredibly rich, stimulating and rewarding “professional village.” That’s largely because of the resonance he finds between his own values and that of the organization: mission-driven purpose, passion, hard work, accountability and excellence.

As an adjunct professor of medicine, Zach is a member of the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign teaching team, where he co-teaches the graduate-level Biodesign Innovation course.  This cross-disciplinary course is made up of students from Stanford’s business school, graduate engineering students,  and medical students and residents. Over two quarters, these students work in teams to resarch and validate real world medical needs, invent new technologies to address tehm, and plan for their implementation into patient care. 

When he’s not working or teaching,  you’ll find Zach with his wife and two daughters. Family dinners each evening, Friday movie night and discussion, and a Sunday ritual that starts off with the kids ceremoniously putting the family’s phones and iPads in a drawer and closing it are only a few examples of how they spend time together, being silly, having adventures, and learning new things.

Zach holds an MD from the UCLA School of Medicine and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He completed his internal medicine residency training and the Biodesign Innovation Fellowship at Stanford University.

Mary Gorman

Executive Services Administrator

As recounted by Marga Ortigas-Wedekind

Mary wants to see people happy. “If there are 100 people in a room with different philosophies, backgrounds, and levels, I’ve found that I can bring them together, break down social and status barriers, and relate to them myself, especially when entertaining with food.”

She seeks that happiness for people in many other ways as well, which is why she thinks the executive administrator role has been a great fit for her. Starting as an executive assistant at the age of 18, she put herself through school at night and did other weekend work. She found she had strong listening and organizational skills as well as a streak of creativity, always seeking to “wow” with any project she took on; “I was a natural at it, I got better, adapted, learned and developed.” As she gained more responsibility and progressed through her career, now at Fogarty and in previous roles at Vertex Ventures HC and Stanford Biodesign, Mary found that working in the medtech innovation space fit right in with her personal goals as well. She has a particular interest in healthcare solutions for the elderly because she is drawn to “helping people who don’t have a voice,” having experienced it firsthand in the last 11 years as primary caregiver for her mother who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Born and raised in California to working class parents, she was taught to “work hard, be respectful, and learn how to get along in the world,” and that comes to life as she relates her proudest professional moments planning and executing the Stanford Biodesign fellowship graduations over the past 10 years.

It’s not surprising that Mary’s own family today is “rich in science.” Her husband works in the pharmaceutical industry, one of her sons works at a startup out of Stanford Biodesign, and the other works in fishery sciences and is involved in ecological pursuits. A common thread that has run through generations in this family is a fondness for fishing and crabbing which plays right into Mary’s love of entertaining, cooking, and organizing gourmet meals for family, friends, and neighbors!

Allie Gregorian

Chief Alliance Officer

As recounted by Stacey McCutcheon

Eighteen years ago, Allie Gregorian had a career epiphany. She was working for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, cultivating corporate and individual relationships and helping wealthy clients make charitable gifts. “When I started, I didn’t realize how transformative these gifts could be to the organizations that received them,” she said. “But once I saw the impact of giving, I knew that I wanted to be on the other side. I wanted to work with mission-driven organizations and help them secure the financial resources they need to support their work.”

Since then, she has been a leader and an advocate in the nonprofit sector and has never looked back. “I made a decision to dedicate my skills and service to supporting these kinds of organizations and I have not wavered,” she said. “I have raised almost $100 million in philanthropic resources and am very proud of what those funds have accomplished.”

The decision to devote herself to supporting high-impact charitable work is a perfect fit for Allie’s broad and varied skill set. She is a gifted communicator with a journalism background, an experienced relationship manager, and a strategic visionary who excels at aligning philanthropic interests with programs that provide critical support for vulnerable populations. It’s also a career that makes her feel at home.

“I was raised in a family that always gave back,” she explained. “We did community service on the weekends, and my mom dedicated her life to supporting and fighting for at-risk youth. I always wanted to be involved in work like hers.”

