Global Trial Accelerators™: Fast-Tracking First-in-Human Trials, Anywhere

Luis Santiago is PEGASI's CEO and CTO. By training, he is a social communicator and marketing and public relations professor. By profession, he is a self-taught programmer, technology project manager, and Product Owner, with more than 14 years of experience in the area. He has ventured into banking, IT, and Digital Health. Luis was recognized in 2016 as one of the Young Leaders of the Americas by the American State Department, and in 2020 as one of the 35 Innovators under 35 in Latin America by the MIT Technology Review magazine. He has participated in dozens of international forums and events pointing out the importance of Healthcare digitalization in Latin America.

Dave is the Co-Founder & Executive Chairman at MultiFunctional Imaging, a University of Utah startup company that provides software solutions for improving the efficiency and accessibility of multi-tracer imaging with PET, PET/CT, and PET/MRI scanners. Dolan’s career has been built on successes centering around the commercialization and customer adoption of innovative MedTech products/services. Spanning from Fortune 500 corporations through startups, businesses have benefitted from his track record of success in turning medical device innovation into record growth, high market share, and attractive market valuations. He is a trusted business leader who draws upon an analytical and data-driven approach with KOLs, advising boards of directors, investors, C-level executives, and other stakeholders in identifying and capitalizing on opportunities to advance each organization’s strategic vision.

Josh Cohn has 15 years of experience in the medical device field, rising to National Sales Director of PENTAX Medical, a major endoscope provider. He has a strong history of leading successful sales organizations, building winning strategies, and launching disruptive programs aimed at changing marketplace conventions. As product champion and strategist for all EUS sales, he has attended hundreds of procedures and has established relationships with key opinion leaders, hospital and ASC administrators, and device distributors. In his current role as CCO, Josh will be responsible for the pre-and post-commercialization Sales and Marketing strategy designed to ensure the integrated commercial success of the organization.

Mr. Bigio is a professor in the biomedical engineering department, responsible for the Senior Capstone Design project. Currently, he is also serving as the department head. He comes to the university after having spent 30 years of professional experience working for large multinationals in different parts of the world, including the development of high technology start-ups in Silicon Valley, commercialization of technology used in large infrastructure projects, and coordinating strategic projects for a multinational consortium. Mr. Bigio clearly understands current challenges and opportunities in the biomedical engineering field. He is very focused on improving the education and skills of graduates in order to provide companies with better employees. He has been working with the Biomedical engineering students during their senior capstone design project to address two important aspects of their education; help them improve on the ‘soft’ skills that future employers expect from them, and also teach them about how to become entrepreneurs to give them employability alternatives and promote a much-needed activity in our country.

Widy is the Co-Founder and CEO of two technology companies with vast experience ranging from robotics, product design, fabrication, and automation to the electronic assembly of consumer products, food and beverage tech, biotech, medical devices, and pharmaceutical industries. Widy spent 40+ years living in Puerto Rico, and 20+ supporting pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies with a presence in multiple Latin American locations. He led an automation firm that exposed him to FDA regulations, manufacturing, and compliance during that time. Today, he leads a medical device company with a unique RPM product to capture biomarkers and allow those to be maintained in a safe digital format for exchange with healthcare professionals or as a personal health tracking system.

Mauricio A. Berdugo, MD, MPH, is currently the Director of Medical Affairs at Humacyte, Inc. Mauricio has worked in different capacities within the CRO, pharma, diagnostics, and biotech industries in the USA and globally, including Latin America, Europe, and Asia over the past 9 years.  His clinical and academic research stems from HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, renal disease, and orthopedic spine surgery. Mauricio graduated from medical school at the Universidad Evangelica de El Salvador, completed his Master of Public Health degree from Kaplan University, and he is currently pursuing a Fellowship with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

