NEUROVISION - Key Persons
Dr. Keith Black, NeuroVision Imaging's chairman and co-founder, is an internationally recognized neurosurgeon, researcher and thought leader in areas of brain and blood-brain barrier function, enhancing the therapeutic effects of treatments in the brain, and optical imaging of the brain. Dr. Black is the Chair, Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and holds the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neuroscience. As Chairman of Neurosurgery and Director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, he pioneered new ways to deliver lifesaving drugs to the brain and developed a landmark vaccine against brain tumors. He is also a Professor of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai.
Job Titles:
- Global Head of Biomarker Development
Hugo has proven expertise in the translation of protein biomarkers from concept to clinical value, including but not limited to target identification, selection and evaluation of tools & technologies (single analyte and multiplex immunoassay platforms), protein assay development (from prototyping to qualification, validation, and registration), clinical study design and execution, and market integration of assays or test concepts
He is a founder of Biomarkable and was a co-founder of ADx Neurosciences. He gained over 21 years IVD experience at Innogenetics (now Fujirebio). His experience covers various domains, including neurodegeneration, endocrinology (steroidogenesis, in-vitro fertilization, embryology), cardiovascular, infectious and autoimmune diseases.
He is a sought-after advisor in world-wide efforts to generate standard operating procedures for sample collection, storage and qualification of biomarker protein assays. He was a scientific advisor in several consortia including the Global Biomarker Standardization Consortium (ADNI), CPAD, and the Michael J Fox Foundation.
He has been the principal investigator in several multi-center projects, has authored or co-authored over 153 publications (H-index 58) and is listed as inventor on several patent applications.
Leonard A. Potter, 59, founded Wildcat Capital Management in 2011 and has served since then as its president and chief investment officer. Mr. Potter also serves as Chairman of Infinity Q Capital Management and as a Senior Managing Director of Vida Ventures, each a fund investment manager. From 2002 through 2009, Mr. Potter was managing director-private equity at Soros Fund Management LLC ("SFM") where, from May 2005 through July 2009, he served as co-head of its private equity group and as a member of the private equity investment committee. Mr. Potter has served and continues to serve as a director on a number of boards of public and private companies, including Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE: HGV), Solar Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ: SLRC), Solar Senior Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ: SUNS) and SuRo Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: SSSS).
Dr. Anderson is a medical scientist with over 20 years of experience in the areas of infectious diseases, immunology and genomics. She completed her PhD in the disciplines of microbiology and immunology and pursued post-doctoral studies at Yale University and University of California, Davis. She is also board certified in Medial Laboratory Immunology to direct high-complexity diagnostic laboratories. Her area of expertise includes laboratory medicine, diagnostic testing, biomarker assay development, regulatory compliance, laboratory management, academic research and teaching including her tenure as a lecturer at University of Oxford, UK. Prior to joining NeuroVision, Dr. Anderson directed clinical trials operations at Quest Diagnostics Clinical Trails Lab in Valencia, including biomarker assay development, validation and implementation in Global Flow Cytometry, Molecular Biology and Anatomic Pathology departments in her capacity as an Associate Biomarker Director. She also acted as a testing site Principal Investigator for multiple companion diagnostics studies. Dr. Anderson is a recipient of two Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Diagnostic Accelerator Funding awards.
Roy Ervin Twyman, MD, has nearly 20 years' experience in neuroscience pharmaceutical drug development, most recently as senior vice president at Janssen Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC, where he was the Alzheimer's disease area leader in the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area. Dr. Twyman has served on advisory committees and panels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Institute of Medicine. Board-certified in psychiatry and neurology, Dr. Twyman was an academic neurologist and has written chapters in several books and published numerous articles in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals.
Job Titles:
- Director
- VP of Acquisitions
Sam Sharma is the VP of Acquisitions and Integration and leads all M&A and integration activities at VSP Vision. He has over 20 years of corporate finance experience serving in various leadership roles in Mortgage Banking, Healthcare, and Technology (Vertical SaaS). In his more recent prior role, he was VP, Finance for a vertical SaaS technology company and led finance efforts to take the company public in 2021. Mr. Sharma lives in Flower Mound, TX with his wife and daughter. Hobbies include swimming, playing video games, and traveling.
Steve is a seasoned, results-driven executive with over 30 years of experience in the ophthalmology, neurology and medical device markets, with a proven track record of launching and leading successful startup businesses. He has expertise in a diverse range of business management including sales and marketing, research and development, operations and regulatory management, brand management, business development and strategic planning. Steve has a proven ability to lead and interface with key opinion leaders, advisory boards, customers, scientists, engineers, Company Boards and the financial community.
Steve serves as the CEO of NeuroVision Imaging, a company developing fluid retinal and fluid biomarkers for neurodegenerative disease. Steve was co-founder and CEO of Ophthalmic Imaging Systems (1984-2007). OIS was a company dedicated to research, development, marketing, selling and manufacturing diagnostic medical imaging systems and informatics software for the eye care market. Steve led the initial research, market analysis, product development, commercialization strategy, and product launch for a revolutionary new imaging system that was the first of its kind in ophthalmology. Steve was involved in establishing and building the company infrastructure that took OIS to a public offering in 1992 and eventually being sold to Merge Healthcare in 2011. Steve next joined OPKO Health, Inc. as Executive Vice President. OPKO is a publicly traded specialty healthcare company (that engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, medical devices, vaccines, and diagnostic technologies.