Medical Device Playbook 2018, Canada’s premiere innovation and commercialization event for medical device professionals, is coming to the MaRS Discovery District on May 8, 2018. Industry speakers and panels from across North America discuss what it takes to Dream a Bigger Dream.
Network with industry veterans and learn 2018 Entrepreneurial Strategy for Innovation, Getting the Product Right, Deal-making, and Navigating the Clinical/Regulatory Environment.
Event includes Lunch, Breaks, and Networking Reception. Medical Device Playbook 2018 Toronto is co-hosted by StarFish Medical and OBIO. All net proceeds will go to OBIO for future medtech initiatives.
Josh Tolkoff, Accelerator Executive at CIMIT - Boston
Co-Founder of Boston Scientific
Josh Tolkoff, MS has over 40 years of in-depth management experience in research, development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs, and general management of medical device companies. Currently an Accelerator Executive at CIMIT, Consortia for Improving Medicine with Innovation & Technology. 2005-2016, Mr. Tolkoff served as a Partner at Ironwood Equity Fund. He started and ran Seedling Enterprises, a successful incubator that spun off three companies. Prior to that, he started two companies, including ACT Medical, Inc. Mr. Tolkoff built the company to over $25 million in sales and sold it to a publicly traded company in 2000. He started his career as the VP of R&D at Medi-Tech which became Boston Scientific, and helped grow that company to over 500 employees. He is recognized as a leading figure in the medical device community and currently serves on the Board of numerous privately held start-ups, chaired MassMedic, and Chaired the Advisory Board of the Harvard-M.I.T. Health Science & Technology program. Mr. Tolkoff holds a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.S. in BioMechanics from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
How a gadget guy became a value proposition believer.
Stories from the early days of Boston Scientific. Find and study the significant needs and the technology will follow.
Stan Lapidus, Director of a number of public and private medical device and diagnostics companies - Denver
Founded and led two of the most successful (>$2Bn value) diagnostics companies of all time
Stan Lapidus has been active as a founder, CEO and board member of medical diagnostics and device companies for over 30 years. He founded and led two of the most successful diagnostics companies of all time. He founded and served as CEO of Cytyc Corp (NASDAQ:CYTC). He is the principal inventor of Cytyc’s ThinPrep Pap test which revolutionized screening for cervical cancer accounting for ~70% of the world market for cervical cancer screening. Cytyc was acquired by Hologic for $6.2 billion in 2007. Subsequently, he founded EXACT Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:EXAS) and served as CEO and Chairman. EXACT pioneered high-accuracy non-invasive testing for early detection of colorectal cancer. Since commercial introduction of the company’s Cologuard test, EXACT has been the most rapidly growing company in the history of the diagnostics industry.
Stan holds 37 US patents and was elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2013 for his work on the early detection of cancer.
From to 2001 until 2017, he was an instructor at MIT.
He currently serves as a director of a number of public and private medical device and diagnostics companies.
Stan graduated from Cooper Union in New York City with a BS degree in electrical engineering.
My adventures as an inventor/entrepreneur in medical technology. How I identify unsolved, or poorly solved, problems and how asking new questions leads to the development of large businesses.
Brian Shoemaker, Principal Consultant at ShoeBar Associates - Boston
International Medical Device Software Consultant
Brian Shoemaker consults for healthcare products companies in computer system validation, software quality assurance, and electronic records and signatures. He has conducted validation both on product software and on internal software, developed software quality systems, audited software quality processes (including agile methodology), and evaluated 21 CFR Part 11 compliance. He has had clients in clinical diagnostics, medical device engineering, medical imaging, medical-device fabrics manufacturing, contract lyophilization, clinical trial software, dental prosthetics, and bone-repair implants. He has worked with companies in Germany and Switzerland as well as the U.S.
Previous to founding ShoeBar Associates, Brian had quality roles at PPD Informatics, Doxis, Inc., and Behring Diagnostics, Inc. Brian earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois; he has achieved the ASQ Software Quality Engineer certification.
An Agile approach serves as discipline which medical device development teams can in fact follow, and results in products with higher quality and safety.
Hari Sree, Hardware Development Manager, Boston Scientific - Minneapolis
Multiple acquisition evaluations and integrations at Boston Scientific
Hari Sree, PhD, is currently a Senior Hardware Design Manager at Boston Scientific in its Rhythm Management Division. His responsibilities cover managing new product development and continuation engineering projects covering Electronic Medical Equipment for Rhythm Management and other divisions within Boston Scientific. His seventeen years at Boston Scientific spans design leadership in Diagnostic and Therapeutic complex Implantable Medical and Electronic Medical Equipment devices. Hari also has been engaged in multiple acquisition evaluation and integration activities for about 6 years. Hari graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Technology (honors) degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India and subsequently earned his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, USA.
In the medical device space, acquisitions, more so than mergers, are common place events.
Learn key technology and product development maturity diligence aspects for potential acquisitions.
