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Diabesity, Metabolic Surgery & Endoscopy
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Dr Giorgio Castagneto Gissey is the Chief Executive, Chairman, and Co-Founder of Keyron.
He is an economist by training and has been in the health sciences industry for many years. He obtained his M.Sc. in Economics from Warwick and a Ph.D. in Finance from Imperial College London. He has been in academia for 10 years, including as Senior Research Associate, Lecturer and Honorary Research Associate at University College London. He has received and managed several large and high-profile projects funded by ESRC, EPSRC, and InnovateUK and has been Principal Consultant to Ofgem and various private companies. He has published several influential papers in economic policy and has appeared in major news outlets around the world several times. He has been interviewed in relation to economic policy by the House of Commons Parliamentary Committee and other governmental institutions and participated in different roundtables organised by the UK Government, as well as chair at a Royal Economic Society conference.
He is an economist with extensive academic experience and has been in the life sciences industry for many years.
Carl is a senior international leader with deep experience in growing technology businesses, fund-raising, M&A, and exits.
Carl joined and invested in Keyron because its’ technology promises to positively change the world. “The continuing rise in obesity, diabetes, and all forms of fatty liver disease is one of the biggest health challenges the world faces today. Literally billions of people are affected, and the numbers continue to rise rapidly” he says. “Keyron’s technology is a complete game-changer. An innovative, non-surgical, endoscopically-delivered, fully reversible treatment as an alternative to drastic bariatric surgeries is as exciting as it gets.”
He built early-stage technology leaders P2i and Eyoto from a handful of employees each to large, industry-leading global players with multiple sites in Europe, Asia and North America, raising significant private equity funds in the process. For 3 years – as Group CEO – he also led the leveraged buyout team that acquired, fixed, and successfully exited Adria, Ireland’s largest textile business.
Carl has previously been Divisional President at Global 500 electronics, engineering and software group Siebe PLC (now Schneider Electric) where he ran the worldwide recovery division consisting of up to 65 underperforming subsidiaries. He was Chief Executive of Flexonics, the principal division of global automotive and aerospace group Senior PLC and previously Group Managing Director of The Caudwell Group, one of the world’s largest mobile telecommunications support businesses with sales of $2.5bn.
Growing up in Cincinnati Ohio, Carl is a US Certified Public Accountant, a member of Mensa, and has a BSc from the University of Cincinnati. He has lived in Europe, Asia and North America.
Dr Tarek Saleh is a is an Investor, Senior Consultant and Member of the Advisory Board for Endoscopy.
He is a world expert in intragastric balloon (chairman of training center for the Middle East from 2004) with more than 1,700 cases since 2000. He was the first in the Middle East to perform a Primary Obesity Surgery Endoluminal procedure and a world expert and pioneer in the field having done more than 160 since September 2012.
He is a world expert in intragastric balloons with more than 1,700 cases since 2000, was the first in the Middle East to successfully perform a Primary Obesity Surgery Endoluminal procedure.
Professor Francesco Rubino MD is Chief Officer for Obesity and Diabetes and Member of the Board of Directors.
He is a globally renowned bariatric surgeon and a leading researcher in obesity and diabetes.
Professor Rubino’s research showed that the anti-diabetes effect of certain bariatric procedures, particularly gastric bypass surgery, results from mechanisms beyond weight loss. This evidence provided a scientific rationale for surgical treatment of type 2 diabetes, including that of less obese patients. Professor Rubino’s research-finding and theories also point to a role of the gastrointestinal tract in the pathophysiology of diabetes and obesity. His clinical expertise includes laparoscopic, bariatric, metabolic and upper digestive surgery, including gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric banding and novel procedures. He is internationally recognized as one of the world’s leaders in the research, teaching and practice of metabolic and weight-loss surgery.
Professor Rubino received his MD and completed his residency in general surgery at the Catholic University and Policlinico Gemelli in Rome, Italy. He completed fellowships in laparoscopic surgery at the European Institute of Telesurgery in Strasbourg, France; Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York; and Cleveland Clinic.
A member of many professional organizations, Professor Rubino is the recipient of numerous awards, has given hundreds of presentations throughout the world, and is the author of over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. He was one of the co-organizers of the landmark Diabetes Surgery Summit in Rome in 2007, an influential scientific event where leading international authorities for the first time reached a consensus on the best candidates for the surgical treatment of diabetes. Professor Rubino also served as Congress Director and organized the 1st and 2nd World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes in New York City, bringing together over 1,000 multidisciplinary diabetes experts from 62 countries.
