DECISION SCIENCES MEDICAL COMPANY - Key Persons


Arthur D. Collins

Job Titles:
  • Senior Advisor
  • Retired Chairman and CEO, Medtronic, Inc.
Art Collins currently is a member of the Board of Directors of Alcoa, Inc., The Boeing Company, Cargill, Inc., and US Bancorp. He also serves as a managing partner of Acorn Associates, LLC, and a senior advisor to Oak Hill Capital Partners. After serving 16 years as a senior executive at Medtronic, Inc., 14 of which were as the company's chairman & CEO or president & COO, Mr. Collins retired in 2008. He started his career at Medtronic in 1992 as executive vice president and president of Medtronic International. Medtronic is the largest medical technology company in the world with annual revenues of about $29 billion. Conducting business in more than 120 countries, Medtronic's employment currently exceeds 92,000. Mr. Collins received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Doctor of Laws honorary degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the undergraduate faculty. He has served as a member of the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School and the Board of Visitors for the Farmer School of Business at Miami University. Mr. Collins also was the chairman of AdvaMed, the medical technology industry association, and has served on the boards of numerous governmental and civic organizations, including the President's Export Council.

Dr. Allan Wegner - CTO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Technology Officer
  • Member of the Executive Team
The design and origins of DSMC's transformational ultrasound technology originate from extensive research undertaken by Dr. Allan Wegner, DSMC's Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Wegner is a noted scientist in both the life sciences and defense electronics industries. He has a successful track record of developing and commercializing novel technology products. As an innovator and technologist, he has conceived, developed, manufactured and fielded advanced sensors (medical imaging, radar, sonar, acoustic and electro-optical), telecommunications equipment, power transmission and distribution systems, air defense and strike missiles, as well as commercial avionics equipment, agricultural, and medical systems. He has held progressive leadership and senior management roles in advanced technology companies such as Titan, Lockheed Martin, Alcoa, and Boeing. Dr. Wegner holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California.

Dr. Dustin E. Kruse

Job Titles:
  • Chief Scientist
  • Member of the Executive Team
Dr. Kruse researches and develops disruptive technologies in the ultrasound imaging and therapy space. An expert in ultrasound and medical imaging, Dr. Kruse serves as Chief Scientist at DSMC developing algorithms, signal processing and image processing for SonicHD. Prior to joining DSMC, Dr. Kruse held a research faculty position at the University of California, Davis where he worked closely with internal and outside agencies to develop and integrate an image-guided, controlled ultrasound mild-hyperthermia system used to heat small tumor models in vivo. In this work, Dr. Kruse integrated a clinical ultrasound scanner into a user-controlled tissue heating device to release the contents of thermally sensitive liposomes in small animal tumor models. While at UC Davis, Dr. Kruse developed a new method for high resolution imaging of ultrasound contrast agents. He also made contributions in the area of efficient and rapid calculation of acoustic fields for ultrasound imaging and therapeutic ultrasound using graphical processing units (GPUs). Dr. Kruse was recognized by the Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation for his NIH-funded work involving the use of radiofrequency electromagnetic energy in combination with gold nanoparticles for cancer therapy. In his Ph.D. work, Dr. Kruse made significant contributions in the application of high frequency ultrasound for imaging and measuring blood flow in microcirculation. He integrated hardware and developed software to build the first high frequency color flow scanner to study blood flow in vivo and developed new algorithms for extracting blood flow information in challenging environments. Dr. Kruse's expertise includes: medical imaging, ultrasound imaging, high-frequency ultrasound, ultrasound tissue heating, ultrasound contrast agent imaging, microbubble targeted imaging, microbubble physics, electromagnetic tissue heating, in vivo optical imaging, cancer therapy, drug delivery, thermally-sensitive liposomes, nanoparticles, hyperthermia, mild-hyperthermia, blood velocity estimation, and digital signal processing. Dr. Kruse earned his B.A. degree in Physics from State University of New York at Geneseo, and both his M.E. degree in Electrical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia. He has 28 publications, several patents and has been awarded two NIH grants.

Dr. Peter Lam

Job Titles:
  • Algorithm Development Engineer
Dr. Peter Lam brings extensive experience in electromagnetic scattering and algorithm development in object detection, identification, and classification to his role at DSMC. Prior to joining the DSMC team, Dr. Lam developed algorithms for object detection and classification in Muon Tomography for Decision Sciences International Corporation (DSIC). He also developed a robust statistical approach to gamma detection for DSIC. In a successful career spanning thirty years, Dr. Lam has been involved in numerous projects to analyze the electromagnetic scattering of large complex vehicles for the Department of Defense, including sensor control for unmanned air vehicles, target identification using multi-spectral sensors, and radar cross section design and analysis. A leading contributor to missile and stealth vehicle design programs, Dr. Lam's previous experience includes technical leadership roles at L-3, SAIC, Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, Global Analytics, and General Dynamics. Dr. Lam received his Ph.D. and Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.

