The Bionaut Team
Michael Shpigelmacher
CEO and Founder
Robotics/AI expert with specialty in R&D moonshot projects. Two decades of innovation leadership at Government of Israel, PrimeSense (acquired by Apple), McKinsey, Morgan Stanley.
William Loudon, MD, PhD
VP Neuroscience
Board certified General and Pediatric Neurosurgeon, 20 years of clinical and biomedical research experience. Graduate training at NINCDS/NIH and MD Anderson Cancer Institute. Clinical focus: stereotactic surgery and radiosurgery, endoscopic surgery and other novel approaches for the treatment of complex hydrocephalus, brain tumors and neuro-trauma.
Alex Kiselyov
Chief Science Officer
An expert in Drug Development with decades of experience across multiple therapeutic areas at Amgen, Lilly and others, holder of multiple patents.
Alicia Chung, PhD
SVP of Business Development and Strategy
Corporate strategy and business development expert who previously served as Head of Corporate Development at Amphivena Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage immunotherapy company, and led Strategy and Business Development at Halozyme Therapeutics. Alicia began her career at Roche-Genentech, where she held positions of increasing responsibility in R&D, commercial and business development and licensing.
Daniel Geffken
Interim CFO
Proven leader of life science companies with more than 30 years of strategy, finance and operations experience across all stages of the corporate life cycle. As co-founder and Managing Director of Danforth Advisors, Daniel has served as CFO or executive-level advisor to numerous companies, including Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Century Therapeutics, Atea, Cidara, Editas Medicine, Homology Medicines, Promedior, Elicio Therapeutics and Prilenia.
Aviad Maizels
Executive Chairman and Founder
Former CEO and Founder of PrimeSense (acquired by Apple), serial entrepreneur and the visionary behind the Bionaut concept. World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, International Board Member of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Michael Shpigelmacher
CEO and Founder
Robotics/AI expert with specialty in R&D moonshot projects. Two decades of innovation leadership at Government of Israel, PrimeSense (acquired by Apple), McKinsey, Morgan Stanley.
Alex Shpunt
Founder
Former Co-Founder and CTO of PrimeSense (acquired by Apple), an award-winning technologist and inventor of multiple patents.
Michael Shpigelmacher
CEO and Founder
Robotics/AI expert with specialty in R&D moonshot projects. Two decades of innovation leadership at Government of Israel, PrimeSense (acquired by Apple), McKinsey, Morgan Stanley.
Aviad Maizels
Executive Chairman and Founder
Former CEO and Founder of PrimeSense (acquired by Apple), serial entrepreneur and the visionary behind the Bionaut concept. World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, International Board Member of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Kevin Zhang
Partner, Upfront Ventures
Partner at Upfront Ventures, BS Biology, Neuroscience from Harvard. 10+ years in healthcare and tech operations and investing.
Samir Kaul
Managing Partner, Khosla Ventures
Samir is a founding general partner at Khosla Ventures, where he focuses on health, sustainability, food and advanced technology investing.
Errol De Souza, PhD
Independent board member – Industry expert
Dr. De Souza has substantial experience as an executive in the biopharmaceutical industry, having founded and served as Executive Chairman for a number of successful companies. He has worked in senior leadership roles across multiple pharmaceutical companies, including Neurocrine, Aventis and Merck.
Errol De Souza, PhD
Independent board member – Industry expert
Dr. De Souza has substantial experience as an executive in the biopharmaceutical industry, having founded and served as Executive Chairman for a number of successful companies. He has worked in senior leadership roles across multiple pharmaceutical companies, including Neurocrine, Aventis and Merck.
Dr. Gary Schwartz, MD
Senior Medical Advisor
World-renowned Oncology KOL, Head of Oncology/Hematology at Columbia University. Previously Chief of the Melanoma Sarcoma Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. Member of White House Cancer Moonshot Initiative 2020. Co-editor, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Clinical Cancer Research.
Jay D Kranzler, MD, PhD
Senior Medical Advisor
Jay D Kranzler, MD, PhD has been a Founder, CEO, Board Member, and Advisor to leading life science companies for over 30 years, most recently serving as Global Head of External R&D Innovation for Pfizer. He also provides consulting services to multiple biotechnology companies, investment banks, and investors.
