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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.
Jorge received his master's degree in Economic and Political Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

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. 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.

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.

Dr. Saskia Karg, PhD
Business Advisor

Saskia Karg is Project Leader at Therapy Development Accelerator at University of Zurich. She is supporting bioentreprenuers in meeting patients' need.

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. 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.