Gary Albert

Job Titles:
  • Chief Systems Engineer
Gary Albert brings a wealth of experience in electronic systems and test engineering to bear on the challenges of developing next generation medical ultrasound imaging solutions. His broad background in developing leading edge avionic systems, superconducting magnets and military radio systems provides him with the knowledge and experience to meet the needs of imaging ultrasound system design. In his tenure as Principal Systems Engineer at L-3 Communications, he led a multi-disciplined team to design advanced analog/RF and digital systems for government and industry standards. Mr. Albert holds a BSEE from Missouri University of Science and Technology and MBA from San Diego State University.

George R. Creel

Job Titles:
  • Board Member Co - Founder and Managing Partner, Decision Medical Ventures
  • Co - Founder / Managing Partner of Decision Medical Ventures
Mr. Creel is the Co- Founder/Managing Partner of Decision Medical Ventures as well as the Managing Partner of Colesbury Capital. He co-founded Decision Medical Ventures, a New York and California-based life sciences investment firm, with Samantha Surrey. Colesbury Capital was launched in January 2008 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Colesbury® is an alternative investment platform that makes direct public and private company investments through its small cap long/short hedge fund and its middle market private equity investment vehicles. Colesbury also engages in merchant banking activities through its affiliate Colesbury Capital Markets and actively invests in U.S. land-based oil & gas drilling projects through Colesbury Energy Partners. Prior to founding Colesbury, Mr. Creel was a partner and Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital, a Miami based private equity firm with over $7B in management, and a co-founder of Brightpoint Capital, H.I.G.'s public securities investment affiliate. Prior to joining H.I.G. Capital, Mr. Creel was a partner with a New York based registered investment advisory firm with over $2B in assets under management. Earlier in his career, Mr. Creel held senior positions in institutional investment banking and brokerage, with the firms of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and Deutsche Bank. Mr. Creel received his B.A. from Auburn University and is a member of the Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts. Additionally, he has participated in post-graduate executive programs at both the Columbia and Harvard Business Schools.

James Hayes

Job Titles:
  • Chief Engineer
  • Member of the Executive Team
  • Expert
James Hayes is an expert in high-performance embedded system design and implementation. Recruited to join DSMC from Decision Sciences International Corporation (DSIC), Mr. Hayes serves as the Chief Engineer at DSMC. At DSIC Mr. Hayes developed the embedded firmware and updates for the prototype passive SNM detector, contributed to its physics simulation and analysis systems, and was a lead designer of the next generation MMPDS prototype and production embedded systems. Mr. Hayes has designed architectures for a variety of application specific embedded sensor systems. At the Air Force Research Laboratories, Information Directorate, Wright Patterson AFB (WPAFB) in Dayton, OH he developed embedded applications including advanced RADAR, capture, simulation and processing, UAV video compression and transmission, and high performance FPGA based wavelet image compression. During his time at WPAFB, Mr. Hayes also contributed to multiple conference and symposium papers and presentations. Mr. Hayes has specific experience and knowledge in the application and development of non-linear control systems, signal and image processing, and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) applications. Mr. Hayes earned his Master's in Electrical Engineering and B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Dayton.

Keith C. Valentine - CEO, President

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • President
  • Senior Advisor
  • President, Chief Operating Officer, and Director, SeaSpine
Keith C. Valentine serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and as a director of SeaSpine. Prior to joining SeaSpine, Mr. Valentine served as President and Chief Operating Officer of NuVasive, Inc. from January 2007 to January 2015 and as President from December 2004 to January 2007, prior to which he served in various senior executive roles in Marketing, Development and Operations since joining NuVasive in 2001. Previously, Mr. Valentine served as Vice President of Marketing at ORATEC Interventions, Inc., a medical device company acquired by Smith & Nephew PLC, and spent eight years in various roles with Medtronic Sofamor Danek including, Vice President of Marketing for the Rods Division and Group Director for the BMP Biologics program, the Interbody Sales Development Effort, and International Sales and Marketing. Mr. Valentine received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management and Biomedical Sciences from Western Michigan University.

