Invest NY: Health

Win Thurlow

Executive Director at MedTech Association

An energetic organizational professional experienced in the public and private sectors. I am the Executive Director of the MedTech Association, New York’s trade organization for the BioMed Industry. Our mission is to develop the relationships, tools and programs that enable New York State companies to bring tomorrow’s medical solutions to the healthcare marketplace.

Previously, I was Vice President for University Compliance and Ethics at SUNY Upstate Medical University where I oversaw the development and implementation of all university policies; coordinated and directed enforcement of regulations and policies related to ethics, compliance, institutional integrity and conflicts of interest; and developed and delivered education and training programs. I also served as the university’s Enterprise Risk Management Officer and its Internal Controls Officer. Prior to this position, I was Associate Counsel to the university .

I have also worked in various capacities in state government, most notably as Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge for the New York Attorney General from 1999 to 2007. There I managed the AG’s Central New York regional office and was responsible for enforcement of state regulatory requirements and the management of litigation, both affirmative and defensive. I began my legal career in private practice, where I specialized in civil litigation and bankruptcy.

In these various roles I have developed an expertise in compliance and ethics requirements and am a frequent lecturer on these topics. I also have extensive experience in communications, institutional messaging, crisis management, government relations, public speaking and legal analysis.

I have a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Union College

Norma Nowak

Executive Director NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences at University at Buffalo

Norma Nowak is executive director of the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences. She is an acclaimed researcher – a recognized leader in the human genomics field – and an entrepreneur. Her research contributed directly to the Human Genome Project, as well as to genomic-based approaches to understanding heritable disorders and cancer. Nowak is also the founder and chief scientific officer of Empire Genomics, LLC, a molecular diagnostics firm focused on enabling personalized medicine.

Nowak’s efforts were instrumental in obtaining more than $70 million in funding for research and infrastructure, and she has authored and co-authored 144 research articles. Among other achievements, she received the 2008 American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Team Science Award and the 2008 Thomas B. Tomasi Award from Roswell Park Cancer Institute for her outstanding achievements in science. She is a Buffalo Museum of Science board member and was recently appointed to the Empire State Stem Cell Board for New York State and the founding board for 43North.

Nowak is also at the forefront of a new era of personalized medicine as a driving force in the governor’s investment in UB and the New York Genome Center (NYGC) to create the Buffalo Institute for Genomics and Data Analytics (BIG).

Kathi Durdon

Executive Director at CNY Biotech Accelerator, Upstate Medical University

CNY Biotech Accelerator, Upstate Medical University is a NYS Certified Business Incubator/ NYSTAR asset. CNYBAC provides licensable laboratory space at cost effective rates, shared equipment use and access to academic medical center clinical and basic science expert partnerships and core facilities. Clients can access Hot Spot and START-UP NY tax benefit programs and are provided MedTech annual membership. CNYBAC staff, mentors and ecosystem partners provide a wealth of resources and collaborative services to include student intern match assistance, networking opportunities and educational programming. Programs include the Empire State Development co-funded Medical Device Innovation Challenge, annual Manufacturing Workshop and Innovation Conference as well as the monthly-held CNYBAC Concept to Commercialization Virtual Series.

Lorenzo D’Amico

CEO and Lead Engineer at Triton Bio

Jordan Taylor Sloan

Entrepreneurship Navigator @ NYSTAR

Jordan Taylor Sloan is the Entrepreneurship Navigator for Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). Jordan works with entrepreneurs and businesses to efficiently partake in the NYSTAR network of innovation partners and oversees the development of initiatives to leverage gaps in the ecosystems.

Jordan has worked at the State and Local levels of economic development throughout her career, leading the Small Business Center at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and working as a Project Manager for the State of Tennessee’s Business and Enterprise Resource Office. As a former entrepreneur, Jordan worked with brands, small businesses, and NGOs on incorporating circular economy applications into operations and how to best market those distinctions.

Jordan completed her Masters in Management at the Harvard Extension School where she graduated with honors for her work on the applications of the circular economy to spur private sector innovation and restorative economic development policy. Her research was published in the Harvard Circular Economy Symposium and her capstone was awarded the Semi Finalist prize at the Harvard University President’s Innovation Challenge.

Richard Uhlig

Chief Executive Officer at Quadrant Biosciences Inc.

