Speakers
Stephen Bender
Disney Institute
In his role as an account manager, Stephen is responsible for building and fostering client relationships to help establish needs, as well as short and long-term solutions. He focuses on the development of personalized solutions and building the initial strategy for our Disney Institute teams to help impact the client’s ultimate goals. Stephen brings a global perspective to the team, having led customer experience engagements in North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Prior to joining Disney Institute, he worked as a sales manager for Disney Event Group, where he developed convention accounts from the ground up to support the business. Additionally at Disney, Stephen was an entertainment manager for Disney Event Group, where he was responsible for Actors Equity direct reports and for managing a variety of personnel and logistical operations for special events. In this role, he developed long-term relationships with a variety of internal and external partners at all levels, including C-Suite executives. Stephen studied at Eastern Michigan University, and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s most selective collegiate honor society.
Daniel Coulton Shaw
Global Clinic Rating
Anyone who knows Daniel Coulton Shaw will tell you that he is an enthusiastic storyteller full of practical ideas that will set your head spinning. His entertaining presentations are largely inspired by the successes and failures from 152 forward-thinking international private medical organizations, health clusters, hospitals, clinics and practices across 26 countries worldwide of multiple specialities. Daniel works closely with this portfolio of leading private clinics, improving the way that these clinics & hospitals reach, book, and engage patients to increase their reputation & results. The patient innovation trends Daniel shares are always supported with insightful data & facts gained through the past 4 years as the ambassador for the GCR the Global Clinic Rating, an award-winning initiative co-founded by an employee of Google to enable both patients & healthcare professionals to compare the apparent quality of almost half a million private clinics & hospitals worldwide. When not on the road, Daniel loves to put theory into practice in the day-to-day running of a successful international dental clinic for English-speaking patients in central Europe that he co-founded back in 2007 as well as spending time “off the grid” with his family – exploring the world beyond phones & screens in the mountains, on the ocean, at great concerts, running races or serving those with limited access to education & care.
Irving Stackpole
Stackpole & Associates, Inc.
With decades of experience in healthcare, Irving Stackpole is the President of Stackpole & Associates, Inc., a strategy, marketing and research firm founded in 1991. Stackpole & Associates has conducted strategic research and marketing projects in the United States and internationally, and has worked for providers, governments and agencies on 4 continents, and many countries, including Costa Rica, Korea, India, Argentina, Colombia, Poland, Mexico, Cayman, Greece, as well as the EU and the UN. Irving is a mentor for the European Institute for Innovation in Health, an EU program to stimulate healthcare entrepreneurship. He edited Medical Tourism Marketing the 1st book on the subject, is the co-author of The Marketing Handbook in Health Tourism, co-hosts the podcast, The Medical Travel Show, is widely published, and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Financial Times, Forbes and many trade publications.
Joe Sweet
Cleveland Clinic
Joe Sweet is Director of International Development & Experience. Sweet drives the shaping and development of Cleveland Clinic’s international programs through strategic affiliations, consulting arrangements, health and wellness integration, patient experience expansion, and various clinical and research ventures which align to Cleveland Clinic’s global expansion initiative. Sweet exhibits vision, entrepreneurial passion, diverse operational, supply chain, financial leadership experience, and collaborative skills to architect and execute the strategic plan. Sweet has a knack for forward-thinking innovation and leading organizations through the key phases of planning and execution while identifying opportunities for continued improvement and growth. Since 2006, Sweet has steadily progressed through management to his current leadership role in developing strategic and beneficial international partnerships. Previous to Cleveland Clinic, Sweet spent seven years with GE Consumer & Industrial. At GE he excelled in Sourcing, Six Sigma, where he achieved Black Belt certification, and business development where he was a top performer as National Sales Leader in GE’s Consumer Division.
