Frank Reynolds
Chairman of the Board and CEOInVivo’s Board of Directors / Management Team
Mr. Reynolds leads our teams to commercialize our novel neurological science and technologies that were developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School.
In October 2009, Inc. Magazine named Mr. Reynolds one of America's Top 10 Most Innovative Medical Entrepreneurs.
Prior to founding InVivo Therapeutics in 2005, Mr. Reynolds was Director, Global Business Development for Siemens Corporation where he was responsible for new business revenue in 132 countries. At Siemens, Frank won numerous awards including the 2005 Global Presidential Sales Award, and he was a 2004 Top+ USA Strategy Award winner for his initiatives in global sales force strategy and collaboration. Mr. Reynolds was Founder and CEO of Expand The Knowledge, Inc from 1997-2002. In addition, Mr. Reynolds has over 20 years management experience primarily in healthcare related fields. Before his back injury in 1992 he was a practicing clinician in mental health conducting clinical trials for the pharmaceutical sector.
Mr. Reynolds won the prestigious “Top 40 Irish-American Executive Award” from the Irish-Echo, the largest Ireland focused publication in the world. Mr. Reynolds has been an Executive Board Member of the Irish-American Business Chamber since 1998. He is a graduate of the Sloan Fellows Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he completed his MBA and coursework at the Harvard Business School. His graduate school education includes a M.S. in Technology Management Program from The Wharton School of Business and a M.S. in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Masters in Health Administration from Saint Joseph University.
George Nolen
Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens CorporationInVivo’s Board of Directors
George Nolen, 53, is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Corporation, the U.S. subsidiary of Siemens, AG, a global leader in industry, energy and healthcare with 400,000 employees in 190 countries throughout the world.
George rose through the ranks during his 26-year career with Siemens USA to become—in January 2004—the first American chosen to run Siemens’ U.S. operations. In 2009, Siemens in the U.S. had 69,000 employees located throughout all 50 states and $22 billion in revenue.
Under George’s leadership, company revenue grew from $16.6 billion in 2004 to $22.4 billion by 2009, reflecting more than three years of double-digit growth and resulting in the United States being Siemens’ largest revenue producing operation worldwide. George also oversaw more than $17 billion in strategic acquisitions in the energy, healthcare and industrial sectors, positioning Siemens USA as a leading U.S. and global player in these key industries.
Prior to his role as Siemens USA’s CEO, George served as President of Siemens’ Information and Communications division, overseeing this $2 billion business from 1998 to 2004.
As CEO, George was active in The Business Roundtable where he served on the BRT’s Consumer, Health and Retirement Committee as well as the Sustainable Growth Committee. He currently serves on the Board and Executive Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 2005, then Virginia Governor—currently U.S. Senator—Mark Warner named him to the Board of Visitors of Virginia Tech, where he is an alumnus. In 2009, Virginia’s current Governor and Democratic National Committee Chair, Tim Kaine, reappointed George to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. He also serves as the Chairman of the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.
George and his wife Michele are actively involved in supporting numerous charities as well as educational and children’s organizations. He enjoys golf, skiing and family time.
Richard Roberts, Ph.D.
1993 Nobel Laureate in Medicine and PhysicsInVivo’s Board of Directors / Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Roberts won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology
Dr. Richard J. Roberts is the Chief Scientific Officer at New England Biolabs, Beverly, Massachusetts. He was educated in England, attending St. Stephen's School and the City of Bath Boys' School in Bath before moving to the University of Sheffield where he obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry in 1965 and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1968. His postdoctoral research was carried out in Professor J.L. Strominger's laboratory at Harvard, where he studied the tRNAs that are involved in the biosynthesis of bacterial cell walls. From 1972 to 1992, he worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, reaching the position of Assistant Director for Research under Dr. J.D. Watson.
