Leadership Team
Executive Team
Dr. Lishan Aklog is Chairman & CEO of PAVmed Inc. (Nasdaq: PAVM), a diversified, commercial-stage medical technology company which he co-founded, and its majority-owned subsidiary Lucid Diagnostics Inc., a cancer prevention medical diagnostics company (Nasdaq: LUCD). He also serves on the board of the leading medtech industry group, AdvaMed, and as an independent public company director. He previously co-founded a medtech holding company which founded four medical device companies and led one of its portfolio companies which commercialized one of his life-saving inventions, AngioVac®. Dr. Aklog has consulted for leading medtech companies and is an inventor on dozens of patents. The Healthcare Technology Report recognized him as a Top Healthcare Technology CEO in 2021 and 2022. Prior to entering the life sciences industry as an entrepreneur and executive, Dr. Aklog had a distinguished career as an innovator in cardiac surgery, serving on the faculty of leading academic medical centers including Harvard Medical School and Mount Sinai Medical Center, and in professional society leadership positions. He was recognized as an America’s Top Doctor for over a decade. He received his undergraduate degree in Physics, magna cum laude, and M.D., cum laude, from Harvard University. He completed his training at Harvard teaching hospitals and leading medical centers in London and Paris.
Shaun M. O’Neil has served as the Company's President & Chief Operating Officer since November 2023. Previously, O’Neil served as the Company’s Chief Commercial Officer.
O'Neil leads strategic initiatives at Lucid Diagnostics including the design and launch of commercial operations, sales and marketing strategy, market access, as well the management of Lucid's CLIA-certified laboratory, Lucid Dx Labs.
Mr. O’Neil has a solid track record of sales and marketing leadership, and product and business development expertise in both startup and established companies, including a particularly strong track record in growing sales and increasing market share for innovative medical devices. Previously, Mr. O’Neil held various sales and marketing leadership positions with AngioDynamics (Nasdaq: ANGO), a leading provider of innovative medical devices used by interventional radiologists, interventional cardiologists, surgeons, and other physicians for the minimally-invasive diagnosis and treatment of cancer and peripheral vascular disease. He served as regional sales manager for its peripheral vascular division, where he oversaw multiple territory managers and clinical specialists. He was responsible for multiple product launches and was a perennial recipient of sales and performance awards. Prior to AngioDynamics, he served in various sales, marketing and engineering roles at Aycan Medical Systems, a privately-held medical imaging company.
Mr. O’Neil received a B.S. in Business Administration with a focus in management information systems from Alfred University and an M.B.A. from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Dennis M. McGrath has served as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since March 2017.
Previously, from 2000 to 2017 Mr. McGrath served in several senior level positions of PhotoMedex, Inc. (Nasdaq: PHMD), a global manufacturer and distributor of medical device equipment and services, including from 2011 to 2017 as director, President, and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to PhotoMedex’s reverse merger with Radiancy, Inc in December 2011, he also served as Chief Executive Officer from 2009 to 2011 and served as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer from 2000 to 2009.
He received honors as a P.A.C.T. (Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technology) finalist for the 2011 Investment Deal of the Year, award winner for the SmartCEO Magazine 2012 CEO of the Year for Turnaround Company, and finalist for the Ernst & Young 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, both domestically and internationally, and particularly involving public company acquisitions, including Surgical Laser Technologies, Inc, (formerly, Nasdaq: SLTI), ProCyte Corporation (formerly, Nasdaq: PRCY), LCA Vision, Inc. (formerly, Nasdaq: LCAV) and Think New Ideas, Inc. (formerly, Nasdaq: THNK). Prior to PhotoMedex, he served in several senior level positions of AnswerThink Consulting Group, Inc. (then, Nasdaq: ANSR, now, The Hackett Group, Nasdaq: HCKT), a business consulting and technology integration company, including from 1999 to 2000 as Chief Operating Officer of the Internet Practice, the largest division of AnswerThink Consulting Group, Inc., while concurrently during the merger of the companies, serving as the acting Chief Financial Officer of Think New Ideas, Inc. (then, Nasdaq: THNK, now, Nasdaq: HCKT), an interactive marketing services and business solutions company. Mr. McGrath also served from 1996 until 1999 as Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and director of TriSpan, Inc., an internet commerce solutions and technology consulting company, which was acquired by AnswerThink Consulting Group, Inc. in 1999.
