Day 1 - September 23, 2021

Welcome

Doug Edgeton
President and CEO, NCBiotech

Doug Edgeton became NCBiotech’s president and CEO of NCBiotech in September 2014. He brings extensive executive-level experience in health care from major academic medical centers, research park development and business administration, including an emphasis on community service.

Throughout his career, Doug has managed both human resources (talent) and facilities, helping them work in concert to create the right ecosystem for organizational growth. This approach led to more efficient organizations, faster technology transfer and better patient care. Edgeton continues this transformative approach at the Biotech Center, targeting state investment and staff expertise to help North Carolina’s life science companies grow, create jobs, and bring life-changing technologies to market.

At Wake Forest University, Edgeton held senior executive, administrative and financial roles with the medical school and Health System. Early in his tenure, he and his team developed a strategic planning process and implemented business management principles for the medical school. This laid the business case for the Piedmont Triad Research Park and eventually the integration of Wake Forest’s medical school and North Carolina Baptist Hospital.

He directed development of the 230-acre PTRP and was named president of what is now Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. This included managing from concept-to-completion the renovation of two tobacco production facilities into Wake Forest Biotech Place, completed in 2012. The public-private partnership between the university, the city of Winston-Salem, the state of North Carolina and the federal government created cutting-edge research space and incubator facilities for startup companies.

Edgeton’s influence was also strong in the evolution of Wake Forest University Health Sciences and North Carolina Baptist Hospital into one organization with a single CEO. Edgeton co-led the two teams that worked out strategic, logistical, and operational details of the reorganization. After the reorganization, he worked to combine the executive teams from the two separate entities, hiring key staff to complete the team.

 Following those successes at Wake Forest, he joined NCBiotech in 2012 as senior vice president for financial planning and development.

 Prior to joining Wake Forest, Edgeton served as associate dean for administration and finance at the University of Alabama School of Medicine at UAB.

 Edgeton received his B.S. degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and MBA and MPH degrees from UAB. Edgeton lives in Raleigh with his wife. They have two adult children.

Keynote

Billy Cohn, MD
Vice President, Medical Devices
Executive Director, Center for Device Innovation
Texas Medical Center (CDI @ TMC) Johnson & Johnson

William E. Cohn, MD, is a Vice President at Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies (JJMDC) and the Executive Director for the Johnson & Johnson Center for Device Innovation at the Texas Medical Center. He is also a professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and an adjunct professor of Bioengineering at both Rice University and the University of Houston.

Prior to joining JJMDC, Dr. Cohn was the director of the Cullen Cardiovascular Research Lab at the famed Texas Heart Institute and the Director of Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery at THI. A native of Houston, Dr. Cohn received his medical school education, general surgical training, and cardiothoracic surgical training at Baylor College of Medicine where he served as the last chief resident of the legendary heart surgeon Michael E. DeBakey. After graduation, Dr. Cohn spent eleven years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and as an Attending Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

His major research interests include the development of new technology for decreasing the invasiveness of surgical procedures and development of the continuous-flow totally implantable artificial heart. In 2011, Dr. Cohn and Dr. O. H. Frazier successfully implanted the first pulseless total heart replacement device in a human patient.

Dr. Cohn has a passion for medical device development and has more than 90 US patents granted or pending and another 60 international patents for his medical innovations. His numerous awards include an honorary doctorate in science from Oberlin College, the Distinguished Scientist Award, given by the MacDonald Fund, and the Edison Award for excellence in human-centered design and innovation for inventing the SentreHEART® Lariat® Suture Delivery Device. In 2000, Dr. Cohn was named the distinguished Inventor of the Year by the U.S. Intellectual Property Owners Association and in 2014, he was named Outstanding Inventor of the Year by the Houston IPO. In addition, in 2014 he received an award for the most Innovative Medical Device Startup of the year at the Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions Conference in Tel Aviv for inventing the TVA everlinQ system for percutaneous creation of AV fistulas and for founding TVA Medical. In 2015, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for health care innovation by the Houston Technology Center. He is the Chief Medical Officer of BiVACOR Inc. and currently serves on the board of directors of CSI Inc., BiVACOR, and TVA Medical. Previously, he served on the boards of ArterX, PluroMed, Onyx Medical, and SentreHeart.

Day 1 Sessions

Day 2 - September 24, 2021

Welcome

Carol Lewis
Vice President, UNC Health Enterprises, UNC Health

As Vice President of UNC Health Enterprises, Carol leads the exploration of new transformation opportunities for UNC Health Care including the pursuit of new ideas and businesses. Carol also created and oversees the UNC Center for Health Innovation where she directs innovation across the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health. She develops programs to cultivate an innovative culture while also building and managing a diverse portfolio of innovative initiatives in areas such as digital health, population health, value-based care and payment models, health care data and analytics, clinical research, and more. She also engages external partners to pilot and implement novel ideas.

Prior to joining UNC, Carol was a Director at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina where she gained a strong understanding of health care payment models. There she developed corporate strategic plans, managed pharmacy benefits, and built health care provider networks. She also worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, creating strategies for Fortune 500 clients around growth, profitability improvement, new product development, market expansion and exit, customer segmentation, organizational structure redesign and business portfolio management.

Carol holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics from Lafayette College and a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Keynote

Hassan A. Tetteh, MD, MBA, FACS, FACHE, FAMIA
Health Mission Chief
Department of Defense
Joint Artificial Intelligence Center

Dr. Hassan A. Tetteh is a US Navy Captain and Associate Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and adjunct faculty at Howard University College of Medicine. He was selected a 2019 Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar by the National Academy of Medicine. Currently, Tetteh is a Thoracic Surgeon for MedStar Health and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He leads a Specialized Thoracic Adapted Recovery (STAR) Team in Washington, DC, and his research in thoracic transplantation aims to expand heart and lung recovery and save lives.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Tetteh received his BS from State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh, his MD from SUNY Downstate Medical Center, his MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, an MBA from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, and an MS in National Security Strategy with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence from the National War College. He completed his thoracic surgery fellowship at the University of Minnesota and advanced cardiac surgery fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Tetteh received the Alley Sheridan Award by the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education, is a best-selling author of several books, including The Art of Human Care book series, was named a TEDMED Front Line Scholar, and is a TEDx speaker.

Day 2 Sessions

Closing Remarks

Mary Beth Thomas, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Science and Business Development, NCBiotech

Mary Beth Thomas is the senior vice president, science, and business development at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech). Prior to this role, she was vice president of NCBiotech’s Emerging Sector Development program. 

As senior vice president, she is responsible for the Center's Emerging Company Development (ECD) and Science and Technology Development (SciTech) teams, as well as the Information Technology and Life Science Intelligence teams. The ECD and SciTech units administer NCBiotech’s loan and grant programs. She also co-leads NCBiotech’s Focused Initiatives Team (FIT). FIT works to identify and prioritize emerging opportunities that leverage assets and resources to deliver high impact solutions for NC. Thomas also oversees the Center’s Biodefense/Biosecurity and Precision Health initiatives. 

Before joining NCBiotech in 2008, Thomas served as the statewide director of technology commercialization with the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) in Raleigh. Before that, she was the assistant director of the neurosensory program at Tranzyme Pharma in Research Triangle Park. She also served as an assistant director of the neuroprotection program at Cogent Neuroscience in Durham. 

Thomas earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biotechnology at the Rochester Institute of Technology (New York), a doctorate in developmental biology from the University of Cincinnati and served as a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Neurobiology at Duke University.