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Early GNF planning meeting in 2019
From left to right: Dr. John Zuniga, Isabelle Billet, Wyndell Merritt, Dr. Dominic Power, Karen Zaderej, Dr. Jeffrey Greenberg, Xeve Silver, Dr. Harry Hoyen, Dr. Jayme Bertelli
GNF planning meeting in April, 2019
From left to right: Xeve Silver, Dr. Ivica Ducic, Dr. Harry Hoyen, Isabelle Billet, Orlando Merced-O’Neill, Dr. Dominic Power, Erick DeVinney
The Foundation was structured into four strategic pillars of Awareness, Education, Research, and Advocacy. Goals and objectives were developed for each of them, in order to bring to life the mission and vision of the Global Nerve Foundation.
After forming its board and incorporating in 2021, the Foundation hired its first Executive Director, Stephen McConoughey. As the infrastructure for the foundation was established, committees aligned with strategic pillars were formed to focus on key execution initiatives. Each committee is developing the programming for a particular pillar that will be available to the members of the foundation.
Millions of people worldwide live with peripheral nerve injuries that could be treated to improve their quality of life or regain function of an extremity. The Global Nerve Foundation finds this unacceptable and is working with doctors, researchers, and patient advocacy groups across the world to raise awareness of this issue potential treatments, and improve clinical care.
Our mission is to improve the lives of people with nerve problems
Our vision is advancing and promoting excellence in nerve care.
Board of Directors
Ms. Billet was the Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer of Axogen between October 2018 and January 2023 and has now returned to her activities of Principal of IBHC Advisors LLC, a consulting firm she founded in 2013She brings more than 35 years of global medical device strategy, marketing, and business development experience to the company. From July 2013-2018, Ms. Billet worked for IBHC Advisors LLC, a consulting firm she founded, focused on organic and inorganic growth strategies and execution with medical devices companies and private equity firms. Prior to that Ms. Billet worked at Cardinal Health, Inc. from 2010-2013, where she served as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Innovation for the Medical segment focusing on their private brand portfolio development. She was Vice President Marketing and New Business Development for C.R. Bard Medical division from 2005-2010. She also worked for Johnson & Johnson from 1992 to 2005, splitting her tenure between Advanced Sterilization Products and Ethicon, Inc. in positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and new business development in France, Europe, and the U.S. Ms. Billet spent the first seven years of her career as the Head Pharmacist and Material Manager for a private hospital in France. Ms. Billet served as a member of the Clinical Innovations Board of Directors under its ownership by EQT Partners from 2017 to 2019. She earned an MBA from EM Lyon Business School, France and Cranfield School of Management, UK, and a Doctorate in Pharmacy from Montpellier University in France.
Dr. Power works as a hand and nerve surgeon within the National Health Service at the Birmingham Hand Centre and the West Midlands Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury Service which he founded in 2007. The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust is a major trauma centre and, also home to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine. Here, Dr Power treats complex civilian trauma as well as military personnel with combat injuries. He has led the development of the peripheral nerve specialty in the United Kingdom with services for brachial plexus injury reconstruction, surgical management of neuropathic pain, upper limb reconstruction after spinal cord injury, hyper-selective neurectomy for spasticity management, reconstruction of paralysis after oncological resection and targeted muscle reinnervation for amputees.
In 2012, Dr. Power established the first designated Peripheral Nerve Fellowship programme in Europe and has provided highly specialised training for peripheral nerve surgeons from across the globe. He leads a programme of multi-professional training courses and cadaveric training workshops in the field of nerve surgery.
He also established the HaPPeN Research Network at the Institute of Translational Medicine in 2015 and the UK Peripheral Nerve Clinical Research Network in 2018 to develop multi-centre clinical trial capabilities in peripheral nerve surgery. He is Co-Chief Investigator for the NIHR NEON study and Chief Investigator for the UNDER Study, both multi-centre trials funded through the National Institute for Health Research (Health Technology Assessment programme).
Dr. Power continues to lead the development of the specialty of peripheral nerve surgery with advisory roles for industry in the development and evaluation of new technologies for the benefit of patients, providing guidance on phase 1 trial design, surgeon usability training, post-market evaluation studies and market surveillance through registry studies.