During his tenure at Arthur Andersen & Co., where he began his career, he became a Certified Public Accountant in 1981 and he holds a B.S., maxima cum laude, in accounting from LaSalle University. In addition to continuing as a director of PhotoMedex, he serves as the audit chair and a director of several medical device companies, including DarioHealth Corp. (Nasdaq: DRIO), Noninvasive Medical Technologies, Inc. and Cagent Vascular, LLC, and as an advisor to the board of an orphan drug company, Palvella Therapeutics, LLC. Formerly from 2007 to 2009, Mr. McGrath served as a director of Embrella Cardiovascular, Inc. (sold to Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, NYSE: EW). He also serves on the Board of Trustees for Manor College and the Board of Visitors for Taylor University.
Michael A. Gordon has served as the Company’s General Counsel and Secretary since May 2022. Previously, from October 2006 to May 2022, he was a member of the corporate department of the law firm Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP, where he was a partner from January 2013 through May 2022, and a member of the firm’s management committee from January 2019 through May 2022. While at Friedman Kaplan, Mr. Gordon represented PAVmed and Lucid in a range of M&A, financing and other corporate and commercial transactions, and also advised the companies and their boards on corporate governance matters. Prior to joining Friedman Kaplan, Mr. Gordon was a corporate associate with the law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP. Mr. Gordon received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2004, and his A.B. in Economics from Dartmouth College, where he graduated cum laude in 1996.
Dr. Suman Verma is Senior Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer of Lucid Diagnostics and oversees research, development, and analytic validation work on the EsoGuard® Esophageal DNA Test at Lucid’s CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited laboratory in Lake Forest, CA.
Dr. Verma has more than a decade of experience in the development and implementation of molecular diagnostic assays using the full spectrum of cutting edge molecular biologic techniques and technologies.
Dr. Verma earned her Ph.D. and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California Irvine, during which she performed and published on important research in breast cancer biology and targets for therapeutic intervention in breast cancer. Dr. Verma earned her medical degree, completed her internal medicine training, and served as a staff physician active in clinical research in India.
Dr. Victoria Lee has served as the Company's Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer since April of 2023. Previously, Dr. Lee served as the Company's Vice President of Medical Affairs.
Dr. Lee brings extensive experience in clinical affairs and research in the medical technology industry, including in pre-market and post-market clinical trials, collaboration with clinical research organizations and key opinion leaders and general oversight of clinical research operations.
She has been a frequent collaborator on regulatory submissions to the FDA and European regulatory authorities. She previously served as a physician consultant at McKinsey and Company with a focus on medical policy, resource utilization, and optimizing efficiencies in healthcare. Dr. Lee is a graduate of the University of Washington and NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and completed her training at Harvard and NYU teaching hospitals.
Dr. deGuzman is a co-founder of PAVmed Inc. (Nasdaq: PAVM) and is a co-founding Partner of Pavilion Holdings Group (“PHG”), a medical device holding company, and Pavilion Medical Innovations (“PMI”), a venture-backed medical device incubator, since their respective inceptions in 2007 and 2009. Dr. deGuzman was President and CEO of Kaleidoscope Medical and serves as a Senior Advisor to PMI portfolio companies Saphena Medical and Cruzar Medsystems. Dr. deGuzman was the Chief Medical Officer of Vortex Medical from inception until its sale to AngioDynamics (Nasdaq: ANGO) in 2012 and has been a consultant and served on medical advisory boards for Zimmer-Biomet (NYSE: ZBH), Atricure (Nasdaq: ATRC), Maquet Cardiovascular (now STO: GETI B) , Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX), Edward Lifesciences (NYSE: EW), and Guidant Cardiac Surgery (formerly NYSE: GDT).
