Leadership Committee

Patrick Brennan is Vice President of AdvaMed Accel, the small company division of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, where, since 2016, he has been responsible for representing the interests of small medical technology manufacturers through policy development, advocacy, networking opportunities and educational programs. Previously, Patrick was Director of Business Development for The MedTech Conference, AdvaMed’s annual industry conference, where he created events and programs that connected innovators, investors, and senior business development executives in the global medical technology industry.

Prior to joining AdvaMed, Patrick served as Vice Consul for UK Trade & Investment at the British Embassy in Washington.  Patrick started his career at the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration on cross-border training and market access programs in Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Patrick holds an MBA from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He resides with his family in Arlington, Virginia.

Andrew Cleeland is the CEO of Fogarty Innovation. A seasoned executive with more than 30 years of experience in the medical device industry. Andrew has held key leadership positions in organizations ranging from early-stage start-ups to large multinationals.

After completing his undergraduate degree in biophysics at the Swinburne Institute of Technology, Andrew began his career working for the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration. He went on to positions at two large medtech companies, Telectronics Pacing Systems and Baxter Healthcare, before moving into the Silicon Valley start-up space as vice president of clinical and regulatory affairs at Radiant Medical. His next role was as the CEO of Ardian, which pioneered the use of renal denervation to treat hypertension. Ardian was acquired by Medtronic with Andrew leading the new division as a Vice President/General Manager. He then went on to a role as CEO at Twelve, a startup in the transcatheter mitral valve space. It was also acquired by Medtronic with Andrew leading Medtronic’s transcatheter mitral valve program until he joined Fogarty Innovation.

Andrew currently serves on the board of four venture-funded companies — Zenflow, Inc. (chairman), MMI Inc. (chairman), atHeart Medical, and Francis Medical (chairman). He also holds advisory positions at three top-tier venture capital firms: Longitude Capital, Arboretum Ventures, and ClavystBio. 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).

Andrew has received numerous awards and honors and is a frequently invited lecturer at major industry conferences and leading academic institutions.

Michael Flynn serves as the Senior Director of Economic Development for Destination Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, where he leads a comprehensive business development program that strengthens the regional innovation ecosystem and increases investment in the Discovery Square Innovation District. He created the strategy, structure, and operational systems that guide DMC’s business recruitment and industry engagement eDorts, building alignment among public, private, and institutional partners to advance inclusive economic growth. Michael led the recruitment of BioLabs, a premier shared  laboratory operator that now anchors the district’s life science infrastructure, and continues to steward partnerships across corporate, venture, and institutional stakeholders to expand
Rochester’s innovation capacity.

Before joining DMC, Michael served as Chief Operating Officer of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, where he directed statewide business attraction initiatives, managed a multimillion-dollar budget, and oversaw a 12-person team responsible for major corporate expansions.

Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Utah and an MBA from Westminster College, and he is an alumnus of Harvard Business School’s Young  American Leaders Program.

Kate is a Managing Partner at Sonder Capital and Associate Director of the Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellowship.

Prior to Sonder Capital, she was CEO of Ciel Medical, which she co-founded out of the Biodesign Innovation Fellowship. Ciel was acquired by Vyaire Medical in 2017, and Kate transitioned to Vice President of Airway Technologies at Vyaire. Previously, she was a strategic marketing consultant at Acclarent and an R&D engineer at Pathway Medical.

Kate has co-authored over a dozen patents and has received multiple honorary fellowships, including being one of the first recipients of the Ferolyn Fellowship. She is board director at BRIUS Technologies, Spirair, SquareMind, Neptune Medical and a member of the Caltech Seed Fund Investment Advisory Committee.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Olin College of Engineering and is a graduate of the Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellowship.

Adil H. Haider, M.D., MPH, FACS, is a globally recognized trauma and acute care surgeon, public health leader, and medical innovator. He is a Professor of Surgery and Community Health Sciences and is the former Dean of The Aga Khan University Medical College. An alumnus of AKU, he earned his Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He completed his General Surgery residency at New York Medical College/Westchester Medical Center, followed by fellowships in Surgical Critical Care and Trauma & Acute Care Surgery at Johns Hopkins.

Shortly after his training, Dr. Haider joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins Medicine, where he and his team identified inequities in traumatic injury outcomes and helped pioneer the discipline of surgical disparities research. By 2010, he was appointed Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Surgery Trials and Outcomes Research, where he developed novel methodologies in surgical outcomes evaluation. In 2014, he became the Kessler Director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health, a collaborative initiative between Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Haider has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and led extramurally funded research grants totaling over USD 20 million. He has served as a visiting professor at numerous institutions, held leadership roles, including President of the Association for Academic Surgery, and serves as Deputy Editor of JAMA Surgery.

He is also the founder of BostonHealth.AI, an organization dedicated to leveraging artificial intelligence to empower healthcare providers and improve patient outcomes through the development of HAMI, an AI-powered physician assistant. In recognition of his contributions, Dr. Haider has received major awards such as the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Honorary Fellowship of the College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan, and The Aga Khan University’s 2024 Award of Distinction.

Addie Harris possesses an extensive background in entrepreneurship within the fields of medtech, medical devices, and robotics.

