Aegis Ventures

Executive Chairman of Aegis Ventures, supporting close partnerships with health systems.

Emily Lee is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist with over a decade of clinical and academic experience in high-risk obstetrics and perinatal care. She trained and practiced at the University of Michigan, UCLA, and Yale University, and serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Yale. She is Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Wavelet Medical, where she leads clinical strategy, physician engagement, and trial design for the company's AI-powered fetal brain monitoring technology.

Jose Cortes-Briones is a neuroscientist and Co-Founder and Head of Science of Wavelet Medical, focusing on digital signal processing and AI-based brain monitoring technologies. He is also an Assistant Professor Adjunct at Yale University, advising on the use of signal processing and AI to study the brain. His work centers on extracting clinical information from EEG and MEG signals, and he developed Wavelet's AI algorithms for non-invasive fetal brain signal reconstruction. He holds a PhD in Neuroscience.

Mingguang He is a physician-scientist focused on developing AI systems in ophthalmology, and serves as Chief Medical Officer of Optain. He is a practising ophthalmologist and Professor of Ophthalmic Epidemiology at the University of Melbourne and the Centre for Eye Research Australia. He has received grant support from bodies including the BUPA Health Foundation, Google Impact Challenge, and the National Health and Medical Research Council, with research published in JAMA, Diabetes Care, and Ophthalmology.

Ryan Tarzy is the Founder and CEO of Avandra Imaging. He has more than twenty years of experience as a founder or executive across six startups, three of which he co-founded, with a combined $1.4B in exits, and started his career at Bain & Company before moving into venture-backed healthcare and AI ventures. He holds an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University.

John Beadle is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Aegis Ventures, which he launched in 2020 to build and scale healthcare and AI-powered companies in partnership with health systems, researchers, and entrepreneurs. He created the Aegis Digital Consortium, a collaboration of 14 U.S. health systems. Before Aegis, he spent five years at the global private investment firm APL Group and previously worked at John Laing Group and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He holds a BA from Harvard College and an MS in Global Affairs from Tsinghua University as a Schwarzman Scholar.

Partner at Aegis and the Aegis Digital Consortium who frames the current period as the era of applied AI and champions health systems leading healthcare's AI transformation.

Serves as a Venture Partner at Aegis and Board Chair of portfolio company Caregentic.

Cris Ross is a Venture Partner at Aegis Ventures with over 20 years of experience in healthcare technology. He is a former Chief Information Officer at Mayo Clinic, and previously held CIO roles at CVSHealth/MinuteClinic and Optum Behavioral Health, and served as Executive Vice President for Interoperability at Surescripts. He holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Yale School of Management, and co-authored the book Diagnosed with Ed Marx.

John Driscoll is a Venture Partner at Aegis Ventures with more than 25 years in the healthcare industry. He previously served as President of U.S. Healthcare and Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance, CEO of CareCentrix, President of Castlight Health, and Group President for new markets at Medco, and founded the Surescripts ePrescribing Network. He holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from Harvard University and an MPhil from Cambridge University.

President & CEO Emeritus of Mayo Clinic and Chairman of the Aegis Digital Consortium, focused on positioning health systems at the center of next-generation healthtech innovation.

Steve Gipstein is a Venture Partner at Aegis Ventures with a career focused on healthcare across the value chain. He previously served as Global Head of Healthcare Markets at Apple and was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he worked across life sciences and health systems. He earned an undergraduate degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard and an M.D. at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, with pediatrics training at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Andrew Ettinger is the CEO of Hume AI, where he oversees the company's growth in voice and emotional intelligence research and commercial expansion. He previously served as Chief Revenue Officer at Appen and held leadership roles in data and AI infrastructure at Pivotal and Astronomer. He holds a B.S. in Business Marketing from The Ohio State University and advises early-stage technology ventures focused on AI, data infrastructure, and machine learning.