Prior to transitioning into the medical technology industry full-time in 2012, Dr. deGuzman was Assistant Professor of Surgery, Associate Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery, and Surgical Director of the Atrial Fibrillation Clinic and the cardiothoracic intensive care unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center’s Heart and Lung Institute from 2006 to 2012. From 2002 to 2006, Dr. deGuzman was Assistant Professor of Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine and a staff cardiac surgeon at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Massachusetts. From 2001 to 2002, Dr. deGuzman was a Clinical Associate of Cardiac Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. deGuzman received his general surgical training at the University of Connecticut, was a research fellow at Harvard Medical School’s Cardiac Surgery Research Laboratory, and completed his cardiothoracic surgical training at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. deGuzman was repeatedly recognized as a Top Doctor in Cardiovascular Surgery by Boston Magazine, earned his M.D. from the Georgetown University School of Medicine and his B.S. in Biology from Boston College.
Dr. Brian deGuzman has served as the Chief Technology Officer since April 2023 and Chief Compliance Officer since January 2022. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer from October 2014 until April 2023 and a Director from October 2014 to January 2015. Dr. deGuzman currently oversees technology, compliance and regulatory.
Deepika Lakhani is Senior Vice President and Chief Regulatory & Quality Officer of Lucid Diagnostics.
She is an internationally recognized regulatory professional, with over fifteen years of experience, and has received many awards for excellence and leadership. She spent over a decade at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including at both the Center for Drugs Evaluation and Research at the FDA and Center for Devices and Radiological Health, where she reviewed, led cross-disciplinary teams, and contributed to policies impacting drugs, biologics, medical devices, tobacco products and combination products.
On the industry side, she has led efforts for global regulatory approvals of drugs, medical devices, combination products and emerging technologies, including at AstraZeneca and as a consultant for Johnson and Johnson. She received her bachelor’s degree in Delhi, India and her PhD Virginia Commonwealth University.
Cofounders and Strategic Advisors
Amitabh Chak, MD
Physician, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine
Sandy Markowitz, MD, PhD
Physician, Department of Hematology and Oncology
Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics, Department of Medicine, School of MedicineCase Western Reserve University, School of Medicine
Helen Moinova, PhD
Assistant Professor
Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Joe Willis, MD
Vice Chairman of Pathology, Clinical Affairs, Laboratory Director, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
Professor, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine
Board of Directors
Dr. Lishan Aklog is Chairman & CEO of PAVmed Inc. (Nasdaq: PAVM), a diversified, commercial-stage medical technology company which he co-founded, and its majority-owned subsidiary Lucid Diagnostics Inc., a cancer prevention medical diagnostics company (Nasdaq: LUCD). He also serves on the board of the leading medtech industry group, AdvaMed, and as an independent public company director. He previously co-founded a medtech holding company which founded four medical device companies and led one of its portfolio companies which commercialized one of his life-saving inventions, AngioVac®. Dr. Aklog has consulted for leading medtech companies and is an inventor on dozens of patents. The Healthcare Technology Report recognized him as a Top Healthcare Technology CEO in 2021 and 2022. Prior to entering the life sciences industry as an entrepreneur and executive, Dr. Aklog had a distinguished career as an innovator in cardiac surgery, serving on the faculty of leading academic medical centers including Harvard Medical School and Mount Sinai Medical Center, and in professional society leadership positions. He was recognized as an America’s Top Doctor for over a decade. He received his undergraduate degree in Physics, magna cum laude, and M.D., cum laude, from Harvard University. He completed his training at Harvard teaching hospitals and leading medical centers in London and Paris.