Lori Kondas
Cleveland Clinic
Lori Kondas is the Executive Director for the Office of Patient Experience for the Cleveland Clinic Health System. Working with the Chief Experience Officer, she provides leadership and direction for patient experience programs that have enterprise-wide impact in Patient Affairs, Operations and Best Practices. The Cleveland Clinic Patient Experience department includes a diverse team of professionals with demonstrated expertise in Service Excellence, Bioethics, Spiritual Care, Healing Services, Volunteer Services, Best Practices, Data intelligence, Ombudsman, End of Life Programs, Health Care Communication, Shared Medical Appointments, Business Development and Research. In collaboration with administrative and medical leaders across the system, Lori works to design, implement and evaluate programs that improve the delivery of healthcare services and enhance the experience for patients across the enterprise. In a previous role, as Director for two regional facilities, Lori led operational and business activities, identifying and driving improvement opportunities in key areas including, patient experience patient access, service line cost management, quality management, employee engagement and other facility functions. In collaboration with Clinical Institutes and regional leadership, she implemented strategic initiatives including institute growth strategies, new service line acquisitions and marketing plans.
Mario Škugor
Cleveland Clinic
Doctor Mario Škugor graduated Medical school in 1986 and spent 2 years as a research associate in the Institute for Nuclear Medicine in Zagreb. During 1991-1992 he was in the Croatian army. In 1993 he finished his residency in Nuclear Medicine and from 1993 to 1997 he was a researcher at Ohio State University working in the Bone and Mineral Metabolism Laboratory. From 1997-2000 he was a resident in Internal Medicine at St. Luke’s Medical Centre in Cleveland where he severed as chief resident in his last year. His Endocrinology fellowship in Cleveland Clinic was from 2000-2002 and he has been a part of the staff ever since. He served on the Board of Directors of Ohio River Valley Chapter of American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and was president from 2007 to 2008. He was also an associated director of the endocrinology fellowship program 2009-2011. Moreover, he was the Vice-Chairman of the Global Patient Services at Cleveland Clinic from 2009-2013 and Interim Chairman from 2013-2014. Doctor Škugor is a clinical associate professor of medicine, and director of PBL case development at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of CWRU, and holds the Catherine and Edward Lozick chair in Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is also the Education director of the Institute for Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Ognjen Bagatin
Bagatin Clinic
Ognjen Bagatin is the CEO of Bagatin Clinic, one of the fastest growing small and medium-sized medical institutions which currently has 120 employees in two locations in Zagreb and one in Split. With his extensive knowledge and understanding of the private health system, he is a consultant for 20 clinics across Europe and Croatia in the field of cosmetic surgery, dermatology and dentistry. He is a member of the President Board of MBA Croatia, member of the Medical Tourism Council at the Croatian Chamber of Economy and member of the executive board of Croatian Employers Association for private clinics, hospitals and health care facilities.
Keith Pollard
International Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ)
LaingBuisson International
Keith is Editor in Chief of International Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ) and Executive Chairman of LaingBuisson International. Keith is one of Europe’s leading experts on medical tourism and cross border healthcare, attending and contributing to major conferences across the world on the subject. Keith has been involved in medical travel and cross border healthcare since the 1990’s. His career has embraced the management of private hospitals in the UK, research and feasibility studies for healthcare ventures, the marketing and business development aspects of healthcare and medical travel and publishing, research and consultancy on cross border healthcare. Within Intuition Communication, and most recently at LaingBuisson International, Keith has driven the company’s initiatives in the medical tourism sector and has a worldwide reputation as an opinion leader, speaker, commentator and adviser on medical tourism. He is responsible for the development of consumer-focused medical tourism sites such as Treatment Abroad, and the B2B resource, IMTJ – International Medical Travel Journal. Through his Health Tourism Blog, he provides valuable insight into the medical travel business. He has been responsible for many initiatives in the sector including the first patient guide to the EU Directive on Cross Border Healthcare, a Code of Practice for Medical Tourism and a Good Practice Score for Cross Border Reproductive Healthcare.
