Founder & President
In 2000, Doug co-founded what is now VentriFlo Inc., as the President and CEO as well as Technical Lead. Additionally, Doug leads Design Mentor Inc., an engineering consultancy specializing in the development of medical devices. Design Mentor has worked on the development of over 35 diverse medical components and systems including numerous blood and blood handling disposables and instruments.
In 2001, Doug began working on his own proprietary pumping technology using a suspended magnet linear motor (similar to a speaker) coupled to a high-performance, flexible diaphragm. This effort grew into the VentriFlo® True Pulse Pump and VentriFlo Inc. Doug is dedicated to the ongoing development and commercialization of this groundbreaking product.
Prior to founding Design Mentor, Doug worked as an engineer and developer of medical products. Projects have included many pump based products such as dialysis machines (Baxter HomeChoice), Aphaeresis Systems (Fenwal ALYX), transportable Cardiac Assist systems (ABIOMED BVS 5000t) and Hystroscopic Surgical systems (Olympus ACMI Dolphin II). For the past 20 years, almost all programs that Doug has led or participated in have involved the pumping of blood.
Doug has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. He shares seventeen patents.
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Director, Clinical Marketing and Business Development
Greg brings over 30 years of Perfusion and Business expertise to VentriFlo. He joined VentriFlo in early 2020 as Director of Clinical Marketing and Business Development. Prior to coming to VentriFlo, his company, CETECH, which he had co-founded and led for 11 years, was acquired by SpecialtyCare, Inc. Greg worked with SpecialityCare during the post-acquisition integration process. He ensured a smooth transition to integrate his previous business into SpecialtyCare by working with vendors, clients, accounting team, and employees. During this time he acted as a member of operational leadership team for the Midwest Region.
His previous company, CETECH (Coastal Extracorporeal Technology) was a provider of services, supplies and capital equipment to cardiac surgery programs throughout the Midwest and Southeast US. At CETECH, Greg oversaw Business Development resulting in annual sales of $10M in five years in a mature and competitive market. Prior to working with CETECH, Greg was VP of The Extracorporeal Alliance, and worked with Great Lakes Medical & Perfusion Services as a professional perfusionist.
Greg has a Master Sales and Sales Operations Certificate from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management, an MS in Administration from the University of Notre Dame, and a BS, Perfusion Technology, from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
He was granted CCP Emeritus by The American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion.
Director, Market Position and Organizational Development
Jackie is the founder and former CEO of Salient Surgical Technologies Inc., (formerly TissueLink Medical), which was sold to Medtronic Inc. in 2011. Prior to founding Salient, Jackie was a VP at Medtronic for over a decade. Prior to working with Medtronic, she was Director of Sales & Marketing for medical device company, Impra, Inc.
Jackie is a member of many boards of both professional and philanthropic organizations.
Director, Clinical Operations and Device Innovation
Ellen joined VentriFlo in 2020 as Director of Clinical Operations & Device Innovation. As a Registered Nurse and Clinical Perfusionist, she brings 35 years of clinical experience in the high acuity and operating room environments. Ellen’s direct clinical perspective combined with 10 years of medical device development offers VentriFlo unique and critical insight into patient safety, human factors and product innovation.
Ellen began her perfusion career within the University of Penn Health System in Philadelphia in 1992. Shortly after, she joined Abiomed Inc. in Danvers MA, as a Clinical Educator/ Consultant and was the primary Perfusionist for the in vivo studies for Abiomed’s Abiocor™ totally implantable artificial heart.
Ellen returned to clinical practice, serving several hospitals the greater Boston area, and became one of two primary Perfusionists supporting the cardiac surgery program at North Shore Medical Center in Salem. Meanwhile, Ellen received her MBA and a master’s in Healthcare Management.
She moved back to Philadelphia in 2008 to lead the Perfusion programs at Penn Presbyterian and Pennsylvania Hospital. Her direct and extensive experience supporting patients during heart surgeries, her passion for patient safety and desire for innovation informed her decision to join Spectrum Medical Inc., as Director of Operations, quickly rising to Vice President of US Operations.
After hearing of her departure from Spectrum Medical Inc., Doug Vincent (a colleague from Abiomed aware of her clinical and device expertise), reached out and asked Ellen to join the VentriFlo team.
Ellen has an MBA and a Masters in HCM from University of Phoenix, a BSN from Gwynedd Mercy College and maintains a RN license in the state of Virginia. After 25 years as a clinically active perfusionist (CCP), Ellen was granted CCP Emeritus by the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion in 2016.
CCO (Chief Commercialization Officer)
Steve has spent over 25 years in development, marketing, sales and general management of medical devices including 16 years in the cardiac rhythm (electrophysiology) and catheter ablation field. From 1996 to 2003 Steve served as General Manager and then President of the Bard Electrophysiology Division. Under Steve’s direction that division became the market leader for electrophysiology diagnostic catheters and recording systems and grew to 600 employees and nearly $90 million in sales. More recently, Steve served as President and CEO of CardioFocus, and Executive Vice President of CardioNet, an early stage company developing and supplying systems for remote monitoring of cardiac arrhythmia patients.
Steve holds a J.D. from Emory University and a B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College.
Senior Advisor & Chief Scientific Officer
Prior to joining the VentriFlo project, Dr. Rohit Vishnoi served as the Corporate Vice President for the Global Device R&D organization at Hospira where he is responsible for providing strategic and operational direction. In addition, he serves on advisory boards for the Biomedical Engineering departments of Northwestern University and University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to joining Hospira, Rohit was the Vice President for Global Product Development for the Renal Division at Baxter Healthcare. Over a 20-year career at Baxter, he held positions of increasing responsibility in R&D and general management. Teams he led were the recipients of the Janus de la Santé Award in 2006, the Medical Design Excellence Award in 2005, and the R&D 100 Award for technologically significant product development in 1995.
Rohit received his Masters of Management in Marketing and Finance in 1995 from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. in 1988 from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He received his Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1982. As an inventor, Dr. Rohit Vishnoi has been granted eleven design patents.