Executive Leadership
About Will Hendren
Dr. Will Hendren is an accomplished surgeon and healthcare business professional with extensive clinical, medical device, consulting, strategic, and leadership experiences. Dr. Hendren has held leadership positions in cardiovascular surgery and has had clinical, strategic, and business development roles in both multinational and start-up companies. As an executive and consultant, he has had central roles in creating and implementing programs, innovating and commercializing medical technologies, and executing large scale projects including establishing health care facilities in foreign countries. This has involved coordinating complex organizations, organization and integration of multi-disciplinary elements, process improvement, complex reporting structures, financial management, and management of personnel. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, Harvard Medical School and Marshall Business School at the University of Southern California. His general and specialized cardiac surgical and fellowship training included Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard), Emory University, and the Cleveland Clinic.
David F. Hendren, JD
Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs
About David Hendren
David Hendren has extensive experience launching, financing, and building successful ventures from incubation to exit, with particular expertise in healthcare, biomedical technology (including medical devices and diagnostics), digital health, and related technology and service areas. He has deep knowledge and broad perspective from 25+ years in leadership roles on virtually all sides of the table, including VC, entrepreneur, CEO, board member/chair, advisor, consultant, and counsel. David has launched successful medical technologies from inception, and led, co-invested and executed deals with leading firms and strategics, with exits including IPO, M&A, and technology licensing transactions. In operating, board, and advisory roles, David has been central to identifying opportunity, building teams, formulating strategy, securing capital, developing business and strategic alliances, and driving successful exits to harvest value for stakeholders. He earned his AB at Dartmouth College and his JD at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
Douglas P. Adams
Co-founder and Board Chair
About Doug Adams
Doug Adams has more than thirty years of experience as inventor, entrepreneur, and medical device developer. He has particular expertise developing and commercializing patents and other intellectual property in medical applications and has relevant experience with R&D and regulatory matters relating to medical device products.
QURA's TECHNOLOGY TEAM
Helbling Technik, Bern Switzerland
About Helbling
Qura has a multiyear partnership with Helbling Technik, a certified Swiss contract engineering company with core expertise in sensors. Helbling provides services ranging from development of user requirements to full product validation. They are specialists in project and medical quality management, optics, medical electronics, firmware/software, micro-technology and material science as applied to cardiovascular implants.
ADVISORS
Delos M. (Toby) Cosgrove, MD
Qura Advisor, Former Chief Executive, Cleveland Clinic, Cincinnati, OH
About Toby Cosgrove
Dr. Cosgrove is an advisor to Qura, and has played an important role in the company’s go to market strategy in the cardiovascular applications. As the world’s most pre-eminent cardiac surgeon, he chaired the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic from 1989 to 2004, performing over 22,000 operations and earning an international reputation in valve repair. As CEO of the Cleveland Clinic from 2004 to 2017, he led the $8 billion organization to new heights of achievement and efficiency, seeing it ranked the #2 hospital in America (U.S. News).
An expert in cardiovascular disease and medical devices, Dr. Cosgrove is an experienced entrepreneur who holds 30 patents for medical devices He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. In 2016, he was a Fortune Businessperson of the Year (No. 14). Three successive Presidents of the United States have consulted him on healthcare issues.
Dr. Cosgrove is a sought-after speaker worldwide. He has addressed the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos, Switzerland, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in Washington, D.C. He is regularly quoted and featured in national magazines and newspapers, including a cover story in Time, and major articles in Newsweek, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He has appeared on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, “The Charlie Rose Show” on PBS, and other national media outlets.
The recipient of Cleveland Clinic’s Master Clinician Award, Innovator of the Year Award and Lerner Humanitarian Award, Dr. Cosgrove is also a member of Cleveland Medical Hall of Fame and Cleveland Business Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was named Cleveland Business Executive of the Year by the Sales and Marketing Executives of Cleveland, and Castle Connolly’s National Physician of the Year. He also received the Woodrow Wilson Center Award for Public Service as well as Harvard Business School’s Award from HBS Alumni, Cleveland, and the Humanitarian Award of the Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio. Dr. Cosgrove topped Inside Business’s “Power 100” listing for Northeast Ohio, and is highly ranked among Modern Healthcare’s “100 most powerful people in healthcare” and “most powerful physician executives.”
Elazer R. Edelman, MD, PhD
Qura Advisor, Director of the Institute of Medical Engineering and Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
About Elazer R. Edelman
Elazer R. Edelman is the Director of the Institute of Medical Engineering and Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he is also Director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, and occupant of the Edward J. Poitras Chair as Professor of Medical Engineering and Science. At Harvard Medical School he is Professor of Medicine, and Senior Attending Physician in the cardiac intensive care unit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
His research melds clinical and medical training, focusing on how tissue architecture and local biochemical, biomechanical and flow dynamic regulation maintain homeostasis. He and his students have used fluid and hemodynamics to guide basic scientific investigation of vascular signaling and repair on multiple scales and dimensions, and in the applied realm to guide the development of critical clinical devices from endovascular implants to mechanical cardiovascular support devices. His clinical work utilizes these findings to care for people critically ill with instabilities in flow and perfusion. He has mentored some 370 students and fellows who have ascended to leadership positions in academia, industry and government.
Edelman is fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Inventors. As Chief Scientific Advisor of Science: Translational Medicine and member of the FDA Scientific Board he has set the tone for the national debate on
translational research and innovation.
Most importantly, Elazer is an avid ice hockey goalie, and with his wife Cheryl parents to comedian-writer Alexander, Olympic athlete AJ, and MIT pirate Austin.
John G. Freund, MD, MBA
Qura Advisor, Founder Skyline Ventures, Co-Founder Intuitive Surgical
About John Freund
Dr. John G. Freund co-founded Skyline Ventures in 1997 and has served as a Partner at Skyline since its founding. Prior to joining Skyline, Dr. Freund served as Managing Director in the private equity group of Chancellor Capital Management, a private capital investment firm. Previously, he co-founded Intuitive Surgical, a medical device company, and served on its Board of Directors.
Before Intuitive Surgical, Dr. Freund served in various positions at Acuson Corporation, a maker of ultrasound equipment (acquired by Siemens), most recently as Executive Vice President. Before joining Acuson, Dr. Freund was a General Partner of Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, and a General Partner at Morgan Stanley & Co., where he co-founded the Healthcare Group in the Corporate Finance Department. Dr. Freund currently serves on the board of directors of Sutro Biopharma, Inc. (STRO) and SI-Bone, Inc. (SIBN). Dr. Freund also serves on the board of directors of six U.S. registered investment funds managed by The Capital Group Companies. He previously served on the board of directors of several publicly traded companies, including, Proteon Therapeutics, Inc. (PRTO), Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TTPH), XenoPort, Inc. (XNPT), where he was Chairman, Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CNCE), MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MAPP), and MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO). Dr. Freund is a member of the Advisory Board for the Harvard Business School Healthcare Initiative and is a member of the Therapeutics Advisory Council of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Freund received a B.A. in history from Harvard College, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.