Management Team

Management Team

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

MOTASIM SIRHAN

Co-founder of Elixir and also founded Avantec Vascular and co-founded Maya Medical. Additional experience includes:

  • Guidant Corporation (now Abbott Vascular), including leadership roles developing the RX Perfusion Catheter, PET balloon technology and Multi-link stent
  • Inventor or co-inventor on 35 patent or patent-pending applications
  • B.S. degree in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California
  • M.S. in Management from the University of Southern California

President & Chief Operating Officer

VINAYAK BHAT, PHD

Co-founded Elixir with Motasim Sirhan and John Yan after serving together at Avantec Vascular. Additional experience:

  • R&D at Guidant Corporation (now Abbott Vascular)
  • More than 40 U.S./EU patents
  • 25+ pending patent applications
  • B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Bombay, India
  • M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in North Carolina

Chief Technical Officer

JOHN YAN

Elixir co-founder with extensive experience on catheter-based medical devices. Previously, he served as:

  • Director of R&D for Avantec Vascular
  • R&D and engineering roles at Cardiac Pathways, Guidant Corporation (now Abbott Vascular), Ohmeda and Mentor
  • More than 50 U.S. patents
  • B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego
  • M.S. in Bioengineering from Clemson University

Vice President, Regulatory and Quality

ERIN MAZZONE

Erin, who joined Elixir in 2012, has more than 25 years of experience on the regulatory and quality side of the medical device industry, including:
  • Global registration and quality systems management for surgical and minimally invasive devices for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac and vascular disease, cardiac arrhythmias, and cancer
  • Regulatory and quality leadership positions at companies ranging from startups to global corporations, including MAQUET Cardiovascular, Guidant, RITA Medical Systems, and Cardiac Pathways
  • B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego

Executive Vice President, International

ALAEDDIN AHRAM

Over 25 years of global leadership in the medical device industry including:

  • Working at Smith & Nephew as Managing Director of Greater China and Senior Vice President for Emerging Markets in the Advanced Surgical Devices division
  • Leadership roles at Medtronic in the Cardiovascular and Acquisitions Integration Activities teams, as well as serving as head of International Commercial Operations
  • M.S. in Bioengineering from Arizona State

Executive Vice President, Clinical Research

CANDACE ELEK

Proven manager of pre-approval and post-market clinical programs with 18 years of clinical experience and a portfolio of 50+ studies. Her background includes:

  • Serving as Director of Clinical Research at Abbott Medical Devices, working on cardiovascular products such as XIENCE, ABSORB and MitraClip
  • Providing clinical research management consulting services to companies seeking regulatory approval in the U.S., Europe and Asia
  • B.S. from University of California, Davis
  • M.S. from San Jose State University

Executive Vice President, Research & Development

HOWARD HUANG

More than 20 years of research and development experience, including:

  • Expertise in stents and implantable devices
  • R&D engineering and leadership roles at Guidant Corporation, Abbott Vascular Devices and Alvesta Pharma
  • Mechanical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Executive Vice President, Operations

ANDREW KRAMER

Andrew’s two decades of experience in the medical device field include:

  • Serving as a Vice President at R&D at Apneon, developing multiple implantable devices and surgical procedures
  • Vice President of Operations role at Avantec Vascular, building a team to support the launch of the company’s coronary dilation catheters and stent delivery systems
  • Engineering degree from the University of California, San Diego

Executive Vice President, Global Marketing

ALEX NEPOGODIEV

Alex has accumulated more than 20 years of experience marketing medical devices, including:

  • Developing successful new markets and therapies for interventional cardiology, structural heart, and endovascular businesses around the world
  • Serving as a Divisional Vice President of Global Marketing for Abbott Vascular, overseeing the long-term strategy and marketing for Abbott Vascular’s coronary, endovascular, imaging and physiology portfolios
  • BBA in Marketing from Western Michigan University
  • MBA from Arizona State University

Executive Vice President, Finance

RUPA PATEL

Rupa has more than 20 years of experience leading finance and accounting teams in both the medical device and pharmaceutical sectors, including:
  • Head of Finance for North America at Santen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • Controller and Senior Director at Farapulse Inc., where she helped transform the formerly R&D business to a commercially viable entity with its first-ever pulsed ablation sales
  • Roles of increased responsibility at Boston Scientific, where she was involved with overseeing business strategy and development, controllership and accounting for newly acquired startups
  • Bachelor of Accounting with honors from Brock University in Ontario, Canada

PMN 1713 Rev B