ABOUT US
Cognition Medical's team is a mosaic of talented individuals, experts in engineering, biology, medicine, interventional medicine, regulatory, business and marketing that come together to develop cutting-edge interventional medical devices and are committed to advancing and improving healthcare.
ALEXIS S. TURJMAN, PHD
Chief Executive Officer, Board Member
Alex founded Cognition Medical while completing his PhD, which focused on the study of celluar events leading to heart attack in the Laboratory of Professor Elazer R. Edelman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brigham and Women Hospital, Harvard Medical School). His expertise spans Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Vascular Biology. Alex received a PhD in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MS and BS in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from A&M Paris Institute of Technology.
JACK GRIFFIS, MS
Chief Technology Officer
Jack Griffis is a seasoned business executive offering nearly twenty-five years of industry experience in all aspects of medical device design, development and commercialization. Jack is an innovator with a work history of successful commercialization, who makes full use of cutting edge technologies, effective program management, cohesive collaborations with researchers / clinicians, and successful navigations through regulatory approval processes for “first in man” and "faster to market" technologies. He has 45 issued patents in various domains of medical device technology and successfully received 9 SBIR grants.
FRANCIS TURJMAN, MD, PHD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Turjman is the Chief of Internventional Neuroradiology and the Director of the Stroke Center at Pierre Wertheimer Hospital in Lyon, France and is Professor of Medicine at the University of Lyon, France. Dr. Turjman has pionneered several minimally-invasive techniques and is widely recognized as a leading expert and key opinion leader in the field of Interventional Neuroradiology. Dr. Turjman is the President-elect of the European Society of Minimally-Invasive Therapy (ESMINT) congress and also serves as the Chairman for Research Committee of ESMINT. He was directing the Data and Safety Monitoring Board for the SWIFT PRIME stroke trial.
Clinical Advisors
ELAD I. LEVY, MD, MBA
Lead Scientific Advisor
Dr. Levy is the Chairman of Neurological Surgery and Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology at State Unviersity of New York at Buffalo. He is the Director of Stroke Research, the Co-Director of Kaleida Health Stroke Center and Cerebrovascular Surgery, and the Director of Endovascular Stroke Treatment & Research. Dr. Levy is a a leader and pionneer, who has guided the development of a majority of all novel neurovascular technology introduced on the market in the past 10 years. He was the North American PI for the SWIFT PRIME stroke trial.
NOBUYUKI SAKAI, MD, DMSc
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Sakai is the Director of Neurosurgery at the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital and Director of Neuroendovascular Therapy at the Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation. Dr. Sakai received his medical degree from Kansai Medical University in 1984, where he served as an assistant professor until 1991 when he left for the United States to work as a researcher in the University of California Los Angeles. After returning to Japan, he served as an assistant professor at the Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine and head physician at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center before joining the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital in 2001. Dr. Sakai also serves on the board or as a councilor or specialist at 15 medical societies including the Japan Neurosurgical Society, the Japanese Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the Japanese Stroke Society, the Japanese Society of Endovascular intervention, the Japanese Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, the Japanese Society for Neuroendovascular Therapy.
VÍTOR MENDES PEREIRA, MD, MS
Scientif Advisor
Dr. Mendes Pereira, is Associate Professor of Radiology and Surgery at the University Health Network and University of Toronto in Canada where he serves as Director of Stroke Reserach. He is a leading clinical researcher and was the global PI for the STAR trial and the European PI for the SWIFT PRIME stroke trial. He is an active member of several medical societies and he has authored over 140 publications.
ELAZER R. EDELMAN, MD, PHD
Scientific Advisor
Elazer R. Edelman, is the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at MIT, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Senior Attending Physician in the coronary care unit at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He and his laboratory have pioneered basic findings in vascular biology and the development and assessment of biotechnology including drug eluting stents. Dr. Edelman directs the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center (BMEC), dedicated to applying the rigors of the physical sciences to elucidate fundamental biologic processes and mechanisms of disease.
Other Advisors
ROBERT MELLEN, MBA
Business Strategy Advisor
Bob Mellen has over 25 years of Medical Device Industry experience including 15 years in marketing and general management and 10 years leading Bard's Corporate Strategy and Business Development. He has delivered consistent double digit growth as President of a $200M device business and added over $800M in revenue growth over 10 years of Business Development leadership. Mr. Mellen is currently a Venture Partner at Aphelion Capital and he is providing independent advisory and consulting support to Medical Device companies and Private Equity and Venture Capital firms.
KATHARINE STOHLMAN, MBA, RAC
Scientific and Regulatory Advisor
Kate Stohlman is a a medical device executive with experience in clinical, regulatory, quality control and operations management. Kate serves as Vice President, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs at Corvia Medical. She is also a scientific advisor to several early-stage medical companies and has occupied key quality and regulatory roles in various medical industries. Mrs. Stohlman served as COO for Thermedical, which developed ablation systems to treat cancer and cardiac arrhythmia. She was Vice President of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs for Viacor, Inc., a venture-funded structural heart repair medical device company. Mrs. was employed by Hewlett-Packard Company’s Medical Group for 20 years in cardiac ultrasound transducer operations management. She received her S.B. in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. Mrs. Stohlman holds RAPS certification for Europe.
Legal Counsel
CASEY MCGLYNN, JD
Corporate Counsel
Casey McGlynn is a Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati. In 1990, he formed the Life Sciences Group at WSGR, a nationally recognized leader in the representation of startup and emerging growth companies in the life sciences field. Mr. McGlynn has one of the largest practices in the country focused on Medtech, Mobile Health and Biotech companies. He has been a pivotal advisor to Cognition Medical for all their corporate decisions and strategic orientations. Mr. McGlynn has advised numerous neurovascular companies and concluded several transactions in stroke devices.
DAVID CAVANAUGH, JD
Intellectual Property Counsel
David Cavanaugh is a Partner at WilmerHale and heads the Medical Device practice. He has extensive experience in all aspects of intellectual property practice, including IP litigation, patent procurement, technology transfer and licensing, and due diligence for corporate transactions. Mr. Cavanaugh has helped Cognition Medical develop a tailor-made strategy, implement and protect their vision for the advancement of interventional devices.