Becca LaFond is Chief Partnerships Officer at Aegis Ventures, where she works with leaders across the Aegis Digital Consortium of 14 health systems to advance the deployment and adoption of health technologies. She previously held senior roles in health tech, serving as Chief Customer Officer at Hippocratic AI, General Manager of Healthy.io, Chief Customer Officer at OliveAI, and Chief Operating Officer at Empiric Health, after earlier work in professional services as a Managing Director at Huron and leading Accenture's Clinical Operations practice. She holds an undergraduate degree from Duke and an MBA and MHA from the University of Washington.

Becky James is a healthcare operations executive with over 20 years of experience in digital health programs, clinical innovation, and enterprise partnerships. She is currently Chief Operating Officer of Caregentic, a healthcare technology company, and serves on the Board of Advisors at Chorus, a caregiving support platform. She previously held executive roles at Amwell (after its acquisition of Conversa Health) and WebMD Health Services, along with earlier technical roles at Intel, Microsoft, and Mattel, and holds a BS in Computer Science from Pacific University.

Bella De Wit is the Manager of the Executive Office at Aegis Ventures, where she works with the Managing Partner and Chief of Staff on operational and strategic priorities across the firm. She previously served as Director of People & Culture at Salesfloor, leading talent strategy and HR operations, and earlier worked as Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff at Clientela. She holds a Bachelor of Business in Management and Marketing from RMIT University.

Bunny Ellerin is Chief Ecosystem Officer at Aegis Ventures, where she oversees founder and ecosystem development, including talent sourcing, building an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and operator network, and healthcare relationship-building. She previously co-founded and served as CEO of Digital Health New York and led Columbia Business School's Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program, following senior roles in healthcare organizations focused on value-based care, physician education and pharmaceutical brand strategy. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Political Science from Columbia University.

Caroline Schell is the Director of Events & Community at Aegis Ventures, where she organizes events and community programming connecting founders, operators, and partners across the firm's network. Her background includes luxury events, hospitality, and experiential marketing, with prior work in private event management, VIP services, and brand marketing for global clients and hospitality brands. She earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Strategic Communication and Sociology from Washington and Lee University.

Dacher Keltner is Chief Scientific Advisor at Hume AI and a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, where he founded and directs the Greater Good Science Center. His research covers compassion, awe, power, and inequality, and he has authored over 230 scientific articles and books including AWE and The Power Paradox, as well as advising on Pixar's Inside Out. He holds a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. from Stanford, with postdoctoral work under Paul Ekman at UCSF.

Glenn Farrell is Chief Marketing Officer at Aegis Ventures, where he leads brand and marketing strategy and works with portfolio companies and health systems on co-marketing efforts. He previously was CMO at Myriad Genetics and a founding team member and CMO at Sema4, an AI-driven health analytics company spun out of Mount Sinai, and held brand and marketing leadership roles at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, PacBio, and Microsoft. He holds a BA in Political Science from Yale University.

Hoshi Laureano is Director of Talent Acquisition at Aegis Ventures, where she leads recruitment strategy for its healthcare businesses. She previously worked at Redesign Health helping ventures hire founding teams, built the recruitment function at Sidecar Interactive (later acquired by Quartile), and began her career in IT staffing at Motion Recruitment Partners. She holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Criminal Justice with minors in Law & Society and Spanish from the University of Delaware.

Janet Ho is Chief Operating Officer at Hume AI, a company building an empathic voice-AI platform, which she co-founded in 2021 and where she leads operations, product strategy, and partnership execution. She previously was Managing Partner at Aegis Ventures and held product leadership roles at Zynga, Rakuten, and The League. She holds a B.A. in Government with a secondary focus in Computer Science from Harvard University.

Jeff Dunkel, originally from Memphis, serves as CEO of Optain Health, with a career spanning startup clinics, research institutions, medical device companies, and large healthcare organizations, including work on acquisitions and divestitures. He helped create new CMS technology categories and ICD-10pcs codes for orthopaedic medical devices and holds advisory roles with the US Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA-sponsored Medical Device Epidemiology Network, and other health organizations. He previously worked as CSO at Mindset Medical, EVP of Strategy at Titan Spine (acquired by Medtronic), and CEO of NuHope, and holds a Bachelor of Science from Indiana University's School of Public Health.