For several consecutive years, Professor Rubino was selected by both US News & World Report and Castle Connolly as one of “America’s Top Doctors” and was selected by Crain’s NY Business as a notable “40 under 40”, which recognizes young rising stars in the healthcare, business, non-profit and entertainment industries.
His work has been featured in journals such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, 60 Minutes on CBS, the Guardian, and the New Scientists as well as on national TVs and newspapers in Japan, Italy, Qatar, Brazil, South Africa and other countries.
David E. Cummings, MD, FASMBS is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition at the University of Washington, based at the UW Medicine Diabetes Institute and the V.A. Puget Sound Health Care System, where he is Director of the Weight Management Clinic and Program. He studies the endocrine regulation of appetite, body weight, and glucose homeostasis. A major current focus of his research is to elucidate hormonal/metabolic mechanisms mediating the profound effects of bariatric/metabolic surgery on diabetes and body weight, as well as to determine the role of surgery in diabetes care through randomized clinical trials. He also seeks to clarify the physiologic functions of the orexigenic hormone ghrelin.
Dr. Cummings graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, receiving Highest Distinction in his major of Biochemistry. He obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers – the highest award conferred by the U.S. government to researchers in their early independent careers. It was given at the White House by the President and included seven years of additional research funding. Dr. Cummings has also received the 1996 Ethan Simms Young Investigator Award from The Obesity Society, the 2001 Philip J. Fialkow Scholar Award from the University of Washington, the 2006 Outstanding Investigator Award from the Western Society for Clinical Investigation, honorary membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation since 2006, the Endocrine Society’s 2009 Pfizer International Award, a 2010 honorary Pfizer Visiting Professorship, the 2016 Vivian Fonseca Scholar Award from the American Diabetes Association, the 2017 Honorary Lifetime Fellow appointment from the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (the first non-surgeon ever to receive this), an honorary professorship awarded in 2017 from Sri Aurobindo Medical College & Postgraduate Institute in India, and the 2018 Spitzer Award from Louisiana State University.
Dr. Philip R. Schauer M.D., FACS, is a Senior Consultant and Member of the Advisory Board for Obesity, Diabetes and Bariatrics.
A prominent surgeon, educator and researcher, Prof Schauer has been the principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous research grants and has published numerous papers, abstracts and book chapters related to gastrointestinal and laparoscopic surgery.
He serves as Chief of Minimally Invasive General Surgery and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Schauer serves as Professor of Surgery and Director of Advanced Laparoscopic & Bariatric Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. He serves as Director of Endoscopic Surgery, Director of the Surgical Weight Loss Center. His clinical areas of expertise include laparoscopic and gastrointestinal surgery. He served as President of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery from 2006 to 2007.
A prominent surgeon, educator and researcher, Dr. Schauer joined the Cleveland Clinic in December 2004. He left the University of Pittsburgh after a nine-year tenure to assume these positions. He also serves as the Associate Editor for the journal Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases and is an Editorial Board Member for three other surgical journals. He serves as Director at the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute. He served as a co-director of the DSS with Drs. Cummings, Kaplan and Rubino. He has also participated in developing surgical innovations that utilize minimally invasive, endoscopic and laparoscopic operative techniques. Dr. Schauer is board certified in surgery by the American Board of Surgery.
He has been the principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous research grants and has published numerous papers, abstracts and book chapters related to gastrointestinal and laparoscopic surgery. His memberships in professional and scientific societies include the American College of Surgeons, Association of Academic Surgery, Society of University Surgeons, Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, American Society of Bariatric Surgery, Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), and Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract. Dr. Schauer is a Member of the Society of University Surgeons, Society of Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, Central Surgical Society and the Society of Laparonendoscopic Surgeons. Dr. Schauer has authored over two hundred scientific papers, editorials, textbook chapters, abstracts and video productions. Dr. Schauer is board certified in surgery by the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Schauer received his Medical Degree from the Baylor College of Medicine, completed his residency in surgery at The University of Texas at San Antonio and completed his fellowship in laparoscopic surgery at Duke University Medical Center.
Prof Geltrude Mingrone M.D., FACS, is Keyron’s Chief Advisor.
