VISION & MISSION

Our vision is to maintain post-surgical brain health.
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Our mission is to leverage cutting-edge AI and big data to provide clinicians with a reliable pre-op tool to assess patients’ risk of presenting a Post-Operative Delirium (POD) and a Post-Operative Cognitive Decline (POCD).

OUR TEAM

John Klepper
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Serial entrepreneur, 16 years founding and growing technology-based companies. Several board mandates. Experienced in lean startup, operational management, structuring, strategic planning, raising capital. 1 successful exit and 3 ventures in various stages of growth.

Christophe Loeffler
CFO

Master of Arts, HSG. SME Coach and Advisor at Dept. of Economics (AWA-ZH). Board member of ETVG, Albetra, and Ostschweiz Versicherung. Researcher in big-data & company valuations. Lecturer in accounting, economics and law.

PD Dr. med. Nicolai Göttel
Head of Research

Senior Consultant in Anesthesiology at the University Hospital Basel. Research Group Leader and Principal Investigator in neuroanesthesia and perioperative neurocognitive disorders at the University of Basel.

Nayeli Schmutz​, MD
Co-founder & Chief Medical Officer (CMO)

Medical degree from Lausanne medical University, Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine Specialist (FMH), Specialist in Diving and Hyperbaric oxygen Medicine (SUHMS) and Emergency Medicine (SGNOR). Over 10 years of medical practice.

Dr. Lisa Falco, PhD
Head of Product

A.I. Architect, Master in Engineering Physics, PhD in Biomedical Imaging, 15 years in MedTech. Former Director of Data Science at AVA. Expert in machine learning, data science and digital health.   

Susan Brändli
Head of Marketing & Communication

10 years experience in Marketing & Communication roles within IT company, Children's Hospital/UZH and a pension insurance. Education in marketing, public relations, social media and graphic design.

Benjamin Dodsworth, PhD
​Co-founder & Chief Technical Officer (CTO)

Keen and entrepreneurial life scientist. Passionate about brain health. DPhil from Oxford in cell biology. I2I Fellow at Oxford Universities Saïd Business School. Winner of EIT Health PhD Transition Fellowship. Experience in big Pharma (Roche & Pfizer) and biotech (R-Biopharm). Two first prize awards for science communication.

Pascal Kaiser
A.I. and Software Engineering Consultant
Supercomputing Systems AG

Master in Statistics, ETH and Master in Biology, UZH. Software Engineer in A.I. ML & DL algorithms for life science data. Data mining algorithms for medical patient data.

OUR ADVISORS

A/Prof. Dr. Lisbeth Evered

KOL

​Lisbeth Evered is the Scientific Head of Research in the Department of Anaesthesia, St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. Lisbeth is a founding member of the Centre for Anaesthesia and Cognitive Function at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. In 2011 she founded and continues to Chair the Perioperative Cognition Professional Interest Area (PIA) of the Alzheimer’s Association (US) International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment (ISTAART) which now has more than 100 members worldwide. Lisbeth is Chair of the International nomenclature consensus working group of more than 40 world experts in anaesthesia, neurology, psychiatry, gerontology, and neuropsychiatry to define perioperative cognitive disorders in alignment with other neurodegenerative diseases of the elderly.

Prof. Dr. med. Luzius Steiner

KOL

Luzius Steiner is Chief Physician and Head of Anesthesia at the University Hospital Basel. Luzius has led several clinical studies focusing on causes and prevention of memory disorders/confusional states in elderly patients after surgery or in the ICU. His research makes him an important authority in the field of postoperative delirium and postoperative cognitive dysfunction.

Prof. Dr. Reto Stocker

Medical & Ethics

Reto Stocker is the Chief Physician in Intensive Care and Anaesthesiology at the Klinik Hirslanden in Zurich. Reto is also scientific head of the Clinical Trial Unit of Hirslanden Corporation and member of the cantonal ethics commission. During his career, he has seen many cases of POD and POCD, which has fuelled his ambition to improve the standard of care.

Christof A. Bühler

Business Advisor

Since 2009 Christof Bühler leads the department «Life Science and Physics» at Supercomputing Systems AG. He has 25+ years of engineering & research experience in electronics, software, vision & sensor systems, optics, lasers, micro-technology and algorithms. His inter–disciplinary expertise is in system design & integration, computer & informa-tion technologies, biotechnology, medical devices, sensors, computer vision, fast data processing, statistics and artificial intelligence.

"Pipra AG represents exactly what I imagine an innovative start-up to be: Pipra transforms a challenging visionary idea - with a lot of passion and a highly motivated team - into a product that brings a clear added value for the society. This is what highly motivates me to engage in the Advisory Board." - Christof A. Bühler
 

Dr. Jürg Wittwer

Business Advisor

Dr. Jürg Wittwer is CEO of the Touring Club Suisse, the leading automotive club in Switzerland with 1.5 million members and 1700 employees. He completed his studies at the University of
St. Gallen with a doctorate in business administration. He is a seasoned international insurance executive and managed insurance and assistance companies in Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Canada and the USA. In addition to his activities at TCS, Jürg Wittwer is a guest lecturer on the subject of intercultural management at various Universities.

“In case of surgery, we all expect to recover fully and fast. The reality is often different. Pipra is applying cutting edge technology to make surgery for all of us safer. Pipra is a great idea with a great team to make it happen." - Dr. Jürg Wittwer

Dr. Rebecca von Haken

KOL

Rebecca von Haken is an anesthesiologist and the head of the German Delirium Network (Deutsches Delir Netzwerk) and is setting up a new intermediate care unit at the Universitätsklinikum Mannheim. She has contributed to numerous scientific and news articles about postoperative delirium. Articles in e.g. the popular German newspaper DIE WELT have increased awareness of the problem.

Dr. med. Henry Perschak

Medical advisor

​Henry Perschak is the Head of the International Medical Center at the Klinik Hirslanden in Zurich. He has a keen personal interest in improving patient care and follow-up. Passionate about brain health, Henry helps PIPRA to fit into the existing clinical pathways.

Prof. Dr. med. Daniel Rüfenacht

Medical advisor

Daniel Rüfenacht MD is Neuroradiologist and co-founder of the SwissNeuroRadiologyInstitute and the SwissNeuroFoundation. He has identified the need for pre-surgical POD/POCD risk assessment and sees enormous potential in improving pre-operative patient care to maximise value for patients.

Karina Candrian

Business advisor

Karina Candrian is Co-Founder & Partner at MEDICALBOARD and Co-Founder & CEO at Effectum Medical AG. She is an Innosuisse Start-up Coach and a Member of the Board of Directors at Aquilana Versicherungen.
Karina has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry with main focus on MedTech industry. She has many years of business consulting experience and in various line functions from generating the product idea to marketing and selling of the product. She supports Pipra in particular in Regulatory affairs and she is helping us establishing a sustainable business.

"One of the major value creators of in digital health innovation lies in prevention and diagnostics. Pipra’s solution unites both aspects and therefore contributes to improving clinical outcome and patient care." - Karina Candrian

Jorge Fernandez Garcia

Business Advisor

Jorge Fernandez Garcia is the Director of Innovation and member of the Management Board of EIT Health. He has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare and life sciences, the last ten years fully dedicated to innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship, at the intersection of business, government, and academia.
Previously, Jorge was Director of E-Health in the Innovation Department at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona for a decade and Director of Moebio, a Stanford Biodesign program where interdisciplinary teams experience a fully cycle of innovation, from need identification through invention to early stage implementation.
He regularly acts as advisor and mentor to healthcare startups and entrepreneurial acceleration programs.
Jorge received his master's degree in Economic and Political Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).