In 2016, inspired by a vision to democratize surgery, Activ Surgical performed the first fully-autonomous suturing of soft tissue, outperforming open, laparoscopic, and robot-assisted techniques (STAR)*. This breakthrough achievement demonstrates a new realm of possibility for medical technology. Now we’re on a mission to empower surgeons to achieve the best possible outcomes and saves lives.
With over 100 years of med tech experience, our team has a deep commitment to medical innovation, and we’re just getting started.
* Azad Shademan, Ryan S. Decker, Justin D. Opfermann, Simon Leonard, Axel Krieger, Peter C. W. Kim.
Supervised autonomous robotic soft tissue surgery. Science Translational Medicine Vol. 8, Issue 337
Todd Usen is an accomplished and seasoned leader with more than 25 years of medical device and healthcare experience, and a proven track record of leading, developing and executing on commercialization strategies and driving market development initiatives for profitable growth. He joined Activ Surgical in January 2019 after serving as the President of the Medical Systems Group at Olympus Corporation of the Americas, where he helped lead the group’s expansion from six medical divisions to 11. Prior to joining the Olympus Corporation, Todd held the position of President, Orthopedics, at Smith and Nephew, overseeing the Total Joint, Sports Medicine and Trauma divisions. He held several other vital positions for Smith and Nephew including Senior Vice President and General Manager, Joint Reconstruction; Senior Vice President, Sports Medicine; and Senior Vice President, Endoscopy. Prior to Smith and Nephew, Todd worked for Boston Scientific as the Vice President of Sales for the Neurovascular division, Director of Endoscopy Sales, and Global Manager of Field Development. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Business and did his M.B.A. work at Pepperdine University.
Dr. Kim, a world-renowned surgeon and medical technologist, is a founder of Activ Surgical and the inventor of its technology, which he developed over seven years with more than $13 million in non-dilutive grant funding while leading the Shaikh Institute at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Previously, he served as Associate Surgeon-in-Chief of the Joseph E. Robert, Jr., Center for Surgical Care at Children’s National. He was also the lead for the FDA funded National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). Dr. Kim joined Children’s National from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, a national and international leading institution in pediatric research and care. Dr. Kim received his medical training, including the distinction of Master of Surgery, at McGill University. He completed his surgical residency training at the University of Toronto as well as his fellowship in pediatric surgery at the University’s Hospital for Sick Children.
Mr. Datta is a successful two-time entrepreneur with a proven track record and more than 15 years experience in delivering transformational growth for medical device and digital health companies. He previously held C-suite positions at two tech startups, including CEO at CompanionMx and CBO at Soft Robotics. Mr. Datta has served in multiple senior leadership roles at Smith & Nephew, as well as EMD Serono. He has been awarded multiple innovation awards throughout his career and holds three issued and two pending patents. He holds a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology; a M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from Ohio State; a S.M. in Engineering Systems from MIT and an M.B.A. from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.
Mr. Calef is a highly accomplished medical roboticist and seasoned engineering leader who has delivered breakthrough innovation in surgical robotics. Previously, he was the DIrector of Advanced Robotics at Medrobotics, where he led the development and release of the first flexible surgical robotics platform, grew the engineering team from two to 50 people, and guided numerous surgical robotics products through 510k clearance. He holds both a B.S. in Computer Engineering and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts.
Mr. Ruehlman, an experienced finance and technology executive, is a three-time entrepreneur with a track record in managing high-performing teams and growing companies from concept state through exit. Most recently, he served as Co-Founder and President of Sunlight Financial, where he was responsible for scaling operations to a team of more than 50 employees, and raising more than $100 million in equity. He holds a B.B.A. and P.P.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
Ms. Binney is a proven commercial leader with nearly two decades of medical device and healthcare experience. She is highly experienced in executing successful go-to-market plans for numerous disruptive technologies and developing customer-focused strategies to build brands and grow market share. Ms. Binney is an accomplished sales leader with a strong track record of building and scaling high performing teams. Previously, she served as the Area Vice President for the ENT and Video Microscope Business Units at Olympus. She holds a B.S. in Communication Disorders and Sciences from the University of Florida and a M.S. in Speech Language from the University of South Florida.
Mr. Leach is an innovative professional with a diverse background and more than 25 years of global operations experience focused on manufacturing, sourcing, distribution, service, quality and continuous improvement in the medical device and life sciences industries. Previously, he held vice president roles in operations and quality at Insulet, and leadership roles in manufacturing and engineering at Covidien/Medtronic. He holds a B.A. in Math and Science from Stonehill College and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Ms. Pettis is an experienced business leader with deep proficiency in human resources, professional education, digital media and diversity & inclusion strategies. An entrepreneur at heart, she joined Activ Surgical after serving in key employee- and customer-focused roles at Olympus. In addition, she served as an Adjunct Professor at Penn State University and Northampton Area Community College for public speaking and communication courses. She holds a M.A. in Strategic Communication & Leadership from Seton Hall University and a B.A. in Human Resource Management from DeSales University.
Mr. Meister brings over three decades of experience to Activ Surgical’s board, serving in senior executive and board roles for high-growth and publicly traded companies. Most recently, Mr. Meister served as President of MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, a private company that owns or controls a diverse set of companies, including Revlon, Scientific Games, Harlan Clarke Corp., and SIGA Technologies. Prior to that role, he was Chairman and CEO of inVentiv Health (now Syneos Health) and Chairman of the Board at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Mr. Meister co-founded Liberty Lane Partners, LLC, a private investment company and Perspecta Trust, a trust company that provides trust and investment services. He is currently Director of the boards at Arbor Biotechnologies, Inc., Core & Main LP, Magnolia Medical Technologies, Inc., PharmaLegacy Laboratories (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Quanterix Corporation, Revlon, Inc., Scientific Games Corporation and Wheelabrator Technologies Holdings Inc., as well as Vice Chairman at The General Chemical Group.
