Clay Thorp, General Partner, Hatteras Venture Partners
Clay B. Thorp is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. Since 1995, Clay has co-founded four companies in the life science arena and co-founded Hatteras in 2001. As part of his work with Hatteras, Clay was a co-founder and served as CEO and Chairman of Synthematix Inc., a chemistry informatics company that was acquired in April 2005 by Symyx Technologies (SMMX) for $13 million in cash. He is co-founder and former Chairman of PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Hatteras, clay was the co-founder and head of corporate development for Novalon Pharmaceutical Corporation, where he led financing efforts and was head of business development from inception until Novalon’s sale to Karo Bio for $106.7 million in May of 2000. Clay also serves as Chairman of the Board for Pathfinder.
Richard Molloy, Principal and Co-Founder, Florida Gulfshore Capital
Florida Gulfshore Capital is a Naples-based investment company focused on early stage venture and small to mid-market private equity opportunities. Richard serves as a board member of EmergingMed, Pasteuria Bioscience, Prioria Robotics, SpneUniverse, and Pathfinder. Previously Richard was a principal in Booz Allen & Hamilton’s Consumer and Industrial Products and Healthcare practice. His work within these industries was broad, including mergers and acquisitions, negotiation and execution, business and sales strategy and execution, organization design and operations management. Prior to Booz Allen, Richard served as a Captain in the British Army, in a Commando Engineer Unit and then with the Defense Mapping Agency in Washington, D.C.
Robert Morff, PhD, Venture Partner, Hatteras Venture Partner
Bob was CSO of the Wallace Coulter Foudation, Principal at Senmed Medical Ventures, and led research teams in Eli Lilly’s Medical Device and Diagnostics Division. He has founded and led several companies in the microfluidics, stem cell, and tissue engineering areas. Bob also served as interim CEO at Pathfinder.
Naji Abumrad, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Dr. Abumrad is the Chair of Department of Surgery at Vanderbilt. Dr. Abumrad’s professional interests have earned him appointments to serve on many NIH study sections, such as the Surgery, Anesthesia, and Trauma (1991-94) and Metabolism (1996-1998) Study Sections. In addition, he has just finished a stent as a member (2000-2004) and Chairman of the GMA2 Study Section. He also has served as a member of Secretary Donna Shalala’s Task Force on Breast Cancer in 1994. Dr. Abumrad has authored well over 250 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and several book chapters.
Robert L. Galloway, Jr., PhD (Co-founder & Director)
Dr. Galloway is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Neurologic Surgery and General Surgery at Vanderbilt University. He earned the BSE from Duke University in 1977, the ME from University of Virginia in 1979 and the PhD from Duke in 1983, all in Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Galloway teaches courses in medical instrumentation, medical imaging and therapeutic bioengineering. Dr. Galloway's research entails the design of systems for interactive, image-guided surgery (a term he coined in 1988). He has published over 100 manuscripts in refereed journals, six book chapters, edited one book and presented results of his work at over 90 scientific meetings. In addition he holds 9 U.S. and international patents on devices arising from his research. Dr. Galloway has also worked as a consultant for several image-guided therapy companies throughout his career.