miR Scientific Is Transforming Cancer Management Into What It Should Be

Bob Flippin formally joined miR Scientific in 2020, after serving as a Senior Advisor to the company for several years. Bob supports oversight of miR Scientific’s strategic direction and growth, implementing company strategy across financial, legal, facilities and general personnel domains.

Bob came to miR Scientific after a long career in commercial real estate, most recently as Executive Vice President of CBRE Group, Inc., the largest commercial real estate services and investment firm in the world. Based in New York City, Bob has represented large international corporations on a local, national and global basis. 

He has worked on significant complex transactions involving leases, portfolio analyses, property valuations and acquisitions, and corporate impact studies across real estate asset classes around the world. His vast global business network has also led to the development and expansion of numerous businesses, in addition to his real estate dealings.

Bob earned his Bachelor’s degree in History and Economics from Princeton University, where he captained the lacrosse team and earned All-American and All-Ivy honors.

Outside the workplace, Bob supports youth sports activities, including coaching on multiple levels, and sponsoring inner-city youth groups that combine education with sports to expand opportunities for underprivileged children to pursue secondary and college education.

Rob Tenniswood is the Co-Founder of miR Scientific, and serves as President of the company’s Canadian subsidiary, miR Scientific Canada.  In his current role, Rob is responsible for all Discovery operations, strategy and tactical execution, all efforts to introduce miR Scientific’s Sentinel platform in Canada (including government and stakeholder relations, regulatory submissions, clinical trial implementation, and all business operations).  He previously spent 7 years as the company’s Chief Operating Officer, and was responsible for oversight of all of the company’s internal operations, including oversight of finance, human resources, vendor relations, project management and strategy.

Rob earned his MBA in 2009 from the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN), and his B.A. from Notre Dame in 2005.  He is also a graduate of the Entrepreneurship post-graduate program at the University of Cambridge, having graduated in 2015.  

Rob actively supports several non-profit organizations, including Hug-A-Bull Dog Rescue, Black Lives Matter, Covenant House, and Plan International.  

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Amnon is the Head of Global Clinical Affairs, joining miR Scientific in 2021. Amnon plays a key role in developing and leading the company’s clinical operations in compliance with global regulatory standards.

Amnon spent 12 years at companies in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, most recently as Director of Clinical Operations at Eloxx Pharmaceuticals where he led clinical operation functions in North America, Europe, Australia, and Israel.

Amnon earned his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and spent 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

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John Dvor, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, joined miR Scientific in 2020. John is responsible for miR’s international business development and strategic alliances with providers, payers, academic institutions, governments and corporations.

John brings over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor and advisor focused on the spaces of medical science and life-saving technology. Most recently, he co-founded Tufts Health Ventures, the investment arm of $4B health insurance company Tufts Health Plan. At Tufts Health Ventures, John was responsible for venture investments, strategic partnerships, including the creation of new payer/provider joint ventures nationwide, focused on value-based care. John served as Managing Director of Miraki Innovation, a med-tech venture capital fund which founded Auris Health, acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $5.75B. As an entrepreneur, John previously co-founded and was COO of ReMed Life Sciences, focused on auto-immune therapeutics for vitiligo patients.

John has held multiple roles in corporate leadership, from Head of Corporate Development for 3BL Media, a leading ESG/CSR digital media platform serving 60% of the Fortune 500, to corporate development roles at iRobot Corporation and the Aga Khan Development Fund.

John earned a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, beginning his early career as a United States Secret Service Attaché with the Marine Corps in the White House. Serving during the Clinton and Bush administrations, John was awarded Presidential Service Badge #17996.

John serves on the boards of the Association for Corporate Growth, the New England Israeli Business Council, Agon Holdings and Helge Capital. His work has been featured in the Financial Times, Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal.  

John is a board member for two national workforce development nonprofits, the Warrior Scholar Project and Defy Ventures.

Austin Srejma, Vice President Commercial, joined miR Scientific in 2020.  Austin leads the development and implementation of the go-to-market plan  and commercial strategy for miR’s Sentinel family of tests, focused on the US launch market as well as worldwide readiness.  In addition, she leads the company’s program management office to plan and execute special projects.