James has more than 25 years of medical device experience and is currently the CEO of Conformal Medical. Prior to joining Conformal, he led Saranas and private companies such as Drawbridge Health, and Aptus Endosystems as their President, CEO, and member of the board of directors. He held a similar role at the publicly traded medical laser company, Cutera from 2017 to 2019. He was part of the management team that led the turn-around at Cyberonics where he was the EVP & Chief Commercial Officer. James spent 17 years at Boston Scientific in various roles and functions including business development, marketing, and general management. Most of his career at Boston Scientific was spent working and living in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Additionally, Mr. Reinstein has served as a board director for several medical companies, including publicly traded Mainstay Medical in Dublin, Ireland, Pixium-Vision based in Paris, France, and Monteris Medical a privately held company located in Minnesota. James began his professional career with Proctor & Gamble after earning his Bachelor of Arts in Marketing (BA) degree from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia in Athens. He also completed graduate studies at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Gabriel Alejandro Garza Caro is Co-founder & Managing Director at DocTour who works with international travelers and tourists to solve their health problems during their travel. With innovation in tech & processes, a completely new hybrid model has been created to attend to all travelers’ medical needs. Gabriel believes that empowerment, teamwork, strategic planning, and communication are key fundamentals for startups to develop in order to establish early, the way to success in today’s health tech environment. Gabriel is trained in Business Process Management and in Project and Portfolio Management as a Project Management Officer. For Gabriel, the most rewarding part of his role is the ability to innovate and think out of the box to solve everyday business and market challenges.

Prior to working at DocTour, Gabriel began as a Business Process Consultant and Project Manager at CEMEX, where he collaborated to map, design, and create the new CEMEX’s processes, system, and software and implement it in some European countries and in México. Gabriel holds a University Degree in International Commerce from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in México and a Master's Degree in Economics and Society and Master's Degree in Economics of Territorial Development from the Université Toulouse Capitole in France.

Tomás Iglesias is a medical doctor/master in hospital administration/Front-end developer. Tomás is the CEO of Zubia, LATAM's largest digital health marketplace a platform that connects digital health platforms with users that need their services. Currently in 25 countries with more than 400,000 visitors in 10 months from launch, and the co-founder and leader of HealthX, Mexico's largest health-tech community. Tomás is highly passionate about helping others and connecting health with technology. 

In 2020, created LATAM's most used COVID-19 suspected case self-assessment platform, reaching 194 countries, 24 million users, and generation 2,500 telemedicine consultations per day.

Dr. Ethan Russo and Nishi Whiteley have worked together for almost 10 years in efforts to:

1. improve the scientific understanding of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and how the cannabis plant modulates it
2. assist small and large cannabis companies in product formulation
3. advise companies on cannabis genetics enhancements
4. consult on pre-clinical and clinical research design.

“We share a vision of making cannabis better and safer believing in a future in which knowledge of the endocannabinoid system and its therapeutic modulation via the cannabis plant will result in superior highly individualized medicines, aids to wellness, enhanced lifestyles, and novel non-toxic industrial products”.

Ethan Russo, MD, is a board-certified neurologist, psychopharmacology researcher, and author. He is the Founder and CEO of CannabisResearch.org. Previously, he was Director of Research and Development at the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute (ICCI) based in Prague, Czech Republic. Medical Director of PHYTECS (2015-2017), a biotechnology company researching and developing innovative approaches targeting the human endocannabinoid system, and from 2003-2014, he served as Senior Medical Advisor, medical monitor, and study physician to GW Pharmaceuticals, United Kingdom for numerous Phase I-III clinical trials of Sativex® for alleviation of cancer pain unresponsive to optimized opioid treatment and initial studies of Epidiolex® for intractable epilepsy.

Nishi Whiteley (pronounced Nee-sha), is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at CReDO. She has twenty-five-plus years of international business development experience in cannabis, agriculture, wellness, green energy, and food industries. She has had leadership roles on projects in corporate America and for the US Foreign Ag Service in over 10 countries, in startups, a state agency, and non-profits; as well as worked for foreign governments and met with international leaders in Cuba, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic to open trade and advance development programs. She has worked on investment projects in 8 countries.