MEET THE TEAM

John Klepper
Co-founder & 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.

Dr. Lisa Falco, PhD
Head of Product

A.I. Expert, 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.  
 

Nayeli Schmutz, Med. Pract.
Co-founder & 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.

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.

Benjamin Dodsworth, PhD
Co-founder & 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. Consultant, SCS AG

A.I. and Software 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.

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.

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 ADVISORS

A/Prof. Dr. Lis 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).

Dr. med. 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.

Prof. Dr. med. 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.

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.

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.

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.
He regularly acts as advisor and mentor to healthcare startups and entrepreneurial acceleration programs.

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.

Dr. Saskia Karg, PhD
Business Advisor

Saskia Karg works as project leader for the Therapy Development Accelerator of the University of Zurich, helping academic start-ups form, grow, and thrive. Saskia has a PhD in biotechnology from ETH Zurich, eight years of work experience in biotech (in a highly successful spin-off of ETH Zurich as well as in a listed company) and eight years of work experience in research hospitals. She has long-term experience volunteering as a patient advocate and is a professionally trained coach. Her uniquely broad experience in translational medicine allows her to integrate the various stakeholder perspectives needed to make a product successful.

Portrait Saskia Karg: © Loox Photo Studio Adriana Tripa

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 ex-perience 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.

Dr. Techn. 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.

Prof. Alasdair MacLullich
KOL & Independent Advisor

Alasdair MacLullich is an independent advisor to PIPRA and key opinion leader in the field of delirium. He holds a professorship in Geriatric Medicine and is a consultant physician in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He is well-known as the main author of the 4AT delirium assessment tool, one of the best-validated delirium assessment tools globally. Alasdair co-founded the European Delirium Association in 2006 and the Scottish Delirium Association in 2011. He co-chaired the committee which produced the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network guidelines on delirium, published in 2019.