Stanley N. Lapidus
Mr. Lapidus has served as the Company’s lead Strategic Advisor since June 2020 and as the Company’s Vice-Chairman and a member of the Board since July 2021. Mr. Lapidus is a medical diagnostics pioneer and prominent medical technology advisor who brings more than three decades of experience founding, leading, and advising breakthrough diagnostic companies. He founded and led two noteworthy cancer early detection startup companies, Exact Sciences Corp. (Nasdaq: EXAS) and Cytyc Corp. (Nasdaq: CYTC, acquired by Hologic, Nasdaq: HOLX). Cytyc revolutionized early detection in cervical cancer, preventing countless deaths through its ThinPrep pap test which he invented. Exact Sciences, whose Cologuard test revolutionized early detection in colon cancer, became the fastest growing start-up medical diagnostics company in the history of the industry. Mr. Lapidus serves as Chairman of the boards of directors of Binx Health, a provider of point-of-care diagnostics tests, since January 2018 and Mirvie, a maternal-fetal health diagnostic company, since June 2018. He serves as a member of the boards of directors of Sunbird Bio, Inc., a biotechnology company which uses bioengineered sensors to track disease activity since September 2018 and he serves on the board of PathAI, an AI-based pathology company, since November 2017. He currently serves as Chairman of Mercy Bioanalytics, a company developing early detection tests for cancer based on exosomes and serves as a director of Droplet Biosciences, a company developing technology for detecting early recurrence of cancer. He has served as an Executive-in-Residence at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus since November 2017, and as a Co-Founding Pillar of Pillar VC since March 2016. Mr. Lapidus previously served as co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of SynapDx, a diagnostic company focused on laboratory tests for autism, from June 2009 to December 2016, and Helicos BioSciences Corp., a DNA sequencing company, from 2003 to 2010. He founded Exact Sciences and served as President & Chief Executive Officer and then Chairman from 1995 to 2006. He founded Cytyc Corp. and served as President from 1987 to 1994. Mr. Lapidus received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Cooper Union in New York City. He served as an instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2002 to 2017, was elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2014 and is an inventor on 37 US patents. The original prototypes of his ThinPrep invention are part of the collection of historically significant objects at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
James L. Cox, MD
Dr. Cox has served as a member of the Board since the Company’s inception. Dr. Cox also has served as a member of the board of directors of the Company’s parent, PAVmed (Nasdaq: PAVM), since January 2015. Dr. Cox is a cardiac surgeon, scientific investigator and medical device entrepreneur who pioneered the field of surgical intervention for cardiac arrhythmias, including the eponymous Cox-Maze procedure for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. He has served as Surgical Director of the Center for Heart Rhythm Disorders at the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute since January 2017, and Professor of Surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University since September 2018 (having served as Visiting Professor of Surgery since January 2017). From 1983 to 1997, Dr. Cox served as Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and Cardiothoracic Surgeon-in-Chief at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. During this tenure, he became the first Evarts A. Graham Professor of Surgery and Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery. From 2005 to December 2016, Dr. Cox was the Emeritus Evarts A. Graham Professor of Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Cox was also previously Professor and Chairman of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Georgetown University Medical Center and Associate Professor of Surgery at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Cox has had a distinguished and highly productive academic career. He has published over 380 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including Circulation, the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the Annals of Surgery, and the Journal of Electrophysiology. His laboratory has received continuous NIH funding for its research on the surgical treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. Dr. Cox has served in leadership positions at numerous professional organizations. He was the 81st President of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery and a director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. He has been invited to lecture and perform surgery as a visiting professor at hundreds of institutions around the world. He has received numerous awards and honors for his clinical and scientific work, most notably as one of 30 “Pioneers in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery” at a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the specialty. He is the only person to ever receive the Distinguished Scientist Awards from the Heart Rhythm Society, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the American Society for Thoracic Surgery. He was the 2020 recipient of the American College of Surgeons’ Jacobson Innovation Award. Dr. Cox holds over 30 issued patents. He has been instrumental in the development of six medical device companies, including Epicor Medical, which was acquired by St. Jude Medical in 2004 for $200 million, and 3F Therapeutics (co-founder and board member), which was acquired in 2006 by ATS Medical for $40 million, ATS Medical (Medical Director), which was acquired by Medtronic in 2010 for $370 million, and Harpoon Medical (board member), which was acquired by Edwards LifeSciences in 2017 for $250 million. Dr. Cox has served on numerous scientific advisory boards, including Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, Atricure, SentreHEART and CorMatrix, and has served on the Board of Directors of 5 different companies. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Heart Foundation, a not-for-profit organization devoted to improving access to cardiac surgery, which was active in over 75 developing countries around the world from 2000 to 2012. Dr. Cox received his general and cardiothoracic surgical training at Duke University School of Medicine, during which time he spent two years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Dr. Cox received his M.D. from the University of Tennessee, where he received the Alpha Omega Alpha Distinguished Graduate Award as the outstanding student in his class.