Prior to joining miR, Austin spent over a decade at Enterey Life Sciences Consulting, most recently as Senior Director of Operations where she led the consulting organization to develop methodology and deliver strategic business transformations for top-tier established and emerging life sciences companies with domestic and global impact. She played a central role in consulting project scoping and delivery, internal recruiting, training, business development, marketing, and organizational development efforts.

Austin earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame, where she was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma academic honor society, and received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Gustavus Adolphus College.

In 2020, Austin joined the inaugural group of Mendoza Graduate Alumni Leadership Fellows, coaching MBA students in leadership development.  She is a member of the Chicago chapter of Women in Bio and the Executive Women in Bio sub-group.

Austin is active in the Chicago philanthropic community, supporting food-security and poverty-alleviation charities including Inspiration Corporation, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and CARA. Additionally, she is a member of the Alzheimer’s Association Alois Society.

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Avital Barlev, Vice President of Quality Assurance, joined miR Scientific in 2020. Avital previously spent 11 years at Alpha Bio Tec Ltd., most recently as Vice President leading the company’s Quality Assurance department according to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Union, the ISO and other medical device regulatory authorities.

As a quality assurance leader, Avital has a demonstrated history of establishing and maintaining efficient quality systems in highly regulated markets and a track record of building teams under fast-growing business operations. At Alpha Bio Tec, he built the quality assurance function from the ground up, setting up three teams under a lean management system and priming the company for new medical device regulations in its primary market, the European Union. During his tenure, Alpha Bio Tec tripled its sales and production capacity while keeping high standards of quality and compliance.

Avital earned a Bachelor degree in Biotechnology from Tel-Hai College. 

Outside of work, Avital enjoys playing soccer and running mountain trails with his dog.

Eytan Meisels is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, joining miR Scientific in 2020. He previously spent over 20 years at Inverness Medical Innovations, Alere and Abbott as VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance where he led regional teams and was responsible for quality and regulatory strategies in various global regions, including achieving regulatory approvals for high risk In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices in the USA, EU, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. 

He plays a key role in defining integrated global regulatory strategies for company products and the continued development of regulatory strategy and relationships with regulatory authorities, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding regulatory environment.

Eytan has been in the medical device industry for 25 years, most recently as VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at VisionCare (now SamaraVision) where he led the company program of getting CE Mark for a novel intraocular implantable miniature telescope. 

He has co-authored peer-reviewed articles in the fields of chemical spatial structures and gene regulation.

Eytan earned his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute and was a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received a Master of Science degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Eytan is active in the Rehovot Berman community, where he served on the board and as president of the board. He continues to volunteer and lead various community activities.

Arminda Figueroa is Chief of Staff and Country Manager, joining miR Scientific in 2019. Mindy was essential in launching miR Scientific’s inaugural clinical trial program in Puerto Rico and plays a key role in the company’s path to commercialization.  

Mindy brings over 20 years of experience in marketing and communications, with an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion, healthcare, and Hispanic and multicultural marketing. Mindy founded award-winning consulting firm Latin2Latin Marketing (L2L) 14 years ago as a market-growth accelerator, successfully developing and executing hundreds of complex strategic plans for a client base ranging from startups to corporations.

Her work on healthcare and patient education has appeared in publications such as Bloomberg, the Miami Herald, the Huffington Post and networks including Telemundo and Univision. In 2020, Mindy co-authored a study by the Network for Executive Women on the experiences of Latina women in corporate America. Mindy also frequently lends her expertise on podcasts and local South Florida radio.

Mindy serves on the boards of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University, the Hispanic Entrepreneur Initiative, and is Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of Tower Club. She is a member of Invest4PR and the Partnership for Modern Puerto Rico. She was recently honored by South Florida Business and Wealth Magazine as a recipient of their 2021 Prestigious Women Award.

Mindy holds a Master of Business Administration from Dowling College in New York and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico. 

Mindy is active in both the Florida and Puerto Rico communities, and served as an advisor to Gov. Rick Scott on the South Florida relief efforts for Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. She is the proud founder of the grassroots philanthropic organization, Adopt a Puerto Rican Family.

Stuart Kozlick, Senior Vice President, Canada, joined miR Scientific in 2020. Stuart supports miR’s commercialization efforts in Canada.

