AirXpanders Inc. designs, manufactures and distributes the revolutionary AeroFormTM Patient Controlled Tissue Expander. A first for women who choose reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy, the AeroForm tissue expander does not use intrusive and painful saline injections via syringe needles. The AeroForm patient controlled tissue expander utilizes a needle-free inflation system via a patient-controlled handheld device, which releases specified amounts of air in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2). The end result is better patient adoption, greater levels of patient comfort and quicker results, enabling women to have their permanent breast implant procedure performed sooner, allowing them to regain their natural shape and normalcy in their daily lives.
Management Team
A top level company needs a top tier management team. The AirXpanders management team is comprised of medical device and healthcare veterans with a great deal of experience in well-established and early stage companies.
Scott Dodson, President & CEO
Mr. Dodson is President, CEO and a member of the board for AirXpanders. He has over twenty-two years of executive management and leadership experience in the medical device industry with Boston Scientific, Orthofix Orthopedics and BarrX Medical. Most recently, Mr. Dodson was the President and CEO of Avantis Medical Systems where he led the company through their Series C financing and two successful bridge financings. He oversaw the securing of Medicare reimbursement, the completion and publication of the largest tandem designed, randomized trial in medical device history and the development of a next generation imaging system for global full market release. Mr. Dodson has a Bachelor of Science in Management from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and has completed the Executive Management Program of both Columbia University and Babson College.
Mark Payne, Director of Research & Development
Mr. Payne has extensive leadership experience in research and development with a focus on the execution of early stage technologies. He has held positions as Research Engineer/Scientist for Cytyc Surgical Products and Manager of Mechanical Systems Design and Drafting for United Technologies where he and his teams worked on and delivered multiple projects for the aerospace industry. He has successfully submitted seven patent disclosures and has published several peer-reviewed publications. Mr. Payne received his Bachelor’s of Science in Aerospace Engineering from University of Michigan and a Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
Kathy Kelley, Director of Clinical Affairs
Ms. Kelley has over twenty years of experience in hospital clinical, quality and risk management, five years in clinical research, and has extensive experience in medical quality analysis. Prior to joining AirXpanders as the Director of Clinical Affairs in 2010, she held a number of management positions, performed audits for FDA submissions and served as the liaison to hospital lawyers for medical legal cases at John Muir Medical Center. She has initiated and ran clinical trial sites, both nationally and internationally in Europe and South America. Ms. Kelley has experience in several start up medical device companies such as Zeltiq Aestheics, and Revascular Therapeutics. Ms. Kelley received her B.S.N. from Boston University.
Tony Morefield, Sr. Director of Operations
Tony Morefield has over 15 years of Medical Device and Aerospace experience with a focus on transitioning innovative technologies through late stage development into full scale manufacturing. He most recently held the position of Sr. Director of Manufacturing and Engineering at Avantis Medical Systems where he was responsible for ramping operations during the course of clinical studies and into full commercialization and eventual transition to off-shore manufacturing. Prior to joining Avantis, Mr. Morefield spent 8 years in varying leadership roles with Align Technology in the product development and manufacturing groups and was instrumental in building Align’s unique world class manufacturing operation. Mr. Morefield received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Oregon.
John Lai, Director of Finance
For the past 12 years John has been a director at Montgomery Professional Services Corporation in San Jose. In his varied roles and responsibilities there, John was a financial services expert for multiple clients in industries ranging from medical device, software, internet, insurance and consumer products. John’s expertise ranges from financial planning, audit, forecasting, investment strategies, modeling and downstream accounting activities.
Naghmeh Nouri Sr. Director of Quality and Regulatory
Naghmeh brings over 20 years of medical device experience with an expertise in national and international quality systems, products assurance and regulations. Recently, she served as the Vice President of Quality and Regulatory for Asante Solutions in Sunnyvale, CA, where she implemented full a quality system and secured a CE Mark and 510K under new FDA regulations.. Prior to Asante, she was Vice President of Quality and Regulatory at Health Hero Network and Radiant Medical. Naghmeh has a wealth of experience in implantable devices, drug delivery systems, and cardiovascular products in companies such as Aradigm, Ventritex and Siemens Medical Systems. Naghmeh holds a M.S. and a B.S. from Rutgers in Electrical Engineering where she was in the Honors Program.
Board of Directors
The AirXpanders board of directors is comprised of medical device industry and venture capital veterans who know how to successfully steer an early-stage company to success.