With more than 25 years of business experience focused on the design and development of innovative products across various industries, Richard’s management capabilities range from ownership of regional retail businesses to the start-up and management of major corporate divisions with domestic and international product sourcing and sales experience. Previously, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley Bank, the principal banking subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, and was the Chief Investment Officer at Merrill Lynch Bank. He held other significant posts in the financial industry and served as an Executive in Residence at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. Richard is a graduate of Cornell University.

Melissa Bime

CEO @Infiuss Health(YCS21)

Melissa Bime is the CEO of Infiuss Health, which is a SAAS platform for powering remote clinical research and clinical trials in Africa. Prior to starting this company, Melissa Had previously build software for blood donor recruitment and blood delivery. She has experience with building and operating clinical software and a really good understanding of building technology for the African Continent.

A hands-on, experienced and respected leader with deep experience in the African clinical Space, Health Information Technology with Operations, Strategy, International Development, Sales,and a solid track record of achievements impacting company Leaderdship, process/productivity improvements, cost containment and business development. Entrepreneur and strategic thinker.

Specialties: Patient Data & Engagement, Marketing, Compliance, Market Research.

Maura Devlin

Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Public Relations

Thomas Quinn

Chief Executive Officer of The WNY Impact Investment Fund

Tom Quinn is the CEO of the Western New York Impact Investment Fund. He joined the Fund as the founding CEO in August 2017 and is committed to growing Western New York’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. As a collaborative leader, he works with portfolio companies to promote organizations with
significant financial potential and meaningful and sustainable social impact to benefit investors, investees and the eight counties of Western New York. In the area of social impact, The Fund applies a broad diversity, equity, and inclusion lens across all social impact parameters.

Tom has expansive experience leading high growth entrepreneurial ventures, raising capital, and creating high-functioning management teams. He has deep experience in mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining the Fund, Tom was the Managing Director of a Health IT start-up company focused on improving patient
access to healthcare that was successfully sold to Merck. He also has experience leading a start-up company through multiple venture capital raises eventually leading to a successful NASDAQ IPO.

Tom is an active member of several organizational boards. He serves as Board Treasurer for the Empire Discovery Institute, Board Member and Treasurer for TechBuffalo, Board Member for Upstate Capital Association of New York, Board Member and co-Chair of the Patient Engagement Council with Circuit Clinical and, Board Member and Scientific Advisor for Garwood Medical. Tom was named 2021 Deal Maker of the Year by Upstate Capital Association.

He earned a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from Duquesne University and completed executive management programs at both Columbia University and Dartmouth College.

Michelle Bonn

President and CEO at Compliance Team

Michelle leads the company’s strategic direction and vision. She ensures the team is executing on corporate vision, expanding service offerings, and maintaining a dynamic work culture.

Before acquiring Compliance Team, Michelle was the president and CEO of Guideline Medical, a profitable, medical device regulatory consulting firm. Here she led international teams, ISO-13485 certifications, FDA regulatory clearances, FDA audits, and Health Canada Medical Device License registrations.

She has worked in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, and the US. She is a certified, Six Sigma Black Belt and holds an MBA with a focus on strategic planning.

Michelle’s strength for building talented and effective teams, creates value for our customers while simultaneously moving the company’s growth plans forward.

Jennifer Tegan

Managing Director, New York Ventures at Empire State Development

Jennifer is Managing Director of New York Ventures at Empire State Development, a $100 million investment fund allocated toward direct equity investments into promising Seed and Series A start-ups and their diverse founding teams across New York State. Prior to joining Empire State Development, Jennifer spent 18 years with Cayuga Venture Fund where she invested in and supported entrepreneurs in technology-based start-ups. Jennifer has served on the boards of GiveGab, Pom, True Gault and Venuebook. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Tompkins Financial Corporation and the National Venture Capital Association.

Anthony Magnano

Senior Vice President, Senior Healthcare Banker at KeyBank

Anthony Magnano is a Senior Vice President, Senior Healthcare Banker who joined KeyBank in 2021 and has over 10 years of banking and private equity experience. Anthony leads relationships and consults with large corporate, healthcare and private equity clients for a broad range of banking and capital solutions. Anthony brings specific and strategic industry intel, capital needs and an entire healthcare banking platform to his customers throughout Western New York.

Prior to Key, Anthony, most notably, spent 5 years with Bank of America’s For-Profit Healthcare Team in Nashville, TN where he served in both credit and relationship management roles. Anthony has also spent time with JLL’s capital markets group in Nashville and has worked in NYC with Doral Bank and MC-Five Mile structuring large real estate financings.

