Vindell Washington, MD, MS

Tracy L. Bale, PhD is the Anschutz Foundation Endowed Chair in Women’s Integrated Mental and Physical Health and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. A neuroscientist and translational innovator, Dr. Bale is pioneering extracellular vesicle (EV) proteomics platforms to enable predictive diagnostics and precision therapeutics in psychiatry, an area with significant unmet clinical and commercial opportunity. Her work focuses on building scalable biomarker technologies capable of predicting treatment response and disease risk, advancing the development of next-generation precision medicine tools for mental health. Dr. Bale is Immediate Past President of the International Brain Research Organization, a global network representing more than 90K neuroscientists, and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, reflecting both scientific leadership and global impact in neuroscience innovation. Her work has been recognized by the Medtronic Award and the Daniel H. Efron Award.

Gali Baler joined the CU Anschutz Innovations office in 2016 and serves as the “operational octopus” behind the $110M CU Healthcare Innovation Funds, the Healthcare Innovation & Entrepreneurship (HIE) Initiative, and numerous grant funding programs. His work spans the intersection of external innovation partnership opportunities and the development of internal ventures that have collectively raised over $200M in institutional capital. Previously, Gali was an innovation fellow at Northwestern University’s Innovation and New Ventures Office where he invented technology for monitoring and tracking dermatological diseases. He was also the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Sintact Medical Systems and Assistant Director of Venture Capital Analytics with the Rockies Venture Club. Gali has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, a Bachelors in Materials Science Engineering from Cornell University, and a certificate in Management for Engineers and Scientists from the Kellogg School of Management.

Dr. Borges is a Professor of Medicine with Tenure at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and holds the Robert F. and Patricia Young-Connor endowed Chair in Young Women’s Breast Cancer Research. Dr. Borges is the Deputy-Head of the Division of Medical Oncology, the Co-Director of the Dianne O'Connor breast Cancer, Co-Director for the Breast Cancer Research Program and the Director for the Young Women’s Breast Cancer Translational Program. Dr. Borges's lab focuses on the biology of Young Women’s breast cancer, the interactions between breast cancer and pregnancy, and novel drug development. She is also the Chief Medical Officer for Pearl Scientific, aiming to bring a CU-based discovery to the clinic.

Sam Budoff is a computational neuroscientist specializing in interdisciplinary approaches spanning statistics, machine learning, and experimental biology. He completed his Ph.D. in the Poleg-Polsky Lab at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus where he mapped all retinal ganglion cell subtypes’ spatial distributions—a challenge that had remained only 25% solved over 30 years. Earlier in his career: he was the 13th employee of Modern Meadow, where he built the biochemical analytics department from scratch; co-founded BaconBio, where he led the team to secure a cell-culture focused patent and develop an MVP; and has earned master’s degrees in both Neuroengineering and Applied Statistics. He is now the CEO of Parley Neurotech where he aims to commercialize breakthrough treatments for hearing loss, to help people avoid cognitive decline.

Allison G. Dempsey is a clinical psychologist and health systems innovator specializing in perinatal and infant mental health, with expertise in technology‑enabled service delivery. She is a Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz, where she serves as the Department of Psychiatry’s Director of Informatics and Technology and a senior leader within the Behavioral Health Innovation Center (BBICen). Within BBICen, Dr. Dempsey leads a multidisciplinary team and a broad portfolio of digital health and industry partnership initiatives spanning behavioral health innovation. Her individual programs of work focus on scalable solutions for pregnant, postpartum, and NICU populations, integrating screening, risk‑responsive triage, and human‑guided digital interventions into real‑world OB and pediatric care settings. Her portfolio spans NIH‑funded research, implementation, and commercialization, with a focus on safety, feasibility, and outcomes. She is the recipient of the 2022 American Psychological Association National Award for Clinical Excellence in Health Psychology.

Transforming healthcare in Colorado and around the world for children as an executive healthcare leader, serial entrepreneur and internationally recognized pediatric pulmonologist is Dr. Robin Deterding's vision. She’s an entrepreneur who has founded three startups, EvoEndo, Earables & Now Vitals, advised organizations and co-created devices and products. Dr. Deterding believes innovation is a mindset and bringing clinical system insights and patient needs to a rapidly evolving healthcare environment is essential for true success. Her goal is to lead and inspire teams of talented diverse people to create a better future through innovation, research, advocacy, education and exceptional clinical care. She provides executive leadership coaching to also accomplish these goals.

