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Management team

  • Francois Michelon

    Francois Michelon

    Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

  • Francois Michelon
    Francois Michelon Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

    Francois Michelon joined ENDRA as chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors in 2015. He has 20 years of healthcare technology experience in general management, operations, strategy and marketing across the diagnostic imaging, surgical instrument and dental sectors.

    From 2012 to 2014, Michelon served as vice president of global marketing for the 3i division of Biomet, Inc. (now Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.), a provider of oral reconstruction technologies, where he was responsible for the upstream and downstream development of the division’s global portfolio. From 2004 to 2011, Michelon served as group director of global services and visualization for Smith & Nephew plc’s Advanced Surgical Devices division, where he led P&L’s in the B2B service and capital equipment sectors. From 1997 to 2004, Michelon worked at GE Healthcare in a variety of global upstream and downstream marketing roles.

    Michelon received an M.B.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University and a bachelor’s in economics from the University of Chicago. He has also earned his Six Sigma Black Belt certification.

  • Michael Thornton

    Michael Thornton

    Chief Technology Officer

  • Michael Thornton
    Michael Thornton Chief Technology Officer

    Prior to joining ENDRA as chief technology officer in 2007, Michael Thornton was a founder and president of Enhanced Vision Systems Corp., or EVS, a developer and supplier of medical imaging equipment to the pharmaceutical, biotech and academic sectors.

    In 2002, EVS was acquired by General Electric Company. Following the acquisition of EVS by GE, Thornton held a number of positions at GE Healthcare, including sales manager, global product manager and site leader. He was a member of the leadership team that expanded the pre-clinical imaging business to include: computed tomography, optical and positron emission tomography imaging technologies, with global market reach. He is also a founder of Volumetrics Medical Corp., a developer and manufacturer of quality assurance devices for diagnostic imaging.

    Prior to founding EVS, Thornton developed medical imaging related technologies at the Robarts Research Institute (London, Ontario, Canada) for which he obtained a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Western Ontario. Thornton also holds a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto and is a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

  • Irina Pestrikova

    Irina Pestrikova

    Senior Director of Finance

  • Irina Pestrikova
    Irina Pestrikova Senior Director of Finance

    Irina Pestrikova joined ENDRA as Senior Director of Finance in June 2021. She has ten years of experience in finance, accounting and operations. From 2014 to 2021, Pestrikova was the Director of Operations of Wells Compliance Group, a technology-based services firm supporting the financial reporting needs of small-cap, privately held, and publicly traded companies. In her role as Director of Operations, Pestrikova provided accounting, financial reporting, modeling and analysis to a number of public companies, including ENDRA.

    Pestrikova received an M.B.A. in finance from the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School and a bachelor’s in economics and finance from Izhevsk State University in Russia.

  • Steve Freeman

    Steve Freeman

    Human Resources Leader

  • Steve Freeman
    Steve Freeman Human Resources Leader

    Steve Freeman joined ENDRA as human resources leader in May 2017. His background includes 15 years of large company HR leadership roles prior to founding a human capital consulting firm focused on outsourced and fractional services for small and mid-sized companies.

    His experience includes leadership roles with NCR, Scientific-Atlanta, Cardinal Health and General Electric in manufacturing, aviation, medical, consumer services, high-tech, distribution and financial services in addition to helping hundreds of industry-diverse organizations as a consultant. Freeman is known for his expertise in talent management, workforce planning, organization and leadership development and acquisition and integration planning.

    Freeman received a bachelor’s in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Georgia State University. He holds a lifetime certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and is green belt certified.

Board

  • Lou Basenese

    Director

  • Lou Basenese Director

    Lou Basenese joined ENDRA's board of directors in 2020. Basenese, 42, is the Founder and Chief Analyst of Disruptive Tech Research, LLC, an independent equity research and advisory firm focused exclusively on disruptive technology companies that has served the investment management community since June 2014. Since 2005, Basenese has also managed The Basenese Group, LLC, a consulting business focused on communications and business development for private and public small and microcap businesses. Mr. Basenese holds an M.B.A. in Finance from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida. He is also a former Series 7 and Series 66 license holder.