She is Professor of Diabetes and Metabolic Disease at King’s College, and Director of the Centre for Obesity related pathologies at the Catholic University of Rome. She has pushed forward the boundaries of metabolic medicine for the last 20 years and is widely regarded as among the most recognised researchers in metabolic medicine of our time.
She has pushed forward the boundaries of metabolic medicine for the last 20 years and is widely regarded as among the most recognised researchers in metabolic medicine and diabetes research of our time.
She has published more than 300 scientific papers and written on the most prominent international journals, such as The Lancet, J Clin Invest, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Am J Physiol, etc. She regularly appears in the national and international press. She was a EU expert during the FP5and FP6. Her expertise is mainly centred on the 24h energy expenditure measurement using the Calorimetric Chamber at the Catholic University; insulin sensitivity and secretion particularly in obese/morbidly obese and diabetic subjects before and after bariatric surgery. She implemented new techniques for the clinical practice, such as BIA reconstruction of the lower limb skeletal muscle mass, referring to NMR She is actively contributing to the research aiming at elucidating the mechanisms of reversibility of diabetes after bariatric surgery.
She has been Executive Director of the European Chapter of the American College of Nutrition until 2010, Member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Nutrition, a Former Member of the Board of the European Group for the study of Insulin Resistance (EGIR), Expert in the Panel on Nutrition of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) until 2005, Member of the Board of the Group of Nutrition of the EASD.
Dr. Abu Dayyeh is a Professor of Medicine, Director of Advanced Endoscopy, Director of Bariatric and Metabolic Endoscopy, and Consultant in Gastroenterology and Advanced Therapeutic Endoscopy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. His research focuses on development of minimally invasive interventions for the endoscopic management of obesity and metabolic disease.
Dr.Abu Dayyeh has published more than 200 peer reviewed articles, reviews, and book
chapters in the field. His work has been highly cited with more than 2000 citations. He received multiple awards and grants in support of his research, and has been invited to give more than 200 national and international keynote lectures. He is the recipient of the Jordanian Start of Science award bestowed by King Abdullah II of Jordan during the 2017 World Science Forum in the Dead Sea, Jordan.
He serves as a consultant and advisor to multiple leading US and International companies who are developing novel therapeutics for obesity, metabolic disease, and advanced endoscopy.
Christopher C. Thompson, MD, MSc, FASGE, FACG, AGAF, FJGES is the Director of Endoscopy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also the Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship Program Director and is clinical faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Dr. Thompson’s clinical interests include endoscopic surgery as applied to foregut conditions, pancreatobiliary disease, postsurgical complications, and bariatric endoscopy. He spends the majority of his time performing these advanced endoscopic procedures and also cares for patients in the ambulatory setting and on the gastroenterology inpatient consult service. The remainder of his time is devoted to research activities in endoscopic surgery, with a focus on device development, endoscopic education, and clinical outcomes. He currently has active clinical, translational, bench, and large animal protocols. He has also led several multicenter clinical trials. His research has resulted in numerous patents, the development of new endoscopic procedures, and over 200 publications. Some of his important clinical innovations include the development of new endoscopic techniques for treating pancreatic necrosis, gastric outlet obstruction, sleeve gastrectomy stenosis, pancreatojejunal anastomotic strictures, and postsurgical complications.
Additionally, he was awarded the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization Clinical Innovation Award in 2007 for developing and performing the first endoscopic suturing procedure to treat obesity. He also invented anastomosis technology which has been shown to effectively treat type 2 diabetes in early clinical trials. He was responsible for much of the early work in Bariatric Endoscopy, helping to pioneer the field, and edited the first textbook on the subject. In addition to these clinical innovations, he developed an endoscopic part-task simulator that is used by many fellowship programs. He founded four medical device start-up companies including Beacon Endoscopic which was acquired by Covidien in 2013. He was a founding member of the original NOTES working group and founding chair for the Association of Bariatric Endoscopy (ABE).
These accomplishments have led to a broad clinical referral base, and to national and international invitations for lectureships and live case demonstrations, including the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Blackwell Lectureship, the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) Presidential Plenary Lecture, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) J Edward Berk Presidential Plenary Lecture, the ACG Edgar Achkar Visiting Professorship, various post-graduate education courses for major US gastroenterology and surgical societies, and numerous respected courses throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. In 2019 he was awarded the ASGE Distinguished Endoscopic Research Mentoring Award, which recognizes outstanding career achievement by endoscopic research mentors who have devote substantial time and effort to develop and nurture the next generation of endoscopic investigators. He has mentored more than 20 fellows, many of whom have gone on to thrive in prestigious academic institutions, and established the first Fellowship in Bariatric Endoscopy.