Chancellor of CU Anschutz since 2012, Don Elliman boasts a successful track record in business and a high-quality reputation in higher education. A publishing executive at Time Warner for 32 years, Elliman was publisher of People Magazine and president of Sports Illustrated before retiring as an executive vice president of Time Inc. Elliman served four years as CEO of Ascent Sports and then Kroenke Sports Enterprises, overseeing the Pepsi Center, the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche. He then served four years in Colorado state government under Gov. Bill Ritter, as executive director of the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, and then as chief operating officer for Colorado. Following the Governor’s office, Elliman served as executive director of the CU Anschutz School of Medicine’s Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine, now Gates Institute.

Neill Epperson, MD, the Robert Freedman Endowed Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Anschutz, is an internationally recognized physician‑scientist whose work has transformed the field of reproductive psychiatry. Her research has redefined our understanding of the complex interactions between childhood adversity, gonadal hormones, and brain function, and shaped new models for understanding women’s mental health across the entire reproductive lifespan. As Chair, Dr. Epperson leads major initiatives in neuropsychopharmacology, technology, and care redesign. Her longstanding collaboration with Dr. Tracy Bale has the potential to change the landscape of psychiatric treatment by predicting clinical responses to treatments and identifying new targets for drug development. Dr. Epperson’s leadership and impact on the field are reflected in her election to the National Academy of Medicine and the Association of American Physicians. 

Jerome is Co-founder and CEO of Think Bioscience, a Boulder-based biotechnology company that uses synthetic biology to develop small-molecule drugs for historically challenging targets. The company is advancing an internal pipeline, which includes programs in rare disease and cancer. Jerome is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at CU Boulder, where his group explores the biophysical relationships and logic structures that allow biocatalytic networks to control complex cellular behaviors (e.g., metabolism, signal processing, and adaptation). For his research in applied biocatalysis, he has received an NSF CAREER Award, an ARO Young Investigator Award, an NIH MIRA, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Jerome holds a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley. He completed his post-doctoral training at Harvard.

Gates Institute Executive Director Terry Fry, MD, is a professor of pediatrics, hematology and immunology. He is holds the Charles C. Gates Endowed Chair in Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Fry previously served as head of T Cell Therapeutics at Seattle-based Sana Biotechnology. He arrived at CU Anschutz in 2018 after serving as head of the Hematologic Malignancies Section in the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he led efforts in cellular immunotherapy for pediatric leukemia. Prior to the NIH, Dr. Fry was Chief of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on the preclinical and clinical development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells for pediatric cancers. He serves on the Committee for Scientific Affairs for the American Society of Hematology, is vice chair for biology in the Cellular Therapy Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group, and was elected into the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians.