Dennis Matheis
Mr. Matheis has served as a member of the Board since May 2024. Mr. Matheis is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sentara.
He previously served as Executive Vice President of Sentara and President of Sentara Health Plans (SHP), the health insurance division of Sentara. Dennis, along with his leadership team, leads Sentara's more than 32,000 employees and together, we help improve health every day.
Dennis has spent the past 27 years in senior leadership roles within the healthcare industry. During his nearly five-year tenure as President of SHP, Dennis led the largest health plan acquisition in Sentara's history, resulting in more than 400,000 new health plan members and nearly 1,300 employees joining the organization. To support this growth, Dennis recruited top talent to the already accomplished SHP team to execute on industry best practices and enhance the member experience. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Dennis placed a focus on workplace culture and the work preferences of the team, successfully transitioning the division to a remote and hybrid environment. He also established the SHP Diversity and Inclusion Council, which, along with more than ten other such councils operating within Sentara, is fostering workplace environments rooted in diversity, equity, inclusion, and authenticity, and reflects the communities served.
Prior to joining Sentara, Dennis spent 13 years in leadership roles at Anthem, Inc. He served as President of Anthem's Central Region and Exchanges encompassing six states and representing $12 billion in annual revenue. Under his leadership, Anthem's Central Region achieved significant membership growth and strong financial results. Dennis previously served in senior leadership roles at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri, CIGNA Healthcare and Humana Health Plan, as well as Advocate Health Care in Chicago. Dennis earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Kentucky and practiced as a Certified Public Accountant before entering the healthcare industry.
Dennis serves as Co-Chair of the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce - Team Virginia, DarioHealth (Nasdaq: DRIO), and on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).
Jacque J. Sokolov, M.D.
Dr. Sokolov has served as a member of the Board since April 2021. He co-founded and has served Chairman and Chief executive Officer of SSB Solutions, Inc., a diversified healthcare management, development, and financial services company, since its inception in 1997. Following his formal training as an academic cardiologist, Dr. Sokolov has had the opportunity to serve as board director, corporate officer, and advisor, in multiple healthcare sectors including health plans, large employers, hospitals and hospital systems, physician practice management organizations, group practices, clinically integrated and accountable care organizations (CIOs/ACOs), life sciences companies, as well as private equity and venture capital firms. He started his career as Vice President for Healthcare and Chief Medical Officer for Southern California Edison Corporation (NYSE: EIX). Dr. Sokolov currently serves or has served in multiple board capacities for public and private companies, including Hospira (NYSE: HSP), MedCath (Nasdaq: MDTH), and PhyAmerica (NYSE: ERDR), Veterans Accountable Care Group (VACG), GlobalMed, SMG Holding Company, MyHealthDirect, NeuLife Neurological Services LLC (NeuLife), IntelaTrak, PCA Holdings, Calviri and SSB Solutions/HCDG, as well as non-profit organizations, including Phoenix Children’s Hospital, The Health Futures Council at ASU, The National Health Foundation, the American College of Medical Quality, the National Fund for Medical Education, the National Business Group on Health and the White House Health Project. He has worked with over one hundred healthcare companies to develop value-based solutions in evolving markets including multiple health insurance plans, physician organizations, and government entities.