After leaving Morgan Stanley, Allie joined her first nonprofit, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, as the director of major and planned gifts. There she solicited high-profile benefactors and secured transformational funding to establish the Children’s Orthopaedic Center, which currently ranks fourth in the nation for pediatric orthopaedic programs.

Her success caught the attention of LA Family Housing, which recruited her to create a giving program, re-develop the board of directors, and partner with the LA Housing Commission to provide permanent supportive housing to formerly homeless families. She was part of a team that developed the first-ever housing development for homeless seniors in Los Angeles.

Around that time, a chance encounter at a coffee shop led to marriage, a subsequent move to Northern California, and two small energetic boys who love the beach, building forts, hiking, and anything else outdoors. The family is also devoted to baseball, in part because of the boys’ burgeoning t-ball careers, and in part because Allie’s dad is the long-time pitching coach for the 2021 World Series-winning Atlanta Braves.

Not surprisingly, athleticism runs in the family. Allie’s mom was a swimmer, and by the age of six, Allie was swimming competitively and practicing two hours a day. As she got older, the practices stretched to four hours a day and trophies and medals on the shelf multiplied, reflecting her status as an aspiring Olympic athlete in 200M breaststroke. Allie trained alongside other swimming luminaries including Misty Hyman, Gary Hall Jr., and Amanda Beard, and continued to compete as a D1 athlete throughout her first two years of college at University of Arizona.

After relocating to the Bay Area, Allie joined Stanford University as a senior director of development for the Medical Center. In that capacity, she managed complex fundraising programs for Department of Neurosurgery and the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, where she first learned about, and became fascinated with, health technology innovation. That passion, for helping innovators address important unmet medical needs and bring their solutions all the way to patient care, is what led her to Fogarty Innovation. As Fogarty’s Chief Alliance officer, Allie is focused on building strategic partnerships and a robust fundraising program for the organization and its companies-in-development.

When Allie isn’t working or parenting, you can find her open water swimming and training for triathlons.

Laura Hamilton

Performance Optimization Leader

As recounted by Bernie Andreas

Laura works to draw out and optimize the best in people. She brings to Fogarty Innovation more than two decades of experience working in mental health, executive coaching and human resources. Laura is passionate about helping clients identify root issues and design a path that applies their intrinsic strengths to maximize potential and elevate their performance.

Laura grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (yes, an ardent Steelers fan) and, through the course of her childhood, developed a strong work ethic that she learned from her parents, both hard-working professionals. From an early age, Laura was given many daily responsibilities, which created the diligent, independent, and goal- oriented professional she ultimately became.

At the University of Pittsburgh, Laura originally majored in criminal justice with a minor in psychology. However, while working for an attorney as a private investigator, she quickly discovered that she more naturally gravitated toward understanding, supporting and elevating individuals, hence changed her major to psychology.

With her bachelor’s degree in hand, Laura moved to Southern California where she began a career with a well-known law firm, Fragomen. Initially she served as a paralegal, where her work with some of the world’s largest companies led to being appointed to leadership roles.

Her desire for knowledge deepened, and with the encouragement of the firm’s leadership team, she continued to manage her full-time job while simultaneously attending graduate school at California State University, Long Beach, where she received her master’s degree in social work. 

During this time, Laura started devoting more of her energy to the internal needs of the firm, aligning with her academic aspirations to help individuals reach their potential and solve challenges. That led to an executive role in human resources and, not long after, a transfer to the firm’s San Francisco Bay Area office.

After nearly a decade focused on helping Frangomen adapt its organizational model and elevating individual performance, Laura became increasingly fascinated with the dynamic nature of people. She pivoted her career path to become a psychiatric social worker at Napa State Hospital, working with individuals suffering from mental illness.

Subsequently, she became a licensed clinical social worker and moved to the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System.

In 2007, Laura opened her own practice, True Insight, as a psychotherapist and executive coach, assisting  clients in their quest to become self-aware, authentic and empowered to meet their true potential. 

Laura finds energy and peace while hiking and cycling, but her best moments come from spending time with her family and her three dogs… never a dull moment.

