Dr. Atray Dixit co-founded Coral Genomics after finishing his graduate work in 2018 with the mission of understanding and reducing variability in therapeutic response for all patients. In this role, he works with a diverse team and key external stakeholders in the healthcare system. In Aviv Regev’s lab at the Broad Institute, he focused on developing novel methods for high throughput genetic screening. In 2016, he led a team to develop Perturb-seq, a technology which allows genetically encoded perturbations (like CRISPR edits) to be screened using single-cell RNA-seq. Atray also developed new methods to enable large combinatorial screens such as Shuffle-seq. He translated the big data skills he learned through these projects during a brief externship at Apple’s Applied Machine Learning division. Atray received his BSE in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 2012 and his PhD through MIT’s Health Sciences and Technology program.
Asaf Kraus, Dieta’s Co-Founder and CEO, is an IBS patient and an experienced data scientist. The combination of his professional experience as a data scientist and his personal struggle with digestive disease drives his passion for Dieta Health’s mission to improve digestive health using data and AI. With eight years of professional experience as a data scientist, Asaf used data to uncover valuable insights for innovative technology companies such as Uber, Accenture, and Trulia. He was afflicted with severe IBS in 2017, which changed the course of his life. While spending months consulting various GI clinicians and experimenting with dozens of complicated treatment options, Asaf observed the lack of data and personalization in modern gastroenterology. And during that journey, he began to envision an AI-driven future of gastroenterology care, which Dieta Health is now building.
Dr. Sriram Muthukumar is the CEO and Co-Founder of EnLiSense LLC, where he has raised over $1 million in non-dilutive funding from US federal government agencies towards platform development and clinical validation. Sriram has over 20 years of experience in leading teams and developing scalable processes in electronic materials, device fabrication and packaging technologies, and high-volume manufacturing methods. He is an inventor on 17 granted patents, several patent applications pending, and has authored and co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications to date. He also has an Adjunct Associate Professor position at the University of Texas at Dallas in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering doing research and development of ultrasensitive sensors for various applications, including biosensing and environmental use cases.
Sriram received his Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in India in Metallurgical Engineering in 1997. He went on to complete his PhD in Ceramics and Materials Engineering from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 2003, where his doctoral research focused on thin film growth and characterization of II-VI materials for optimizing electrical and optical device performance.
After his PhD, Sriram was scouted by Intel, where he was a lead on research and development programs, especially those challenging the status-quo, i.e. disruptive technologies translation from research to development and manufacturing. A significant number of these programs involved transfer of technology from university and research stage to delivering product and technology readiness for high-volume manufacturing. He was recognized for his contributions within the company with several awards and was instrumental in several trade secrets and patent filings. He also held positions at Maxim Integrated Products and Qorvo Inc., where he was instrumental in bringing new Sensor technologies to market.
David Schoen is the Co-Founder and CEO of GI Trak. As a Crohn’s patient since he was 8 years old, David understands the frustrations of navigating through life while trying to manage and control the disease. He founded GI Trak as a way to bridge the patient-provider communication divide by providing a virtual clinic for all IBD needs. David brings with him over 15 years of business experience in management, sales, and business development. Before founding GI Trak, he co-founded higher education programs in Israel geared towards undereducated individuals to help guide and matriculate them into universities and the workforce.
In his free time, David volunteers at the Jewish Crohn’s & Colitis Support Group, which helps connect IBD patients with the proper doctors and helps guide patients through the effects of the disease. David is also an advisor of another startup, Trufyx, where he uses his experience as a founder to help advance the company through its early stages. Using his real-life experience and his vast network, David has bult a platform that is already a proven success for its users.
Dr. Avi Dukler is an entrepreneur and executive with global experience in strategy, product development, commercialization, reimbursements, and general management of worldwide teams, including Israel, Europe, and the US. Avi has managed biomarkers’ discovery, clinical development, and regulation and commercialization of two personalized medicine clinical diagnostic products. Dr. Avinoam Dukler is the Managing Partner & President of Glycominds, LLC. Dr. Dukler holds a PhD in Biotechnology from Tel Aviv University, Israel and is an entrepreneur with more than 23 years of leadership and global experience in biomarker discovery, clinical validation, product development, reimbursement, and commercialization. Dr. Dukler is also Co-Founder, CEO & President of Kepler Diagnostics, Inc, company that is developing and commercializing Samplla®, a proprietary dried-specimens technology.