Ron Sparks
Mr. Sparks has served as a member of the Board since October 2021. He also has served as a member of the board of directors of the Company’s parent, PAVmed (Nasdaq: PAVM), since January 2015. Mr. Sparks has more than 43 years of executive experience in the medical device industry and has launched over 50 products across a wide spectrum of specialties, including orthopedics, endoscopy, wound management, cardiology, interventional radiology, diagnostic imaging, ophthalmology, and otology. From 2007 to October 2013, he served as a Healthcare Industry Executive at Avista Capital Partners, a private equity firm. Mr. Sparks served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navilyst Medical Inc., which was formed by Avista Capital to acquire the fluid management and venous access business units of Boston Scientific, from its inception in 2008 until its acquisition in May 2012 by AngioDynamics for $372.0 million. From 2003 to 2007, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of Accellent, a market-leading provider of outsourced precision manufacturing and engineering services to the medical device industry. Accellent was a portfolio company of DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and was acquired in 2005 by KKR and Bain Capital. During his tenure at Accellent, he was recognized as the Credit Suisse/DLJ Merchant Bank 2005 CEO of The Year. From 1986 to 2003, he served in various leadership roles at Smith & Nephew as a member of the Group Executive Committee, President of the Endoscopy Division, President of the Wound Management Division and Vice President of Finance. Earlier in his career, he served in various finance roles at Richards Medical, Dyonics and Union Carbide Imaging. Mr. Sparks is a fellow of the American Sports Medicine Institute, a Trustee of the Arthroscopy Association of North America Education Foundation and Honorary Lifetime Member of the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopedic Sports Medicine. He has previously served on numerous boards and industry councils, including AdvaMed, the National Subacute Care Association, the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, the American Council of Orthopedic Surgeons, and the Society of Interventional Radiology. Mr. Sparks received his B.S. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Massachusetts and attended the INSEAD Advanced Management Program at the European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau, France.
Debbie White
Ms. White has served as a director since August 2022. She also has served as a member of the board of directors of the Company’s parent, PAVmed (Nasdaq: PAVM), since April 2021. Ms. White is a prominent UK-based global industry executive with broad business leadership experience, including as a chief executive, financial executive, public company director and strategic consultant, in multiple sectors in Europe and the United States, including the healthcare services, molecular genetics and biopharmaceutical industries. She served as interim Chief Human Resources Officer of BT Group, plc (OTCMKTS: BTGOF), a British multinational telecommunications holding company with operations in around 180 countries, from October 2021 through December 2022. She has served as a Senior Independent Director of Spire Healthcare Plc since February 2023, and she joined The Co-op Group, one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives with interests across food, funerals, insurance and legal services with over 56,000 employees and over £11 billion in annual sales, in August 2023, now having served as its chair since January 2024. She also served on the board of directors of Howden Joinery Group PLC (LSE: HWDN), a UK-headquartered FTSE250 multinational building trade supplier with 10,000 employees and over $2 billion in revenue from February 2017 until December 2023, and sat on its Audit, Renumeration and Nominating Committees. She has served as a trustee of Wellbeing of Women, a UK charity which invests in medical research and development of specialist clinicians in women’s health, since March 2013.
Medical Advisory Board
Nicholas J. Shaheen, MD, MPH
Nicholas Shaheen is a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist who is probably best known for his groundbreaking research on Barrett’s esophagus. A major theme of his research has been developing and testing new endoscopic methods for treatment of patients with Barrett’s. He was the principal investigator of a 19 center U.S. trial of radiofrequency ablation for dysplastic Barrett’s esophagus, demonstrating the efficacy and safety of this procedure. The paper was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. He was also the lead investigator of a 10 center study defining the efficacy of cryotherapy in subjects with Barrett’s and high-grade dysplasia. These endoscopic technologies have fundamentally changed the care of patients with early esophageal neoplasia. He is also a member of several consortia that are conducting translational studies of Barrett’s patients. Nicholas Shaheen conducts clinical trials, translational research and epidemiological studies on Barrett’s esophagus. These studies have involved a number of CGIBD members and trainees. He is the PI for a T35 summer research program that trains medical students in research. He is the chief of the UNC Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. His research and leadership positions are important for the success of the CGIBD.