He began work on the newly discovered Type II restriction enzymes in 1972 and in the next few years more than 100 such enzymes were discovered and characterized in Dr. Roberts' laboratory. His laboratory has cloned the genes for several restriction enzymes and their cognate methylases, and study of these enzymes has been a major research theme. Dr. Roberts has also been involved in studies of Adenovirus-2, beginning with studies of transcription that led to the discovery of split genes and mRNA splicing in 1977. This was followed by efforts to deduce the DNA sequence of the Adenovirus-2 genome and a complete sequence of 35,937 nucleotides was obtained. This latter project required the extensive use of computer methods, both for the assembly of the sequence and its subsequent analysis. His laboratory pioneered the application of computers in this area and the further development of computer methods of protein and nucleic acid sequence analysis continues to be a major research focus. The field of DNA methyltransferases is also an area of active research interest, and crystal structures for the HhaI methyltransferase, both alone and in complex with DNA, have been obtained in collaboration with Dr. X. Cheng. The latter complex is quite remarkable as the protein causes the target cytosine base to flip completely out of the helix, so that it is clear that there are many more restriction enzyme genes in Nature than had been previously suspected.
Christi Pedra
CEO Siemens Hearing Instruments, Inc.InVivo’s Board of Directors
Christi M. Pedra, President and CEO of Siemens Hearing Instruments, took the reins of one of the largest hearing instrument manufacturers in January 2007. She is charged with leading the company's sales, manufacturing, product development, customer relations and research and development in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.
Pedra, no novice to Siemens, has been with the organization for over 20 years. Most recently she helped launch Siemens One as Vice President of Executive Relations and was promoted to Vice President of Sales and Chief Operating Officer in 2004. In this role, Pedra served as the lead sales executive for Siemens One, responsible for regional business development and vertical markets outside the public sector. Pedra was also responsible for the Siemens One sales strategy and was charged with managing the people and processes needed to accomplish the sales plan.
Prior to her role with Siemens One, Pedra served as Vice President of Executive Relations for Siemens Corporation in the Office of the President. While with Siemens Corporation, she was responsible for business development activity as part of the Siemens top+ US Business Initiatives. Pedra also facilitated executive-level customer relationships within corporations and government agencies.
Pedra is a member of the advisory committee for the Women's Information Network at Siemens. In 2001, she joined the Siemens ICN Executive Council on Diversity, and most recently was appointed to Siemens Healthcare Steering Committee for Diversity.
Active in leadership roles in both the business and civic sectors, she is currently a member of the Boards of Directors of the Hearing Industry Association and the Better Hearing Institute. She also serves on the National Collegiate Athletic Association Leadership Advisory Board, the National Council for Liberal Education America’s Promise, and participates in several formal and informal mentoring programs.
Ms. Pedra was part of Mayor Bloomberg’s New York City task force on stimulating economic growth in the wake of the tragic events of 9/11. And in 2002, she was nominated and selected to be a David Rockefeller Fellow, a one-year leadership program sponsored by the N.Y.C. Partnership and the David Rockefeller Foundation.
Eric Woodard, MD
Chief Medical OfficerInVivo’s Management Team / Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Woodard, MD is Chief, Neurosurgery at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston.
Dr. Eric Woodard received his medical degree from the Pennsylvania State University and completed his residency in Neurological surgery at Emory University. Following residency, Dr. Woodard completed a fellowship in complex spinal surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin under Dr. Sanford Larsen. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons.
Dr. Woodard was formerly Chief of the Division of Spinal Surgery in the Department of Neurological Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he held the rank of Assistant Professor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School.
Since joining the medical staff in 2004, Dr. Woodard has continued to practice complex spinal surgery and has established the Neurosurgery Fellowship in spinal surgery at New England Baptist Hospital. He has been an editorial board member for The Journal of Spinal Disorders, Spine Universe.com and is an ad hoc reviewer for Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Woodard is a member of numerous professional societies and organizations that include the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the Joint Section of the AANS/CNS, Spine and Peripheral Nerve, AO Spine North America, the North American Spine Society, Massachusetts Medical Society, and the Racchidian Society. He is the immediate past chairman of the AO Spine North America Board and serves on the Board of AO Spine International.
Dr. Woodard has published many articles and book chapters in the field of spine surgery and lectures extensively, both nationally and internationally. He lives in Boston with his wife and children.
