Bill Van Antwerp
Bill Van Antwerp is a Distinguished Scientist in the Science and Technology organization at Medtronic. At Medtronic, Bill’s main interests are in protein drug delivery, combining biological elements into the next generation of medical devices and understanding the links between cardiovascular health and metabolic disorders, primarily Type 2 diabetes. Prior to joining the Science and Technology organization at Medtronic, Bill was Chief Scientific Officer at Medtronic Minimed. At Minimed Bill was involved in developing external and implantable insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring systems. Bill has been working at Medtronic/Minimed since 1987, before that he was a partner in several consulting firms working with medical device companies. At Medtronic Bill is also involved in pharmaceutical product development including development of highly concentrated, stable protein formulations for implantable pumps, and understanding formulation issues related to pre-filled devices. Bill has numerous publications and more than 50 issued U.S. patents.

Mitchell J. Nelles, PhD
Dr. Mitch Nelles is the Vice-President of R&D and Technical Operations for XDx. He has more than 20 years of management and research and development experience in a variety of in vitro diagnostic (IVD) technology and business areas. Dr. Nelles joined XDx from bioMerieux Inc. where he was Vice-President of North America Research and Development and responsible for product development and project management for the Bacteriology, Molecular Diagnostics, Immunodiagnostics and Hemostasis business franchises. Prior to his work at bioMerieux, Dr. Nelles served as the Vice-President of R&D at TriPath Oncology (TriPath Imaging) where he led the efforts to develop molecular based products for the diagnosis and prognosis of breast and cervical cancer. Earlier in his career, Dr. Nelles held a variety of technical and managerial positions of increasing responsibility, including Vice-President, Transfusion Medicine and Immunodiagnostic Assay R&D at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (Johnson and Johnson) where he led the worldwide research and development activities in support of the Blood Screening, Blood Typing, Immunodiagnostic and RhoGAM business franchises. Dr. Nelles received his Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College in Biological Sciences, his Ph.D. in Immunology/BioMedical Sciences from the University of Texas, Health Sciences Center at Dallas (UTHSCD)/Southwestern Medical School, and completed postdoctoral training in Immune Regulation at Brandeis University.

Bruce H. Phelps, PhD
Dr. Bruce Phelps is currently Chief Technology Officer at Aviir, Inc., a proteomics company whose goal is to develop Personalized Medicine products that will quantitate circulating protein biomarkers. The resulting protein profiles are correlated to active disease processes such as cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance. The company has raised over $30M of venture funding, and has recently accepted a strategic investment from Pfizer. Aviir’s first test, a multi-protein signature assay for the diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), will be commercialized in 2009. Prior to joining Aviir in 2006, Dr. Phelps was employed for 10 years by Chiron Corporation, where he held the position of Vice President, Research & Development, in the Blood Testing Division. As Vice President, he managed the Chiron R&D portfolios for the Ortho/Chiron Joint Venture, the Gen-Probe/Chiron Alliance and internal Blood Testing projects. He was also responsible for the manufacturing/operations group of the Ortho/Chiron Joint Venture that produces the world’s supply of HCV recombinant antigens. Prior to joining Chiron, Dr. Phelps spent 13 years at Abbott Laboratories where he held various positions in Technical Product Development and R&D in the Physiologic Diagnostics and Hepatitis/Retrovirus Business Units of the Abbott Diagnostics Division. He contributed to several instrument system and assay development projects including IMx, PRISM and AxSYM. Before transitioning to industry, Dr. Phelps held a Senior Staff Fellow position at the NIMH, studying various aspects of the biochemistry of schizophrenia at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. Dr. Phelps holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Indiana University, School of Medicine and a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Clarkson University.

Frank F. Rahmani
Mr. Rahmani is a partner in the Cooley Godward Kronish Business department and head of the firm's Medical Device Companies practice group. Resident in the Palo Alto office, he has been with the Firm since 1997. Mr. Rahmani has a general business and corporate law practice with an emphasis in the representation of emerging growth companies, intellectual property transactions, securities transactions, including private and public financing, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Rahmani has counseled companies, entrepreneurs and investors in a broad range of matters including start-up formation and spin-off transactions, assistance with obtaining early stage financing, technology acquisition and licensing matters, to later stage financings, strategic and commercial relationships, variety of public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Rahmani counsels companies in a wide range of industries including medical devices and life sciences, software, semiconductor and telecommunication equipment. Mr. Rahmani received a J.D., from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1997, where he was on the Deans' List and was a representative to the American Bar Association. He received a business degree from Santa Clara University. Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Rahmani was an analyst with Intel Corporation working with the corporate finance and worldwide sales organizations. Mr. Rahmani is a member of the State Bar of California.