Barry Cheskin, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board
Mr. Cheskin is a three-time medical device start-up CEO, having taken one public and sold another to a competitor one year into his tenure. He has co-founded two medical device companies over his twenty-five years of experience, primarily in the general management of medical device enterprises. Mr. Cheskin holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT (BS) and Stanford (MS), as well as an MBA from Columbia.
Scott Dodson, President & CEO
Mr. Dodson is President, CEO and a member of the board for AirXpanders. He has over twenty-two years of executive management and leadership experience in the medical device industry with Boston Scientific, Orthofix Orthopedics and BarrX Medical. Most recently, Mr. Dodson was the President and CEO of Avantis Medical Systems where he led the company through their Series C financing and two successful bridge financings. He oversaw the securing of Medicare reimbursement, the completion and publication of the largest tandem designed, randomized trial in medical device history and the development of a next generation imaging system for global full market release. Mr. Dodson has a Bachelor of Science in Management from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and has completed the Executive Management Program of both Columbia University and Babson College.
Brigitte Smith, Director, GBS Ventures and Board Member
Ms. Smith (B Chem Eng, MBA, MALD) is Co-Founder and Managing Director, GBS Venture Partners Ltd. and serves on the board for AirXpanders. Ms. Smith has fifteen years of experience in venture capital, business strategy and start-up company operations. She has been investing and managing investments for GBS’s $450m of life science specialized venture capital funds for the last twelve years. GBS is Australia’s leading life science venture capital group and has completed more than 40 medical device and life science investments over the last twelve years. Ms. Smith is on the board of GBS portfolio companies, including AirXpanders, Applied Physiology Pty Ltd, Dynamic Hearing Pty Ltd, Kalobios Inc, Neuromonics Pty Ltd, Proacta Inc and Vivive Inc. Ms. Smith was the founding investor and founding chair of Pharmaxis Pty Ltd.
Albert Cha, Managing director, vivo ventures
Albert Cha, M.D., Ph.D. is a Managing Partner at Vivo Ventures who invests in private and public biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. He was an early investor in Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ASPV, acquired by Galenica), Bioform Medical (BFRM, acquired by Merz), Vicept Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan), and Biodel (BIOD). Other investments include Acura Pharmaceuticals (ACUR), AMAG Pharmaceuticals (AMAG), and Avanir Pharmaceuticals (AVNR). He currently serves on the board of several private biopharmaceutical and medical device companies.Albert received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He subsequently completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at UCLA School of Medicine, where he received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience. . His research in molecular biophysics has been published in highly respected journals such as Nature and Neuron.
Brian Clevinger, Director at Prolog Ventures and Board Member
Mr. Clevinger serves on the board of AirXpanders. He is a founder and managing director of Prolog and has twenty years of experience in all phases of commercial technology development. He currently focuses on drug delivery, aesthetic materials and devices, and plant biotechnology. Previously, following an academic career in a tenured position at Washington University in St. Louis, he learned the art of investing at an affiliate of Alafi Capital and then served as founding CEO of a vaccine delivery company. Mr. Clevinger holds a doctorate in immunology from Indiana University and has completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University.
Teddy Shalon, Co-Founder and Board Member
Mr. Shalon is an accomplished entrepreneur, executive, and investor focusing on life science-oriented ventures. He has founded and sold several life sciences companies over the course of his thirty-year career. Mr. Shalon holds a MS in Computer Science, BA in Physics, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.
Kevin Etzkorn, Director at Heron Capital in Indianapolis and Board Observer
Mr. Etzkorn brings over eight years of venture capital experience and more than a decade of operational and technical management experience. Prior to joining Heron, Mr. Etzkorn was a Principal at CID Capital, a life science and technology venture fund. While at CID, his portfolio responsibilities included: Axiomed Spine Corporation, Bridge Semiconductor Corporation, EKOS Corporation, HyperNex, Inc. (acquired by Nova Measuring Instruments) and Renal Solutions, Inc. (acquired by Fresenius Medical Care).
Currently, Mr. Etzkorn also serves as Director on the Board of Celleration and is a board observer for BioSET, Inc. He also led the firm’s investment in Atlantis Components, Inc., which was sold to Astra Tech AB, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca, in 2007. Mr. Etzkorn received his M.B.A. from the University of Illinois and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.