2024 Speakers

Ahmed Hussein MD PhD, is a Neurosurgery Consultant with 20 years of experience in the field, The Clinical Instructor of the Microsurgery Center of Eastern Finland and a Research Director for surgical Innovation in the University of Eastern Finland. He gained global experience in the neurosurgical practice by training in 4 different continents (USA, Europe, Asia and Africa). The diversity in his educational background motivated
him to dedicate part of his time to contribute in the establishment and managing the Microsurgical Center of Eastern Finland, a surgical training center with passion in developing medicine and support medical industry.

Ahmed’s main goal was to involve the state-of-art updated medical technology to provide best solutions in health care education and services. He worked as surgical advisor for many innovative projects and startups over the past decade as well as participating and collaborating in funding application for different medical Innovation projects. As a personal interest, Dr.Hussein is managing international projects for medical technology development and educational exchange. He believes that improving health care services is based on improving the educational tools for health care personnel. Hussein has completed his medical degree at Assiut University/Egypt Neurosurgical Residency fellowships in Hospital Kuala Lumpur/Malysia, Allegheny General Hospital/Pittsburgh/PA/USA, Kuopio University Hospital/Kuopio/Finland.

Lately, his research focus was about image processing in surgical application and objective
evaluation of surgical skills. Through managing the Microsurgical center of Eastern Finland, Ahmed has been able to offer the facilities and collaboration and sustain the growth of numerous regional startups with patented medical technologies like Seetrue Technologies, VR4Health, Marginum, Surgify and Surgerix.

Born in June 1958 in Pamiers, France, Alain Barbal is a Swiss resident since 1986. He is now an accomplished and happy CEO, Project manager, and Board member with extensive expertise in innovation and high-tech industries. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, then earned a Master’s in Innovation Management from ESST, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, followed by a Master’s in Strategic Management from EM-Lyon.

His career spans both private and public sectors, where he honed his management skills in production and innovation. He contributed to quality and productivity improvements, as well as the development of breakthrough products, particularly in Medical Devices, Microelectronics & Photovoltaics, and Precision Mechanics. In the public sector, he cultivated long-term thinking, perseverance, diplomacy, analytical skills in complex situations with conflicting objectives, and open-mindedness, qualities essential for fostering economic development and international cooperation.

His experience encompasses both operational and strategic roles in production, R&D, quality assurance, plant management, and public/private international cooperation across multinationals, large companies, SMEs, and startups.

His professional journey has taken him to multiple countries, including France, Switzerland, the UK, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, Argentina, Brazil, and Russia, enriching his understanding of global markets and enhancing cross-cultural collaboration.

His leadership values are inspired by Victor Hugo’s quote: “Faites les gens heureux, vous les rendrez meilleurs.” Throughout his career, he did observed that when employees feel valued and happy, they not only grow but they better to the success of their projects and teams.

Leveraging his professional experience, he now supports individuals, businesses, and organizations – both public and private – in projects focused on building a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable society.

Albert-Jan de Croes is the Investment Specialist of Novel-T, the KTO of the University of Twente. Here, he advises spin-off and startup companies on their fundraising strategies. In addition to this role, Albert-Jan manages LP positions in various DeepTech VC funds for the university holding.

With a Master’s degree in Finance from the Rotterdam School of Management, Albert-Jan transitioned from corporate finance consultancy to the university spin-off landscape. Over the past years, he has focused on early-stage investments, particularly within the hardware MedTech domain. His expertise includes guiding spin-offs specializing in robotics and Organ-on-Chip technologies, steering them towards successful fundraising and development.

Arezki Yaïche is since 2014 a financial journalist specialised in M&A and EU competition law. As a Senior France Correspondent and Paris Bureau Chief for the global M&A newswire Mergermarket (owned by ION Group), he writes on all types of transactions from competition issues, early stage fundraises, and private deals to takeovers of listed companies and IPOs.

