Akin is the lead mechanical design engineer for implantable devices and test systems in the neural interfaces team. He also works closely with translational sciences and surgical teams to identify and implement design requirements for neural interface devices.

Akin holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Coventry university and a master’s in automotive engineering from the university of Brighton.

Akin started his career working on high-speed air movement systems for Torin-Sifan before joining Dyson as a mechanical design engineer owning motors and drives design for several mass-produced environmental care projects

Alice is responsible for intellectual property activities for Galvani Bioelectronics. Alice joined GSK in 2004 and has developed worldwide patent strategies for internationally-based research teams, managed worldwide outside counsel in patent prosecution and litigation matters and has advised R&D and Business Development decision makers on patentability, freedom-to-operate issues, in-licensing opportunities and regulations governing development of NIH funded technology.

She has a BS in Biological Sciences, a PhD in Microbiology (Immunology focus) and postdoctoral experience in HIV and Immunology. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and a patent attorney registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Acting as the primary interface between Galvani’s Business and IT Operations organisations, Andrew leverages his expertise to ensure Galvani’s business systems are fit for purpose and running smoothly. Through solution architecting, vendor selection and assessment, implementation and ongoing technical engineering and support, Andrew maintains a detailed understanding of the IT platforms supporting business processes and ensures they are optimally deployed.

Christopher Lai, MD, MBA is a Director in Business Development and Project Management for Galvani Bioelectronics. His main role is to facilitate Galvani Bioelectronics transactions and support the development of our assets to clinical development.

Prior to Galvani Bioelectronics, Christopher was with GSK for 3 years, working in Worldwide Business Development and R&D Strategy Development. Prior to this role, he was in U.S. Respiratory Finance, supporting GSK’s respiratory launches of Anoro, Breo and Nucala.

Before GSK, Christopher was an emergency physician who practiced at several institutions such as Kaiser, Sutter and Duke. He continues to practice at the Durham VA ER. He obtained his business degree at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 2013, his medical degree at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2002 and trained in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in 2005. Prior to medical school, he spent nearly 2 sleepless years at Citigroup in investment banking.

Daniel is a founding member of Galvani Bioelectronics and leads the Translational Research team within. The team is based in the UK with dedicated onsite electrophysiology laboratories, as well as managing academic and CRO collaborators externally.
Translational research for Galvani focuses on preclinical-to-clinical studies of autonomic nervous system neuromodulation, and the ability to modulate organ physiology and treat disease across an indication pipeline. Research explores the fundamentals of nerve physiology, translational biology, and pathophysiology, while discovering and optimising ways of interaction with disparate visceral neuroanatomy. This involves the pursuit of in silico, ex vivo, and in vivo electrophysiology methods to determine the efficacy and safety profiles of Galvani therapies, with the goal of delivering clinical therapy.
Prior to industry research at GSK and Galvani, Daniel studied Neuroscience at the University of London; Queen Mary (PhD – 2009), and the University of Cambridge (Post Doctorate – 2009-2013). Research from his academic career focused on understanding the dynamics of the peripheral nervous system, developing pre-clinical in vivo neurosurgical models, and novel neuroprosthetic design and application. Daniel is the Home Office License Holder and Risk and Ethics owner for in vivo research in Galvani, and is author to over 50 scientific publications and patent applications.

David works within the Translational Sciences group to perform and manage in-house and collaborative electrophysiological studies in small and large animal models and human tissue, aimed at developing and refining clinically-relevant stimulation parameters. David has a long-standing interest in neural interfacing; during his PhD he worked to develop high-density neuronal recordings with applications for the treatment of epilepsy. Prior to Galvani Bioelectronics, David has over 20 years of experience in Neuroscience, the last 15 of which has been in Psychiatric Drug Discovery within major international pharmaceutical companies.

Dean leads the IT department within Galvani Bioelectronics and is accountable for Galvani’s global business systems and technology infrastructure.