In building Oshi Health, Sam Holliday combines his passion for redesigning healthcare around the needs of patients with a mission to increase access to the high-quality, whole-person care that two of his family members have needed to manage their digestive conditions. He has held leadership roles across healthcare technology and tech-enabled services companies focused on improving population health. These include scaling a tech-enabled diabetes management company, a data-driven health system patient acquisition platform, and population health tools for a leading electronic medical record (EMR) company.
Sam lives in New York City with his family and enjoys spending time deepening his knowledge of how our bodies and brains work and cheering on Philadelphia sports teams and NYCFC.
Vik Kashyap is the CEO and Founder at Toi Labs, a Silicon Valley-based company developing bathroom technology to improve aging. He has led companies to build products that today touch millions of consumers. Vik has been quoted or authored in Science Translational Medicine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and The New York Times. He is the author of multiple patents and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in Northern California. He was previously an investor at Battery Ventures, where he executed and supported investments for a $1 billion technology venture capital fund and has served as an angel investor and senior advisor to multiple technology companies, including the largest enterprise software company in Japan. He is a graduate with honors from Harvard University.
Jasmin Pierre is a mental health advocate, and the creator of “The Safe Place” a culturally competent mental health app for the black community on Android and ios. This app was created because of racial biases regarding societal issues, a lack of understanding about mental health in the black community, and in the healthcare field when it comes to understanding what racial trauma is, and how it can seriously impact mental health.
Jasmin is also the author of A Fight Worth Finishing, which details her experiences with depression and suicide, and “Generational awakening: The Strange Anxiety In Dauphine Royal” a culturally competent comic book, that focuses on the impacts racial trauma can have on the black community, after a racially traumatic situation takes place in the media. ( The comic is presented by the Safe Place App)
Dr. Petter Björquist holds a PhD in Biology/Biochemistry from Gothenburg University, 50+ publications in peer reviewed journals, several book chapters, and patents. He spent 10 years within AstraZeneca R&D in Cardiovascular Diseases, 12 years at Cellartis/Cellectis as VP for Regenerative Medicine, responsible for the major collaboration with Novo Nordisk on the development of a human embryonic stem cell derived beta cell treatment for diabetes. As of February 2014, Petter has been the CEO of VERIGRAFT AB, a pioneering company within advanced tissue engineering, transplantation, and regenerative medicine.
With a background as a scientist in biology, Petter is very experienced in cells, how they can be mastered, and how they can be used directly and indirectly to cure diseases. On top of that, Petter has 15 years of experience specifically in stem cells, tissue engineering, cell therapy, transplantation, and advanced regenerative medicine from three different companies. In leading positions in each of these corporations, he has been able to bring products to the market, to bring stem cell therapies to a GMP setting, and to advance projects in this area to an industrial level. As VP for Regenerative Medicine at Cellartis/Cellectis, he was appointed alliance manager for the multimillion USD collaboration with Novo Nordisk and Lund University, a three-party project that he initiated and managed for nearly ten years.
Scott Alpard is an experienced innovator and entrepreneur with a successful track record evaluating emerging scientific discoveries and start-up and new venture development. He has over thirty years of experience in executive healthcare management and operations, medical device/product development and testing, research (basic science, translational, and clinical research) in academic medical centers, and healthcare and life science management consulting. Scott has also directed numerous medical device development and testing initiatives including creating and directing the artificial organ development program at the University of Texas Medical Branch where he published more than 125 scientific articles, abstracts, and book chapters, and has given more than 60 presentations. He has also co-founded four healthcare technology companies with two successful exits. He is currently the Chief Business Officer/Administrator for the Department of Breast Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center where he developed and directs surgical device and health IT innovation.
Scott has a BA from Emory University, a Master’s in Medical Science (MMSc) from the UTMB Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, an MBA from the University of Houston, has completed the Life Science Entrepreneurship Executive Education Program at Rice University – Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, and is a current PhD candidate at the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health. Scott also founded and is President of The Cade R. Alpard Foundation for Pediatric Liver Disease, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and is a Board Member for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.