Arezki was previously Senior Correspondent Antitrust for regulatory newswire MLex in Brussels between 2019 and 2021. Before that he worked four years as M&A reporter and Paris Bureau Chief for Mergermarket. Arezki also has a six-year experience as Communication consultant specialised in Finance and EU regulation. He worked for financial and public institutions including Dexia Asset Management in Brussels, Credit Agricole Assurances in France, the French embassy in Stockholm, the European Parliament, and the French Ministry for Agriculture

Bodil Christine Reumert has a professional background in Management of Innovation, and 15+ years of profound work experience within innovation, technology and business. From Consultant to Co-founder, and from Associate Professor to Managing Director – today Bodil is paving the way to succesful innovation within the Danish Healthcare System as Programme Director and Head of Strategic Innovation at the leading Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark.

Carole Absil is a consultant, coach and trainer for HealthTech companies. She worked for 15 years at Agoria, the Belgian technology industry association, helping companies with their advocacy and international business development. In 2020, when the pandemic started, she played a major role in the vaccination strategy and campaign in Wallonia (Belgium) as deputy to the COVID-19 General Commissioner. In 2022, she started her own company providing tailored strategy services in advocacy, scaling and international business development to HealthTech companies.

Cécile is Axon Lawyers’ data protection and privacy expert. As a senior attorney-at-law and CIPP/E-certified privacy-specialist with a background in both healthcare law and civil law, she supports clients with highly strategic advice about a wide range of subjects such as clinical research and investigations, collaborations, data protection and medical devices. Cécile has an interest in the interaction of data protection legislation and product regulation (including but not limited to MDR, IVDR and the AI Act) as well as in the impact of the aforementioned legislation on clinical research and product development in the broadest sense.

Bio-engineer with 20+ years of experience in clinical research, regulatory and quality for medical devices and IVDs.

Focused on pragmatism and result-driven solutions for clients and special interest in business and company development.

Co-founder of TRIUM Clinical Consulting, Medtech CRO

Strategic Business Partner at XPER Research, CRO

Co-founder of Lorentis, medical writing exclusively for medical devices and IVDs

Clément Morel leads Axomove, a digital health platform revolutionizing prevention and rehabilitation. With 15+ years of experience in project management and consulting, he has supported the transformation of companies in various sectors such as retail, e-commerce, and tourism. A graduate of SKEMA and the University of Hamburg, he puts his expertise to work for more connected and accessible healthcare.

Coralie DORARD holds her PhD from Curie Institute in Paris, France, and has more than ten years of experience in cancer research. After breakthrough publications in Nature journals on melanoma and colorectal cancer, she is now the Head of Research at Actipulse Neuroscience and lead research projects on the blood-brain barrier to cure glioblastoma and neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr DJ Hamblin-Brown qualified as a doctor in the UK in 1996 and continues to work as an Emergency Doctor in the UK National Health Service. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (FRCEM). He is the CEO of CAREFUL, a clinical coordination app, and has extensive experience as a healthcare leader. He served as the Vice President of Medical Affairs at United Family Healthcare in Beijing and was previously Group Medical Director for Aspen Healthcare in the UK. DJ has worked in teaching and advisory roles, promoting compassionate yet rigorous healthcare leadership, and is committed to improving healthcare systems globally.

Elizabeth has worked at the intersection of international investment and commercialization within healthcare for the last 15 years, spanning 28 countries and all classes of complexity, building a reputation for strategic risk management for both investors and companies.
She is on the Board of Directors of a business angel network, SWAN Impact, where she focuses on impact-driven healthcare startup investments. Leveraging experience as a senior executive at startups through large public companies while living in Europe and South America, she is a Managing Partner at Venture Atlas Labs, a commercialization firm that supports global companies in US market success alongside investors, government agencies, and innovation centres.
She has worked in global innovation at the leading university in Texas, and she serves as a US federal grant reviewer for medical devices, an advisor to numerous accelerators, and is a frequent keynote speaker.

Filip brings close to 30 years of experience in growth investments, strategic pivots, and international business scaling.  He held leadership positions with Accenture, Boston Consulting Group, Siemens, and Barco before becoming an Invesment Partner at Capricorn Partners focusing on Health.

As a venture capital investor, Filip seeks out companies with a particular good fit within their eco-system, and able to show compelling economic benefits to all involved stakeholders.  He has a particular interest in surgery, diagnostics and various uses of AI.

Filip is currently also board member at iSTAR, the Chairman for the AI strategic initiative by the Flemish government, and is a member of imec’s industry advisory board covering Health.