Prior to joining Galvani, Dean acted as a Functional Consultant at GSK, where he was responsible for deploying GSK’s Global SAP solution to a number of GSK’s manufacturing facilities around the world. Dean obtained his MPhil in Engineering from the University of Cambridge and his BSc Engineering in Mechatronics from the University of Cape Town.

Eric is board certified General and Vascular surgery with over 25 years of clinical experience in these areas. He is an adjunct professor of surgery at the University of Minnesota where he is involved in training for medical students, residents and practicing clinicians and is involved in clinical research activities.

During the past 18 years he has also worked with biomedical device companies developing therapies to treat cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. In these efforts he has worked in initial proof of concept studies; with R&D teams to develop initial implantable systems and to improve their usability; and with Clinical and Regulatory staff in clinical protocol development and establishing clinical events committees for clinical trials.

Eric worked with Galvani Bioelectronics since its inception working to study the anatomy at proposed interface sites, develop surgical techniques for humans and perform risk assessments and risk mitigation strategies for the surgical procedures developed to implant the neuromodulation systems.

Grace is an Investigator (Clinical Translation) within the Translational Medicine group at Galvani Bioelectronics. Her role centres around the design, execution and interpretation of high-dimensional flow cytometry experiments to support Galvani’s Indication Expansion Programme in the identification of novel disease targets for neuromodulatory therapy. Data from this work will provide comprehensive information about the immune phenotype of relevant disease models and identify biomarkers for monitoring disease progression and efficacy of neuromodulation. In parallel, training in clinical development and clinical operations is being undertaken to provide support for Galvani’s clinical work.

Hanna is the Quality Manager for Galvani Bioelectronics. She is responsible for implementation and maintenance of the quality system, and for ensuring quality and regulatory compliance across the organization.
Prior to joining Galvani, she was responsible for the quality and regulatory functions of multiple medical device start-ups and worked closely with R&D and clinical teams to usher devices from concept phase to commercialization. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Computation from Stanford University.

Isha is a Senior Investigator with the Translational and Engineering group in Galvani Bioelectronics. Her role is to manage in-house and collaborative electrophysiology and computational modelling studies aimed at investigating and refining clinically relevant dose for multiple disease indications. She works with Clinical team as a Field Clinical Engineer to implement & investigate therapies in the clinic. She also manages and drives academic and industrial collaborations such as CRACK-IT focussed on driving research into novel and future platforms for early disease indications.

Isha is a PhD graduate in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Southampton (2018). Work from her PhD focussed on exploiting emerging nanoelectronic memristive devices for the application of neural signal processing, with wider application in Internet-of-Things computing. Her scientific work is described in several patents and over twenty peer reviewed publications.

Jason investigates the interaction between biology and technology. Using electrophysiology and integrative biology, he works to understand the stimulation parameters and device configurations required to modulate peripheral organ function.

Prior to joining Galvani Bioelectronics, Jason spent seven years in small molecule drug discovery, studying mechanisms of sensory processing and neuroregeneration.

Jason holds a PhD in Neuroscience and a BSc in Cell Biology and Physiology. During his academic research he discovered new interactions between reproductive endocrinology, sensory processing and behaviour.

Jerry is an in vitro/ex vivo Investigator within Disease Biology primarily supporting the respiratory portfolio projects. He has a keen interest in novel mechanisms and interfaces to achieve fiber selective modulation of peripheral nerves to treat disease. In this role, Jerry also works closely with the Target Discovery and Neuronal Modulation Devices groups to help identify user requirements and functionality testing of neuronal interfaces.

Prior to joining Galvani Bioelectronics, Jerry worked for 10+ years in GSK’s Respiratory Therapeutic Area Unit and Neuronal Targets Discovery Performance Unit supporting lead optimisation of various chemical series targeting GPCRs and ion channels, including INCRUSE ELLIPTA® (umeclidinium) and Dinirixin. His past work has predominantly utilised functional ex vivo tissue preparations, electrophysiology, and calcium imaging techniques.

Jerry holds a BSc in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University.

Kevin is responsible for delivering preclinical validation in models for respiratory indications. He draws upon standard as well as innovative measurement tools to assess physiological end points and incorporates them into a closed loop design to optimise treatment parameters with the goal of providing a compelling preclinical demonstration.