UNIQUE PROCEDURES:
Dr. Manoel Galvao Neto, M.D. is a Senior Consultant and Member of the Advisory Board for Endoscopy.
He is a globally-renowned endoscopic surgeon with wide experience in medical devices for obesity and diabetes.
He graduated in Medicine at Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health, Bahia, Brazil in 1989. After finishing the three years residency program at the 9 July Hospital in São Paulo (Digestive Surgery and Endoscopy), he returned to Bahia as invited Professor of Surgical Technique at Bahiana School from 1993-1998, becoming Coordinator of the Experimental Surgery Research Group and Assistant Professor from 1998 to 2000. At this period, he developed a training model in laparoscopic surgery with rats using conventional instruments, focused on medical students. With this model, he had trained four classes of 200 medical students. Also the model of training has been exported to others universities in Brazil, including Santa Casa of São Paulo, where it was adopted in the graduate and post-graduate program of Gynecology. On this matter, in 2003 he presented a Master degree thesis at São Paulo University about this training model which was published in peer-review journal.
He is also a board certified specialist in Digestive Surgery by the CBCD (1992), Gastroenterology by FBG (1995) and Digestive Endoscopy by SOBED (2011). From 1993 to 2000, he was proctor and responsible for the implementation of the residency program in General Surgery at Cleriston Andrade Hospital in Feira de Santana – Bahia, Brazil. He was also the general Director of this hospital from 1996-1997.He is a former Staff Surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic – Bariatric Metabolic Institute. He was born in Poland, now an US Citizen. He graduated from the Jagiellonian University School of Medicine in Krakow, Poland and was trained in weight loss and general surgery in the United States (Mount Sinai School of Medicine – New York, University of Pittsburgh, PA), Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, United Kingdom and Japan.
From 1999 to 2000, he worked as assistant surgeon at São Rafael Hospital (Salvador, Bahia), where he was a surgical proctor and responsible for the implementation and team training of the esophageal manometry service. In 2001 he returned to São Paulo, working as coordinator of the esophageal motility Service at the Diagnoses of America Laboratory and concurrently worked as a researcher and consultant for Alacer Biomedica company, developing hardware and software on esophageal manometry and pHmetry which are current leaders in the market. He also developed training modules with interactive bases, which have been used by more than seven hundred doctors in the country. Recently he developed with industry high-resolution manometry and pH-impedance devices at the Esophageal Motility Laboratory in Mario Covas Hospital which has been authorized by the regulatory agency (ANVISA) to be used clinically
In 2002, he founded with Dr. Almino Ramos and Dr. Manoela Galvao the Gastro Obesity Center, and was the scientific coordinator, chief endoscopist and played a key role in developing training models. This is probably the most successful bariatric surgery unit in Latin America with more than ten thousands bariatric procedures performed to date. In this area, he developed training models for laparoscopic bariatric surgery and multidisciplinary teams in partnership with Ethicon Endo-Surgery. To date more than 500 surgeons and 100 multidisciplinary team members from Latin America (including Brazil), Portugal, Spain, Japan and India have been trained on those models. He developed the endoscopic sub-specialty of “Bariatric Endoscopy” with Dr. Josemberg Campos from Federal University of Pernambuco – UFPE). Our experience has been published in more than 40 peer reviewed articles and 3 books written in Portuguese and Spanish.
Diabesity
Professor Carel le Roux (MBChB, MSC, FRCP, FRCPath, PhD) is an Investor, Chief Medical Officer and Director of Keyron’s Pharmaceutical Division.
He is a leading Professor in metabolic science, has published numerous high-impact research papers in the field, and is a world-leading expert in obesity and diabetes.
He graduated from medical school in Pretoria South Africa, completed his Senior House Officer training at Barts and The London Hospital, his SpR training in metabolic medicine at the Hammersmith Hospitals and his PhD at Imperial College London. He was appointed as Senior Lecturer in 2006, promoted to Reader in 2009 at Imperial and accepted a Chair as Head of Pathology at University College Dublin in 2011. He received the President of Ireland Young Researcher Award from science Foundation Ireland, a Clinician Scientist Award from the National Institute Health Research in the UK and a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship amongst others.