Gayle Kuokka

Chief Financial Officer

As recounted by Craig Straley

With a long history of working with medical startups, Gayle has more than 30 years of diverse experience in a variety of senior management roles that include finance, accounting, human resources, manufacturing and operations. After stints at other technology companies, she found that medtech’s mission to help patients mirrored her own philosophy and was more personally rewarding. Perhaps an enigma for an expert in finance, Gayle’s regard for financial return, while understanding its importance, is far outweighed by her devotion to advancing human health and making the world a better place.

She has had the opportunity to work across several sectors in medtech (e.g, medical devices, drug discovery, diagnostics, instrumentation), including serving as chief financial officer for Biodesy (now Blue Light Therapeutics) which commercialized a tool for drug discovery. She also was the vice president of finance at Isostent, a radioisotope stent which was acquired by Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson company, and the chief financial officer at Radiant Medical, which induced local hypothermia in heart attack patients to preserve heart tissue.

She later started her own company offering chief financial officer consulting to more than 15 life science startup companies. In total, she has been responsible for helping raise more than $200 million in venture funding.

Gayle is always happy to help Fogarty CIRs with all types of finance matters, but what really excites her is when she can help with broader strategy – to assess markets, plan how to navigate the path to market and treat patients, and how to position a business to be financially appealing to potential investors.

Gayle also offers unique perspectives based on her experience on both sides of clinical trials, as a patient and a technology provider, which further inspires her passion for the field. “Medical technology literally saved my life, and I would like to return the favor to others,” acknowledges Gayle

She received her MBA from the Tepper School at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and her BA in economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Gayle was the fifth of seven children, with a father who was an engineer and a mother who was a nurse – clear influences that impacted her career choices. Before moving back to her birthplace of Seattle after high school, she grew up in a rural college town in eastern Washington which gave her a lasting appreciation for the value of education, a strong work ethic, a belief in social justice and the desire to impact the lives of others less fortunate. A health devotee and mother of two grown children, Gayle loves running, traveling, and gardening. Between tackling her own remodeling projects, she was also responsible for the buildout of Fogarty Innovation’s brand new home in the Sobrato building on the El Camino Campus.

Corinne Landphere

Strategic Consultant

As recounted by Denise Zarins

Corinne Landphere helps propel individuals and teams into high-performing, emotionally intelligent excellence with her unique ‘people-first’ approach and nearly 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry.

After 20 years of coaching with Corinne Landphere Consulting, Corinne has become a ‘go to’ resource for guiding individuals and teams through a wide variety of challenges and growth, including team building, conflict resolution, leadership transitions, rapid growth/downsizing, and executive development.

Corinne’s vision for empathy-based leadership drew her to Fogarty Innovation, where she could work with like-minded individuals dedicated to building something bigger and better every day. She was particularly drawn to our commitment to developing the next generation of life sciences industry executives and our unwavering promise to always put patients first. In addition to her performance-based coaching, Corinne also leads our wellness efforts including introducing the ongoing Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program, curating best-in-class wellness resources, and encouraging team creativity as a stress-releasing outlet by initiating the Creative Spotlight series for amateur talent. 

Prior to consulting, Corinne excelled in a variety of high-profile sales and marketing positions at Genentech, Guidant and Perclose (Abbott), after beginning her professional career as an E.R. nurse at Methodist Hospital’s Trauma I Center in Indianapolis. This diverse background has provided her with a 360-degree view of the industry, having first worked closely with patients, physicians and healthcare practitioners, and now working with industry professionals.

Born to Polish immigrant parents and a proud Hoosier, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Indiana University, along with a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Notre Dame de Namur University. She serves as a mentor and guest lecturer at both schools and others, including Stanford University.

Corinne is a big believer in incorporating compassion and mindfulness into life and business, something that she lives every day. As an entrepreneur, mentor, artist, philanthropist and mother of two, Corinne leads a full and varied life and prioritizes volunteer work with nonprofit organizations. She is an avid runner, a former volunteer coach for Girls on The Run and a strong advocate for diversity. A talented painter who was part of Papyrus’ Artists in Residence program, she donates all proceeds from her sales towards the causes she supports.