Sheila K. Stevens
Mayo Clinic
Sheila Stevens is the director of Training, Education & Coaching at the Office of Mayo Clinic Experience. Sheila is an instructor at Mayo Clinic’s Alix School of Medicine. She received her Master of Social Work degree from Marywood University and is a certified wellness coach, a certified tobacco treatment specialist and a Motivational Interviewing trainer. She has a wealth of experience developing curriculum and facilitating courses on various topics relating to patient experience, cultural competence, health behavior change, service recovery, leadership training and communication in healthcare. Sheila brought a unique combination of educational and work history to Mayo Clinic. She has held several clinical roles as a social worker and counselor and has taught courses at colleges and universities in both New York and Minnesota. In addition, she held past roles in human resources and public relations. For the past 7 years, Sheila has served as a member of the Advisory Board for Transitions, a supportive Apprenticeship program for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Rahul Kashyap
Mayo Clinic
Dr. Rahul Kashyap is a physician scientist in Critical Care Medicine, and holds academic rank of Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. Dr. Kashyap has completed post-doctoral research fellowship in Emergency Medicine and senior research fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at Mayo Clinic. He is a Faculty with the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine and Mayo Clinic Quality Academy. He is a MBA graduate from Augsburg University, Minneapolis, USA. He has published 230+ articles in prestigious peer-reviewed journals. He has written book titled ‘Mayo Clinic Critical Care Case Review’. Dr. Kashyap is Principle/co- Principle investigator of several global projects, e.g. CERTAIN (www.icertain.org) and presents his work at NIH via SCCM Discovery meetings. He is an award winning public speaker. He has received awards for exemplary research, quality improvement and leadership. His research interest consists of Sepsis, Septic Shock, ARDS, Medical errors and Checklist. He has enjoyed coaching and mentoring residents, clinical fellows and young faculty members and teaches clinical research methodology in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, UAE, USA and Viet Nam for more than a decade.
Doug Lansky
Doug Lansky is a tourism development thought leader who advises destinations and tourism companies and hotel associations around the world – from Singapore to Aruba, Google Travel to Amadeus – on strategy, management and visitor experience. He spotted a clear customer-service connection between tourism and healthcare, and has found a way to transfer best-practice examples from hospitality to hospitals. Doug has given acclaimed lectures at nearly 100 universities, spoken to a sold-out audience at National Geographic Headquarters, for the United Nations World’s Tourism Organization, as an after-dinner speaker at corporate events and at both public and industry travel/tourism conferences, at TEDx Stockholm, and set the attendance record for keynote lectures at the 2012 and 2013 ITB Berlin conferences.
Stephanie Trpkov
World Bank
Stephanie is a strategy consultant at the World Bank in Croatia. She specialises in strategic industrial transformation, and is active in projects that develop policies and institutional support for innovation ecosystems and competitiveness. With over a decade in management consulting in the SEE region, Stephanie has been focused on the design and deployment of Smart City solutions that, among others, include new models for healthcare services delivery for improved patient experience and health outcomes. She is experienced with projects and initiatives of the European Commission DGs and routinely translates innovation programs into actionable strategies. By leading several innovation initiatives, hackathons, design thinking workshops; establishing clusters/centres of competence, giving lectures on project development, mentoring start-ups on business modelling, and speaking at conferences, Stephanie facilitates ecosystem development and collaboration in technology driven sectors. She is a fellow of the G20 Global Solutions Initiative and holds a graduate degree in Applied Biochemistry, as well as an Executive MBA.
Karin Jay
Global Services – Planetree
Karin Jay is Senior Vice President at Global Services-Planetree, which she joined in June 2011, where she is working to expand the network of Planetree Affiliates internationally, and provide consultation to key stakeholders on the implementation of Planetree’s relationship-centered model of care and international certification criteria. Prior to joining Planetree, Karin spent 22+ years working in the accreditation and international quality/patient safety arena with The Joint Commission and Joint Commission International (JCI). Karin has been a contributing author on several publications focused on accreditation, patient-centered care, and patients’ rights. Karin has served on ISQua’s Advisory Forum on Partnerships with Patients, and The Advisory Board for Patient Value in Health Care for The Economist Intelligence Unit. Karin currently serves on ISQua’s Person-Centered Care Community of Practice, The Joint Commission’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, and is an active volunteer with several non-profit organizations. Karin holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy and Healthcare Ethics from Loyola University, Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Dragan Primorac
St. Catherine specialty hospital
Prof. Dragan Primorac, M.D., Ph.D., is a paediatrician, forensic expert, and geneticist. Professor Primorac is the first recipient of the title “Global Penn State University Ambassador.” Currently, he serves as the Chair of the International Affairs Committee of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and as a professor at Eberly College of Science, The Pennsylvania State University and the University of New Haven, in the United States and as a professor at Medical Schools in Split, Rijeka, and Osijek. Also, he is a visiting professor at the College of Medicine and Forensics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, People’s Republic of China. He authored close to two hundred scientific papers (including publications in Science and Nature) and abstracts and he has been invited speaker at more than 150 conferences all around the world. His publications have been cited almost 6000 times (Google Scholar). His interests are in the field of personalized and regenerative medicine, genetics, metabolic bone and cartilage disorders, sports medicine, population genetics, etc. Currently, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of St Catherine Specialty Hospital. In addition, he is Executive Committee member of the International Consortium for Personalized Medicine (IC PerMEd), and the president of the State competitiveness cluster in personalized medicine, The Croatian Society for Human Genetics, The Croatian Society for (Precision) Personalized medicine and of the Croatian Thematic Innovative Council for Health and Life Quality.