Prior to joining Galvani Bioelectronics, Kevin led a lead-optimisation program at GSK developing small molecule sodium channel blockers for cough and other respiratory indications.

Kevin earned a PhD in physiology at the University of Kentucky and completed post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins University, where he made contributions to the knowledge of airway sensory neurobiology.

Kristen leads the U.S. Translational Development team of preclinical scientific content experts generating pre-clinical data and supporting clinical study implementation. With extensive experience in Alliance Management and a CA-AM certification, Kristen’s responsibility also include maintaining key relationships with external partners ensuring best practice and synergies across Galvani to deliver value through partnerships.

Prior to joining the Galvani team, Kristen was with GSK for over 20 years in various roles including Worldwide Business Development , Finance, and Marketing. Kristen holds an MBA from Temple University, and a B.S. in Finance from Drexel University.

Lynsay is Galvani’s Operations Associate, and has over 12 years of experience working in the pharmaceutical industry. Together with Clare De Vere, Lynsay provides administrative support to the Galvani Bioelectronics team.

Before joining Galvani Bioelectronics in 2016, Lynsay worked in the sports development sector for a County Sports Partnership and also for the NHS.

Margriet is Director Immunomodulation and Clinical Science Lead in the Clinical Development team. As such she is mainly focusing on the development of neuromodulation strategies for the treatment of (chronic) inflammatory diseases. Her main tasks are to participate in the design and execution of the clinical development strategy and is responsible for the execution of Galvani’s first clinical study. She lead’s and participates in the data review and analysis of the trial results in close collaboration with the Clinical Operations team. She provides expert scientific input to clinical trial documents and the program regulatory dossier and lead or assist with Competent Authority and Ethics Committee/IRB submissions together with the Regulatory team. In addition, she supervises R&D involving ex- and in vivo research delivering proof-of-concept studies on the target nerve performed in collaborative research projects with several universities in Europe.

Margriet holds a PhD in Biochemistry which she obtained at the university in Utrecht (The Netherlands). Previously she was working as COO at Arthrogen (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), a small biotech company developing gene therapy for arthritis. Holding also a position as University Teacher at the division of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology (Academic Medical Centre (AMC)/University of Amsterdam) she was supervising the research-lines focusing on neuro-inflammationn and gene therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. Currently she holds a position as University Teacher at the Tytgat Institute (AMC) and contributes to the development of neuromodulation for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. She is author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications.

Mina is responsible for intellectual property (IP) activities for Galvani Bioelectronics. As a UK and European qualified patent attorney, she works closely with the R&D team and the business to capture arising IP, build and manage the IP portfolio. She also evaluates potential IP risks or opportunities and advises the business with strategies to address them.

Prior to joining Galvani Bioelectronics, Mina was in private practice at two leading IP firms, having entered the IP profession in 2011. Coming from an engineering background, her practice had previously been more engineering and computing focused. Mina enjoys working with the complex blend of engineering and biology that Galvani Bioelectronics brings together.

Morten is a director in the development of the bioelectronics devices in the Galvani Bioelectronics team. He draws on experience from several development projects of active medical devices for both stimulation and sensing applications including devices for pain management, paralysis and prosthetic control. Morten’s responsibility is on overall direction of the development projects at Galvani Bioelectronics, with specific focus on user requirements, surgical procedures and instrumentation.

Prior to joining GKS’s Bioelectronics group, Morten spent nearly 15 years working on medical devices at the Alfred Mann Foundation and Bioness in California. He received his PhD in Biomedical and Electronic Engineering from Aalborg University, Denmark.

Paul is Director for Neural Interface Development. In this role he oversees the research and development of Galvani’s portfolio of implantable neurostimulation leads.

Paul has over 10 years of experience in neuromodulation, across several countries. These include the development of a retinal neuroprosthetic to restore sight to the blind as part of the Bionic Vision Australia project (UNSW, Australia), and Medtronic, where he supported and managed Deep Brain Stimulation across Australia and New Zealand.

