Leadership Team

Founding Member and CEO

Bill Hunter, M.D., M.Sc.

Dr. Bill Hunter is responsible for the assembly of the Company’s management team, the development of corporate strategic initiatives and participation in both business development and corporate finance activities.

Bill brings 30 years of experience in healthcare as a former practicing physician, serial medtech entrepreneur and chief executive. He most recently was CEO of Correvio (CORV:NASDAQ) where he oversaw the development of its own direct sales force in Europe, acquiring of a company with a complementary product (AGGRASTAT), assembling of an international distribution network, in-licensing three additional products and increasing valuation by over five-fold. Prior to that, he was Founder/CEO of Angiotech (ANPI:NASDAQ), a world leader in the emerging field of drug-loaded medical devices and implants and achieved a market capitalization of greater than $2 billion.

He is an innovator and inventor with over 200 patents and patent applications, including the discovery and development of Persona IQ, the TAXUS® Drug-Eluting Coronary Stent, the Ranger® drug eluting balloon, the Zilver PTX Peripheral Drug-Eluting Stent and the Quill barbed wound closure device. He has overseen the development of products used in over 50 million patients, generating revenues of over $25 billion.

Bill holds a Doctorate of Medicine from University of British Columbia, a Master of Science from University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Science from McGill University.

Founding Member and Chief Surgical Officer

Fred Cushner, M.D.

Dr. Fred Cushner is responsible for all medical activities.

Fred brings over 30 years of experience in healthcare and is a practicing knee surgeon on staff at the prestigious Hospital For Special Surgery in New York City. He is active in many academic organizations, including the Eastern Orthopedic Society, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons as well as the Knee Society. He is a founder of the Knee Society Video Fellowship as well as the annual Joint Arthroplasty Mountain Meeting. After completing his fellowship in New York City with the Insall Scott Kelly Institute, he became a director for over 20 years and joined Northwell Health as the chairman of Southside Hospital Department of Orthopedics.

His perspectives as a an expert in knee surgery have been shared through frequent national and international lectures, peer reviewed academic articles and numerous book chapters. He has authored four academic texts. Utilizing his background, he has been a designer surgeon in numerous devices such as the Journey 2 Knee, the Journey Partial Knee, CORI Robotic System, the Smith and Nephew Porous Knee System.

Fred completed his medical school and residency at the Medical University of South Carolina and completed his fellowship in New York City with the Insall Scott Kelly Institute.

Founding Member and Chief Technology Officer

Jeff Gross, Ph.D.

Dr. Jeff Gross is responsible for leading all aspects of product development in concert with consultants in the areas of R&D, QA, manufacturing, RA and reimbursement for the first product indication, TKA, developing a robust pipeline of line extensions and new products, continual development of the company’s IP portfolio, and working with the CEO on fund raising and corporate partnership activities.

Jeff brings over 30 years of experience in medical device R&D, M&A and commercialization experience launching cardiovascular, vascular, interventional, spinal, infection protection, and wound healing products. He most recently was a Senior Vice President, R&D, Product Engineering and Chief Technology Officer at Procedural Solution, where he led a multidisciplinary R&D organization of engineers, biologists, chemists, clinical specialists and technicians located in three countries at seven sites conducting medical device, drug, and combination drug/device R&D and product engineering and launched several products that generated about $45 million per year in new product revenue year during this time period with substantive further growth possible. Prior to that, he worked as Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Corporate Officer at Angiotech Pharmaceuticals.

He is a seasoned senior executive within Class II and III medical devices, drugs and device/drug combination products who has direct knowledge in the research, product development, pre-clinical testing, clinical trials, and intellectual property management of new products. Jeff also has over 50 patents & patents pending.

Jeff holds a Doctorate of Biomedical Engineering from The University of Memphis, a Master of Science from University of Houston, and a Bachelor of Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Chief of Staff

Constantina Darsaklis

Constantina Darsaklis (“Dina”) is the Chief of Staff for Canary Medical and all of its subsidiaries.

Dina has over twenty years of experience in the administration of corporations with international operations, including both pharmaceutical and medical device companies. She was the first employee of Canary Medical and set up all of Canary’s initial corporate and administrative functions. She now works with cross-functional teams and serves as a liaison between staff, senior leaders, executives and the CEO on multiple corporate projects across the parent company and its subsidiaries. She strives to build strong working relationships amongst all of Canary’s employees. She is also responsible for organizing operational meetings, including staff, senior management and board meetings, as well as for all communications to our shareholders.

Constantina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Translations from Concordia University, Montreal QC. She also has a Diploma in Social Sciences with a minor in Psychology from Vanier College, Montreal QC.

Chief Operations Officer

Joseph Cucolo

Joseph Cucolo is responsible for all Commercial activities

Joseph has nearly 40 years of experience in the medical device industry. He most recently spent more than 30 years within Zimmer Biomet in various roles and ultimately joined the Zimmer executive leadership team as President and GM of the Americas. Prior to joining Zimmer’s management team, he held many sales and sales leadership roles including building the largest orthopedic sales distributorship in the U.S. Joseph was the first orthopedic distributor to exceed more than $100 million in sales in one year.

Prior to joining Canary Meducal as the Chief Commercial officer. Joe served as Chairman of the U.S. for Lima Orthopedic Corporation and holds director roles at several medical device startups.

Joseph holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and sociology from Iona College.

Chief Communications Officer

Monica Kendrick

Monica Kendrick is the Chief Communications Officer.

Monica is responsible for all communications activities for the Company.