João Bocas
The Wearables Expert ™
João Bocas is an expert and keynote speaker in wearable technology and is a globally recognized business thought leader, mentor, advisor, and entrepreneur. His passion lies in helping others, sharing experiences, transferring knowledge, working collaboratively, and helping businesses adopt the latest digital trends and innovations. As a thought leader in wearable technologies, digital health, IoT and healthcare innovation, including AI (artificial intelligence), robotics and ML (machine learning), João explores the intersection of technology and business. This includes examining how new technologies continuously shape consumer behaviour, influence business models, and help brands amplify their message. He also analyses the impact of disruptive innovations and shares future trends in the marketplace. With over 25 years of hands-on experience in Professional Sport and Corporate environments working with senior management, Boards and executive teams, João has worked across Healthcare, Financial Services, Media, Sporting, and Third and Public Sector organisations. He has also amassed an admirable array of 17 formal professional qualifications while studying sport for 8 years. He was a Finalist in the Great British Entrepreneurs Awards 2015, a Top 100 Global Digital Health Influencer, and is a global advisor and board member of several tech companies.
Dave deBronkart
e-Patient Dave
“e-Patient Dave” is the world’s best-known activist for patient engagement and experience. His viral TED Talk “Let Patients Help” has been translated into 27 languages, the companion book is in nine languages, and his new book is Superpatients: Patients who extend science when medicine is out of answers. After surviving a near-fatal kidney cancer (median survival 24 weeks) by being highly engaged, he has become an entertaining, engaging and effective keynote speaker in healthcare. He was the Mayo Clinic’s 2015 Visiting Professor in Internal Medicine, as an advisor to the editors of the BMJ, testified in Washington for patient access to the medical record, is a co-founder and Chair Emeritus of the Society for Participatory Medicine, and has spoken at 600 events in twenty countries. He has appeared in Time, U.S. News, USA Today, Wired, MIT Technology Review, and the HealthLeaders cover story “Patient of the Future.” His writings have been published in the British Medical Journal, JMIR, Patient Experience Journal, and ASCO conference journal.
Nikica Gabrić
University Eye Hospital Svjetlost
Prof. PhD Nikica Gabrić is specialized in surgery of the anterior ocular segment, he carried out more than 60,000 cataract surgeries, glaucoma, refractive surgeries, corneal transplantation, and strabismus. He carried out surgeries in more than 17 countries worldwide, in more than 50 operating theaters, including the prestigious Fyodorov Institute in Russia. He gained work experience as a specialist ophthalmologist, and later as the Head of the Department of Ophthalmology in General Hospital Sveti Duh in Zagreb. He was the first one in Croatia who performed laser vision correction, and was founder and president of Lions Croatian Eye Bank. In 1998, he founded the clinic Svjetlost that soon became the leading private medical institutions in the field of ophthalmology in Southeast Europe. Prof. PhD Nikica Gabrić in the clinic Svjetlost introduces the latest trends in the field of ophthalmology modeled on the world-class medical centers of excellence around the world and creates a team of experts who carry out the most extensive surgical procedures on the eye. Today he is the director of Special hospital of ophthalmology Svjetlost, which from the status of polyclinic in 2010 grew into a clinic and became the first private university clinic in Croatia.
James Gutierrez
Cleveland Clinic London
Dr. James Gutierrez is an Internal Medicine physician by training and has been with Cleveland Clinic for over 20 years. In his current role, he is responsible for developing the Quality, Patient Safety, and Patient Experience programs for Cleveland Clinic London, which will open its doors in early 2021. Prior to moving to London in the fall of 2018, Dr. Gutierrez served as the Chair of the Department of Community Internal Medicine, as well as the President and Medical Director for the Cleveland Clinic Medicare ACO. He recently completed a 5-year term on the Clinic’s Board of Governors / Medical Executive Committee. Dr. Gutierrez received his BA in Biochemistry (1996), as well as his MD degree (1990), from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine, followed by a Chief Residency year, at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT. His interests include quality and safety in health care, patient experience and engagement, and physician leadership development.
