Meet the First Team of Fellows

In February, the Surgical Innovation Program chose its first team of fellows—four outstanding individuals selected from a diverse pool of applicants, broadly representing the country's finest in surgical and engineering talent:

• Carlos Mery began his medical training in Mexico, subsequently earned a master's degree in public health at Harvard, and is now a third-year surgical resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston with an interest in cardiac surgery and oncology.
• Bilal Shafi is a second-year surgical resident at the University of Pennsylvania with a bioengineering background focused on biomechanics and instrument design.
• Gary Binyamin has worked extensively with emerging technology ventures, and received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering with a focus on material science and electrochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.
• Jessica Connor brings industry experience in the medical device and biotechnology fields and is currently at Stanford working toward a master's degree in biomechanical engineering, focusing on the design of cardiovascular medical devices.

The fellows will begin their training in Surgical Innovation in July 2005.

Entrepreneurs Help Build Program Support

The Surgical Innovation Program is benefiting from the involvement of renowned entrepreneurs Joseph Lacob and Rodney Perkins, M.D., who are lending their expertise and helping to generate support for the launch of this exciting new program. Lacob is a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers where he has helped start close to 50 life science ventures. Perkins is a professor of surgery at the Stanford School of Medicine, specializing in otology, and is founder of three medical technology companies based in the Bay Area.

The following leadership gifts are being sought, including seed funding for the first year of the program:

• Endowed Directorship $3 million
• Endowed Fellowships $2 million each
• Program Endowment $1 million
• Seed Funding $200,000 - $400,000