Srinadh Komanduri, MD, MS, FAGA, FASGE
Dr. Komanduri is an internationally recognized expert in advanced endoscopy and Barrett's esophagus. He currently serves as the Associate Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the Director of Endoscopy at Northwestern Medicine. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts in Gastroenterology and serves as the course director for one of the largest endoscopy courses in the country, Chicago Live. Dr. Komanduri is past chair for the American Gastorenterological Association's Center for GI Innovation and Technology and is on the forefront of new innovation in the field. He also works extensively for the American Society of Gastroenterology pioneering new avenues for education in endoscopy. Dr. Komanduri also served as the Director of Endoscopic Training at Northwestern Simulation, working to enhances simulation and training for gastroenterologists and surgeons nationally and internationally.
Michael S. Smith, MD, MBA
Michael S. Smith, MD, MBA is the Associate System Chief of Gastroenterology for the Mount Sinai Health System, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He previously served as Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West Hospitals, where he also was Director of the Esophageal Program.
Dr. Smith graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a concentration in molecular biology, after which he earned both an MD and MBA with honors in healthcare management at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School of Business. He then completed a residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a gastroenterology fellowship at the Columbia campus of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
As a member of the medical faculty at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and now at Mount Sinai, Dr. Smith’s clinical practice has focused on the diagnosis and management of esophageal disease, with a particular interest in Barrett's esophagus and esophageal cancer. His research has investigated how new tools, techniques and medications are best incorporated into everyday treatment of these conditions. Dr. Smith has given invited lectures throughout the US and around the world, and has served as a mentor to many physicians new to endoluminal treatments for Barrett's esophagus. He is a founding member, treasurer and executive committee member of the American Foregut Society, and will serve as the society's president in 2025-26.
Rhonda Souza, MD, AGAF
Dr. Souza trained at Howard University, Beth Israel Hospital (Boston), and the University of Maryland Medical Center. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the Dallas VA Medical Center. Dr. Souza’s laboratory focuses on exploring molecular mechanisms through which the gastroesophagealreflux of acid and bile mediates the development of Barrett’s esophagus, the condition in which a metaplastic epithelium predisposed to malignancy replaces the squamous epithelium normally lining the distal esophagus. Her laboratory has demonstrated differences between esophageal squamous cells in patients who have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) with and without Barrett’s esophagus in the signaling pathways that are activated by acid and bile salts. Those findings have formed the basis for her highly original perspective on why Barrett’s esophagus develops in only a minority of GERD patients. Her laboratory also focuses on how GERD might contribute to carcinogenesis in Barrett’s esophagus. Most recently, she has shown that gastroesophageal reflux elicits an immune-mediated injury (rather than a caustic chemical injury) as the initial pathogenetic event in reflux esophagitis, a finding that challenges long-held views on the development of that condition. In partnership with Dr. Stuart Jon Spechler, Dr. Souza combines traditional in vitro approaches to the study of disease with a novel, in vivo, translational approach involving perfusion of the human esophagus with acid or bile salts during endoscopic examination. As a result, Dr. Souza’s work has had substantial impact on the clinical management of patients with GERD and Barrett’s esophagus.
Stuart Jon Spechler, M.D. is Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Co-Director of the Center for Esophageal Diseases at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Co-Director of the Center for Esophageal Research at the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, and Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China. Prior to joining Baylor University Medical Center in January 2017, Dr. Spechler was the Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology for the VA North Texas Healthcare System, Professor of Medicine, and holder of the Berta M. and Cecil O. Patterson Chair in Gastroenterology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and he had been the Director of the Center for Swallowing Disorders at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Spechler's research has focused primarily on disorders of the esophagus, especially GERD and its complications, eosinophilic esophagitis, and esophageal motility disorders. He has chaired three VA Cooperative Studies on medical and surgical treatments for gastroesophageal reflux disease. He described the condition known as "short-segment Barrett's esophagus" in 1994. Dr. Spechler has published more than 400 scientific reports, editorials, review articles, and book chapters on esophageal disorders. He is best known for his work in the areas of GERD, Barrett's esophagus, eosinophilic esophagitis, and esophageal motility disorders.