Jesus Magana

R&D Engineer in Residence

As recounted by Birgit Johnston

Jesus’ humble beginnings led to a life-long passion for tinkering. He grew up in a family of six kids in rural Mexico, where they lacked even the most basic of amenities, like electricity and running water. But that didn’t dim his spirit, and early on, he began repurposing things in creative ways. When he was just five years old, he remodeled the rim of a bicycle wheel without spokes that he had found, using a few wood sticks to fashion an easier way to carry the wood needed for the kitchen fire, rather than carrying it on his shoulders.

He took the perspective of viewing everything as an adventure, whether fashioning their own shelter or planting corn to make nixtamal and tamales from scratch. 

At age 18 he borrowed money to move to the U.S. and found full-time employment in a produce store, followed by a stint in construction in Redwood City. He started his career in medtech at Heartport, a company that helped pioneer minimally invasive cardiac surgery, after learning about them through family friends. He started as an assembler doing final inspections and, despite little knowledge in the field, was quickly promoted to R&D technician by management who recognized his interest and impressive work ethic.

Jesus’ second industry job was at Ventrica, which develops surgical devices for heart bypass, followed by several other device companies, thanks in large part to mentors, such as Adam Sharkawy, who helped guide him and find opportunities. He later joined Abbott’s cardiovascular division as senior R&D/mechanical technician.

Constantly in search of his next challenge, he learned of nVision, a Fogarty company that offers a platform for potentially earlier detection of ovarian cancer and in 2014 became its second employee, an engineering specialist.

He stayed with the company and transferred to Boston Scientific when the company acquired the startup in 2018. While there, he had the opportunity to continue developing the product in Costa Rica. Thanks to his hard work and creativity, Jesus has acquired 20 patents to date.

Having been part of Fogarty Innovation as a Company-in-Residence (CIR), Jesus was intrigued by the concept of helping a group of startups evolve so they could grow and benefit patients. He initially did some consulting for a few of the CIRs and is now leverages his expertise in working with early-stage companies and building prototypes.

In his spare time, you’ll find Jesus playing soccer and volleyball or enjoying much-earned downtime with his kids, wife and family. An avid barbequer, his is especially known for his awesome ribs.

Peggy  McLaughlin

Strategic Clinical and Regulatory Advisor

As recounted by Birgit Johnston

Peggy loved STEM before STEM was a thing. By third grade she already knew she wanted to focus on science and went to UCLA as a biology major with the intention of attending medical school after graduation. But anxious to “get to work” and cognizant of the many years that medical school would require, she decided to jump into the industry, making her mark in a host of ways that didn’t involve a medical degree.

That was 30 years ago and along the way she has amassed an impressive list of experiences and successes. Her first job out of college was in sales with a startup in the medtech space doing chemosensitivity testing for cancer patients, where she had first-hand access to clinicians and cutting-edge science. She soon joined Target Therapeutics, a joint venture between Advanced Cardiovascular Systems and Eli Lilly, where she handled projects ranging from pre-clinical trials to the lab and eventually hired the company’s first salespeople, customer service and marketing team and selected and managed its international distributors.

She spent over 10 years there as both an employee and later a consultant and helped to guide the evolution of the business from a focus on oncology to becoming a leader in the nascent interventional neuroradiology field.

After the birth of her second child, Peggy began a consulting career, which allowed her flexibility while her children were young. When she felt like her third child was settled in elementary school, she took a full-time role with Abbott Vascular Devices, where she led its drug-eluting stent project.

One of her former colleagues asked her to join a startup housed within The Foundry, which was the perfect match for her skillsets and interests. She later joined the Kleiner Perkins-backed start-up, Autonomic Technologies, which was developing a neuromodulation technology for the treatment of migraines. While neither of these companies reached commercial success, the experiences and lessons learned added to Peggy’s acumen.