Francesco Infarinato is a bioengineer with a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology (2011). He served as an adjunct professor in Biomedical Data and Signal Processing at Sapienza University of Rome until 2020. Currently, he leads the Rehabilitation Bioengineering Laboratory of IRCCS San Raffaele in Rome and coordinates the Clinical Engineering Unit for the San Raffaele Group. His work mainly focuses on advanced biomedical data and signal analysis in translational rehabilitation research, device design, and biomedical device management. He has served as Project Manager and Principal Investigator on numerous international and national projects on digital therapeutics, telemonitoring and telerehabilitation.

Frank has been active a VC investor for 25 years across the full ecosystem of health tech and life sciences.

His key reason for joining imec.xpand was the focus on ground breaking nanotechnologies through a strategic line-up with the imec research institute. The disruptive nature of the achievements in this field is now allowing breakthroughs in product and platform development with medical impact which was non-existing 10 years ago.

Making impact in the medical field through emerging tech is his ambition. An unique approach to allow for earlier diagnosis and more efficient disease treatment paradigms are prerequisites for a sustainable health care system.

Frank is an industrial engineer in chemistry/biochemistry and obtained a Master Degree as well as a PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Dr. Garnette Sutherland, neurosurgeon, scientist and technology innovator, continues his efforts towards improving health outcome for Canadians and beyond. Upon receiving neurosurgical training under the tutelage of legendary Charles Drake, at the (then) University of Western Ontario, his first appointment was at the University of Manitoba. There, he went on to establish an experimental laboratory, one of the first of its kind, for the study of neurological disease using MR imaging and spectroscopy.
In 1993, Sutherland was relocated as Head of Division of Neurosurgery at the University of Calgary. In collaboration with NRC-Canada, he developed the world’s first intraoperative MRI system based on a moveable 1.5T magnet. Commercialized by a Canadian spin-off IMRIS Inc. (now IMRIS-Deerfield, MN, USA), and with >100 international sites, over >80,000 worldwide continue to benefit. Of interest, he pioneered the first province-wide stroke care platform titled the Alberta Stroke Program, the foundation of the present internationally visible Calgary Stroke Program, delivering world class care to patients within and beyond Alberta.
Working with MDA, Brampton ON, to advance precision surgery, Dr. Sutherland developed neuroArm, another world’s first image-guided MR-compatible robot for brain surgery. Recognized by governing bodies and various awards, the neuroArm continues to inspire generations, advance health care innovations, elevating Canada’s space-age innovations at global scale. His commitment to improving patient outcome through technology innovation, Dr. Sutherland is the principal Lead of Project neuroArm Medical Robotics Program at the University of Calgary, now focused in advanced sensors, Ai, and digital transformation/connectivity for standardized health care.

Recipient of multiple awards and recognitions, including Manning Award of Distinction (2004), the Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Foundation (2007), City of Calgary Signature Award (2008), AAS & NASA Award (2012), CIHR-CMAJ Top Achievements in Health Research Award (2013), NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal (2015) and Governor General Innovation Award (2019), and The Alberta Innovates Digital Health System Innovation Champion Award (2024), to name a few. In 2014, Dr. Sutherland, neuroArm and institutional partners were inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame.
He has delivered over 330 national and international lectures and published over 240 manuscripts, 22 patents and 33 book excerpts. He has been able to translate his ideas into multiple Canadian spin-offs (IMRIS Inc. (presently IMRIS-Deerfield, MN, USA); neuroArm Surgical Ltd., and presently OrbSurgical Ltd.).
On June 7, 2023, Dr. Sutherland was the recipient of the Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry – Western University.
In 2011, Dr. Sutherland was appointed to the Order of Canada for his lifetime achievement in healthcare innovation.
In 2024, Dr. Sutherland is one of the 8 inductees of the Alberta Order of Excellence – the highest civilian honour of the Province of Alberta.