Christopher Pritchard
Director R&DInVivo’s Management Team
Christopher Pritchard is responsible for product development and manufacturing of InVivo’s multi-disciplinary platform technologies. In developing truly innovative technologies, InVivo does not have comparative technologies that can provide a roadmap for product development or manufacturing. InVivo relies on Pritchard to harness the resources of MIT, Harvard, and industry to bring our treatment for spinal cord injuries and spinal cord tumors to market.
As part of MIT’s Langer Lab, Pritchard is a candidate for a Ph.D. from MIT in the Department of Chemical Engineering and an MBA from the MIT-Sloan School of Management. He is the key collaborator with neuroscientists from Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Department of Neurosurgery.
Pritchard received his Master’s in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford with First Class Honors. At Oxford, he ranked second in his class, and was awarded the Edgell Sheppee Prize for Excellent Performance. Before joining InVivo, he spent a year at Princeton University, where he won an award for his research. He holds an Engineering Leadership Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Bob Langer, Sc.D.
InVivo’s Scientific Advisory Board
Robert S. Langer is one of 14 Institute Professors (the highest honor awarded to a faculty member) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Langer has written over 860 articles and has over 500 issued or pending patents worldwide. One of these patents was cited as the outstanding patent in Massachusetts in 1988 and one of 20 outstanding patents in the United States. Dr. Langer’s patents have been licensed or sublicensed to over 100 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies; a number of these companies were launched on the basis of the patent licenses. He served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s SCIENCE Board, the FDA’s highest advisory board, from 1995-2002 and as its Chairman from 1999-2002.
Dr. Langer has received over 140 major awards. In 2002, he received the Charles Stark Draper Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for engineers and the world’s most prestigious engineering prize, from the National Academy of Engineering. He is the also the only engineer to receive the Gairdner Foundation International Award; 65 recipients of this award have subsequently received a Nobel Prize. Among numerous other awards Langer has received are the Dickson Prize for Science (2002), Heinz Award for Technology, Economy and Employment (2003), the Harvey Prize (2003), the John Fritz Award (2003) (given previously to inventors such as Thomas Edison and Orville Wright), the General Motors Kettering Prize for Cancer Research (2004), the Dan David Prize in Materials Science (2005) and the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research (2005), the largest prize in the U.S. for medical research. In 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 1998, he received the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors in medicine." In 1989 Dr. Langer was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1992 he was elected to both the National Academy of Engineering and to the National Academy of Sciences. He is one of very few people ever elected to all three United States National Academies and the youngest in history (at age 43) to ever receive this distinction.
Forbes Magazine (1999) and Bio World (1990) have named Langer as one of the 25 most important individuals in biotechnology in the world. Discover Magazine (2002) named him as one of the 20 most important people in this area. Forbes Magazine (2002) selected Langer as one of the 15 innovators worldwide who will reinvent our future. Time Magazine and CNN (2001) named Langer as one of the 100 most important people in America and one of the 18 top people in science or medicine in America. Parade Magazine (2004) selected Langer as one of 6 “Heroes whose research may save your life.” He has served, at various times, on 15 boards of directors and 30 Scientific Advisory Boards of such companies as Wyeth, Alkermes, Mitsubishi Pharmaceuticals, Warner-Lambert, and Momenta Pharmaceuticals Dr. Langer has received honorary doctorates from the ETH (Switzerland), the Technion (Israel), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), the Universite Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), the University of Liverpool (England), the University of Nottingham (England), Albany Medical College, the Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University and Uppsala University (Sweden). He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974, both in Chemical Engineering.
V. Reggie Edgerton, Ph.D.
InVivo’s Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. V. Reggie Edgerton has been the Director of U.C.L.A’s Edgerton Lab since 1968 and is a professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences at U.C.L.A. His research is focused on neural control of movement and how this neural control adapts to altered use and after spinal cord injury. He completed his Ph.D. under the direction of Drs. Wayne Van Huss, Rex Carrow, and William Heusner at Michigan State University.
Dr. Edgerton is on the Scientific Advisory Board of The Christopher Reeves Foundation (CRF) and he is one of eight labs in the world receiving funding from the CRF.
