Dr. Jeffrey Roh serves as the Chief Executive Officer of IntuitiveX. He has over 20 years of experience as an inventor, angel investor, and serial entrepreneur, and holds multiple patents through the USPTO. After having his minimally invasive IP acquired by Stryker in 2009, Jeff was instrumental in the development of ES2, one of Stryker’s most commercially successful minimally invasive spine systems, as well as their marquee lateral access platform, ARIA, and helped Stryker generate over $350M in revenue over a seven-year period. His experience as a serial entrepreneur includes the successful launch, scalable growth, and ultimate acquisition of Advanced Biologics’ OsteoAmp platform to Bioventus (BVS) in 2014. Dr. Roh shares his expertise during his keynote presentation, ‘From Brainstorm to Breakthrough: The Spine Surgeon’s Playbook for Building Scalable Innovation,’ on Thursday, June 11 at 3:30 p.m.
Marc Viscogliosi is the co-founder of Viscogliosi Brothers, LLC (VB) and is an experienced CEO, Venture & Private Equity Investor and Company/Industry Creator with a proven track record of success in the medical technology industry. He has completed over $1 billion in equity and debt capital raises at all levels of a company’s lifecycle, while generating over $2.7 billion in exit value proceeds for investor-partners and stakeholders. With over two dozen issued medical device patents, several FDA PMA Approvals and leading products through the AMA CPT Coding and Payer Coverage Policy development processes, Marc has consistently shepherded start-ups into high-growth, high-performance organizations. VB recently acquired the U.S. spinal implant business of Stryker, a global leader in medical technologies.
Dr. Lieberman is a renowned spine surgeon and pioneer in robotic spine surgery, who practices at the Texas Back Institute. Dr. Lieberman has a long successful history as a physician entrepreneur, early product adopter, MedTech innovator, and clinician researcher. He serves on a variety of Scientific Advisory Boards for prominent medical device manufacturers. In 2005, he founded the implant development company, Merlot OrthopediX, and in 2017 he founded a second medical device company, AGADA Medical Technologies.
Jeffrey Zigler is the Vice President, Market Access and Reimbursement of SI Bone with a demonstrated history of success in market-shaping activities for numerous medical device and procedure types. He is skilled in U.S. commercial payer advocacy, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data analysis and reimbursement strategy development. He is also experienced in clinical trial reimbursement, as well as award-winning health economics outcomes research. Jeff also volunteers as a Reimbursement Advisor with the University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School Texas Health Catalyst program, helping inventors and entrepreneurs to understand the realities of current medical device markets.
Dr. Fehlings is currently a Professor of Neurosurgery and Vice Chair Research in the Department of Surgery at Toronto Western Hospital, full member of the Institute of Medical Sciences School of Graduate Studies, a Scholar in the McLaughlin Centre of Molecular Medicine, a Scientist in the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, a Senior Scientist at the Krembil Research Institute, Co-Director of the University of Toronto Spine Program, Head of the Spinal Program at the Toronto Western Hospital, and Gerry and Tootsie Halbert Chair in Neural Repair and Regeneration. He has published over 900 peer-reviewed articles chiefly in the area of spinal cord injury and complex spinal surgery and has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Gold Medal in Surgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (1996), nomination to the Who's Who list of the 1000 most influential scientists of the 21st century (2001).
Alyssa Huffman is the CEO and founder of Allumin8, a company pioneering a new era of surgical implants with Therapeutic Hardware™. Huffman is an award-winning MedTech entrepreneur, inventor, & thought leader and has consulted with start-ups, small device companies, and private equity groups and has extensive experience on how to start, fund and develop a start-up organization. Huffman will share her knowledge on overcoming challenges, the value of networking and how these connections will open doors, offer insights, and provide support for innovators securing funding, navigating regulatory hurdles, or finding their first customers.
Cary Hagen is the Co-Founder of Blu-Pointe Med Tech Advisors and former President & CEO of Intrinsic Therapeutics, Inc. with 36 years in the Medical Technology space. Hagen advises Founders and Investors on a wide range of topics, including Market Assessment, Go-to-Market Strategies, Design Team Development, Reimbursement and Regulatory Strategies, Due Diligence, Annual Operating Plans, Crisis Management, etc. Hagen created Blu-Pointe Med Tech Advisors to help companies succeed in a complex, highly-regulated medical device business.
Christopher Kauffman is a Nashville area orthopedic spine surgeon in private practice, Hughston Clinic Orthopaedics. Prior to that, Dr. Kauffman was in full time academic practice at UCSD. His experience in both the academic and private sectors give a solid foundation on understanding the clinical and practice management aspects of a surgical practice. Dr Kauffman is currently NASS’ Administration Council Chair. Dr. Kauffman has previously volunteered for NASS for many years on the Coding, Payor Policy and Coverage committees and has previously served as Health Policy Director. He has been involved with all aspects of NASS efforts regarding health policy as it relates to spine care and has represented NASS to CMS, AMA and multiple payors. Dr. Kauffman is also the NASS representative at the AAOS Coding, Coverage and Reimbursement Committee.
Zoher Ghogawala is a prominent neurosurgeon and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, MA. As a Harvard-trained expert and Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, his work focuses on cervical/lumbar spondylotic myelopathy and comparative effectiveness research to improve patient outcomes. He is a recognized leader, having served as President of the North American Spine Society (NASS) in 2023.
Dr. Westergan is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with experience in both academic and community settings and is currently medical director at Hinge Health. His background as a physician executive includes leadership positions with health plans, multispecialty and single-specialty physician group practices, physician hospital organizations, independent practice associations, hospital administrations, hospital medical staffs, healthcare employer coalitions, and professional organizations such as the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American Medical Association. He has also led a CMS deeming authority for the accreditation of advanced imaging facilities and credentialing of home health care facilities and physicians. As a consultant to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Dr. Westergan assisted in the development of OIG advisory opinions regarding various gain-sharing arrangements of Medicare beneficiaries.
Timothy Liesching is the vice president and chief medical officer (CMO) at BayCare Medical Group in Tampa Bay, Florida with more than 20 years of experience as an expert in pulmonary and critical care medicine. Dr. Liesching was also Lahey Hospital & Medical Center’s chief medical officer, where he led a staff of 600 physicians and advanced practice providers with documented success in hospital management, academic partnership and expansion of patient access. Dr. Liesching’s host of versatile expertise and servant leadership includes health system integration, leadership development and medical education, quality and safety improvement initiatives, and strategic planning and execution.
Andrea Davis is the Managing Director for Bodkin IP and is an accomplished intellectual property (IP) professional with expertise in medical devices and the mechanical sector. One of the first and few QPIPs in the world (Qualified Patent Information Professional). A US-based, registered patent agent with a M.Sc. degree in Engineering Physics, Andrea's extensive experience in in-house and outside patent research firms has shaped an understanding of patent process requirements and the importance of quality in patent research. She is actively involved in Patent Information Users Group (PIUG), is a cofounder of the Patent Olympiad and is a reviewer for the Elsevier Journal "World Patent Information". Andrea's expertise is sought by database providers to develop the next generation of tools and analytics with an eye towards accuracy.