  • Anthony DiGiandomenico

    Director

  • Anthony DiGiandomenico Director

    Anthony DiGiandomenico joined ENDRA’s board of directors in 2013. A co-founder of MDB Capital Group LLC, DiGiandomenico focuses on corporate finance and capital formation for growth-oriented companies. He has participated in all areas of corporate finance including private capital, public offerings, PIPEs, business consulting and strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions.

    DiGiandomenico has also worked on a wide range of transactions for growth-oriented companies in the biotechnology, nutritional supplements, manufacturing and entertainment industries. Prior to forming MDB Capital Group LLC in 1997, Mr. DiGiandomenico served as president and CEO of the Digian Company, a real estate development company.

    DiGiandomenico holds an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s in finance from the University of Colorado.

  • Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir

    Director

  • Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Director

    In Memoriam (1962–2020)

    Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir joined our board of directors in 2008. He is the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research and the chair of radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He also heads the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection and directs the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS).

    He received an M.D. and Ph.D. from the UCLA Medical Scientist Training Program. He has many publications in the field and numerous patents pending or granted. He has developed and clinically translated several multimodality molecular imaging strategies including imaging of gene and cell therapies. He has also pioneered imaging areas such as Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET), split-reporter technology, Raman imaging in vivo, Molecular Photoacoustic imaging, PET reporter genes, and novel in vitro and in vivo strategies for the early detection of cancer.

    Dr. Gambhir serves on numerous academic advisory boards for universities around the world and also served as a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute from 2004 to 2012. He has also founded or co-founded several startups in the diagnostics space. Among his many awards are the George Von Hevesy Prize and the Paul C. Aebersold Award for outstanding achievement in basic nuclear medicine science from the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Outstanding Researcher Award from the Radiological Society of Northern America, the Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Holst Medal, the Tesla Medal and the Hounsfield Medal from Imperial College, London. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academies in 2008.

  • Michael Harsh

    Director

  • Michael Harsh Director

    Michael Harsh joined ENDRA’s board of directors in 2015. He has 36 years’ experience in healthcare technology, focused on diagnostic imaging. Harsh was most recently GE Healthcare’s vice president and chief technology officer, leading its global science and technology organization and research and development teams in diagnostics, healthcare IT and life sciences.

    In 2004, Harsh was named global technology leader—Imaging Technologies Lab at the GE Global Research Center, where he led the research for imaging technologies across the company as well as the research associated with computer visualization/image analysis and superconducting systems. He led the Engineering division for GE Industrial and Enterprise Solutions from 2006 to 2009. Harsh was named an officer of General Electric Company in November 2006. He is a co-founder and current chief product officer of Terapede Systems Inc., a digital x-ray detector startup, a member of the board of directors of FloDesign Sonics, Inc., a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Phoenix Nuclear Labs, LLC and a consultant to start-ups in the medical device industry.

    Harsh is a graduate of Marquette University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He holds numerous U.S. patents in the field of medical imaging and instrumentation. In 2008, Harsh was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows for his significant contributions to the medical and biological engineering field.

  • Alexander Tokman

    Director

  • Alexander Tokman Director

    Alexander Tokman joined ENDRA’s board of directors in 2008. He is currently CEO-In-Residence at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2). From 2006 to 2017 he served as president, chief executive officer and a director of Microvision, Inc., a publicly traded laser beam scanning projection and imaging company.

    Previously, Tokman completed a 10+ year tenure as an executive with GE Healthcare, where he led several global businesses, most recently as a general manager of its Global Molecular Imaging and Radiopharmacy multi-technology business unit from 2003 to 2005. Between 1995 and 2003, Tokman served in various leadership roles at GE Healthcare, where he led the definition and successful commercialization of several product segments, including PET/CT, which generated over $500 million of revenue within the first three years of its launch. From 1989 to 1995, Mr. Tokman served as development programs lead and a head of industry and regional development at Tracor Applied Sciences.

