GRIP Molecular: INVEST Pitch Perfect 2021 Winners

The finalists across health IT, biopharma, medical devices, diagnostics, and health services tracks were judged on criteria that included: completeness of overall plan, business idea, market opportunity, revenue model, and founder(s) experience.

The INVEST Pitch Perfect contest at the INVEST conference April 19-23 cast a spotlight on healthcare startups across biopharma, diagnostics, health IT, health services and medical devices.

Judges scored the finalists from each track based on the following criteria:
-Completeness of overall plan
-Business idea
-Market opportunity
-Revenue model
-Founder(s) Experience
Here are the winners who had the highest points in each category:

(full article)

Stasia Ogden, JD

Stasia Ogden recently joined GRIP in a General Counsel role with a particular expertise in Intellectual Property Law.  Stasia has over 20 years as a practicing attorney in law firms and major multi-national corporations and 9 years with Baxter Healthcare Corporation and 4 years with BD.  Her focus on healthcare industry global IP strategy, transactions, licensing, litigation and global portfolio management will help GRIP navigate global IP issues and maximize existing rights to 3+ patent families that provide the foundation for GRIP’s novel electronic biosensor.  Stasia has a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University, an MBA from University of Missouri – St. Louis, and a BA in Biochemistry from Northwestern University in Chicago.

Michael Osterholm PhD

University of Minnesota Regents Professor 
  • McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health 
  • Author
  • University of Minnesota
  • Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)
  • Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering,
  • Medical School – Adjunct Professor
  • Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the US Department of State 2018-19
  • Numerous national/global Advisory Board appointments on Biosecurity, Health Research and Pandemics

Steven Koester PhD

Professor Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Minnesota

Research Areas:

  • Graphene Biosensors
  • Biomedical & Biological Computational Methods
  • Energy Systems & Power Electronics
  • Micro and Nano structures 

Michael McAlpine, PhD

Professor Mechanical Engineering University of Minnesota

Research Areas:

  • 3D printing functional materials & devices
  • Advanced manufacturing using nanoscale inks
  • Biomedical devices
  • Bioelectronics

Edward Ludwig

  • 45+years of senior executive medical industry leadership experience
  •   Numerous Board roles, including with; Boston Scientific, CVS, Aetna, AdvaMed (Chairman), Johns Hopkins Michael Bloomberg School of Public Health, Hackensack University Medical Center, College of Holy Cross, Columbia Business School, The Center for Higher Ambition Leadership 
  • MBA – Columbia University

Laurie Knutson MBA

Vice President of Marketing

Laurie Knutson is GRIP’s VP of Marketing.  She bring over 30 years of healthcare strategy, product development and systems transformation experience across Fortune 50 to pre-revenue companies. Laurie has held C-level roles healthcare services, products, insurance, financial services and consulting, and was founder or C-level at 4 tech startups.  Laurie’s focus on commercializing products in the healthcare sector is based on her unique ability to assess the market and product adoption variables in areas of unmet needs. Laurie also has 10+ years analytics with care model development for seniors, commercial and vulnerable populations.  Laurie has her MBA in Finance from the University of Minnesota and her BA in Biology from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Richard G Minicus MBA, MS

Rich Minicus is seasoned Chief Financial Officer with over 30 years in M&A, venture capital investment, and capital markets transactions. Rich brings 21 years in medical technology business development with Becton Dickinson, BD Ventures, and Pfizer which has enabled GRIP to quickly formulate a detailed financial plan beyond what most startups provide to investors. Rich also has 9 years in finance with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, ML Venture Capital, and JP Morgan. Rich earned his MBA at Harvard Business School, and holds a MS in Biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Caroline Popper

Caroline Popper, MD is the Co-Founder and President, Popper & Co. healthcare consultancy. Caroline has the perfect combination of 30 years’ experience in medical diagnostics and drug discovery, combined with extensive direct clinical experience. She has held many senior managerial and advisory positions with numerous global diagnostics companies, including BD, bioMérieux and MDS Proteomics. Caroline was also an attending physician at the Department of Emergency Medicine at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she completed residencies in internal medicine and pathology.

Edward Gillan

CEO, CCO

Ed Gillen is GRIP’s CEO and brings over 30 years medical device industry experience, including point-of-care diagnostics.  Ed enjoyed a successful 23-year career at Becton Dickinson (BD) holding many positions globally including WW Senior Director – Strategy & Business Development – Diabetes Care Division, Global VP/GM – Surgical and Anesthesia Systems ($200M P&L), Advanced Drug Delivery, Global Business Leader – Vaccine Delivery.  Ed’s startup experience includes his most recent role as CEO Medality Medical. Ed has his MBA from Penn State University.

disease diagnosis Grip molecular

Bruce Batten

Founder/Chairman/President

Bruce Batten has been founder / CEO of four technology startups including C-level roles at Thermo Instruments, CyberOptics and Advantek. Bruce started his career in Academia earning a Ph.D. in Anatomy & Cell Biology at the Medical College of Virginia, post-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School. He was Faculty member at Harvard, Tufts and The Ohio State medical schools and later ran the MBA Program at Augsburg University. Bruce has over 10 years of molecular diagnostic development, including detailed work on a POC Zika virus assay. Bruce founded GRIP Molecular to commercialize breakthrough solid state bioelectronic technology that will disrupt the diagnostic industry and empower consumers and doctors with fast, accurate and comprehensive information.

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