About Us

Mike is a general partner at Lightstone Ventures, where he focuses on investments in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. Earlier in his career, Mike served as a director of business development for Inhale Therapeutic Systems (now Nektar Therapeutics), a venture-backed pulmonary drug delivery company, where he led partnering activities with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies internationally. Mike was also a principal at The Wilkerson Group and currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. Mike sat on the board of directors for the National Venture Capital Association and remains active in helping to shape policy affecting both innovation and healthcare. Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business.

Mark has been an operating partner of Lightstone Ventures since 2013, where he advises the medical device team with deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio company management. Mark is also a co-founder of The Foundry, LLC, the premier medical device company incubator that has founded and financed over twenty new medical device companies. Prior to that role, Mark served as a co-founder and consulting director of research and development for Ventrica, Inc. Previously, Mark was a senior member of the research and development team at Medtronic Micro Interventional Systems. He has spent over thirty years in the design, testing and manufacture of medical devices. Mark also serves in governance or advisory roles for several other medical device innovators, including as chairman for FIRE1, as a director for Half Moon Medical and as a board observer for Nuvaira and Shoulder Innovations. Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Boston University.

Tiffany is currently a Principal at NEA and invests in life sciences, with a focus on medtech, healthtech, and innovations that sit at the intersection of technology and medicine. She currently serves as a Board Director for Allay Therapeutics, FIRE1, Magenta Medical, and the ExploraMed incubator, and also works with Revelle Aesthetics, Moximed, Setpoint Medical, and Willow. She previously served on the Board of Relievant. Tiffany has had a decade-long career in healthcare investments and consulting, with prior roles at Kaiser Permanente Ventures and L.E.K. Consulting. She received a BA in Business Economic Theory from UCLA and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

J.C. is a Principal on NEA’s healthcare team, focused on life sciences investments—particularly in biopharma. Before joining NEA in 2020, J.C. led Global Search and Evaluation for Neuroscience, Ophthalmology, and Rare Diseases at Genentech and Roche. He received a BS in biological sciences from Stanford University, an MD from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from The Wharton School, where he was a Joseph Wharton Fellow.

Paul oversees Arboretum’s investment process and leads the firm’s operations. His portfolio investments focus on capital-efficient health IT and service companies applying technology to underserved markets. Paul currently serves as a board director for BioIQ,  VYDENCE Medical,  and Delphinus Medical and is the former Chief Operating Officer for CerviLenz (now Lucina), where he led the design of the company’s first commercial product from concept to launch. Prior to joining Arboretum, Paul worked at Ford Motor Company holding management positions within product development, manufacturing, and business strategy. He currently serves on the National Advisory Board for the Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation at the University of Michigan. Paul earned a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Leighton Reid, M.D. is a serial entrepreneur and investor who currently serves as a venture partner at Brandon Capital Partners, a global venture capital firm dedicated to biomedical research and capabilities. Leighton is the executive chairman of Global Kinetics Pty Ltd and also serves on the boards of EBR Systems, Glyscend Therapeutics and Okogen. Earlier in his career, Leighton founded and served as managing director and president of the pharma division of Affymax NV. He was also a founding investor, chairman and chief executive officer of Aviron and Avidia. Leighton completed internal medicine training at Duke and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, where he held appointments at the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Rice University and an M.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center.

Nicole is a venture partner at Arboretum Ventures and serves on the Allay board of directors. Nicole is a longtime biotech investor and company advisor with extensive experience in both public and private investing, as a Partner with Domain Associates, a venture capital firm focused in the life sciences sector. She joined Arboretum as a venture partner in 2023. Nicole currently serves on the board of Esperion Therapeutics and Hinge Bio Inc. Her past board memberships include numerous companies that have entered transactions, including Achillion Pharmaceuticals (Alexion), Calixa Therapeutics (Cubist Pharmaceuticals), Celator Pharmaceuticals (Jazz Pharmaceuticals), Cerexa (Forest Laboratories), Durata Therapeutics (Actavis), Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, and VentiRx Pharmaceuticals (Celgene). Nicole holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and MBA from the University of Rochester.