    Tokman has both a master’s and a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He is a certified Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) Black Belt and Master Black Belt and as one of General Electric Company’s Six Sigma pioneers, he drove the quality culture change across GE Healthcare in the late 1990s.

Advisors

  • Jonathan Rubin, M.D., Ph.D.

    Scientific Advisor

  • Jonathan Rubin, M.D., Ph.D. Scientific Advisor

    Dr. Jonathan Rubin is the Martel Collegiate Professor of Radiology and section head for Ultrasound and Abdominal Interventional Radiology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

    Dr. Rubin has over 200 peer-reviewed publications, over 125 invited presentations and 10 patents. In 2005 he was awarded the University of Michigan Medical School Innovation Award. In 2007 he won the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine Joseph H. Holmes Clinical Pioneer Award. In 2011 he received the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound Lawrence Mack Lifetime Achievement Award. From 1979 to 1984, Dr. Rubin was the director of the Section of Body Computed Tomography and Ultrasound Imaging in the Department of Radiology at the University of Chicago.

    Dr. Rubin received a bachelor’s in chemistry from the University of Utah. He received an M.D. from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in biophysics and theoretical biology from the University of Chicago.

  • Raza Malik, M.D., Ph.D.

    Scientific Advisor

  • Raza Malik, M.D., Ph.D. Scientific Advisor

    Raza Malik, MD PhD FRCP FAASLD is the Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and
    Hepatology and Vice Chairmen of the Department of Medicine (Research). He is the Albert M Yunich, Endowed Chair in Gastroenterology and Professor of Medicine at Albany Medical College. In his prior position, Dr Malik was the Director of Hepatology and Associate Chief, Division of Gastroenterology at Tufts Medical Center. Dr. Malik completed his MD at Kings College London and PhD in Liver Cell Biology and Hepatology at University College London. He completed advanced training in Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Transplantation Medicine at the Roger Williams Liver Unit at Kings College Hospital, the Sheila Sherlock Liver Unit at the Royal Free Hospital and at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.

    Between Oct 2009 and Apr 2019, he served as Staff Physician & Attending in Hepatology and Transplant Hepatology for Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians and Medical Director of the Hepatology & Hepatobiliary Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. Prior to this he was a Staff Physician in Hepatology on the Faculty of Medicine at University College Hospital, University College London. Dr Malik is a world class and internationally recognized expert in Liver Disease in the areas of cirrhosis, liver failure, liver fibrosis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

    A distinguished clinical leader and highly productive clinical and translational researcher, Dr Malik has made important innovations and contributions to the care of patients with liver disease. He is an outstanding physician, teacher and mentor who has provided exceptional clinical care to patients and supported a generation of medical students, interns, residents, fellows and junior faculty members.

  • Jing Gao, M.D., FAIUM

    Scientific Advisor

  • Jing Gao, M.D., FAIUM Scientific Advisor

    Dr. Jing Gao is currently associate professor of ultrasound at Rocky Vista University in Ivins, Utah. Dr. Gao is also an adjunct assistant research professor of radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, N.Y.

    Dr. Gao brings over 30 years of clinical and research experience in abdominal ultrasound, in both the United States and China. Besides her post at Rocky Vista, Dr. Gao is also deputy president and guest professor at the Dalian University International Institute of Medical Imaging in China.

    Dr. Gao has numerous peer reviewed publications in the areas of liver, spleen and kidney diseases and quantitative ultrasound imaging. Her numerous honors and professional affiliations include being named one of China’s Top 100 Ultrasound Physicians by the Chinese Association of Medical Imaging Technology, and she was appointed as the ambassador for research & education collaboration between the American institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and Chinese Ultrasound Doctor’s Association in April 2019.

    She is a fellow of the Chinese Association of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, a fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and an editorial board member of Clinical Imaging (Elsevier) and Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (Elsevier).

    Dr. Gao completed her medical education at Changchun and Dalian Medical Colleges in China.

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