Pasquale "Pat" D'Amuro

Job Titles:
  • Board Member Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Global Risk & Investigative Diligence, LLC
Pat D'Amuro is the former Chairman and CEO of Giuliani Security & Safety LLC, a division of Giuliani Partners LLC dedicated to security consulting. Previously, Mr. D'Amuro served as the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York FBI Office, where he began his FBI career in 1979. Much of Mr. D'Amuro's twenty-six-year career has been devoted to counterterrorism, in which he is an internationally recognized expert. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Mr. D'Amuro was appointed Inspector in Charge of the FBI's investigation of those attacks. Subsequently, Mr. D'Amuro served as Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters and, later, Executive Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence. In these capacities, he was instrumental in the creation and management of the FBI's Terrorism Threat Integration Center and Terrorism Watch List. During his distinguished career at the FBI, Mr. D'Amuro contributed to or led several high profile investigations, including the investigations of the 1998 bombings of the American Embassies in East Africa and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, as well as the latter stages of the investigations of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Manila Air plot, and the crash of TWA Flight 800. Mr. D'Amuro has provided advice and briefings to the President of the United States, the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of the FBI, and the National Security Council, among others. Mr. D'Amuro also serves as Chair of Decision Sciences' Board of Advisors.

Robert A. Ingram

Job Titles:
  • Senior Advisor
  • General Partner, Hatteras Venture Partners
  • Member of the Boards for the James B. Hunt
  • the Firm of Hatteras Venture Partners As a General Partner
Mr. Ingram joined the firm of Hatteras Venture Partners as a General Partner on January 24, 2007. Hatteras Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in early stage life science companies in the southeast United States. Mr. Ingram began his career in the pharmaceutical industry as a professional sales representative and rose through a series of roles with increasing responsibility to ultimately become CEO/Chairman of GlaxoWellcome. He co-led the merger and integration that formed GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second largest pharmaceutical company. Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60, he was asked by the Board to serve as Vice Chairman Pharmaceuticals, GSK, which he did until January 1, 2010, at which time he became Strategic Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer, GlaxoSmithKline plc. Mr. Ingram is a member of the Boards for the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, CEO Roundtable on Cancer, Research Triangle Institute and Chairman, GlaxoSmithKline Foundation. He serves as Chairman of Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina and is on the Advisory Board, Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, University of Southern California. Mr. Ingram graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

Samantha Surrey - CEO

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • Executive
  • Member of the Board
  • Member of the Executive Team
  • Founder of Surrey Capital Partners
Samantha is the founder of Surrey Capital Partners (SCP), a life science impact innovation fund. Prior to Surrey Capital Partners, Samantha Co-Founded Decision Medical Ventures, a life sciences investment firm focused on bringing to market advanced medical ultrasound technology. Samantha's prior experience includes Worldwide Business Development and M&A Deal Finance at GSK, where she was responsible for managing a portfolio of direct investments and fund of funds, negotiating global licensing deals, joint ventures, and acquisitions with other pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Prior to GSK, Samantha worked at Bioscience Managers in London, focusing on life sciences in areas of biotechnology, medical devices, therapeutics, and nanotechnology. She also worked at the UK Cabinet Office in the Ministry of Science and Technology. Samantha serves on the Boards of Directors of DSMC, AiM Medical Robotics and Outlook Surgical Endoscopy System. Samantha also serves on the advisory boards of Endeavor Healthcare, AZ Therapies as well as the Board of Advisors for University of Pennsylvania School for Engineering, Cornell University Center for Entrepreneurship, Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics and Google Accelerator with a special focus on A.I. for Healthcare. Samantha graduated summa cum laude with an M.S. Eng. in biomedical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, with a joint published thesis in robotic surgery with the Engineering School at Oxford University. She holds an undergraduate degree in Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Cornell University and is also a Harvard Business School alumna, Owner's President Management Program (OPM 53).

Stuart J. Rabin - CEO, Chairman, President

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • Chairman of the Board of Directors
  • President
Stuart J. Rabin is the President and CEO as well as the Chief Investment Officer of Nine Thirty Capital, a diversified investment firm that he launched in 2004. Based in New York, Nine Thirty Capital is a flexible platform that invests in private companies as well as public securities and actively manages customized investment portfolios for prominent families and institutional clients from around the world. From 1997 through 2008, Mr. Rabin was the President and CEO of JFI, a diversified family investment company that he co-founded. At JFI he constructed and actively managed a series of sizeable bespoke portfolios that included numerous hedge funds, an internal equity trading vehicle, direct private company investments and real estate partnerships. Previously, Mr. Rabin was employed by a New York based hedge fund, by Morgan Stanley Asset Management and by Bear Stearns & Co. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rabin practiced law with the New York firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and with the Washington, D.C. firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernard, McPherson & Hand (now DLA Piper). Mr. Rabin graduated with honors from Georgetown University and the Georgetown University Law Center. He received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.