Dr. Zuniga is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center and holder of the Robert V. Walker D.D.S. Chair in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. He specializes in oral and maxillofacial surgery, specifically temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and neurosensory disorders.
Dr. Zuniga earned his dental degree at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. He then completed separate residencies in general dentistry and in oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Rochester. During the latter, he also earned an M.S. and and Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Rochester’s Center for Brain Research.
Prior to joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2006, Dr. Zuniga served as Director of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Graduate Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and as the Co-Director of the Oral and Maxillofacial Pain and Neurosensory Disorders Program. As an experienced trigeminal nerve microsurgeon, Dr. Zuniga has performed more than 300 nerve repairs. He also has a clinical interest in benign pathology, dentoalveolar surgery, and trauma of the oral and maxillofacial region.
His research interests are chronic and acute orofacial pain and trigeminal neurosensory disorders, including understanding sensory function and dysfunction and their response to surgical and nonsurgical treatments. He completed a multisite, randomized clinical trial on the benefits of a new analgesic medication to treat moderate to severe pain. He is also involved in trials on the benefits of processed nerve allograft on jaw reconstruction.
Mr. DeVinney currently serves as Axogen’s Vice President of Peripheral Nerve Science and Clinical Innovation. Mr. DeVinney has more than 20 years of experience in the successful planning and management of clinical studies and has focused specifically in advancing peripheral nerve research for over the last 15 years. . He has a diverse background, including research at a large academic facility and management of clinical operations for a medical device and pharmaceutical company. Mr. DeVinney has been involved in basic science, clinical, and translational research at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, National Clinical Research, PRA International, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, and Axogen. He has been involved in the successful submission of eight IDE or NDA applications, as well as numerous 510(k)s. He has a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Mr. DeVinney currently serves as Axogen’s Vice President of Peripheral Nerve Science and Clinical Innovation. Mr. DeVinney has more than 20 years of experience in the successful planning and management of clinical studies and has focused specifically in advancing peripheral nerve research for over the last 15 years. . He has a diverse background, including research at a large academic facility and management of clinical operations for a medical device and pharmaceutical company. Mr. DeVinney has been involved in basic science, clinical, and translational research at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, National Clinical Research, PRA International, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, and Axogen. He has been involved in the successful submission of eight IDE or NDA applications, as well as numerous 510(k)s. He has a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Kevin Taylor serves as the Chief Innovation Officer at The Ohio State University’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development. In this role, he leads the technology commercialization office which works with researchers across the university and the Wexner Medical Center to protect and transfer innovations into the market to positively impact people’s lives.
Taylor’s career has spanned all aspects of commercialization from discovery and innovation through new company formation, launch, and global P&L management. He has a diverse background across healthcare, engineering and national security applications and is passionate about transforming innovations into meaningful products and services. Most recently, Taylor was Vice President for healthcare at Beyond Limits, a growth-stage artificial intelligence company based on technology licensed out of Caltech.
Prior to that, Taylor was Vice President of Global Market Development at Cardinal Health, a $150B distributor of pharmaceuticals and a global manufacturer and distributor of medical and laboratory products. While at Cardinal Health, he led upstream marketing and global product management for the company’s medical products portfolio, driving the commercialization strategy for 7,000 products sold in 35 countries. Taylor started his career as a research scientist at Battelle, where his responsibilities grew from applied research and development to include R&D management, patent portfolio management, licensing, business development, and sales and marketing. He also worked in venture capital, managing a portfolio of pre-revenue, early-stage investments in technology companies.
Taylor is a proud Buckeye, earning his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering at Ohio State. He also earned his Master of Science in Technology and Innovation Management with Distinction from the University of Sussex (England). He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES), a patent holder and a recipient of two R&D 100 Awards.
Staff
Stephen McConoughey, Phd, Mpa
Dr. McConoughey completed his undergraduate degree at The Ohio State University before obtaining his PhD in neuroscience at Cornell Medical College. He has over 10 years of experience in the non-profit sector serving in multiple roles including Project Manager, Director of Operations, and Executive Director.
In 2020, he completed his Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina.
Selena Ruffin
Carson Ordoyne - Carson Social
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