Nuria Díaz
Quirónsalud
Nuria Díaz, has a degree in Industrial Engineering from the New York Institute of Technology and an Executive Master on Management of Healthcare Organizations by ESADE Business school. On a professional level, she has developed her career on the industrial sector in different organizations and positions of responsibility in Quality Management, Strategic planning, Process reengineering and Management Systems. Nuria Díaz is working in Quirónsalud since 2016, and in Healthcare for 8 years, as the Corporate Quality and Patient Experience Director, based in the headquarters in Madrid. Quironsalud is the biggest hospital group in Spain, 46 hospitals.
Elizabeth Ziemba
President of Medical Tourism Training and Temos Regional Office Director
A pioneer in health travel as President & Founder of Medical Tourism Training, Elizabeth Ziemba delivers consulting, training, and assessment services for clients in the wellness, health, medical and hospitality sectors with innovative, practical, evidence-based solutions for business and economic growth. Ms. Ziemba helps clients build strong organizations at the cross-roads of health & hospitality to compete locally and globally.
Rebecca Brustad
Mayo Clinic
Rebecca Brustad is the Patient Experience Training, Education and Coaching Manager for Mayo Clinic. Over her 11 year career with Mayo Clinic, Rebecca has grown from a one-person Patient Experience department in a small community hospital to the manager of a national team of communication experts. She is a faculty member for the Mayo Clinic Communication in Healthcare and a Silver Quality Fellow. In addition to degrees in Communication Studies and English from Winona State University, Rebecca also has a Masters of Arts in Leadership and Management from Concordia University. Rebecca found her true calling in the field of Patient Experience when she joined Mayo Clinic Health System in 2008. She enjoys the opportunity to use her passions for communication, service and education to help enhance the experience of patients and develop employees. She has had the opportunity to share her expertise with international partners through speaking and consulting opportunities. Locally, she brings her knowledge and passion to the role of Chippewa Valley Montessori School Governance Board President.
Thijs de Blok
Buurtzorg
Thijs de Blok began his journey for Buurtzorg in 2017 and has since been guiding and supporting projects throughout the APAC region. His presence has facilitated an international knowledge exchanged for Buurtzorg in the Netherlands. Thijs’s comprehensive knowledge on the Buurtzorg policy has enabled him to provide support on many levels. He has been involved in negotiations with national and local governments in various countries to help build a sustainable platform for “the best care at home”. Thijs is also supporting health care, and non health care related organisations that are visiting Buurtzorg in The Netherlands, by providing them with information about the organisational structure of Buurtzorg. His presence has not gone unnoticed, with him being invited as a keynote speaker at the 10th anniversary of the LTCI South-Korea 2018, and the Healthcare Leaders Forum Sydney 2019, as well various other seminars and symposiums. As the son of two district nurses, Thijs has grown up with the values and knowledge of community nursing. This upbringing has inspired Thijs to serve as many elderly people from all over the world, with the highest of quality of home care.
Frank A. Papay
Cleveland Clinic
Frank A. Papay, MD, an accomplished surgeon / biomedical engineer, has been recognized as one of United States’ Best Doctors specializing in plastic and reconstructive, neuromodulation and face transplantation. He is the chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute and Professor at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Papay was the lead craniofacial surgeon of America’s first face transplant and has performed three. His research interests include the design of medical devices, biomaterials, advanced surgical techniques and navigation utilizing augmented reality and fluorescence guided targeted surgery. Dr. Papay has been awarded WebMD’s 2014 Health Hero for his work with neuromodulation. He was the 2016 Ohio University Medal of Merit Award recipient and the 2017 Northeast Ohio Medical University Outstanding Alumnus Award. He was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Inventors class of 2017 and has an honorary doctorate degree from Ohio University. Dr. Papay is boarded in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Head and Neck Surgery. He has published over 200 scientific papers and is the inventor of over 40 medical device patents including a list of innovative surgeries and biotech ventures. Dr. Papay is completing his Doctor of Management degree at Case Western Reserve University.