Today she is delighted to bring that expertise to Fogarty Innovation where she is a strategic clinical and regulatory advisor, indulging her passion for early-stage companies.

With particularly deep experience in First In Human clinical studies and de novo petition submissions for novel medical products her skills are uniquely suited to support both clinical and regulatory needs at Fogarty.

In her spare time, Peggy likes to garden, hike or run, do yoga and spend time with her family and new puppy. She also enjoys indulging her passion for books and reading while helping the local community by serving on the board of her local library foundation. And she continues to mentor and teach at the Stanford Biodesign program, which she has done for over 11 years. Peggy is also an avid traveler, which she found to be a fantastic byproduct of working on clinical trials.

John Morriss

Director of Invention Acceleration

As recounted by Zach Edmonds, MD

A seasoned R&D professional, John has 18 years of experience in the medical devices industry, with a focus on supporting early-stage companies through the entire process, from device inception and iteration to technological and clinical validation and finally, physician training.

John’s passion for the medical field developed organically. Growing up, family dinner conversations were often about medicine, given that both his parents are physicians. He saw how they valued hard work, attention to detail and putting the patient first, and aims to live by those same values. He firmly believes that poor health is an overwhelming stressor and is passionate about medtech innovation because of its potential to reduce suffering. Working on challenging, complex problems motivates and inspires John to get up each day and come to work with enthusiasm and passion.

As an endurance athlete, John has learned the importance of focus, persistence, and tenacity. He finds running and cycling great distances to be meditative and restorative. These activities continue to deepen John’s ability to keenly observe himself and the world around him. He brings this attitude of commitment, consistency, resilience, and full attention / presence to his work and passions outside the lab / office.

Most recently, John served as partner of the Foundry for six years, where he also co-founded Twelve and led the development of its transcatheter replacement mitral valve. Prior to that, he gained his vast experience working in a variety of R&D engineering positions within several startups, including Acclarent, now a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. He is named on over 80 patents.

John finds Fogarty Innovation to be a rare combination of extremely bright people, a diverse set of projects, the energy of a startup environment and a collective sense that together they can advance the ecosystem. Through the Invention Accelerator Program (IAP), he has had the privilege of working with physicians who are developing their own novel solutions for unmet clinical needs.

His background is rooted in broad experiences and his R&D training has influenced how he approaches building anything new. He tackles each product with an open and fresh approach. In his own words, “In part, it’s the set of activities: rapid iterations of defining the problem, developing a strategy for addressing it, implementing the prototype, testing it, and analyzing the results. In part, it’s the mindset—ideally a combination of optimism, criticism, and flexibility. And in part, it’s the motivation that the outcome will improve the quality of life for many others.”

John holds a BA from Duke University, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. As an avid outdoorsman, nothing prepares him better for a busy morning or smoothens a rough day than a long run, bike ride, swim, or hike.

Marga Ortigas-Wedekind

Chief Commercial Strategy Officer

As recounted by Mike Regan

When Marga boarded the plane at age seventeen to travel from her home in Manila to start her undergraduate studies at Williams College and eventually, Wellesley, little did she know that it would be just the starting point of what has turned out to be a continuous wonderful adventure. She says the benefit of starting so young was that “I didn’t know, what I didn’t know,” and so she felt compelled to “just figure it out.” This thinking has formed the foundation for Marga’s approach to life and her comfort with chaos, uncertainty, and change!

Upon graduating, Marga returned to the Philippines and entered the traditionally male-dominated field of agri-business which took her on travels to farms in the deepest reaches of the islands and exposed her to lifestyles and politics very different from her prior experience. This, plus the social unrest in the country at that time, led Marga to realize that she wanted to get involved in just causes to help better people’s situations.

