Steering Committee

Axel Strombergsson has a Master’s in engineering and has spent over 20 years within the Medical Device industry, initially within R&D and manufacturing operations roles, and later in his career changing his focus towards new ventures, technology commercialization, business strategies and startup growth. He is a hands-on operator and has been with five different Medical Device startups, thus bringing several medical technologies into commercial distribution. As part of his career, Axel also spent a few years at the Technology Transfer Office at Vanderbilt University, USA, where he supported research teams within the engineering school and medical center, to help them advance their technologies towards commercialization.

Initially from Sweden, Axel has deep insights to the Medical Device entrepreneurship landscape in both Europe and the United States. In addition to his own involvement in MedTech startups, Axel has been an active startup mentor within multiple organizations in the US and Europe, providing mentorship and guidance to startups at various stages of growth.

In his current role as the Director of Strategy at Veeva MedTech, Axel is using his background and expertise in the Medical Device industry to provide solutions and support to Medical Device companies within the Emerging and Medium Market segments.

Baudouin is a Partner at Karista, early stage Venture Capital firm established in 2001, and investing across Europe.

Pioneering Digital Health investments in Europe as from 2006, Karista is one of the very few European VCs cumulating a Life Science and a Digital practice and having a specific Digital Health strategy. Since 2018 the team manages a dedicated Digital Health fund, in partnership with several Top Tier corporates across the healthcare value chain.

Joining Karista in 2014 Baudouin is focusing at Digital Health and Life Science investments. He is a Board Member or Observer of several Karista portfolio companies, including: Implicity (Digital Health, France), MoveUP (Digital Health, Belgium), Kranus Health (Digital Health, Germany), HTC Assistance (MedTech, France), Tricares (MedTech, Germany), Watchfrog (Service biotech, France).

Baudouin holds a MSc in Engineering from the University of Technology of Compiègne and graduated from ESSEC Business School.

Experienced healthcare investment professional with expertise in early-stage start-up investment. Currently involved in deal sourcing, investment diligence, and portfolio management of European digital health companies at Philips Ventures.

Camille Gladieux, Assistant Director of Research and Innovation at the University Hospital Center of Lille, overseeing financial management, human resources, external promotion, and clinical investigation. Graduate of Sciences Po Lille in Public Affairs and of the École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique as Hospital Director.

Cécile Théard-Jallu has developped in-depth expertise as an attorney in private practice representing multinational corporations, including major US and European firms and public and private organizations in the life sciences and innovation sectors. Cecile focuses primarily on complex transactions including R&D and consortiums, technology transfers, licensing deals other technological change related projects. She assists clients with their responses to calls for projects in the R&D and innovation sector in the context of public funding. She also advises them on the design, negotiation and enforcement of their commercial or IT contracts.

She worked in a leading law firm in Washington DC as an attorney in private practice on secondment and was also seconded to a global player in the medical equipment sector. She regularly lectures on research and innovation law and is a member of the International Bar Association in the life sciences practice.

Daniel O’Mahony is a Partner at Seroba Life Sciences venture capital fund and brings a wealth of experience from pharma and medtech industry in product development, strategic planning, licensing, corporate venturing, technology commercialisation and venture capital investment. Daniel graduated with a Ph.D. from University College Cork, holds a business degree in technology management from the Smurfit Business School and has held academic appointments in Ireland and USA. He currently sits on a number of boards include Atlantic Therapeutics, Perfuze and ATXA Therapeutics.  He previously sat on the boards of PQ Bypass (acquired by Endologix), Novate Medical (acquired by BTG), Apica Cardiovascular (acquired by Thoratec), Covagen (acquired by Janssen), Stokes Bio (acquired by Life Technologies), Straatum (acquired by Lam Research Corporation).

Etienne Vervaecke is Managing Director of Eurasanté and Clubster NHL. For over 20 years, Eurasanté has been supporting researchers, project leaders and companies in the regional health, nutrition, sport, health, well-being and ageing sector in their research, business creation and development projects.

Biography available soon!

“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.”

Mike is the CEO and co-founder of Oxford Endovascular Ltd, a spinout from Oxford University.

The company is developing a revolutionary medical device for patients suffering from brain aneurysms; a life-threatening disease affecting 1 in 50 persons in a strongly growing market valued over $1 billion . In 2017 it won ‘Best Med-Tech Start-Up’ at the Oxford Bio Network awards, 1^st place at the BioTrinity ‘Perfect Pitch’ competition and an award at the ‘European Health Catapult’ finals.

Mike has 27 years growing international businesses in large corporations & start-ups.

Experienced in strategic planning, execution, team building, gaining regulatory approvals & fund raising.

Mike mentors students and presents at industry conferences. He studied Pre-Clinical Medicine, Physiology & Pharmacology at Southampton University and an MBA from Henley Business School.

After completing a degree in Pharmacology, Ravi gained employment in non-health and health related sectors, undertaking Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Business Development and Health Economics roles. Prior to re-joining Roche Diagnostics Ravi undertook projects for the UK Department of Health and also for the UK Department for International Trade. A major area of focus within these roles was to assist HealthTech innovators (SMEs and Large organisations) gain access to the most appropriate experts in UK Universities and the NHS. He has also been part of various working groups within the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the British In-Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA) and Association of British Healthtech Industries (ABHI).

Ravi’s current role as Head of Business Development is focused on assessing innovative technologies which could fit the Roche Diagnostics portfolio or bit useful for the UK affiliate to work with across patient care pathways. Areas of particular focus are Cardiac Disease, Oncology, Women’s Health, Alzheimer’s and Infectious Diseases, with Digital Health as a cross cutting theme of interest. The role also allows Ravi to work closely with the Roche Global Business Development team to bring any potential technologies to the Roche global organisation to assess.

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.

Addicted to Digital Transformation with 30 years of experience in Biology, Genomics, Market Intelligence, IT-Portfolio-, Product-, Program-, Project- and  Line-Management.

Ulf got his PhD in microbiology and genomics at the Max-Planck-Institute for terrestrial Microbiology Marburg. After postdoc awardee his business stations were the Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart and the Bertelsmann AG (Lycos Europe GmbH) before he joined Bayer in 2002. From 2015 he has been Digital Innovation Manager, supporting Bayer’s path in Digital Transformation, since 2019 he is Business Partner for Medical Affairs and Pharmacovigilance. Current projects are Proof of Concept in quantum computing and the implementation of a non-interventional study for the mobile detection of atrial fibrillation. He enjoys mountain- and racing-biking, soccer and guitar playing.

……..Innovation is just a thought away………

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 and is a mentor of EIT Health.