William F. Walker, PhD (President) has 19 years of experience in the development of medical ultrasound technology, with expertise in instrumentation, ultrasound physics, clinical applications, intellectual property, and market assessment. He has been an active founder in three ultrasound-based medical device companies. Walker has applied his entrepreneurial temperament as a faculty member at the University of Virginia since 1997. He has a proven ability to build and motivate world-class technology development teams, garner the resources to support them, and achieve dramatic breakthroughs. Dr. Walker holds both the B.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.
Francesco Viola, PhD (Vice President of Engineering and Technology) has over 10 years of experience in the area of medical ultrasound imaging, advanced signal processing, and development of medical instrumentation. Dr. Viola has published his research in numerous engineering and biomedical peer-reviewed journals and he is the co-inventor in a number of patents in the field of ultrasound imaging and sensing. He is also the first recipient of the TETHIC (The Emerging Technologies and Healthcare Innovations Congress) Award for achievements in scholarship and contributions to healthcare technology translation. Dr. Viola holds a Laurea in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Michael B. Lawrence, PhD has twenty years of research experience in blood rheology, leukocyte and platelet function, and the development of high-throughput cell-based assays for drug discovery. He also serves as Chair of Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. He has previous experience in drug discovery and in bioprocess engineering at Upjohn-Pharmacia (now Pfizer) before joining the University of Virginia in 1996. He has received numerous National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association research awards and helped establish the Department as a leader in inflammation research and its link to cardiovascular disease. Dr. Lawrence holds degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from Rice University, Houston TX.