Marga’s next stop was at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where she focused on International Business and Marketing and honed the strategic mind for which she is known. While at Stanford, Marga experienced an epiphany while enrolled in an Ethics class. As an assignment, she interviewed Ron Dollens, the CEO of Advanced Cardiovascular Systems (later Guidant Corporation), and was completely engrossed with how he characterized the responsibility he and his team faced when making decisions for a business in which they held patients’ lives in their hands. From this discussion, she saw that there is always a patient, a family, and a provider who benefit from a well-developed solution and appreciated the earnestness required to realize this opportunity. She eventually joined ACS/Guidant Vascular Intervention as Director of International Marketing and never looked back.

The theme of helping patients get a shot at a better life has reverberated throughout her career. Most recently she served as EVP of marketing and payor relations at iRhythm Technologies, a digital healthcare provider of cardiac monitoring services that she helped take from startup to successful IPO. One of the defining moments of her career was seeing the team’s image light up on Times Square when the company went public, knowing they had brought an important technology to market.

Prior to iRhythm, she was the EVP of global marketing and product development at Omnicell, Inc. a creator of pharmacy automation technology and analytics, and SVP of marketing, development and clinical affairs at Xoft, Inc. (acquired by ICAD), a startup that pioneered disruptive technology for cancer radiation therapy. She began her startup experience as VP sales and marketing for ProDuct Health (now part of Hologic) which developed an early breast cancer risk stratification and detection device.

With over 30 years of leadership experience, Marga has enjoyed many successes with companies at various stages of development. Ironically, it is the failures she has experienced that have reinforced some of her most essential learning. A few of her valuable lessons include: “You’ve got to anticipate the unexpected,” “Seek advice all along the way”, “You need to bring people along with you to achieve a goal,” “A dysfunctional team can drive a company into the ground”, and finally her favorite, “None of us is smart as all of us.”

At this point in her career, Marga believes you can’t surpass the meaningful satisfaction and honor of bringing life-altering solutions to patients and their families, which she defines as leaving the world a little bit better as you pass through. With this belief, Marga is a perfect fit for the mission undertaken daily at Fogarty Innovation!

When Marga is not busy at Fogarty, she is an energetic sports fanatic supporting local teams, The Warriors, The Earthquakes, and the 49ers. She spends active time with her husband in the mountains of Lake Tahoe, dabbles as an early stage investor, but most importantly, is a proud Mom to two adult children who are starting their own adventures!

Julie Regan

Operations and Quality Associate

As recounted by Mariela Baughman

As a business associate at Fogarty Innovation, Julie spends her time working on projects related to people, safety, and operations.  She is particularly focused on creating a safe and efficient lab area for the engineers at Chronus, one of Fogarty’s current companies in residence. “Chronus works with blood, so their lab space has to meet higher safety standards,” she explains. Julie purchases chemicals and consumables for the team, creates safety binders and training presentations, and provides personal trainings.

While she loves the intense operations focus, she notes that the variety of work she encounters on a daily basis that keeps her engaged. “Working here has taught me to switch gears in a second,” she says. “One minute I am working in the lab learning about a new chemical, and the next minute I have a completely different project. I am learning how a facility operates, the legalities of owning a business, and how medical device companies operate,” she says.

A Bay Area native, Julie went to school at St. Johns in Queens, New York, where she earned a degree in marketing and discovered that she likes the East Coast, cold weather and all. After graduating she completed an internship in the employer division at Stanford University to learn more about the field of human resources. Still uncertain about a career path, she stepped into a role in lab operations at Fogarty Innovation and discovered a passion for designing and implementing procedures that help companies operate safely and efficiently. “Creating streamlined processes for startups makes me feel like I helped them keep their minds on the bigger picture for their companies – solving important medical problems,” she said. “I want to see these companies succeed and really enjoy doing whatever I can to help.”

Going forward, Julie hopes to be able to take on more responsibilities in the lab area for the companies incubating at Fogarty. Her goal is to eventually move into a facilities manager role. She’s also interested in continuing her East Coast adventures and is considering an eventual move to North Carolina. A club swimmer for ten years, she has also worked as a swim instructor and is particularly fond of teaching children. She also likes to spend time listening to live music, walking her dog, hiking, and going to the beach.