Dr. Santosh Kesari, MD
Neurology Advisor
Board-certified neurologist and neuro-oncologist, currently Chair and of Neurosciences and Neurotherapeutics, John Wayne Cancer Institute. Internationally recognized clinician, serving on multiple medical advisory boards, and author of over 250 scientific publications, reviews, and books.
John Crawford, MD
Neurology Advisor
Dr. Crawford is Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Pediatrics at the University of California San Diego where he is Director of Clinical Pediatric Neuro-oncology Research and Director of the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Fellowship.
Dr. Chetan Bettegowda, MD
Neurosurgery Advisor
Associate Professor of Oncology and Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. Specializes in comprehensive treatments for adult patients with benign and malignant brain tumors, with a focus on treatment of patients with primary brain tumors, such as gliomas, meningiomas and pituitary tumors.
Dr. Jason Sager, MD
Oncology Advisor
Accomplished oncologist, 20 years of clinical and drug development experience at Johns Hopkins, Dana Farber, Genentech, Novartis, Sanofi (former Head of Early Oncology Development). Directly managed 10 INDs and clinical trials.
Dr. Eldad Elnekave, MD
Interventional Radiology Advisor
Expert interventional radiologist and biotech entrepreneur. Completed Interventional Radiology training at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and practices clinically as the Director of the Interventional Oncology clinic at Davidoff Oncology Center. Expert in the usage of advanced AI techniques on the field of medical imaging.
Dr. Anita Gupta, MD
Pain Management/ Anesthesiology Advisor
Expert in pain management and a thought leader, featured as speaker on CNN, Forbes and others. Healthcare provider for over 20 years, served as advisor to the FDA, received the Learner Award from AAMC, and authored multiple books. PhD in Pharmacy at Rutgers University, MD from UMDNJ (now Rowan University), residency in anesthesiology at Georgetown.
Dr. Ehsan Saadat, MD
Spinal Surgery Advisor
Orthopaedic surgeon with experience in treatment of challenging spinal deformities, motion-preserving cervical laminoplasty, as well as minimally invasive surgery. BS in BioEngineering from UC Berkeley, MD from UCSF, orthopaedic surgical residency at Harvard, spine surgery fellowship at Emory Spine Center.
Dr. Houman David Hemmati
Ophthalmology Advisor
Ophthalmology expert, presently serving as Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at USC. Previously served as Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Vermont. Co-founded several biopharmaceutical ventures. Also served as Director, Clinical Development at Allergan, and Clinical Scientist on several Phase 1, 2, and 3 studies.
Dr. Meeta Patnaitk, MD
Senior Medical Advisor
Precision Medicine expert and serial biotech entrepreneur with multiple $B exits. Former CMO of LabCorp, Entrepreneur in Residence at Children's Hospital LA.
Aya Jakobovits, Ph.D.
Senior Corporate Advisor
An accomplished biotech executive with extensive track record in starting and growing biotech companies in the targeted immunotherapy area, based on novel technologies therapeutic products, including Founder and CEO of Adicet bio, Founding CEO of Kite Pharma (acquired by Gilead for $1.9B), CSO and SVP corporate development at Agensys and EVP and Head R&D at Astellas (acquired Agensys for $537M), Director and leader of XenoMouse technology at Cell Genesys/Abgenix (acquired by Amgen for $2.2B).
Dr. Susan Alpert, MD
Senior Regulatory Advisor
Worldwide expert in Regulatory Affairs with a focus on Medical Devices. Held senior positions at the FDA, including Director of the FDA’s Office of Device Evaluation. Also senior vice president and chief regulatory officer at Medtronic until 2012, and had similar role at C.R. Bard.
Marlene E Haffner, MD, MPH
Senior Regulatory Advisor
CEO of Haffner Associates, LLC a firm dedicated to the strategy, development and policy of drug development with a special emphasis on rare diseases and the products that treatment them. For 20 years, Dr. Haffner served as Director of the Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Dr. Benny Zeevi, MD
Senior Medical/Business Advisor
Managing General Partner in DFJ Tamir Fishman Venture and Tel Aviv Venture Partners, Co-Chairperson of Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI). Physician specializing in interventional pediatric cardiology. Vast experience includes the Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Israel and Children’s Hospital in Boston.
Prof. Peer Fischer, PhD
Senior Scientific Advisor
Original inventor of Bionaut technology, Head of Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. Formerly NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell and leader of research group at Harvard University. Recipient of Fraunhofer Attract award and ERC grant holder.