Darren Kraemer, Founder & President, Light Matter Interaction - Toronto
Mad Scientist/Entrepreneur
Darren Kraemer is the President and CTO of Light Matter Interaction Inc. a Toronto based company developing novel devices for laser surgery. The company was founded by the team behind Attodyne Lasers Inc., a successful brand of industrial picosecond lasers that Darren started while he was still completing his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. Having previously been involved with a wide variety of industrial and medical laser applications, Darren and the LMI team are currently focusing on bringing to market ophthalmology and biodiagnostic applications of a new laser technology. Darren has a masters in Chemistry and an undergraduate degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.
Commercializing laser technology: New medical laser applications and instrumentation designed to provide surgeons with an unprecedented level of precision.
LIANA DI MARCO, Project Manager at MaRS EXCITE - Toronto
Medical device market expert
Liana Di Marco is the Project Manager for MaRS EXCITE. Liana is a Certified Clinical Research Professional and Trainer with 11 years of experience in corporate medical device, academia and laboratory/medical clinic settings. Throughout her career, Liana has worked with many global partners on the strategic development and implementation of pre- and post-market clinical studies incorporating health economic and outcomes research. She completed the post-graduate clinical research program at Humber Institute for Technology & Advanced Learning and was invited back as faculty to teach the Medical Devices in Clinical Research course. She has been a member of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) since 2008 and is a volunteer as President of the Canadian Chapter of ACRP.
Complex healthcare strategies and examples of EXCITE successes
Scott Phillips, CEO, StarFish Medical - Victoria
Creator Medical Device Playbook
Scott holds a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of British Columbia. Prior to starting StarFish, he worked in diverse areas such as lithium battery development and manufacturing, UV spectroscopy instrumentation and hi-fi audio speakers. Under his leadership StarFish has grown into a diverse professional organization with clients around the world and 100% focus on medical devices. Scott is a Fellow of The Canadian Academy of Engineering, winner of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2017 Pacific Awards Technology category, 2017 recipient of the VIATEC Technology Champion award, member of the LifeSciences British Columbia board, and volunteers with Junior Achievement, Entrepreneurs Organization, and University of British Columbia.
What it takes to build a $100M Medical Device Product or Company
Vesna Janic, Director of QA/RA StarFish Medical - Victoria
QA/RA responsible for 30+ concurrent medical devices and companies
Vesna’s expertise in regulatory compliance and conformance standards provides StarFish Medical’s clients with invaluable guidance and assistance in understanding and complying with regulatory standards such as cGMP, GLP, GCP, ISO 13485 and ISO 17025. Drawing upon her certification by the SQA as a Registered QA Professional in GLP and more than 18 years of experience in the R&D and QA fields, Vesna ensures that your StarFish project successfully meets and exceeds industry standards.
Garry Lee, is a Professional Engineer and the Founder of a compliance engineering firm that works closely with high tech industries such as medical equipment, telecom and IT companies to test products and certify them to meet international electrical and wireless(EMC) standards. His firm assists clients in obtaining UL, CSA, CE and TUV safety marks for international compliance.
Garry started his business in 2002 after gaining valuable experience with UL and CSA International and grew his business from 5 engineers in 2005 to over 25 engineers in 2017. His success is based on strong client service with guidance to meet safety standards.
In 2006, he identified another market testing wireless devices (Electro Magnetic Compatibility – EMC) as a growing market to ensure no radio interference with other products. He and his partners invested more than $ 1.3 million+ in EMC equipment, hired sophisticated EMC engineers and marketed their new service to existing and new clients. Today, it is the largest EMC lab in Canada with over 900+ clientele.
Thomas Meier, Founder of you-can.biz - Switzerland
International Launch Expert
Thomas was raised and studied in Basel / Switzerland, one of the world’s most important centres of gravity of Life Sciences. He’s an open personality and an economist focused on internationalisation and foreign trade. Different assignments took him through various industries such as financial, automotive, food, life science and medical technology. Fluency in five languages. He lived in Laval/Montréal and builds solid bridges and runs businesses for and with Canadians and Europeans running in both directions.
Based on his previous global responsibilities and many durable friendships Thomas created you-can.biz which is his company and network since 2007. Thomas and his team provide access to a global network, creativity and know-how by assisting innovative companies in the course of their market validation, (pre-)commercialization, business development and they do create long-lasting customer retention. Most accounts of you-can.biz are doing business in health, medical, sports and nutrition and a few other industries as well. Thomas is an advisor and executive coach with different health technology hubs in Europe and USA. Thomas had been resident in Canada as an expat on behalf of Roche Diagnostics until 12 years ago. His leisure time is filled by practicing rowing, mountain biking and climbing.
Commercializing innovative health technology across Europe
The Commercial Launch of ONE product in ONE continent means 44 countries and 44 healthcare systems. There are plenty of options for new technologies to be sold and used, but limited homogeneity among these national healthcare systems.
Location
MARS Discovery District
MaRS Centre, South Tower
101 College Street, Suite 100
Toronto, ON M5G 1L7
Canada
2017 recap
The 2017 events in Toronto and Vancouver were a hit with 450+ participants, speakers, and sponsors. Veteran speakers providing industry insights and experience joined rooms full of the medical device entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and business cards in a day-long event designed specifically for local medtech innovators.
92% would recommend the event to friends
“It is the only ‘conference’ of its type in Canada. I really enjoyed that it was all about the business and commercialization aspects of the health-tech industry and not heavily based on technology.”