Jon Gasson is the Chief Executive Officer of CereVu Medical, where he leads the development of a patient monitoring system designed to measure key vital signs, including pain and dyspnea (air hunger). He is also the founder of PreView Medical, a company focused on prostate cancer detection and therapy planning. In addition, Jon serves as a consultant to private and public companies, venture capital firms, and universities, advising on business strategy, fundraising, product development, technology assessment, commercialization, marketing, and business development. He brings extensive leadership experience across both venture-backed startups and large public companies. Jon was the first employee and President of Invuity, Inc., a minimally invasive surgery company backed by Kleiner Perkins, InterWest Partners, and private investors, which was later acquired by Stryker. Earlier in his career, he held a variety of business development, marketing, and sales roles at Guidant, Advanced Vascular Engineering (AVE), and Medtronic. Jon currently serves on the boards of CereVu Medical, PreView Medical, and TopgeniX, Inc. He holds a BA in Finance from the University of Florida and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Dr. Michael Holers is the Smyth Professor of Rheumatology and Director of Faculty Ventures at CU Innovations, where he serves as a contact and liaison for faculty and trainees interested in moving their discoveries into a pathway that will potentially lead to patient impact. In that role, he works individually and at the organizational level to advance innovative ideas. Dr. Holers is a highly recognized academic physician scientist at the Anschutz Medical Campus (AMC). In addition to his many academic roles, he has over two decades of experience in technology transfer and commercialization. In those areas, Dr. Holers has co-founded four companies in which discoveries in his own and his collaborators’ laboratories were further developed and evaluated in real world settings, including two therapeutics programs that have reached human clinical trials. He was named in 2004 Inventor of the Year for the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. Prior to joining CU Innovations for his current position, Dr. Holers was the Division Head of Rheumatology at the AMC and over 21 years built a world class group of clinicians, researchers and educators. His research has historically and continues to be focused on the role of the complement system, a key component of innate immunity, in the immune response and as a causal role in tissue damage in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. In addition, he co-founded in 2001 SERA [Studies of the Etiologies of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)], a collaborative group of scientists focused on determining how individuals develop RA and identifying novel pathways for treatment and disease prevention. From research performed under the SERA umbrella, which are increasingly utilizing multi-omics and advanced computational approaches, a number of new therapeutic strategies have been developed and are being evaluated. In recognition of his work, Dr. Holers has given many named lectureships, is a member of ASCI and AAP, was given the singular 2008 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Basic Research Award, and received the singular 2024 ACR Presidential Gold Medal. He has undertaken many leadership roles within the ACR and recently served as President of the ACR Rheumatology Research Foundation, which is focused on supporting training and research through grants to individuals working in the fields of rheumatology and autoimmunity.

Anna Jeter is a biotechnology entrepreneur and strategic leader focused on advancing the future of diagnostics in women’s health. As Chief Regulatory Officer and Co-Founder of AOA Dx, she helps lead the development of next-generation diagnostic technologies that integrate multi-omic lipid and protein signatures with artificial intelligence to enable earlier detection of ovarian cancer—one of the most challenging diseases to diagnose in medicine. Anna is recognized for her ability to translate complex scientific innovation into scalable healthcare solutions. At AOA Dx, she plays a key role in shaping the company’s clinical, regulatory, and commercialization strategy as it advances new approaches to cancer detection. She was named to Inc. Magazine’s 2022 Female Founders 100 List and has built a global track record of bringing innovative diagnostics to market. Over the course of her career, she has led teams launching women’s health diagnostics across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia, and has helped drive the inclusion of new technologies into national and pan-European clinical guidelines. Anna is also the author of “Follow the Exits,” a report analyzing exit trends in healthcare and biotechnology and their implications for the future of innovation.

Malik Y. Kahook, MD is Professor of Ophthalmology and The Slater Family Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is Vice Chair of Translational Research and serves as chief of the glaucoma service and co-director of the glaucoma fellowship at the University of Colorado Eye Center. Dr. Kahook has authored over 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and book chapters, and is editor of Essentials of Glaucoma Surgery, MIGS: Advances in Glaucoma Surgery, the free online wiki www.keogt.com and the seminal textbook of glaucoma Chandler and Grant’s Glaucoma. He was named New Inventor of the Year for the University of Colorado in 2009 and Inventor of the Year for 2010. Dr. Kahook has also received the American Glaucoma Society Innovator Award (2020), the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award in 2011, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Senior Achievement Award in 2017, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Secretariat Award (2014), the Ludwig Von Sallmann Clinician-Scientist Award (ARVO) in 2013 and was ranked second on the 40 under 40 Ophthalmology Power List (2015). He was named to the top ten list of The Ophthalmologist Power 100 List in 2020 and has been on the list every year since inception. Dr. Kahook has filed for over 150 patents, with over 50 granted patents licensed by companies including New World Medical, Alcon, Aurea Medical, and SpyGlass Pharma for development and commercialization. SpyGlass Pharma, spun out from the Sue Anschutz Rodgers Eye Center, is now publicly traded (NASDAQ:SGP). Several of his devices are currently in human trials or available globally for clinical use including the Kahook Dual Blade from New World Medical and the Harmoni modular intraocular lens system from ClarVista Medical which was acquired by Alcon. His inventions have raised over $500 million for development and commercialization since 2008 and have been used to treat hundreds of thousands of patients globally since 2012. Dr. Kahook is Vice Chair of Orbis International’s Board of Directors and Chairs the Orbis Medical Advisory Committee. He is a consultant to the Food and Drug Administration’s Ophthalmic Device Division.