Currently, Dr. Smith is the VP, Business Development and Partnerships for the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI).  His mandate is to lead the OBI’s commercialization and partnership efforts to drive the Canadian neurotech cluster and its relationships with external stakeholders.  Previously, Dr. Smith also was a product development and BD consultant for neurotechs and Director, Drug Development for a CNS start-up in the diabetic neuropathy space.  He was responsible for the lead candidate’s development from concept to first-in-human clinical trial.  His work experience also includes working in the tech transfer office of the UHN, Canada’s largest research organization.  His academic career consisted of a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Neurosciences at the U of T, a M. Sc. in Neurophysiology, at the UBC and a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge where he was designated as a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar.  Upon returning to Toronto, he was a post-doc at the Toronto Western Research Institute.

Georges Rawadi holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Paris VI (Pierre et Marie Curie) and completed advanced training in business and management at ESSEC Business School. With over 25 years in the pharma and biotech sectors, Georges has worked across a range of roles, from scientific research and drug discovery to business development, executive leadership, and entrepreneurship, helping biotechnology companies to build cutting-edge pipelines and strategies. Currently, Georges is the CEO of StromaCare and serves as a board member and consultant to various biotech companies. Previously, he was CEO of Celyad Oncology, a company listed on Euronext, and of YSOPIA Bioscience. He also held the role of Chief of Biotech Studio Development at EureKare and served as Vice President of Business Development & Intellectual Property at Celyad and Cellectis. Georges has also excelled in senior business development roles at Galapagos, ProStrakan and has led numerous consulting projects focused on strategic development. Georges’ extensive experience uniquely positions him to drive innovation and strategic growth in the biotech industry.

Gudmundur Ebenezer is a clinical psychologist and the CEO of Lifekeys, a company focused on digital mental health innovation. Based in the Nordics, Lifekeys provides accessible, technology-driven mental health support to companies, SMEs, as well as the maritime and public sectors. Lifekeys delivers advanced software and AI-driven tools designed to foster psychological resilience for individuals and organizations. Gudmundur’s clinical expertise and commitment to innovation drive Lifekeys’ mission to enhance resilience and well-being in the workplace.

Hanaa SAFYA is passionate about turning scientific research into real-world healthcare solutions. With a PhD in Immunology, she began her career in research as a Postdoctoral Fellow at INSERM, where her interest in practical applications of science led her to the world of intellectual property. Working as a Patent Engineer at ICOSA, she gained valuable experience in protecting and managing scientific innovations.

Hanaa then spent four years at the Etablissement Français du Sang, where she focused on technology transfer and business development, helping to move research discoveries closer to patients. Today, at BIOASTER, she brings together R&D & innovation teams, startups, and diagnostics leaders to collaborate on projects that advance diagnostic technologies.

Always eager to keep learning, Hanaa is also pursuing a Master’s degree in Innovation Management at CNAM-Paris, deepening her understanding of how to drive innovation in healthcare.

“Currently, in 2024, I hold the position of Director/CTO for Healthcare & Public Sector throughout EMEA at Microsoft, with a keen focus on leading Generative AI Transformation initiatives. My professional background includes being the former Director for Government & Public Sector in the UK and Ireland at Google Cloud, amounting to over three decades of experience in the field of technology.

As a passionate advocate for technology, especially within the public sector and healthcare, I am committed to leveraging tech for the greater good. I am actively engaged in driving business improvement and outcomes while advocating for environmental protection and pursuing sustainability objectives. Bringing extensive expertise and enthusiasm for Technology, AI, and Business Transformation, I excel in orchestrating transformative changes across various industry sectors. My specializations cover a wide range of areas including AI, Multi-Cloud, Novel Technologies, Strategic Planning, Roadmaps, Architectural Design, and Management. My role involves leading the creation of ambitious, long-term transformation strategies, communicating them to clients, and crafting designs that align with business goals. Collaborating extensively with various stakeholders, I ensure to extract the full value of technological change, balancing the potential against the necessary investment justification. I am deeply involved in promoting diversity in tech, particularly supporting women in the industry. I lead multiple initiatives to foster growth and development within the Women in Tech Network and am proud to be selected as a UN Women UK Delegate for CSW68 in 2024.