Arvind J. Trindade is the VP GI Clinical Operations, Professor of Medicine at Rutgers Health. Formerly the director of endoscopy at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and an associate professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. He is a national leader in clinical care and clinical research in Barrett’s esophagus. Dr. Trindade received his medical degree from Rutgers University-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 2006, and completed both his residency in internal medicine and gastroenterology fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital. He subsequently completed his advanced endoscopy fellowship at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Dr. Trindade's research focuses on gastrointestinal endoscopy. He is particularly interested in studying Barrett's esophagus, the precursor to esophageal cancer. Dr. Trindade has performed clinical research in advanced imaging techniques looking for irregular areas in Barrett's, called dysplasia. He also performed research in ablation (eradicating unwanted tissue) techniques in Barrett's. Dr. Trindade is also involved in trials aiming to examine noninvasive ways of screening for Barrett's esophagus.
Sachin Wani, MD, FASGE
Dr. Wani is the Katy O and Paul M Rady Endowed Chair in Esophageal Cancer Research and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus specializing in esophageal diseases and therapeutic endoscopy. He has a long-standing research focus in the field of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma. Over the past 10 years, he has developed a successful track record of: a) conducting epidemiologic studies that have defined the natural history of Barrett’s esophagus and Barrett’s associated dysplasia, b) conducting studies that demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of endoscopic eradication therapies for management of Barrett’s esophagus related dysplasia and esophageal adenocarcinoma, c) developing novel quality indicators and outcome metrics for endoscopic eradication therapies in Barrett’s esophagus developed by the Treatment with Resection and Endoscopic Ablation Techniques for Barrett’s esophagus (TREAT-BE) Consortium, d) conducting studies to improve the effectiveness of current screening and surveillance strategies using devices such as the Cytosponge and advanced imaging techniques, and e) authoring national GI society guidelines on endoscopic eradication therapy for Barrett’s related neoplasia patients (American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy - ASGE), Barrett’s esophagus with low-grade dysplasia (American Gastroenterological Association – AGA) and screening and surveillance in Barrett’s esophagus (ASGE). All of these studies utilize resources of not only local expertise but international multidisciplinary collaborations that foster rapid and meaningful outcomes to improve care of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma patients. Administrative experience: Dr. Wani established and serves as the Executive Director of the Katy O and Paul M Rady Esophageal and Gastric Center of Excellence at the University of Colorado. The Esophageal and Gastric Multidisciplinary Clinic at the University of Colorado Cancer Center has evaluated >1000 patients with esophageal and gastric premalignant and malignant conditions. This infrastructure has served as the backbone for several of his research programs. Dr. Wani has established a number of productive collaborations including the TREAT-BE consortium and engagement with the co-investigators that will foster engagement in this grant. He continues to serve on several national committees and recently chaired the ASGE Standards of Practice (Guidelines Committee) and served the ACG Research Committee and the AGA CGIT and Research Committee. He was also recognized as a Future Leader in Gastroenterology by the AGA.
His research has been published in several high impact journals such as Gastroenterology, Gut, American Journal of Gastroenterology and Cancer and presented at national (Digestive Disease Week) and international GI meetings. He was honored to receive the University Of Colorado Department of Medicine Outstanding Early Scholars Award and in addition has received funding from national GI societies (AGA Research Scholar Award, ASGE Endoscopy Research Award and ACG Clinical Research Award). He has a track record of working with the NIDDK (U01DK104833 – SVI and ACT-ERCP) and NCI (MDA2013-02-02).
He serves as the Principal Investigator of the SURVENT Trial funded by the NIDDK (U34 DK124174 and U01DK129191) and the SWAT-BE Trial.