Achim Klug is a tenured professor with more than 25 years of experience in the auditory brain stem and sound localization circuit. He has >70 peer-reviewed studies of this circuit using a number of electrophysiological techniques, pharmacologic & optogenetic manipulations, and combines these with behavior and histological analysis. He also holds several patents from his 12 years of experience commercializing neuroscientific tools with his first company, PopNeuron. His deep scientific expertise led to the invention of Parley Neurotech's core IP and the therapy we are commercializing.

With over 30 years of experience, Sharon’s extensive entrepreneurial background and strong operational experience provides a comprehensive skill set to successfully lead businesses and projects. She has been a member on the founding team of over 15 MedTech start-ups with 6 acquisitions to date. Over the course of her career, Sharon has served as CEO, and executive in Business Development, Marketing, Operations, and R&D. For 8 years she was an executive at InCube Labs, a medical device incubator, and has held positions in engineering, marketing and operations at Guidant and Medtronic. Sharon contributed intellectual property to several start- ups and holds multiple granted and pending patents.

Jordan Masanoff is a seasoned life science leader and strategic advisor who specializes in guiding therapies from scientific concept through development to commercialization. He has led integrated, end‑to‑end strategy across drug development, new product planning, and commercial execution. He has significant deal making experience and has driven corporate strategy, M&A, and licensing efforts for programs from pre‑clinical through commercial stages. His expertise spans rare diseases and specialty markets across modalities including small molecules, biologics, gene therapy, and platform technologies. Jordan currently serves as the Executive Director of Business Development and Strategy at Amicus Therapeutics, and has worked across biotech, pharma, and academic tech transfer, including Daiichi Sankyo, Stryker, and Duke University’s Office of Licensing and Ventures. He is driven by a mission to ensure innovative therapies reach the patients who need them most.

Kimberly Muller is Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Partnerships and Executive Director of CU Anschutz Innovations, where she leads innovation and commercialization across CU Anschutz. Her responsibilities include investing, company creation, innovation management, licensing, and strategic partnerships in AI and drug development. She oversees funds including an innovation grant fund and a $110 million venture fund. Before joining the University of Colorado, Kimberly served at Yale University as Deputy Director of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute and led New Ventures in the Office of Cooperative Research. During her tenure, Yale launched more than 70 startups that collectively raised over $5 billion in investment capital. Earlier in her career, Kimberly founded and exited biotech, technology, and clean energy companies, including Curagen Corporation (acquired by Celldex Therapeutics), 454 Life Sciences (acquired by Roche), and Arbor Fuel. She holds a graduate degree in Genetics and a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Josh Nickols is an entrepreneur, scientist, and mentor whose work spans medical devices, therapeutics, and diagnostics. He has led cross-functional teams across product development, clinical strategy, commercialization, and fundraising for companies including Biomimetic Therapeutics, InvisionHeart Inc., Insight Genetics, XII Medical, Sero Pharmaceuticals, and Sensa Neuroscience. He is driven by translating novel discoveries and scientific insights into practical advances for the treatment of human disease. His leadership frequently includes product strategy, development planning, commercial execution, sales leadership, and capital formation. Josh holds a PhD in Neuroscience and an MBA from Vanderbilt University.

Judy Regensteiner, PhD, is the Director of the Ludeman Family Center for Women’s Health Research and Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Divisions of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She holds the Judith & Joseph Wagner Chair in Women’s Health Research. Dr. Regensteiner’s research expertise is in the cardiovascular effects of diabetes with a specific focus on women with type 2 diabetes since they appear to have more significant cardiovascular health issues than men with diabetes. Her lab has been funded for over 30 years and she has authored more than 200 research publications. She is also known for her research on peripheral arterial disease. Dr. Regensteiner is currently Principal Investigator for the National Institutes of Health’s Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) grant and a R01 on cardiovascular consequences of type 2 diabetes. As co-founder and Director of the Ludeman Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Dr. Regensteiner leads an interdisciplinary team of researchers who focus on women’s health and sex differences research.