A distinguished BCS Fellow and a pioneer member of the Fellows Technical Assurance Group, I have taken the helm for Digital Health & Social Care in the UK. Additionally, I produce a podcast titled “The Healthcare Hacktivist”, which spotlights talent, startups, and innovations in healthtech and medtech. With accreditation in public speaking, I am a renowned presenter, confidently engaging audiences at large-scale international and national events. I am dedicated to guiding businesses in sound technological decision-making by sharing my seasoned insights, championing best practices, and narrowing down the disconnect between customers and providers.”

James Mayer is the Partner of CABHI Ventures and leads investments & venture services at CABH. Under his leadership he has grown CABHI to become the most active agetech investor across North America, completing over 40 deals per year. James is also a mentor at 500 Startups, Techstars, and One-mind and a Venture Partner at Clearco, the world’s largest eCommerce investor that has invested $3+ billion into 7,000+ companies to date.

Following a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology, Dr. Jan F. Engels completed a PhD in chemistry and nanotechnology in Hong Kong, where he stayed the past 10 years. During his PhD studies he co-founded a medical device start-up in the field of ophthalmology and drug delivery with the position as VP technology. Next to R&D, his focus was on technology patents and business development with successful collaborations with listed companies in US, Europe, and Japan. Next to his start-up position, Jan has a part time lecturer position, teaching Entrepreneurship. After returning to Germany, he joined High-Tech Gründerfonds as an Investment Manager Life Science.

Josua is CEO of punktum. Before founding punktum, he worked for seven years as a strategy consultant and led digital transformation projects in complex environments. He gained experience building products for highly regulated markets in Europe and the Middle East across different industries. At punktum, Josua and his team combine the disciplines of engineering, R&D and product to create meaningful solutions.

https://punktum.net/

“As the co-founder and CEO of Lattice Medical, I am working on a disruptive implantable technology for breast reconstruction after cancer. With 15 years of deep-tech expertise, particularly in materials science and medical applications, I lead our team in developing innovative solutions. Lattice Medical is currently developing the world’s first breast implant capable of self-regenerating adipose tissue, without silicone. Using advanced 3D printing, these implants are fully degradable within a year. My background in R&D, textile engineering from ENSAIT, and experience in innovation strategy and funding make me well-equipped to drive our company’s success!”

Kyun Thibaut is the Founder and Managing Director of COVARTIM, an engineering company that helps manufacturers develop and certify their Medical Devices. Located in Belgium (Brussels, Liège) and France (La Rochelle), COVARTIM supports its clients from all around the world at every step of the development of their solutions (R&D, prototyping, manufacturing, V&V, QA, RA, APEX QMS ®).

Kyun has more than 15 years of experience in the MedTech industry. In addition to leading COVARTIM, he regularly teaches at the university and other training programs.

Laia is Investment Manager at Ship2B Ventures, an early stage impact venture capital firm that invests in new technologies aiming at improving the quality of life of patients and the society. She holds a PhD in Tumor Immunology by LMU University and an Executive MBA by IESE Business School, and has first-hand experience as an entrepreneur leading a Biotech company. Laia has also supported several life-science companies to accelerate their growth and define their fundraising strategy as part of EIT Health, a European-wide accelerator.

Lynn Coorevits is a Health Innovation Manager at imec, a world-leading R&D and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. Lynn has over 15 years of experience in the cross domain of (deep)tech, innovation and health. By involving key stakeholders she accelerates and optimizes innovations. In every step of the innovation process she translates  human requirements into technological ones. From patients to buyers to policy makers, every voice counts. With and for them she identifies needs, barriers, potential value and market entry strategies for these novel technologies.

She is passionate about disruptive health tech and  aspires to transform peoples lives by making them a reality.

Lynn holds MSc degrees in Psychology and Marketing Analysis from Ghent University, Belgium.

Nabil RIAHI, GMED SAS Sales Director, holds a Master’s degree in Health Products Marketing and has 13 years’ experience in the medical device sector, starting in industry and moving on to service companies. He is currently Sales Director of GMED group, which provides regulatory (CE mark, UKCA, etc.) and voluntary (ISO, MDSAP, TAIWAN, etc.) certification services.