Tomasz Rogula
Jagiellonian University
Tomasz Rogula, MD, PhD, FACS is currently a full time professor of surgery at the Jagiellonian University I Department of Surgery, Chief of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery and Part-Time Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, United States. He is also a professor of surgery at the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Poland. Prof. Rogula is a former Staff Surgeon and an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic – Bariatric Metabolic Institute, a former Chief of General Surgery Devision and Co-Director of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery at the University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center in Cleveland-Chardon, OH, USA. He was born in Poland, now US and Polish Citizen living permanently in Poland and part time in USA. In addition to bariatric surgery, his specialty interests include advanced laparoscopic and robotic surgery, gastrointestinal surgery and hernia repair. He performed the first robotic assisted gastric bypass for obesity and initiated single incision laparoscopic bariatric surgery, cholecystectomy and hernia repair at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Rogula has done pioneering research on novel weight-loss surgery procedures. He published numerous articles and book chapters on topics of bariatric and laparoscopic surgery and is a peer reviewer for the journal of Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases and Guest Editor for Journal of Obesity and Annals of Surgical Innovation and Research. Dr Rogula initiated the Bariatric Clinical Program for Medical Students at the Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.
Chris Graham
Picker Institute
Chris is the CEO of Picker, a leading international charity that exists to promote and improve person centred care. A researcher by background, Chris has particular expertise in measuring, understanding, and using people’s experiences of healthcare and has worked with partners around the world to develop approaches to patient feedback. This has included extensive work on the development of the NHS Staff and Patient Survey Programmes, two of the largest programmes of their kind anywhere in the world. As well as his work at Picker, Chris is a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) faculty member, an associate member of the University of Oxford’s Health Services Research Unit, and is part of the Quality, Safety, and Outcomes of Health and Social Care Policy Research Unit. Chris studied Experimental Psychology at Pembroke College, University of Oxford.
Tobias Schneider
McKinsey & Company, Inc
Tobias Schneider is a medical doctor and Associate Partner working in McKinsey & Company in the Cologne office in Germany. Tobias serves clients in the Healthcare Industry in Europe, ranging from providers, public and private payors to the pharmaceutical industry. He works on topics focusing on strategy, operations and data analytics.
Prior to joining McKinsey & Company, Tobias studied medicine at the Technical University and Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, as well as at Harvard Medical School Boston and Johns-Hopkins Medical School Baltimore, US. He holds a medical degree on Epigenetics and Stem Cell research of Adolf-Butenandt Institute, Munich. Tobias is a passionate church musician and enjoys doing sports.
Mislav Malenica
Mindsmiths
AI engineer and entrepreneur focused on building emotionally intelligent AI solutions that have a positive impact on the world. Expert in AI, machine learning, game theory and modeling of human behavior. At Mind Smiths Mislav and his colleagues believe that in 2 to 3 years every big brand in the world will communicate directly with their customers. Mind Smiths are building digital bankers, doctors, technology experts, sales agents that create value and can form strong relationships with customers. At Ruder Boskovic Institute Mislav was working on decision support systems that are helping doctors to make better and more consistent decisions. He specialized in neural networks, support vector machines, Bayesian networks and expert systems.
Beata Kurucz
EIT Health
Regional manager for Central and Eastern Europe by EIT Health InnoStars. 20 years + experience in health care. Her aim is to achieve wide use of innovative solutions in healthcare. Economist with specialization for Health Care Management, qualified EU project expert, marketing specialist. Previously she worked as leader for care and service development by private polyclinics in Budapest, at the biggest ones by the volume of patient turnover. Previously she worked as senior manager for Signal Insurance Co., Corporate Health insurance division. She was responsible for the establishment of health care providers’ network in behind the insurance in Central Europe and for the operation of that. Previously she worked as CEO of Praxis Server Health Consulting Ltd., where she gained experiences in infrastructure development projects of hospitals in the frames of EU Structural Funds. Previously she built up the international congress and training division of the company from the starts. She has great experiences with the development of new organizations, building up divisions from the beginnings and in partnership management. After the years she spent in health care she believes that there is only one reality for health care in the future: innovation.