Monica brings more than 25 years of experience in the communications field, with much of that time in the healthcare industry. She was most recently Vice President, Product Communications and Philanthropy for Zimmer Biomet (NYSE: ZBH), where she served 13 years in various communications leadership roles. Prior to Zimmer Biomet, she led healthcare and benefits communications for Cummins (NYSE: CMI). She began her career in communications at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (NYSE: ELV), where she held positions of increasing responsibility over a dozen years during a time when the Company acquired and integrated 13 state Blue plans and, ultimately, transitioned from a mutual insurance company to a publicaly-traded firm.

Monica holds her bachelor’s degree from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

Chief Data & Informatics Officer

John Savage

John Savage is responsible for leading the effort to convert raw data into actionable insights for patients and doctors.

John brings over 30 years of experience in engineering and informatics. He most recently was Vice President, Data Science at Medidata Solutions where he built a multi-disciplinary team of experts in cloud-based software development, physics, machine learning and “data wrangling” to leverage the company’s position as the industry’s leading electronic data capture solution provider and improve the clinical trial processes for clients. Prior to that, he founded American International Group’s first data science team, which improved profitability for the company’s largest commercial insurance businesses.

He is an experienced data science leader with a proven history of delivering value in the engineering, financial services and life science industries who believes that implanted sensors and the algorithms built on their streaming data will transform patient care by improving outcomes and reducing costs.

John holds a Master of Business Administration in finance from Babson College and Master of Science in computer engineering from Boston University.

Chief Data Science Officer

David Lee

David Lee is responsible for data science activities.

David has over 20 years of experience building and leading highly engaged data science teams, with numerous successes envisioning and integrating innovative analytics that transform decision making in tech, pharma and insurance. David holds 4 patents and was honored as a PharmaVOICE 100 recipient in 2018.

David has led advanced analytics for multi-billion dollar organizations in life sciences and financial services. Prior to Canary, David was Chief Data Officer, Senior Vice President at Medidata where he was recruited by the CEO and the President to create a new data science and AI value proposition for its leading SaaS platform in clinical trials. He led the creation of several advanced analytic and AI products and services, which helped make clinical trials more accurate, more efficient and less risky. These helped drive a market cap increase of 250% to $5.8 billion. Prior to that he was a VP of Science at AIG, where he built predictive models for a range of property and casualty insurance risks, and a Statistical Analyst for Mercer Consulting where he helped build a data engineering system to convert transactional databases to analytic databases for modeling; he developed data standards and SAS algorithms with economists and data engineers.

David holds a Bachelor of Science in biometry & statistics from Cornell University and a Master of Arts in statistics from Columbia University.

Chief Business Development Officer

David Dean

David Dean is responsible for all corporate development activities.

David brings over 20 years of business development and company analysis experience. Most recently he was Chief Business Development Officer of Correvio where he identified opportunities, analyzed and valued each, negotiated and then wrote multiple drug license agreements that grew the Company’s product portfolio, revenues and outlook for the future. Prior to that, he was Director and Research Analyst at the largest independent investment bank in Canada where he identified healthcare investment opportunities and played a central role in managing each relationship.

He is experienced in identifying, negotiating and executing multiple in and out-licensing transactions as well as significant M&A transactions, acquisitions and divestments.

David holds a Master of Business Administration in finance from Queen’s University and Master of Science in physiology from the Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa.

Email David for Business Development Requests bd@canarymedical.com

Vice President Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance

Nora York

Nora York is responsible for Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance activities.

Nora has over 35 years of regulatory affairs experience beginning at the US Food and Drug Administration, where she performed research, conducted post-market surveillance inspections and investigations of pharmaceutical and medical devices firms.

Since then, Nora has achieved experience in regulatory due diligence, submission strategy for both, US and international filings, policy development and implementation, design control and risk management oversight at in vitro diagnostic, orthopedic, ambulatory infusion pump, ophthalmic, and cardiovascular Class II and Class III medical devices companies in leadership and consultant roles. In Independent Consultant roles, she provided regulatory services for submission strategy, review of advertising and promotion, and advice to legal counsel on FDA regulatory matters. This experience has prepared her for her current role where she led the development and achievement of Canary Medical’s ISO 13485 QMS Certification, three (3) Breakthrough Device designations and commercial market authorization for the first implantable orthopedic SMART device, Canturio tibial extension.

Nora holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Texas.

Senior Vice President of R&D

Peter Schiller, Ph.D.

Dr. Peter Schiller is responsible for research and development.

Peter has over 20 years of experience leading the commercialization of advanced Class II and Class III medical devices. He most recently was Director of Device Development at Progenity where he aligned development, quality, manufacturing, clinical and regulatory programs with strategic objectives. Prior to that, he was Director of Advanced Technologies where he advised BOD and key stakeholders on future technologies and product opportunities, led roadmap development and established core technologies that enable future products and business interests.

He is experienced in research and development and has over 30 patents and patents pending in systems, devices and core technologies.

Peter holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota, Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Vice President of Product Development

Mark Adler

Mark Adler is responsible for product development activities.

Mark has 25+ years of medical device development and operations experience launching novel technologies in cardiovascular, neurovascular, pulmonology and diabetes continuous glucose monitoring. He most recently was Senior Director R&D and Vice President of Global Operations at JenaValve Technologies where he managed the Next Generation Aortic Valve Delivery System and Heart Valve development addressing Aortic Regurgitation and Aortic Stenosis to move project at accelerated pace for clinical introduction and design validation. Prior to that, he has held positions as Director and Vice President in Development and Operations in multiple start up organizations supporting product performance assessment, product optimization, product analysis and commercial validation readiness. Organization support activities bounded all activities in product process development, supply chain management in all modalities of supply chain pipeline and commercial release management.

Mark is experienced in product research and development with over 15 patents and patents pending.

Mark holds a Master in Business Administration from Argosy University and Bachelor of Technology from Rochester Institute of Technology