Dr. Neel Patel is the co-founder and CEO of ZiO Health, a biotech startup bringing lab testing technology to the point of care to improve patient outcomes. It was while practicing as a doctor, Neel recognised the benefits an increase in the efficiency and turnaround time of diagnostics could bring both patients and medical professionals. Whilst completing his MBA at the University of Oxford, Neel set out to take this idea forward. He has raised five rounds of investment to bring ZiO Health’s AI-driven therapeutic drug monitoring device to market.

Päivi Leppänen is a Business Development Director at Innokas Medical, a leading Nordic contract development and manufacturing company specialized in smart medical devices and SW solutions. Innokas has over 30 years of experience in working with the highly regulated MedTech industry.

Päivi has gained an extensive experience in B2B sales and marketing in the manufacturing industry and ICT business areas, where she has worked for over 25 years ranging from start-ups to mature businesses. She has also worked in various international positions in sales and manufacturing, such as Plant Manager, Laboratory Manager, Export Director, and Business Development Consultant.

At Innokas, she is working with innovative Nordic and European MedTech companies on a daily basis from start-ups to scale-ups. She is passionate about helping companies bring their products into market, especially focusing on guiding them in manufacturing related topics.

Päivi holds Bachelor of Science (B.Sc), in Process Engineering.

Paul Borm is expert in Toxicology and entrepreneur in Life Sciences and Medical Technology and. During his 25-year academic career in Toxicology (Utrecht, Maastricht, Düsseldorf) he conducted research into lung and cardiac diseases with a clear focus on occupational health exposure. In 2004 he co-founded a high-impact journal (PFT) for particle toxicology and he is the author of close to 200 publications. For 20 years now, Nanotechnologies feed his activities on regional and global level, and provide inspiration for both his research and business activities. In 2011 he founded Nano4Imaging GmbH in Dusseldorf (DE) which focuses on improvement of cardiovascular diagnosis and interventions using MRI, and Borm is responsible for clinical evaluation, post-marketing surveillance and patent strategy. Borm acts as (strategic) consultant for several global companies and associations in the field of chemicals, minerals and particles. In 2019 Borm has initiated, guided, organized, moderated and published a consensus opinion workshop on PSLT for all relevant stakeholders. Finally, he acts as a consultant in toxicology, expert assessments and due diligence on strategic and operational level. He still teaches Toxicology at post-graduate courses in NL and Germany, and medical imaging at Dusseldorf University.

Before cofounding Nextgen Ventures, Peter worked in various capacities within investment companies. At Nextgen Ventures, Peter is responsible for investments and exits and serves on the boards of several portfolio companies.
Peter brings a diverse skill set, which comes natural from working years in venture capital, encompassing fundraising, legal, financial, and deal-making expertise. He has a keen eye for selecting top ventures and entrepreneurs to work with. Peter believes in continuous improvement and strives for excellence, recognizing that “good enough” rarely leads to success in this field.

René Pompl is Senior Director Venture Technology at Siemens Healthineers. Throughout his career René is closely connected to innovation. In his former position he started an innovation office in Tel Aviv for Siemens AG and next47 (Siemens CVC). Prior to this he was managing startup relationships for Siemens in Munich. In previous roles he was a co-founder of a MedTech startup and held various positions at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. René holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Technical University of Munich.

Rick Overkleeft, CEO 4MedBox, is a social impact entrepreneur in the bio-medical and health sector for the last 10 years. He has a bioinformatics background, but quickly became a leading bioinformatics enterprise architect and co-founded cooperatives and businesses around the concept of giving data ownership back towards the person. He gave lectures about data privacy in the medical sector and a TEDx talk about breaking the trend of data colonialism. He is also a guest researcher at the Leiden University Medical Center where he focusses on the FAIR principles, semantic web technology for the medical field, and synthetic DNA data.
He recently co-founded and became CEO of Primo Medda, a joint venture focussed on bringing Personalized Medicine as a service towards the places where it can make the most impact, while making sure that the person stays in control of their data.

Serap Konak is a Senior Consultant at Flying Health, where she bridges the gap between agile, innovative startups and the established, regulated stakeholders in healthcare. She draws on several years of experience in the health insurance sector, focusing on digitalization and innovation across various scales. With a master’s degree in health economics, Serap combines her expertise with Flying Health’s mission to connect and empower industry leaders and entrepreneurs, driving the transformation of next-generation healthcare.