Craig Straley

Clinical and Regulatory Director

As recounted by Gayle Kuokka

Craig sums up his love for the medtech industry:”at the end of the day, your work ends up helping patients with life-improving or life-saving therapies, that is easy to get passionate about.”

With more than 25 years of experience conducting clinical research, Craig has forged strong relationships with co-workers, health-care providers, patients, and regulators. It has been a rewarding way to combine his engineering education—he holds a BSE and ME in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University—with his strong interest in medicine to help drive medical device innovation.

Craig has worked at both large companies and early-stage startups, most recently at Medtronic, following its acquisition of Twelve, Inc. As vice president of clinical affairs at Twelve, Craig developed and executed the early clinical studies for the Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement program. Earlier, as VP of clinical affairs at Ardian, Craig led the early stage clinical studies for a first-of-its-kind therapy of renal denervation, culminating in Ardian’s acquisition by Medtronic.

One of Craig’s proudest professional achievements is Ardian’s groundbreaking European randomized study of renal denervation to treat hypertension. He is delighted not only with beating enrollment projections and the trial’s ultimate success, but also with the team he worked with, including the physicians, research nurses, as well as the patients who courageously agreed to participate.

At Fogarty Innovation, Craig continues to embrace Dr. Fogarty’s philosophy of a “patient-first” focus, emphasizing to the companies-in-residence that developing robust clinical evidence will drive the ability to benefit the most patients.

Craig feels fortunate to work with a stellar group of experts, who also happen to be good friends. The opportunity to impact the next generation of medtech entrepreneurs across a fascinating variety of devices and technologies is more than exciting to him.

While he loves traveling with his family, he’s also always ready for a round of golf locally. Craig has a unique talent for practical jokes – just ask him to share a story or two when you meet him.

Denise Zarins

Chief Operations Officer

As recounted by Corinne Landphere

Always committed to seeking innovative solutions and creating meaningful and effective programs, makes Denise an invaluable team player on the Fogarty Innovation team. Her 25 years of experience in the medical device industry include devising and developing products in multiple spaces, including cardiovascular, obesity, pulmonary and women’s health. She is proud of the 100-plus patents in her portfolio accumulated in these many clinical disciplines.

While she had always known she wanted to be involved in medicine, she also knew she didn’t want to become a doctor. Thanks to her mom who gave her a flier on a biomedical engineering open house at Marquette University, she found an immediate fit that dovetailed with her love of math and science. Medtech has proven to be a satisfying career path where she can help countless patients rather than just one at a time.

Denise began her career as a research and development engineer and manager at AneuRx, a startup that was founded by Dr. Fogarty and later acquired by Medtronic; then she subsequently joined another Fogarty-backed startup, Bacchus Vascular, which was later acquired by Covidien. With roots in engineering, Denise found her stride in project management and intellectual property development.

One of the most rewarding aspects of her career has been involvement with startups whose products have gone to market and are still being used to help patients today. That was the case with her time at The Foundry, where she co-founded Ardian, Inc., the pioneer of renal denervation for hypertension, heart failure and other associated disorders, which was acquired by Medtronic in 2011.

Denise then co-founded Ziva Medical (now Ablacare), an early-stage medical device company treating infertility caused by polycystic ovary syndrome. While launching this company, she also consulted in project management, due diligence, and intellectual property development.

Her work at Fogarty Innovation allows her to be involved in multiple projects simultaneously, while also helping young entrepreneurs avoid missteps as they launch their companies. She finds it a place she can live her values every day, as integrity and the concept of “team before self” drive everything she does. Denise has received several awards and is a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University.

Raised in a small town in suburban Milwaukee, Denise grew up watching NFL football, a favorite pastime to this day as she regularly cheers on the Packers and the Patriots. She is a lover of all animals and in some circles is known as “The Zookeeper,” referencing her eclectic home menagerie of pets. Equally important to Denise is her passion for music, especially sappy love songs. You can often find her in the first few rows of the local live concert venue, cold beer in hand, one of her favorite ways to relax before diving into her next project.