While a professor at UCLA, Dr. Edgerton has served as chair of the department. He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Goteborg in Sweden, Tokyo Metropolitan Neuroscience Institute, and the Panum Institute of the University of Copenhagen. He received a Citation Award by the American College of Sports Medicine, and has served NASA in a number of roles. In addition to serving on the board of the CRF, he is currently on the scientific advising board of the American Paralysis Association. Dr. Edgerton has co-authored two books: The Biology of Physical Activity and An Atlas of the Lesser Bushbaby. These books evolved directly from work begun when he was at Michigan State University. In addition, he is the author of approximately 300 research papers.
A key question researched in Edgerton lab is how the neural networks in the lumbar spinal cord of mammals, including humans, control stepping and locomotion after complete spinal cord injury.
Alex Vaccaro, MD
InVivo’s Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Alexander R. Vaccaro is Co-Director of the Delaware Valley Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center at Thomas Jefferson University, one of the largest referral programs for spinal injury in the country. He also serves as Co-Director of Reconstructive Spine Services at the Rothman Institute and as Co-Director of the Spine Fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University.
Dr. Vaccaro graduated summa cum laude from Boston College. He received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine, where he graduated cum laude. He performed his surgical internship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and completed a residency in Orthopaedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and a spine fellowship at the University of California at San Diego.
Dr. Vaccaro has received numerous awards commending his outstanding and prolific research, and has published and presented extensively on his findings. He has served as moderator or chairman at over 80 national and international spine symposiums. His recent textbook, Principles and Practices of Spine Surgery (2002), is used as a standard for spine care nationally and internationally. He serves as a Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and is a member of numerous medical societies.
In 2002 Dr. Vaccaro was selected to be an American Orthopaedic Association Japanese Traveling Fellow and lectured at numerous academic universities in Japan. In the summer of 2003 he toured Europe as a Scoliosis Research Society traveling fellow, participating in surgery and lecturing on spinal deformity. In 2004 he was selected to be the executive editor of Orthopaedic Knowledge Update (OKU) 8, the latest edition of the premier Orthopaedic review textbook.
Todd Albert, MD
InVivo’s Scientific Advisory Board
Todd J. Albert, MD, is the James Edwards Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He is also the President of the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia.
Previously, he served as Co-director of Reconstructive Spine Surgery and the Spine Fellowship Program at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Albert graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College, received his doctor of medicine degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed a residency in orthopaedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (where he was named Outstanding Chief Resident) and a fellowship in spinal surgery at the Minnesota Spine Center.
Dr. Albert serves on the boards of several scholarly journals, including Spine, The Spine Journal, and The Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques, as well as medical associations, including American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cervical Spine Research Society, Scoliosis Research Society, International Society for Study of the Lumbar Spine, and North American Spine Society. He is Chair of Network Development for the National Spine Network, a consortium of centers of excellence for spine care throughout the United States.
Dr. Albert has published over 200 scientific articles, authored over 40 book chapters, and presented his research both nationally and internationally. He has published seven textbooks on spinal surgery, including Spine Surgery: Tricks of the Trade; Surgical Approaches to the Spine; Master Cases: Spine Surgery; Physical Examination of the Spine; and Spinal Deformities, the Essentials.
Jonathan Slotkin, MD
InVivo’s Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Slotkin is a clinical neurosurgeon and research scientist. Clinically, Dr. Slotkin has expertise in complex spinal surgery, minimally invasive spinal surgery, spinal oncology surgery and brain tumor surgery. Dr. Slotkin completed residency training in neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital. He performed a fellowship in complex spinal surgery with Dr. Eric J. Woodard. He is the co-editor of a two-volume publication on spinal surgery. Dr. Slotkin is currently a neurosurgeon with the Washington Brain and Spine Institute.
Dr. Slotkin's research interests include regeneration and plasticity after spinal cord injury, and nanotechnology initiatives for cellular labeling and non-invasive cell tracking. Dr. Slotkin has authored or co-authored several peer-reviewed scientific publications in the areas of repair after spinal cord injury in animal models, and in vivo quantum dot labeling of neural stem cells. Dr. Slotkin has expertise in the application of nanotechnology research to clinical neurosurgery and neurology. His work was awarded the Apfelbaum Award for Research by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
Paul Mraz
Chief Executive Officer of CeraPedics, IncInVivo Business Advisory Board
Paul Mraz has been active in the Medical Device and Life Sciences Industry for over 17 years, in companies both large and small, venture backed and privately funded. His roles have been in executive management, product development, marketing, sales management and business development, all on a global basis.