Phil is Director within Clinical Development group and head of Indication Expansion. He is responsible for overseeing programs to diversify our lead therapy into new therapeutic areas, to confirm proof of concept and translational path to clinic. This includes developing translational biomarker strategies to define mechanisms of action and therapeutic response in our clinical trials. Prior to this he was Disease Biology manager, leading multiple projects with our academic collaborators, to demonstrate effects of neuromodulation on defined neural circuits in differing disease conditions.

Phil has extensive non-clinical and clinical experience across multiple therapeutic areas. He joined GSK in 2007, working in Safety Pharmacology with an in vivo cardiovascular and translational focus, followed by a position in Safety Evaluation & Risk Management in the Global Clinical Safety & Pharmacovigilance group. He moved to Pfizer as Non-Clinical Drug Safety Lead for the Neuroscience & Pain Research Unit, before joining Galvani Bioelectronics in 2016. Phil gained a PhD in Physiology & Pharmacology at the University of Strathclyde, followed by a post-doctoral position at the University of Edinburgh in the Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences.

Bob supports Galvani’s Translational Science programs. Using his 30 years of animal research experience, he ensures that the team has the right animal and surgical models for establishing treatment parameters and generating preclinical evidence of treatment and device safety.

He obtained a Doctor of Veterinary medicine from Colorado State University and a PhD in Cardiovascular physiology from Michigan State University. He also completed a residency in veterinary surgery at Purdue and a fellowship in laboratory animal medicine. Bob spent over 23 years in small molecule drug discovery and safety development animal models, directing surgical support programs, and establishing ultrasound and non-invasive imagine as a research tool supporting the evaluation of drug safety and efficacy.

Sarah holds a scientific investigator role within Disease Biology at Galvani Bioelectronics. Here she explores, refines and validates current avenues for pre-clinical neuromodulation. Previously Sarah was part of the Bioelectronics R&D Unit at GSK working as a postdoctoral researcher. She holds a strong background in integrative electrophysiology and an understanding of central and peripheral neuronal control of autonomic function.

Sarah received her PhD in Advanced Medicine from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Here, she focused on prefrontal cortex control of cardiorespiratory and thermoregulatory function under the scope of methamphetamine abuse and mental health disorders.

Sebastien leads the mechanical design efforts for the neural interface development at Galvani Bioelectronics.

Prior to his work at Galvani Bioelectronics, Sebastien worked in many areas of design engineering, across several countries. These include piezoelectric micro-systems in NOLIAC (Denmark) and Safran Electronics & Defense (France), before moving to implantable medical devices when he joined Sorin/LivaNova (France) to develop pacemaker and defibrillator systems, with specific focus on the leads and interfaces. Sebastien also spent 4 years at Medtronic (Netherlands) to work on the development of thin-film based leads and interfaces for deep brain stimulation.

Sebastien has a Master of Science in Mechanical and Microtechnoloy Engineering from the French National School of Mechanical Engineering and Microtechnology (ENSMM).

Simon is the Lead Biomedical Systems Engineer, supporting the development of the next generation Galvani neuromodulation system.

Prior to joining Galvani in Nov 2017, he was with CareFusion/Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) as Sr. Systems Engineer for the development of the new medical ventilators.

Simon earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University, Philadelphia, where his focus was to design a wireless intracranial pressure sensor for the patients with traumatic brain injury. He obtained an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering and B.S. in Electrical Engineering separately both from Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.

Wesley was an early Galvani adoptee, joining Galvani in January 2014 from GSK. Over the years, he has worn many different hats, ranging from EHS, UK safety and quality lead, lab manager and equipment inventory lead, purchasing support, and in-vivo study support.

Wesley current supports the Clinical Translation team as an in-vivo study director, leading disease model characterisation studies while bringing together many different workstream leads across Galvani and GSK to deepen our understanding of such target diseases, identifying potential clinically translatable biomarkers to set us up well for our pre-clinical studies. Here we will determine efficacy of our therapy for new diseases, potentially leading to subsequent Clinical Development.