Edgar Grant
Telemedicine
Being a seasoned C-level executive, entrepreneur and consultant Edgar set his sights on start-ups in late 2009. After several years of research on the topic, he joined the management team of Amber Sea Business Angel Club. Being involved in deep tech acceleration programme Commercialization Reactor he actively helped many entrepreneurs and startups to undertake their first steps and raise funds. Along with developing his own projects Edgar inspires, mentors and consults on strategy, business development, and finance. He holds BA in Management Information Systems from Baltic International Academy and MBA from Salford Business School. Currently he is engaged in a telemedicine project that aims providing a global platform both for local outpatient care and medical tourism.
Ivan Duggan
CISCO
Ivan has overall responsibility for ‘go to market’ of Cisco’s Software Defined routing, switching and wireless portfolio’s in EMEAR, a portfolio that represents around 50% of Cisco’s product revenues in the region. With a key focus on enhancing customer’s digitisation evolution, productivity, profitability and lower costs through better use of Intelligent & Intuitive Networks. With more than 30 years’ experience in the data communications industry, Ivan joined Cisco in 1999, has a diverse background of both domestic and international sales experience, holding various leadership positions in Cisco Ireland and EMEAR. In these roles Ivan was responsible for building strategic sales strategies and also served as a key spokesperson to influence the media and government on the importance of technology to drive innovation and economic growth. He also led the Architecture and Solutions team in EMEAR, where he was responsible for delivering Customer & Partner success through Architectural & solutions IT relevancy.
Marcin Kruczyk
GenGoggle
Marcin Kruczyk, Ph.D. – accomplished Ph.D. in the field of Bioinformatics at Uppsala University. The business experience he gathered in Deloitte where for five years he worked as Chief Data Scientist in Finevare by Deloitte. As a manager of a 20-people team of data scientists and developers, he delivered data-driven software to clients worldwide. After the experience in consulting he moved to the start-up world where he became the Head of Product in Algolytics Technologies – company delivering data science solutions across industries. In 2018 Marcin together with Jakub Mieczkowski, Ph.D. and Michał Marzęcki launched Genegoggle – a start-up developing new technologies to activate drugs selectively in cancer tissue. As a passionate alpinist, Marcin has organized and led fourteen expeditions all over the world and climbed five summits that were never climbed before.
Michał Smoliński
Radpoint
Michał Smoliński – entrepreneur, software engineer, systems designer and futurist. Cloud computing evangelist. Advocate of a patient-centric approach to healthcare systems. Agile practitioner. Experienced leader with a proven track record in startup company development, P&L management and delivery of complex technology projects in an international environment. Graduated from Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (Computer Science, Electronics, Automatic Control) and Leon Koźmiński University in Warsaw (Project Management). In 2019 started his PhD studies (Biomedical Engineering) and is working on harnessing the power of AI to help detect cancer in prostate MRI. During his career he worked in multitude roles, starting as a software engineer and progressing into various engineering, project management and executive roles in the electronic design, insurance, gaming and media and eventually made his way to the healthcare industry. Since 2014 co-founder and CTO of medtech startup Radpoint that currently is developing patient-oriented, horizontal solutions for radiology and diagnostic imaging that are powered by the state of the art AI that helps radiologists by automating mundane tasks, providing valuable second opinion and minimizing the number of missed findings. His interests include radiology and diagnostic imaging, machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision and large-scale distributed systems.
Ivan Gabrić
University Eye Hospital Svjetlost
Ivan Gabrić, MD, graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Zagreb with a major in impact of refractive surgery on vision impairment in adult patients. He has completed his laser eye surgery training at prestigious medical centers in the US and Germany. Dr. Gabrić had a significantly different path than most colleagues, first encountering laser vision correction as a child at the age of 9 when his father, prof. dr. sc. Nikica Gabrić brought the technology for laser vision correction from Japan back in 1998. Since then, he has been fascinated by technology that allows patients to get a new, better view of the world after just a few minutes, which is why he himself became a doctor today in refractive surgery. Since 2012 he has been actively involved in the work of refractive surgeons and in the planning of laser vision corrections. He spent several years working with U.S. physicians working to develop methods for advanced surface methods. He is one of the few doctors with personal experience in using the three most common VISX S4 IR diopter download platforms, Wavelight Allegretto and Schwind Amaris. Dr. Ivan Gabrić also performs crosslinking operations on MLase CCL-365 and Avedro KXL devices.