Stuart brings over 20 years of experience in medical device development, innovation, research and commercialization. Stuart’s subject matter expertise spans several medical specialties including electrophysiology, structural heart, cardiovascular, endovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, orthopedics and minimally invasive therapeutics. Over the course of his career, Stuart has launched several research, product development and clinical engineering programs and products globally.

In 2019, Stuart became the CEO of Puzzle Medical Devices Inc., a Montreal-based startup specializing in the development of cardiovascular medical devices to treat advanced heart-failure patients. Previously, Stuart was Vice President of Medical Robotics at Kinova Robotics Inc. in Montreal. Stuart has also served in several leadership and engineering roles at CAE Healthcare, Medtronic Inc., and the former CryoCath Technologies Inc.

Stuart serves as Professor of Practice in McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Faculty Lecturer in the University’s Faculty of Engineering, Departments of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Management, Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship. 

Stuart continues to support the growing medtech ecosystem within Quebec and more broadly in Canada, holding various board positions, advising and mentoring L’institut TransMedTech, CTS Santé, RTI Inc., and TechStars Montreal AI, among others. Stuart also serves as Strategic Advisor, Executive-In-Residence within the Emerging Technology & Startup practice at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP.

Stuart holds a Master of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelor of Engineering from Concordia University.

Stuart dedicates his time in the fields of cardiology and interventional cardiology with specialists, volunteering his presence in operating rooms during procedures, contributing to new interventional workflow creation and innovative future cardiac technology. 

Recently, Stuart was honored to co-lead the McGill University COVID-19 Code Life Ventilator Challenge in 2020 and 2021, a voluntary global response initiative with over 1,200 submissions, resulting in next-generation low-cost ventilator design for patients in need.

Avivit Raz joined miR Scientific in 2021 as Executive Vice President of Business Development in Israel. Avivit plays a key role in the company’s business strategy and operations in Israel, supporting commercialization efforts in the country.

Avivit’s experience in the pharmaceutical and molecular diagnostics industries covers marketing, sales, and business development functions in local as well as international corporate settings such as Merck and Janssen (J&J). With over a decade spent in the healthcare industry, Avivit has developed and implemented strategy, led reimbursement processes, and launched significant oncology products.

Avivit received her MBA from Ben-Gurion University, her MSc in Biology with distinction with a concentration in Genomics from Bar-Ilan University, and a bachelor’s degree in Biology with distinction from Ben-Gurion University.

In her capacity as a board member in the space of personalized medicine, Avivit worked to promote testing and expand its accessibility, recognizing that personalized medicine is the optimal path for diagnosing and treating various medical conditions.

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Akira Tsukagawa is Head of miR Scientific Japan, joining miR Scientific in 2021. He is responsible for all of miR Scientific’s activities in Japan. 

Across a career spanning three decades, Akira has focused on building open innovation and connecting Boston, Silicon Valley and Europe with Japan and the Asia-Pacific region. He founded Open Innovation Partners and co-founded Seize Capital in 2015. Akira has also served as venture firm Miraki Innovation’s Director for Japan for the last two years.

Since 2014, Akira has specialized in healthcare, InsurTech and AI, promoting open innovation at OMRON and Sompo Holdings, mainly overseas. As Founder at Open Innovation Partners, he led Sompo’s investment in Health2Sync, which is now partnered with Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and Abbott and has become the number 1 diabetes solution in Asia. He also led Sompo’s investment in Neurotrack Technologies, a mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia solution, ultimately launching Neurotrack as an MCI insurance product in Japan. In addition, Akira facilitated the adoption of medical and healthcare AI platform, Hathor, for the development of a Japan Medical Association AI platform by the government of Yamanashi prefecture.

He previously served as Director of SBI Holdings for India and in the principal investment at Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers. While at Deutsche Bank, Akira managed Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son’s Vodafone M&A. Prior to these roles, he was Vice President at Nomura/JAFCO Investment (Asia) Ltd.

Akira earned his MBA from Columbia University and is a U.S. Chartered Financial Analyst. He also holds an Executive MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in Data Science & Analytics and Innovation.

Keren Nir works as Vice President, Operations for miR Scientific Israel. Keren holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Heriot-Watt University,  and is an expert in business mediation, strategy and business analysis. Keren also holds a Master's of Law from Bar-Ilan University.