Mr. Meister holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a M.B.A from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Ms. Casey is a member of DNS Capital, the investment office for the business enterprise of Gigi Pritzker, Michael Pucker and their immediate family. Previously, she was an investment banking analyst in the Global Industrials Group at Goldman Sachs in Chicago, supporting financing and advisory transactions for sponsor and corporate clients. Ms. Casey serves on the Board of Directors of Breakwater Studios, and serves as a Board Observer of Truvian Sciences and Farmer’s Fridge. She received her B.B.A. in Finance with Highest Distinction from the University of Iowa.
Mr. Krishnamurthi is a serial entrepreneur and investor focused on enterprise IT, and the intersection of computer science and life sciences. Most recently, he founded two medical related companies: CAPP Medical, a liquid biopsy company for cancer diagnosis that he sold to Roche Diagnostics, and CiberMed which focuses on biomarker discovery. Previously he founded Xsigo, a provider of advanced data center connectivity, which he sold to Oracle. Prior to Xsigo, he was one of the early leaders of Juniper Networks where he helped develop many of the products that power today’s internet, and which was one of the largest venture investment returns of all time. Mr. Krishnamurthi has also been an investor in a number of innovative companies like GoEuro, Reflektion, OttoQ, Veradocs, Falcon Systems, Robin Systems, and Scoredata amongst others. He is also currently on the board of Scoredata. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University.
Ameena is a Principal at Artis Ventures. Prior to joining, she spent 5 years in early stage venture capital as a Partner at Rising Tide VC, where she built and led the firm’s health and bio investment practice. Focusing on the intersection of science and technology, she has invested in and worked with companies spanning personalized medicine, synthetic biology, computational biology and more. She is passionate about bridging academia and industry to create lasting impact.
Ameena began her career in R&D, working at Novozymes, a world leader in bio innovation, to develop procedures for maximizing yield through industrial scale up. She is a recipient of multiple competitive grants funded by the National Science Foundation for research done at the California Academy of Sciences and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, as well as an awardee of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
She has conducted research across DNA damage and repair in longevity, microbiome diversity, and stem cell induction and stabilization. Ameena holds a BS in Genetics from the University of California Davis.
Dr. Kim, a world-renowned surgeon and medical technologist, is a founder of Activ Surgical and the inventor of its technology, which he developed over seven years with more than $13 million in non-dilutive grant funding while leading the Shaikh Institute at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Previously, he served as Associate Surgeon-in-Chief of the Joseph E. Robert, Jr., Center for Surgical Care at Children’s National. He was also the lead for the FDA funded National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). Dr. Kim joined Children’s National from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, a national and international leading institution in pediatric research and care. Dr. Kim received his medical training, including the distinction of Master of Surgery, at McGill University. He completed his surgical residency training at the University of Toronto as well as his fellowship in pediatric surgery at the University’s Hospital for Sick Children.
Todd Usen is an accomplished and seasoned leader with more than 25 years of medical device and healthcare experience, and a proven track record of leading, developing and executing on commercialization strategies and driving market development initiatives for profitable growth. He joined Activ Surgical in January 2019 after serving as the President of the Medical Systems Group at Olympus Corporation of the Americas, where he helped lead the group’s expansion from six medical divisions to 11. Prior to joining the Olympus Corporation, Todd held the position of President, Orthopedics, at Smith and Nephew, overseeing the Total Joint, Sports Medicine and Trauma divisions. He held several other vital positions for Smith and Nephew including Senior Vice President and General Manager, Joint Reconstruction; Senior Vice President, Sports Medicine; and Senior Vice President, Endoscopy. Prior to Smith and Nephew, Todd worked for Boston Scientific as the Vice President of Sales for the Neurovascular division, Director of Endoscopy Sales, and Global Manager of Field Development. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Business and did his M.B.A. work at Pepperdine University.
Will Cowen is an investor and operator with decades of experience building successful digital health and medtech companies. He co-founded LRVHealth in 2000 and has led the firm’s investments in prominent companies including Convergent Dental, GetWellNetwork, LifeImage, MedVentive (now part of NASDQ: CHNG), Phreesia (NASDAQ: PHR) and SilverCloud. Prior to LRVHealth, Will co-founded and was CEO of NaviNet (sold to Highmark and other BCBS plans), CEO of Pegasus Medical (sold to McKesson), and VP of Thermocell (sold to the Hunter Douglas Company). Will earned a B.A. from the University of Colorado and M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Professor and Chairman
Department of Surgery, University at Buffalo
Chair Department of Surgery
Anne Arundel Medical Group
Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology
Head of Robotics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Director of Biomedical Image Guidance Laboratory
Carnegie Mellon University
Medical Director, Global Robotics Institute, Advent Health
Founding member of Society of Robotics Surgery
Medical Director of Bariatric Surgery
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center
Co-Founder and CEO, Weights & Biases
Founder, Figure Eight
Activ Surgical, a pioneering digital surgery company is looking for individuals who are interested in shaping the future of healthcare by improving patient outcomes, reducing healthcare costs, and addressing unintended surgical complications.
Check out our open roles and intern/co-op positions or just give us a call.
We’d be happy to chat with you about our company, our unique technology and the possibilities of joining our growing and dedicated team in Boston.