Christine Allen, Ph.D., is a full professor at the University of Toronto and an internationally recognized leader with more than 170 publications in drug formulation and development. She is a member of the Scientific Leadership Team of the Acceleration Consortium, a strategic initiative at the University of Toronto awarded $200M in funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. She has received numerous awards and is a distinguished fellow of prestigious societies including the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In addition, she is a co-founder and CEO of Intrepid Labs Inc., a company that is accelerating pharmaceutical drug development through integration of AI, automation and advanced computing. She is also a co-founder and board member at Nanovista Inc. Her lab at U of T is deeply engaged in industry partnerships, playing a key role in advancing drugs from early-stage research to clinical trials. Her leadership has been pivotal in several scientific societies, notably as President of the Controlled Release Society and the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences. In academia, her roles have included the inaugural Associate Vice-President and Vice Provost Strategic Initiatives and Interim Dean of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Dr. Allen’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) goes beyond words. In 2019, she founded the Women in STEAM: Leading and Reading book club to create a community that supports women as they advance in their education and careers. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from McGill University, and her Bachelor of Science from University of Ottawa.

Ron Burch, M.D., Ph.D., currently serves as Chief Medical Officer of Gate Neurosciences, a company developing products to treat psychiatric disorders. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Naurex, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel NMDA receptor modulators, and Pacira, an industry leader in non-opioid solutions for pain. Dr. Burch has served as Chairman of Zeneca Pharmaceuticals’ Global CNS Therapeutics Area Team; co-founder and CEO of AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals, a company that successfully developed a number of therapeutic agents for pain management; CEO of Sanguistat, a medical device company that developed devices that inhibited hemorrhage following serious wounds, CEO and Chairman of Biowave Corporation, a medical device company that successfully launched three neurostimulation products to treat chronic, intractable pain and postoperative pain; and Scientific Advisor of Collegium Pharmaceuticals. He also held various managerial positions with Purdue Pharma, including Vice President of Scientific Evaluations and Immunotherapeutics, Medical Director and Project Manager and Medical Safety Officer for several pain development programs. Dr. Burch was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, performing research involving neuroreceptor regulation with Nobel Laureate Dr. Julius Axelrod. Dr. Burch obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina. He holds bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and marine biology from the College of Charleston.

Joachim Kohn, Ph.D. is a distinguished professor emeritus at Rutgers University and the founder and principal investigator of the Kohn Lab, a laboratory dedicated to improving health care and quality of life by developing advanced biomedical products for tissue repair, replacement and the delivery of pharmaceutical agents. Dr. Kohn serves as the director of the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials and has been a principal investigator for numerous federally funded research and development programs. His research focuses on the development of new biomaterials, and he has won numerous awards and honors for his breakthrough studies. Dr. Kohn holds a bachelor’s degree from Hebrew University, a Ph.D. from Weizmann Institute, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in polymeric drug delivery systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Lous Lazo Radulovic, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an independent consultant who brings significant experience in pharmacokinetics/drug metabolism and toxicology. Previously, Dr Radulovic worked at Warner-Lamber/Parke-Davis and Pfizer for over 20 years, having held positions of increasing responsibility at both companies. He subsequently started a Michigan office for Fulcrum Pharma Developments, Inc, a multi-national drug development and regulatory consulting company. After leaving Fulcrum, Dr Radulovic founded two independent nonclinical consulting companies, Drug Development Preclinical Services, LLC and Innovative Pharma Consulting, LLC. His expertise spans medical devices, small molecules, and biologics across several therapeutic areas. Dr Radulovic has served on in-licensing/due diligence teams, conducted numerous gap analyses on nonclinical packages, and has extensive regulatory submission experience for CNS drugs and antihyperlipidemics. Dr Radulovic is a retired member of the Society of Toxicology and has served as a member of the editorial board of Drug Metabolism and Disposition. He was also an Adjunct Professor of Toxicology at The University of Michigan and is a graduate of the same institution.

Arthur Tipton, Ph.D., is an independent consultant that aids companies in developing the next generation of drug delivery products. He previously held leadership roles in three drug delivery start-ups and played a key role in each company’s path to a public offering. He was founder and chief executive officer of Brookwood Pharmaceuticals, now part of Evonik. Dr. Tipton holds 43 U.S. patents; his inventive efforts have led to several publications and multiple commercial products. He currently serves as a board member for five organizations and has previous experience on 12 additional boards. His resume also includes induction into the National Academy of Inventors, the College of Fellows for the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the Controlled Release Society, where he served as president in 2015. Most recently, Dr. Tipton was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021. He holds a Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts.