Anthony is active in the local healthcare/non-profit community and earned his B.S. in Accounting and Finance from the Richard J. Wehle School of Business at Canisius College.

Uli Stilz

Vice President of the Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub Transformative Research Unit (TRU)

Uli Stilz is Vice President of the Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub Transformative
Research Unit (TRU) in Boston. In this role he is leading a cross functional R&D team establishing innovative partnerships with biotech, venture capital, and academia to co-create novel therapies and technologies to improve the life of patients with cardiometabolic and rare diseases.

Uli Stilz graduated with a Master degree in Organic Chemistry from ETH Zürich. He then moved to the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, where he received his Ph.D. in 1990.

After postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology he joined Hoechst AG were he held various positions before he was appointed Associate Vice President of the newly established Innovation unit within the Diabetes Division at Sanofi in 2010. Over a period of 20 years he contributed to more than 60 preclinical and clinical drug candidates across cardiometabolic, immunology, and oncology therapy areas.

In 2014 he joined Novo Nordisk A/S in Copenhagen, relocated to Boston in 2019, and assumed his current role as Vice President of the Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub TRU in 2021.

Uli Stilz was appointed adjunct professor at the University of Frankfurt in 2012. He serves on various Editorial Boards for international peer-reviewed journals, is member of Scientific Advisory Boards in North America and Europe, and has represented Novo Nordisk A/S at trade organisations (EFPIA). Between 2012 and 2014 he was President of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry.

Martin Graham

Chief Executive Officer at Empire Discovery Institute

Martin is an experienced drug developer and serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the research and development of small molecule drugs and biologics including Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin®) for colorectal cancer, Infliximab (Remicade®) for rheumatoid arthritis, Rasburicase (Elitek®) for the treatment of tumor lysis syndrome and Ustekinumab (Stelara®) for plaque psoriasis. He brings a wealth of pharmaceutical industry experience from his time at Sterling-Winthrop, Sanofi, Centocor, Johnson & Johnson, and several venture-capital backed biotechnology companies including TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals. He also has extensive experience working on regulatory submissions and approvals with the FDA (US) and EMA (Europe). Prior to joining the Empire Discovery Institute (EDI) as CEO, Martin was the founder, president and CEO of PKPD Biosciences, a pharmaceutical technology company which he later merged with his second company KinderPharm (a pediatric drug development company) before being successfully acquired by Synteract. Martin earned his PhD. from the University of London Drug Development Section, Institute of Cancer Research, Royal Marsden Hospital, London; his BSc. from the University of Leeds in Pharmacology and Microbiology; and is an Honorary Professor of Pharmacokinetic Modeling & Simulation at the School of Life Sciences, Institute of Pharmaceutical Innovation University of Bradford, England. In addition to his work at EDI, Martin serves as a Strategic Scientific Advisor to the Harrington Discovery Institute, a philanthropic drug discovery institute based in Cleveland, Ohio and BioMotiv the for-profit pharmaceutical accelerator associated with the Harrington Project.

Theresa Mazzullo

CEO of Excell Partners

Theresa Mazzullo has been the CEO of Excell Partners since 2006. She has a 30-year track record in business, finance and entrepreneurship. Having owned and sold a small business, she brings firsthand knowledge, unique skills, and proven experience to the seed stage investment arena. In her role as CEO, her duties include governance, compliance, reporting, community integration, finance and fundraising. Her fundraising ability has resulted in bringing over $60 million into the upstate ecosystem for investments in high tech startups.
Theresa received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama and a Graduate Degree in Banking from Stonier, Delaware, MD. Her community activity includes: Treasurer & Member-Executive Committee, Greater Rochester Enterprise Board; Member of High Tech Rochester Board; Trustee, Farash Foundation; Member, NYS Governor’s Regional Council and Co-Chair for Entrepreneurship & Innovation Subcommittee of NYS Regional Council; Member NYS’s $100M Innovation Fund Investment Advisory Committee; MedTech Board

MedTech Association

Connecting New York’s Bio/Med Industry

MedTech is New York’s trade association for the bio/med industry. We are an innovative coalition of pharmaceutical, medical technology, and life sciences companies, research and academic institutions, suppliers, and service providers. We connect our member companies, entrepreneurs and academics to grow the region’s life sciences economy. Since our founding in 2004, we have boosted the success of our members through collaboration, education, and advocacy.