Carole Spangler Vaughn, PhD, MBA
CEO, Founder, Inventor, Director
Dr. Carole Spangler Vaughn holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics (Johns Hopkins University) and an MBA (University of Washington). For over 25 years, she has worked for large and small entities, in the laboratory and in business development, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, University of Washington (Office of Technology Transfer), Dendreon Corporation, and Clario Medical Imaging. She owned and operated MediVet Hawaii, a veterinary regenerative medicine franchise. She was a Strategy Consultant/Interim CEO for Emtora Biosciences. She has also consulted several life science companies on strategy, partnering, fundraising, sales, and marketing.
Lisa Malina
CFO
Lisa Malina is a licensed and registered CPA with over twenty years of experience. Lisa has a wide range of experience including corporate, not-for-profit, and public accounting. She has given accounting and tax presentations at corporations and not-for-profit national conferences, and is a frequent panelist and speaker on accounting issues. She has served in many roles for the Illinois CPA Society, including: President of the North Shore Chapter, Chairman of the Young Professionals Group, Vice President of the O'Hare Chapter, and as a Legislative Contact. In 2012, Lisa was honored with the "Women to Watch" award from the Illinois CPA Society and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Nominated by her peers, this award honors women who have made significant contributions to the accounting profession and to the development of women as leaders.
Kelly Elliott
Director, Clinical and Regulatory
Kelly Elliott has held executive level positions at multiple medical device companies, successfully designing and executing clinical trial strategies which resulted in new device approvals, new indications, and dozens of publications in peer-reviewed medical journals. Through vast experience, Kelly has learned that high-quality work and well designed and well executed studies are the foundation for achieving the results that companies need to expand their product portfolios. Kelly’s strong clinical background as a registered nurse in the medical-surgical and open heart ICU cardiac catheterization lab, has enabled her to design and conduct successful clinical trials in a large variety of applications.
Thomas Moore, PhD
VP, Engineering
Thomas Moore has over 20 years experience leading research and development projects across a wide range of industries. For the past 15 years, he has focused specifically on the design and development of medical devices and combination products, including tools for in vitro disease modelling, point-of-care diagnostics, myocardial perfusion imaging and mechanical circulatory support. He has supported several start-ups, as well as some of the largest medical device manufacturers in the world. Thomas has completed a Master’s degree in micro-electro-mechanical systems, and a multidisciplinary PhD in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, both with project components focused on medical device development.
Martin A. Simonetti
Board Chair
Martin Simonetti served as President and CEO of VLST from 2005 to 2013. Prior to that, he was employed at Dendreon as the CFO, Senior Vice President of Finance, and Treasurer. He served as the VP of Operations and Finance of Amgen BioPharma and Director of Amgen's Colorado Operations. He also worked at Genentech, first as a scientist in the Medicinal and Analytical Chemistry Department and later as a financial analyst and group controller. Mr. Simonetti serves on the Board of Directors of Curtana Pharmaceuticals, Nexgenia, EpiThany, and VLST. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE) and Icagen, a Nasdaq company, until its sale to Pfizer. He was also a past member of the Dean’s executive advisory board for the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University and former chairman of the board of Life Sciences Washington. He received an M.S. and B.S. from the University of California, Davis and an M.B.A. from the University of Santa Clara.
Ann Tanabe
Director
Ann Tanabe, the current Chief Executive Officer of BioHouston, has over 15 years of experience in the Biotechnology Industry. Ann was promoted to CEO of BioHouston in October 2015 after serving four years as the company's COO. Prior to joining BioHouston, she served as VP of Investor Relations at Synthesis Energy Systems, a publicly traded energy company. Ann also served as Director, then VP of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations at Encysive Pharmaceuticals.