Sabry Ayad, M.D., is a Professor of Anesthesiology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, a fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and the President of the Cleveland Society of Anesthesiologists. In addition, Dr. Ayad is also a senior member of multiple medical societies and committees, such as the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA), Society of Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA), Society of Cardiovascular anesthesiologists (SCA), the Ohio Society of Anesthesiologists (OSA) and the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). He has published multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts focused on enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS), AI and perioperative outcomes, and investigating topics related to postoperative nausea and vomiting, pain management, fluid and hemodynamic management, and anesthetic pharmacology. In 2016, Dr. Ayad was named Fairview Hospital Cleveland Clinic’s Physician of the Year and Safety Champion by the Cleveland Clinic Quality Institute. He earned his M.D. from Alexandria University, M.B.A. from Cleveland State University.

Ron Burch, M.D., Ph.D., currently serves as Chief Medical Officer of Gate Neurosciences, a company developing products to treat psychiatric disorders. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Naurex, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel NMDA receptor modulators, and Pacira, an industry leader in non-opioid solutions for pain. Dr. Burch has served as Chairman of Zeneca Pharmaceuticals’ Global CNS Therapeutics Area Team; co-founder and CEO of AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals, a company that successfully developed a number of therapeutic agents for pain management; CEO of Sanguistat, a medical device company that developed devices that inhibited hemorrhage following serious wounds, CEO and Chairman of Biowave Corporation, a medical device company that successfully launched three neurostimulation products to treat chronic, intractable pain and postoperative pain; and Scientific Advisor of Collegium Pharmaceuticals. He also held various managerial positions with Purdue Pharma, including Vice President of Scientific Evaluations and Immunotherapeutics, Medical Director and Project Manager and Medical Safety Officer for several pain development programs. Dr. Burch was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, performing research involving neuroreceptor regulation with Nobel Laureate Dr. Julius Axelrod. Dr. Burch obtained a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina. He holds bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and marine biology from the College of Charleston.

David Dalury, M.D., is an Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in total knee replacement, partial knee replacement and total hip replacement. He is a Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery (Emeritus) at the University of Maryland Medicine and has been Chief of Orthopedics at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. He is an active member of The Knee Society, the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, among other medical associations. His work has been published extensively in peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Dalury is a graduate of Dartmouth Medical School, and he completed his residency and Fellowship in Total Joint Replacement at the Harvard-affiliated hospitals.

Hemant Pandit, FRCS (Orth), D.Phil (Oxon) is a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at University of Leeds and at University of Oxford, UK, and currently practices at Chapel Allerton Hospital, C/O Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in the UK. Hemant has a high-volume hip and knee arthroplasty practice and is also a clinical academic. In addition, he holds the post of Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Medicine and Health C/O University of Leeds and is Head of School (Leeds Institute of Rheumatic Musculoskeletal Medicine). Dr. Pandit has published 400+ peer-reviewed articles, written 50+ book chapters and leads a multi-disciplinary team of 20+ colleagues. His research interest is focused on translational research across the entire osteoarthritis spectrum aimed at improving patient outcomes and optimizing their management pathways. Hemant’s work on pain relief post knee arthroplasty is well recognized. Hemant is a NIHR Senior Investigator, an elected member of the American Knee Society and European Knee Society and is an MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) advisor.

Christine Sang, MD, MPH, FASA is an Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, specializing in both pediatric and adult anesthesiology and acute and chronic pain management. She is the founding director of the Translational Pain Research program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which conducts Phases 1a (First-in-Human), 1b/2a (proof-of-concept) and 2b/3 analgesic clinical trials in a variety of pain states and in neurodegeneration. Dr. Sang continues to serve on numerous boards and committees for her institution, leading medical societies, government agencies, publications, nonprofit organizations, and patient advocacy. She is the founding chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee at United Spinal Association, and served on the board of Praxis Spinal Cord Institute where she was chair of the governance committee. She serves the Department of Health and Human Services as a scientific member of the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee. Dr. Sang obtained her M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and her M.P.H. from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.