Liz Golden is the CEO of Wavelet Medical and a healthcare executive with experience in medical device commercialization, regulatory strategy, and product leadership. She has contributed to developing and commercializing more than nine medical devices across venture-backed and growth-stage companies, and at Wavelet Medical she leads work to bring non-invasive, AI-powered fetal brain monitoring into clinical practice. She also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Yale Ventures and holds degrees from Yale University, the Wharton School, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering.

Mark Michalski is a board-certified radiologist working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, with over two decades of experience across healthcare, technology, and executive roles. He currently serves as CEO of Ascertain and as Chief Information Officer at Deerfield Management, and previously held leadership positions at AWS (heading Healthcare & Life Sciences AI/ML business development), the Center for Clinical Data Science at Mass General Brigham, Butterfly Network, and Hyperfine Research, along with earlier roles at Google and Genentech. He completed his radiology residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, earned a Bachelor's in Cybernetics from UCLA, and received his M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine.

Mohona Paul is Chief of Staff to the Managing Partner at Aegis Ventures, working across the team on strategic priorities related to new investments, company creation, and operational and financing goals for portfolio companies. She previously held partnerships and corporate strategy roles at Flatiron Health and worked as a management consultant at L.E.K. Consulting and IBM Global Business Services, focusing on healthcare services. She holds a BSE and MSE in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from The Wharton School.

Nazar Al Jassar is a Director on the Venture Creation Team at Aegis Ventures, where he leads a team building and investing in healthcare AI and virtual care companies. He previously served as Strategy & Business Operations Lead at OxfordVR, a company developing virtual reality therapeutics for serious mental illness, and spent four years as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company serving healthcare clients in the Middle East and United States. He holds a BA in Statistics from the University of Virginia.

Russ Johannesson is a healthcare executive and board member with over 30 years of experience across healthcare services, technology, and consumer sectors. He currently serves as CEO and Board Member of Caregentic and previously was CEO of Glooko, where the company expanded to 31 countries and raised over $250M. Earlier roles include COO of Sharecare, Chief Client Officer of OptumHealth (UnitedHealth Group), and positions at Carlson Marketing Worldwide, Sapient, Perot Systems, and Deloitte; he holds an MBA in Finance and a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Sam Violante is Head of Operations at Aegis Ventures, where the role focuses on designing and scaling the firm's studio model for healthcare company creation. Previously, Sam led product development for women's health at Sema4, launching precision medicine genomics solutions, and earlier worked on clinical research applications combining genetics and digital health at Mount Sinai Health System. Sam holds a Master's in healthcare delivery from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a BA in Biology from Stockton College.

Scott Ponder is Vice President of Business Development at Avandra Imaging, which he joined in May 2024, where he works on developing Avandra's federated network with health systems. He has over twenty years of experience in healthcare data strategy, commercialization, and partnerships, with prior roles at HealthVerity, Milliman MedInsight, and Modernizing Medicine, along with advisory work at EY and other firms. He earned a B.S. in Marketing from SUNY New Paltz.

Zachary Tan is a physician, scientist, and entrepreneur with over a decade in healthcare technology as both an investor and founder. He is President of Optain Health, which applies AI and retinal imaging to oculomics, and previously served as General Partner at Aegis Ventures, where he created three AI-driven healthcare startups. Earlier he led Osara Health, a virtual care navigation platform for cancer patients, and conducted research at the Centre for Eye Research Australia, contributing to journal articles on epidemiology and healthcare AI.

A Senior Associate focused on Overlap's Investing and Capital Solutions businesses, with a background spanning mechanical engineering, materials science, and tissue engineering. He previously co-founded and led Reel Bio, a biomanufacturing company, and holds a B.S. from Stanford and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Harvard.