Elizabeth Reynolds, MBA, is the Founder and CEO of the Women’s Health Innovation Hub (wHub), a platform dedicated to accelerating women’s health innovation and closing historic gaps in research, funding, and industry engagement. Drawing on leadership roles across digital health, medical devices, and venture‑backed startups, she blends strategy, finance, and organizational development to help early‑stage ventures move from concept to scale. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Elizabeth is focused on building cross‑sector partnerships and ecosystems that prioritize inclusive, scalable solutions in women’s health.

Praful Shah is an angel investor who has invested in 85 start-up companies, including several healthcare companies. He has been a mentor, an advisor, or on the Board of several organizations. Currently he is on the board of a healthcare company, PharmaJet, and a non-profit organization, Alliance Center. He spent over thirty years as a scientist and an executive in the Research and Development departments of the pharmaceutical and the biotechnology companies. His educational background includes a B.S. in Chemistry, an MBA in Finance, and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics.

Dr. Taub is a serial entrepreneur who has spearheaded several transformations in science and medicine. He founded Digene, the company that introduced DNA testing to diagnosis and prevent cancer by detecting HPV. Cervical cancer is now rare in screened populations. He drove the first drug that (indirectly) modulates immune checkpoints and myeloid derived immune suppression into clinical trials. Immune modulation has revolutionized cancer therapy. He has been CEO, or in the head scientific positions a number of private companies and a public company. He was the Biomedical Lead for a boutique investment bank I Denver. He trained at Northwestern University (M.D.), University of Colorado (Pathology Residency), George Washington University (Pathology Fellowship) and spent a decade at NIH. He has been a evaluator and mentor for CU Innovations since the beginning of the SPARK program and is now CEO of aiGENE.

Rhonda Wallen is an Independent Board Director and Advisor to life science companies, leveraging her 25 years of experience to help founders and CEOs set strategy, navigate financings and plan for growth. She is currently the founding CEO of a clinical stage biotech company (stealth) and was most recently Chief Strategy Officer / EVP of Caresyntax, a VC backed provider of a digital analytics platform for the surgical suite. Prior to this Ms. Wallen was Head of Global Corporate Development at Terumo BCT, the $1 billion biomedical division of Terumo Corporation, a multinational leader in medical technology. In this role, she successfully developed two new lines of business, and led the cross-functional evaluation and negotiation of multiple strategic transactions for blood and cell therapy technologies including the largest deal in the division’s history. Prior to joining Terumo, she served as Chief Operating Officer for Andarix Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage oncology therapeutics company, Advisor and Director, Strategic Marketing for Biodesix (oncology diagnostics) and founding CEO of Caveo Therapeutics, an early stage biotech (CU spinout) for which she raised seed capital, launched a reagent product line and progressed preclinical candidates towards the clinic. Ms. Wallen was formerly an investment professional with Sequel Venture Partners, a venture fund with > $400M under management. An experienced board Director, Ms. Wallen has served on public and private corporate boards and numerous Advisory boards including EKSO Bionics, A28 Therapeutics, Gigantest, and New West Genetics. Ms. Wallen holds a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University, a Master of Science in Microbiology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Rochester Simon School of Business.

Vindell Washington, MD, MS, is the Chief Clinical Officer and Head of Health Equity Center of Excellence at Verily. Dr. Washington provides clinical leadership across Verily’s research and care product suites and currently leads the company’s Center of Excellence for Health Equity. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Onduo, Verily’s virtual care solution for chronic condition management. Prior to Verily, he was Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana where he oversaw network operations and contracting, medical policy and quality, disease management and pharmacy benefits. Dr. Washington also served as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), where he provided high-level executive direction and leadership for ONC programs, operations and policies. He also served in several capacities at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System including, President of the Health System Medical Group, Chief Medical Information Officer and leader of health system quality and information technology. Dr. Washington received his MD from the University of Virginia and his MS in healthcare management from the Harvard University School of Public Health.

Heiko Yang is a surgeon scientist specializing in urology and kidney disease. He is a practicing endourologist and leads an NIH-funded translational laboratory at CU Anschutz. His work uses normothermic ex vivo kidney perfusion technology and a porcine autotransplantation model to develop kidney-directed therapeutics. He recently discovered a novel way to systematically deliver gene therapy vectors directly to the nephron. As the founder of RetroNephrix, he now aims to commercialize this technology to help treat genetic and acquired diseases of the kidney.