Her current and former roles include Partner at Precision Life Science Partners; Executive in Residence and Venture Partner at 1955 Capital; Board Director and Advisor to various start-up companies across the United States and Europe; Chief Executive Officer of Haventure SAS, a France based, surgical technology incubator; R&D Leader at Johnson & Johnson, where she established and launched of the VELYS suite of software surgical devices including the VELYS Robotic Surgical Solution; and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cardan Robotics, which was acquired by Stryker in 2019.

She holds a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University, as well as a Master of Science in Computer Science from Lincoln University in New Zealand, where she was distinguished as a Fulbright Fellow.

Peder Hatling is the Senior Advisor to Medical Alley Starts, where he helps accelerate the growth of early to mid-stage healthcare companies around the world. In this role, he collaborates with a global network of investors, corporate partners, and entrepreneurs to reduce barriers to market entry, fuel innovation, and support the next generation of healthcare leaders.

A seasoned healthcare investment banking advisor, Peder has built his career across finance, healthcare strategy, and innovation. As Managing Partner of True North Group LLC, a Minneapolis-based healthcare technology investment bank, he advises companies redefining healthcare through M&A, capital strategies, and strategic partnerships. He previously led digital health investment banking at a boutique firm in Austin, TX supporting growth-stage companies and multi-national strategics in scaling breakthrough technologies.

His expertise lies in advising CEOs, boards, and founders as they navigate complex ecosystems and unlock new market opportunities. Peder is an active industry board member, an angel investor, and is deeply committed to advancing innovation that improves health outcomes worldwide.

Monica Jain, MD is a Venture Partner at Wavemaker Three-Sixty Health – an early stage healthcare venture fund, the COO at Boston Health AI – building the world’s first AI clinical intelligence companion, CSO at REGENDO – developing a novel autologous stem cell-derived thyroid organoid alongside an automated biomanufacturing platform, and CEO of Dissect Health – a healthcare strategy consulting firm.

A board-certified former general and endocrine surgeon, Dr. Jain previously served as an Assistant Professor of Surgery and the Surgical Innovation Officer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Additionally, with a background in biomedical engineering and human factors and over a decade of experience across clinical, academic, and entrepreneurial settings, she brings a uniquely integrated perspective to healthcare innovation.

Dr. Jain is passionate about bridging the gap between cutting edge healthcare technologies and their real-world adoption.

Pablo Morales, M.D., leads the clinical and medical vision for Veranex’s Innovation CRO (iCRO) business, helping clients navigate the development of innovative medical technologies through patient-centered, scientifically rigorous, and regulatory-compliant strategies.

He brings more than 15 years of clinical, regulatory, and scientific leadership experience spanning medical device development, clinical research, real-world evidence, and regulatory affairs.

Prior to joining Veranex, Dr. Morales served in senior leadership roles at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including Chief Medical Officer in the Office of Clinical Evidence and Analysis and Senior Medical Advisor in the Office of Clinical Policy. During his tenure, he provided clinical and regulatory oversight for more than 1,000 medical device submissions and played a key role in advancing several FDA initiatives, including the Early Feasibility Studies (EFS) Program, the implementation of Real-World Evidence (RWE) initiatives, and the Benefit-Risk Framework, helping balance patient safety with timely access to innovative technologies.

A trained vascular and endovascular surgeon, Dr. Morales earned his medical degree from Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Colombia. He completed advanced clinical training at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London and a research fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic.

Throughout his career, Dr. Morales has remained committed to advancing innovation that improves patient outcomes while upholding the highest standards of scientific, ethical, and regulatory excellence.

Joe Mullings has been building companies and careers since 1989. He is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Mullings Group, including TMG Search and Dragonfly. The search firm, with over three decades in the industry, is responsible for more than 9,000 successful searches in medtech / healthtech / life sciences with clients ranging from multi-billion-dollar companies to emerging high-tech organizations worldwide. TMG’s international presence and work with over 900 companies allow them to provide solutions to the clients they partner with across the globe.

As the first search firm to integrate media and talent access, Dragonfly was launched as a media production company, complete with a state-of-the-art studio, for use by clients and partners for attention and awareness. Dragonfly is the media machine behind the 9-time Award winning video docuseries, “TrueFuture,” of which Joe is the host. He is also the founder of TMGPulse, a MedTech news and opinion website.

Joe is an active member of the medtech and investor community. He sits on industry boards and serves as an adviser to many emerging tech startups and technology accelerators as well as being an angel investor. He holds an engineering degree from The University of Dayton, Ohio.

Kathryn Zavala, Ph.D., is Chief Operating Officer of MedTech Innovator, the largest accelerator of medical technology in the world. The global nonprofit seeks to improve human health by accelerating the growth of startups and scaleups poised to transform healthcare. To date, MedTech Innovator has supported 838 alumni that have gone on to raise $11 billion in follow-on equity funding, brought over 500 products to market, and achieved 60 exits. Kathryn also serves as Managing Director of BioTools Innovator, a new program powered by MedTech Innovator to support life science tools and diagnostics.

Previously, Kathryn held positions at the UCLA Technology Development Group, where she assisted with the commercialization of university technologies, and at Campbell Alliance (now Syneos Health), where she developed launch strategies for biopharma clients. Kathryn received a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology and Rhetoric from UC Berkeley and a PhD in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from UCLA.