Mraz currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of CeraPedics, Inc., a medical device company located outside Denver, CO. CeraPedics is working toward commercializing products for the orthopaedic bone graft substitutes market based on its proprietary small peptide technology. The company recently completed a $14.5M Series A financing round with OrbiMed Advisors, LLC.
Mraz most recently served as Chairman and CEO of Angstrom Medica, Inc. (acquired by Pioneer Surgical Technology), a privately funded, early-stage biomaterials nanotechnology company engaged in the development of structural, calcium phosphate-based medical devices for the spinal, sports medicine, and trauma markets.
Prior to Angstrom Medica, Mraz was a Principal of Link Spine Group Inc., a start-up medical device company that developed and commercialized the world’s first total disc replacement for the lumbar spine. He served as Vice President - Worldwide Marketing and International Sales until its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in June 2003.
Mraz was also a key management team member of three other early-stage medical device companies and his early experience includes positions at Figgie Medical Systems, Ortho Development Corporation (acquired by Japan MDM) and Marlow Surgical Technologies, Inc. (acquired by Cooper Surgical) as well as DePuy, Inc. and DePuy Spine (formerly AcroMed Corporation), both acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1998.
Mraz also currently serves as a Director of superDimension, Ltd. (Herzliya, ISRAEL and Plymouth, MN), an emerging world leader in the minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of lung disease (e.g. cancer, emphysema) via interactive real-time guidance of endoscopic tools and bronchoscopy.
Mraz received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College and an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and Biomechanics from Case Western Reserve University. He holds six US Patents for various medical devices and is an active advisor to numerous venture capital groups. He also enjoys mentoring and advising other entrepreneurs in the medical device industry worldwide.
David Feigal
Sr. VP Global Regulatory Compliance Elan CorporationInVivo Business Advisory Board
David W. Feigal Jr., MD, joined Elan as Senior Vice President, Head of Global Regulatory and Global Safety Surveillance in November 2006. Prior to joining Elan, he spent 12 years with the FDA. During his time at the FDA, he was Head of the Center for Devices and Head of the Center for Biologics for five years each.
Before joining the FDA, Dr. Feigal worked for 10 years within the academic and hospital settings of the University of California in San Diego, San Francisco and Davis. He holds a BA from University of Minnesota, an MD from Stanford University and a Master of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley.
Arnoldo Hax, Ph.D.
Alfred P Sloan Professor of Management MIT-SloanInVivo Business Advisory Board
Arnoldo Hax is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Management at the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as Deputy Dean of the Sloan School from 1987 through 1990. Prior to joining MIT in 1972, Dr. Hax was a faculty member at the Harvard Business School, and a senior consultant for Arthur D. Little, Inc.
He has published extensively in the fields of strategic management, management control, operations management, and operations research. He has authored and co-authored nine books, including The Delta Project: Discovering New Sources of Profitability in a Networked Economy with Dean Wilde, and about one hundred journal articles. An accomplished educator, he won the MIT-Sloan School’s Salgo Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. Hax has wide consulting experience and has assisted many companies in developing formal strategic planning processes, including Synthes, Synthes Spine, Advanced Micro Devices, Eastman Chemical, Merck, EDS, Saturn, Coca-Cola, Digital Equipment Corporation, Motorola, General Motors, Citibank, Prime Computer, Searle, Analog Devices, Westinghouse Electric, Unilever, 3M, and Brown Boveri (Switzerland).
Dr. Hax is former Chairman of the Board of Sloan Management Review. In addition he is Strategic Management Editor for Interfaces and former editor of Operations Research, and Naval Research Logistics Quarterly. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Manufacturing and Operations Research and the Journal of High Technology Management Research. He has been granted a Dean’s Award for Excellence at the Sloan School of Management and has been listed in Who’s Who in Science and Technology.