CEO of Khora with the mission to explore the purpose of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Over the last 9 years Khora has produced +600 VR, AR, 360 productions and facilitated +2000 workshops. Currently we have +20 clinical trials in psychiatry around the world. On the National Advisory board for the AI Pioneer Center, On the Tiger Counsel (Danish Commerce Future counsel) and various other boards.

As the founding President of Shared Patient eXperience (SPX), a European association dedicated to advancing patient experience, So Yung has long advocated for a healthcare system that places patients at its core. Her journey in healthcare began as a nurse, and over time, she has led numerous teams and departments across various healthcare organizations, both public and private. This experience has reinforced her belief that patient perspectives are essential for genuine improvement in care.

Today, she supports organizations in adopting value based care practices, promoting collaboration and listening as key drivers for change. Through her role with SPX, So Yung continues to work towards a future where healthcare systems are shaped not only by providers but also by the voices of the patients they serve.

Susana de Azevedo Wäsch is vice president of quality management, regulatory affairs and medical affairs with Ypsomed AG. She has more than 25 years of experience in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Wäsch is experienced in the areas of drug-device combination products, infusion pumps, regenerative medicine and implants. Prior to Ypsomed, she worked at Geistlich Pharma AG, Switzerland; Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich; Lonza Visp, Switzerland; the European Bioinformatics Institute, Cambridge, England; and the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology in Rockville, MD, USA. After earning her MSc at the Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie Strasbourg, France, she performed her dissertation at the Institute of Microbiology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, followed by further training at the Executive School of Management, Technology and Law in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She is member of board of European Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS) and of the LNG RAPS Portugal.

Susie A. Ruff is the founder of RUFF & CO. Advisory and brings extensive experience in health innovation and health technology, both in Denmark and internationally. She has served in various key roles, including Director of the Healthcare Innovation Centre for the public hospitals in the Copenhagen Region, Head of Research and Innovation focusing on life sciences, and Regional Export Sales and Marketing Manager. She provides strategic and go-to-market support to industry and healthcare organizations across the Nordic region and the EU. Her work emphasizes user-driven and human-centric innovation. Additionally, she is an external lecturer at Copenhagen Business School for the M.Sc. in Health Innovation program and a member of the InnoExplorer Panel at the Innovation Fund Denmark.

Suzanne Elvidge is a freelance medical writer based in the UK. She writes about medtech, pharmaceuticals and healthcare for print and online publications and clients worldwide.

Thom is Associate at Curie Capital, involved with dealflow and portfolio management. Prior to his role at Curie Capital, he has gained 7 years of consultancy experience in raising funding for biopharmaceutical and medtech companies. In these functions Thom was involved in raising over €85 million non-dilutive capital and has developed in-depth knowledge on a wide range of topics in Life Sciences. In addition, he was the CEO of 2ndB, an Organ-on-Chip start-up. Thom has a BSc and MSc in Science and Innovation Management at Utrecht University, as well as an executive MBA from the Vlerick Business School.

Tristan Debove has more than 30 years of experience in the digital health industry. Today Country Manager of Orion Health, he has been previously in leadership positions in major Healthcare software companies (eHealth division director of Equasens Pharmagest,, Health and Social Care Director at Inetum Software and Country manager at InterSystems). He’s also an active member of Angels Santé, a recognized business angels organization dedicated to healthcare startups.

Yves Bayon, PhD & MBA, is an employee of Medtronic – Sofradim Production as a Chief Scientist with +20 years of experience of Medical Devices development.

He has since carried out various assignments, including the establishment of the porcine collagen production line, and the development of collagen-based medical devices for the repair or regeneration of soft tissues (i.e. Parietex™ Composite mesh and its derivatives with cumulative sales of over €1 billion). Since 2015, his missions have expanded with cross-functional activities across Medtronic’s multiple divisions (eg cardiovascular, neurovascular, spine, ENT) and with activities going beyond biomaterials, in connection with the digitization of medical devices (eg. AI-based solutions, e-health application).

He is also part of the Research and Innovation committee and the Circular Economy working group of Medtech Europe, a mentor of EIT Health, member of the Gtech of the healthcare cluster Lyonbiopole and member of the investment committee of AxLR SATT.