A popular lecturer at undergraduate level, national and international conferences he has also supervised several MSc, MD and PhD students, many of whom have gone on to successful academic careers.
After establishing a successful independent research group he published numerous high impact papers over the years that have influenced his field. In particular, his translational research on the understanding of the physiological role and pathological changes in appetite control has been widely acknowledged. He has also been able to take up a variety of editorial positions of peer reviewed journals.
Working within the Diabetes Complications Research Centre and the Section of Surgery and Surgical Specialities the focus of his research is primarily concerned with increased mortality and morbidity associated with obesity and diabetes. A better mechanistic understanding of how the “gut talks to the brain” will allow safer and more effective treatments to be used in future. To this end the role of gut hormones, bile acids and changes in food preference are areas of interest.
Dr. Eyal S. Ron is a visionary serial entrepreneur who led multiple start-ups from conception to exit. He creates tremendous value by effective mentoring while accelerating the timeline toward the value inflection points.
He is Co-Founder of many biotech companies including Gelesis, the maker of Plenity, a medical device for obesity/overweight. Gelesis a merger in 2021 for $1.3bn.
Dr. Ron provides hand-on entrepreneurial out-of-the-box thought-process and deep science-based expertise. Dr. Ron serves on corporate boards of directors and gives back to the community by volunteering with several mentoring organizations.
Dr. Ron has over 30 years of experience in the development of drugs, biomaterials, medical devices, cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals and drug delivery systems. He has a record of accomplishments for combining science with innovative business strategies, having developed and implemented the scientific, regulatory and clinical strategy for several companies. He has in-depth understanding of total development process.
Dr. Ron is the author of over 100 papers, book chapters and abstracts. He is also the inventor of over 50 patents principally in the area of drug formulations, drug delivery, tissue engineering, devices and biomaterials. Dr. Ron is a regular invited lecturer in the area of innovative approaches to create trusted partnership with service providers.
Dr. Ron facilitated the formation of over 12 companies and under his leadership over ten products were brought to market.
Mr. Nicol Verheem is Keyron’s Investor, Chief Investment Officer and Director of Keyron’s Diagnostics Division. He is a Member of the Board of Directors.
He is a leading electronic engineer with an extensive technology background and is an established life sciences investor.
He serves as Divisional Chief Executive Officer of Creative Solutions Division at The Vitec Group plc. Mr. Verheem has been Senior Vice President of Technology at Vitec Videocom Ltd. since August 2013. Mr. Verheem served as Senior Vice President of Creative Solutions, Broadcast Division at The Vitec Group plc. Mr. Verheem served as Chief Executive Officer of Teradek. Mr. Verheem has an extensive technology background, previously working for Impac Technologies and the GE Security Digital Video Center of Excellence where he was responsible for leading all engineering activities. In 2008, he founded Teradek and grew it from a small engineering services and licensing firm into an international supplier of digital video products. He holds a degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria, South Africa and obtained black belt certifications in Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing during his time with GE.
Financial executive with over 20 years of investment and business development experience.
Origination, analysis and execution and portfolio management of large and mid-market private equity deals (development capital, buy out, replacement) in all industries – proven track record, more than 15 completed deals, with significant realized return on invested capital.
I am currently considering either positions in continuity with my career or temporary management assignments to support shareholders and management in business development or capital increase projects.
Strong partnership aptitude, focus on industrial development, open minded, pragmatic and proactive approach to problem solving.
Professor Marco Castagneto is Chief Scientific Officer and Director of Keyron’s Medical Device Division.
He has 20 years’ experience in bariatric surgery research and practice, has over 1,000 scientific publications to his name and has performed more than 2,000 surgeries, including 500 bariatric surgeries.
He has been Professor of Surgery; Director of the Department of Surgery at the Catholic University, Rome. He has been Fellow of the American College of Surgeons for 40 years, as well as of the President Italian Society of Intensive Care; the Italian Society of Surgery; The Transplantation Society; and the European Society of Surgical Research. He has over 1,000 scientific publications and has performed more than 2,000 surgeries. He has over 20 years’ experience in bariatric surgery research and practice and has performed more than 500 bariatric surgeries. He has operated a number of high-profile individuals, including major surgeries on Pope John Paul II on two occasions.
