December 6, 2024 • New York, NY

 
Featuring The Pulse-Setter Awards

 

2023 Pulse-Setter Leader

For an exceptional leader who demonstrates unwavering commitment to perform at an elevated standard of excellence.

Jessica Mega, MD, MPH

Dr. Jessica L. Mega is co-founder of Verily, one of the most impactful and future-determining technology companies that is applying artificial intelligence and data science to accelerate evidence-generation and enable more precise interventions to improve patient outcomes. Verily is part of the Alphabet family of companies, which includes Google.

Before homing in on the intersection of technology, life science, and health care, Dr. Mega forged a deep foundation in clinical and academic medicine — as a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, and a senior investigator with the TIMI Study Group. She led large, international, randomized trials evaluating novel cardiovascular therapies and directed the TIMI Study Group’s Genomics Program, demonstrating and testing the role of CYP2C19 genetic variants on antiplatelet medications, a key pharmacogenetic finding. Her research has appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, JAMA, and elsewhere.

Now, Dr. Mega is paving the path to the future of medicine. In addition to co-founding Verily, she was its chief medical and scientific officer focusing on translating technological innovations and scientific insights into partnerships and programs that improve patient outcomes and health care. She is also currently a cardiologist at Stanford Health Care and an adjunct professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Dr. Mega is a graduate of Stanford University, Yale University School of Medicine, and Harvard School of Public Health. She completed an internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a cardiovascular fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has won the Laennec Society, Samuel A. Levine, and Douglas P. Zipes Awards.

 

2023 Pulse-Setter Champion
L. Nelson Hopkins, MD

For an exceptional individual whose commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration and mentorship in medicine has set new standards for patient care and innovation.

L. Nelson Hopkins, MD

A pioneer in the catheter-based treatment of neurovascular diseases including stroke, Dr. L. Nelson (Nick) Hopkins introduced the subspecialty of endovascular neurosurgery in the United States. He also spearheaded one of the world’s largest and most respected stroke centers where innovative methods were developed to treat patients with acute ischemic stroke. He founded and directed the construction of the Gates Vascular Institute (GVI) and the Jacobs Institute (JI) in Buffalo, NY.

Dr. Hopkins currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer of the Jacobs Institute. He was Professor and Chairman of the University at Buffalo Department of Neurosurgery from 1989-2013. In 2012, Dr. Hopkins was named SUNY Distinguished Professor, the highest academic award in the SUNY system. Over the course of his career, he trained a new generation of neurosurgeon leaders skilled in catheter-based technology for minimally invasive neurosurgery.

An advocate of cross-specialty and multidisciplinary collaboration, Dr. Hopkins fostered the creation of the Canon Stroke & Vascular Research Center, bringing together physicists, chemists, aerospace engineers, neurosurgeons, cardiologists, and radiologists to study neurovascular circulation and develop innovative technologies and approaches for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of neurovascular diseases. He conceived a new way to organize the multidisciplinary treatment of vascular disease and brought experts from around the world together to design the futuristic $300M GVI building. Dr. Hopkins then recruited the necessary partners to invigorate the GVI and the JI, a medical innovation center focused on accelerating device development in vascular medicine. He served as Chairman of the Board and President of the GVI and CEO of the JI and its Center for Innovation in Medicine.

A proponent of the global multidisciplinary approach to revascularization for the improvement of outcomes for patients with vascular disease, Dr. Hopkins has brought endovascular neurosurgery together with cardiology and other vascular specialties as well as industry leaders to achieve multidisciplinary advances in patient care and innovation by hosting seminars focused on assessing and managing complications associated with minimally invasive catheter-based interventions.

 

2023 Pulse-Setter Crusader
Michael R. Jaff, DO

For demonstrating leadership, effecting positive change, adopting innovative methods to improve access to care, or making an exceptional impact on health care delivery and patient quality of life

Michael R. Jaff, DO

Collaboration and innovation. Those are the bywords for Michael Jaff's career. He is driven by the incredible shift in thought and the massive potential for impact in the evolution of treatment for peripheral vascular diseases from surgical-based to minimally invasive treatment. A world-renowned expert in all aspects of vascular medicine, including peripheral artery disease, venous thromboembolic disease, aneurysmal diseases, and diagnostic strategies in vascular medicine, his work has had a tremendous impact on patient care.

After a long career as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, president of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and the inaugural Paul and Phyllis Fireman Endowed Chair of Vascular Medicine and medical director of the Fireman Vascular Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Jaff is now the chief medical officer and vice president of clinical affairs, technology and innovation at Boston Scientific.

Dr. Jaff is the founder of VasCore, the Vascular Ultrasound Core Laboratory, which has participated in trial design and independent analysis of vascular laboratory images for more than 200 prospective multicenter peripheral vascular device and pharmaceutical trials across 66 countries.

He has authored 10 textbooks and more than 325 peer-reviewed publications. He is a past-president of the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology and was the first physician to have received the designation as Master of the Society for Vascular Medicine.

Dr. Jaff received his medical degree at the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine.

 

2023 Pulse-Setter Trailblazer
Colby Holtshouse Organon

Awarded to a program that creates innovative uses for emerging technologies.

Colby Holtshouse
On behalf of the JADA® System/Organon

Even in the 21st century, a significant number of women die in childbirth. One of the major causes is postpartum hemorrhage — heavy, hard-to-control bleeding that can occur without warning. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 14 million cases of PPH occur globally each year, which in some cases may result in major complications.

Alydia Health created a device that could help make childbirth safer for all mothers. Founded in 2011, Alydia Health was created to commercialize the JADA® System, a vacuum device that encourages normal contraction of the uterus to control and treat bleeding after childbirth.

The JADA® System has a fascinating backstory The idea originated in 2010 when students at California Polytechnic State University developed a concept for a medical device that would use a low-level vacuum to induce uterine contractions to stop bleeding after childbirth. With the eventual involvement of the nonprofit organization Fogarty Innovation and other MedTech investors, the school project became a full-fledged business venture and was eventually developed into the JADA® System at Alydia Health.

In 2021, Alydia Health was acquired by women’s health company Organon, where the work continues — under the leadership of Colby Holtshouse, Global MedTech Commercial Lead— to bring the JADA® System to mothers around the world.