WMIC Imaging Shark Tank Competition
Meet the WMIC Sharks
Jack Hoppin, PhD
Co-founder and CEO, Invicro
Jack Hoppin, Ph.D., is the CEO and Co-Founder of Invicro, a global provider of imaging and pathology research software and services in pharmaceutical development. Dr. Hoppin co-founded Invicro in his apartment with Dr. Christian Lackas, Janna Murgia and Dr. Jacob Hesterman in late 2008. Invicro has grown its team to 350+ employees, including over 200 research scientists comprised of more than 70 MDs and/or PhDs; currently supporting more than 350 pre-clinical and clinical imaging research trials. Dr. Hoppin holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona and served as an Alexander von Humboldt post-doctoral fellow in Germany at the Research Center Jülich. Dr. Hoppin’s efforts in industry started as part of the team that developed and commercialized the NanoSPECT/CT imaging system serving as a product manager and later VP of Imaging Systems at Bioscan.
Relevant to WMIC Shark Tank: Dr. Hoppin has led the efforts to purchase five companies while running Invicro and in 2017, he and his fellow shareholders sold a majority of Invicro to Konica Minolta with the goal of developing KM’s digital pathology technology in the pharmaceutical research market. In addition to serving as the CEO of Invicro, Dr. Hoppin is an angel investor, a co-Founder of Emit Imaging, MedChem Imaging and TomoPath. He serves on multiple boards in said capacity.
Damian Lamb
Co-founder and Managing Director, Genesys Capital
Mr. Lamb is co-Founder and Managing Director of Genesys Capital. He brings a unique experience base, blending skills in both the commercial and technical side of biotechnology. Since co-founding Genesys Capital in 2000, Mr. Lamb has been instrumental in raising over $300 million in venture capital funds, and has been involved in deploying over $160 million across 29 investments. He currently serves on the Boards of Affinium Pharmaceuticals Inc., Fusion Pharmaceuticals, Profound Medical Inc. (TSX: PRN) and the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization at McMaster University. He has served on the Board of Ionalytics Corporation (acquired by Thermo Electron Corp.), Millenium Biologix (acquired by Medtronic) and was Chairman of the Board of DELEX Therapeutics Inc. when it was sold to YM BioSciences (now Gilead). Mr. Lamb works closely with Genesys investee companies to strategically position the companies to build value for shareholders. Prior to co-founding Genesys Capital, Mr. Lamb was an Investment Manager with MDS Capital Corp. He is a frequently invited speaker at biotechnology industry conferences. Mr. Lamb graduated from McMaster University, Faculty of Health Sciences, with a Master of Science in Molecular Neurobiology and also holds an MBA from Queen’s University.
Sam Ifergan
Founder and Managing Partner, iGan Partners
Sam has over 20 years of entrepreneurial, technology and venture capital experience. He foundediGan Partners in 2013 and iGan is now the largest healthcare VC investor in Canada. As Managing Director, Sam is involved in the evaluation, structuring, execution, and support of iGan’s investments. Sam is a leader in the commercialization of innovative healthcare technologies in both the medical device and healthcare IT sectors. Currently, Sam is Chairman of eSight and MolecuLight and sits on the board of seven other medtech companies and has helped oversee six exits. Prior to founding iGan Partners, Sam co-founded and exited several companies including Visualsonics, Tri-Link Technologies and Brighter Minds. Sam started his career as a strategy consultant with Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) where he advised Fortune 500 companies on corporate strategy. Sam holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from McGill University and an MBA from The John Molson School of Business.
Daniel Hetu, MD
Managing Director, Lumira Ventures
With over 20 years of investment banking, corporate development, and licensing and investment experience, Daniel has been involved with life sciences companies at all stages of development in North America and overseas. With demonstrated success managing complex initiatives, projects and transactions, Daniel is recognized for his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
Daniel’s investment activities are focused on building companies in the therapeutics and medical device sectors that develop products and technologies with a direct and significant impact on patient care. He manages Lumira Ventures’ Montreal office.
An experienced senior executive with leading expertise in financing and corporate business development, Daniel located in Montréal spent 10 years at Shire Pharmaceuticals and at Biochem Pharma prior to its acquisition by Shire. As vice president, business development (North America) and vice president, corporate development, respectively, he led several financing, licensing and M&A transactions in the therapeutics, vaccine and diagnostics sectors. At Biochem, as well as serving on the company’s portfolio committee and the steering committee of strategic research collaborations, Daniel served on the boards of investee companies. Prior to joining Biochem Pharma, Daniel was an investment banker at a major Canadian Investment Bank where he was involved in M&A and financing transactions across various industrial sectors.
Thomas J. Meade, PhD
The Eileen M. Foell Professor of Cancer Research
Professor of Chemistry, Molecular Biosciences, Neurobiology,
Biomedical Engineering, and Radiology
Chair: Inorganic Division, Northwestern University
Associate Editor: Chemical Science
Director of the Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging
Northwestern University
Professor Meade is the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Cancer Research and Professor of Chemistry, Molecular Biosciences, Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering and Radiology. He received his master’s degree in Biochemistry and PhD in inorganic chemistry from The Ohio State University. After completing a NIH fellowship at Harvard Medical School he was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology. In 1991 he joined the Division of Biology and the Beckman Institute at Caltech. In 2002 he moved to Northwestern University where he is the Director of the Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging (CAMI). Professor Meade’s research focuses on coordination chemistry and its application in bioinorganic problems that include biological molecular imaging, electron transfer processes and the development of electronic biosensors for the detection of DNA and proteins.
Professor Meade is an elected Fellow of the AAAS, ACS, the RSC, the World Molecular Imaging Society and the National Academy of Inventors. He is the recipient numerous awards including the WMIS Exceptional Achievement Award and was a Miller Professor at the University of California, Berkley. He holds 90 issued U.S. patents that have been licensed to the four companies he has founded: Clinical Micro Sensors, Metaprobe, PreDx and Ohmx. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and serves as an Associated Editor for Chemical Science, and is on the editorial boards of seven scientific journals.