Leadership

Vinny Jindal, President & CEO

Mr. Jindal most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of Reneo Pharmaceuticals through its IPO in 2021. Previously, Mr. Jindal served as the Vice President of Strategy at Reata Pharmaceuticals. Prior to his time at Reata, Mr. Jindal was the Entrepreneur-In-Residence at the University of Texas, Southwestern, and was the founder of several startup companies. Previously, Mr. Jindal was a Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Equity Research at ThinkEquity Partners and served as the Vice President of Biotechnology Equity Research at Wedbush Morgan Securities. He was also a biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals research associate at Origin Capital Management and Lehman Brothers. Mr. Jindal earned his M.S. in Pharmacology from the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, an M.S. in Endocrinology, and a B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Sunjay Kaushal, M.D., Ph.D., Founder

Dr. Kaushal is the Division Head of Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Prior to that he was the Professor and Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is an expert in heart failure both in children and adults. He performs over 200 cardiac surgery operations per year, has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has a 10-member post-doctorate research laboratory funded partly through National Institute of Health grants.

Dr. Kaushal received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University.

Bill Niland

Bill Niland is a serial life sciences entrepreneur who has founded and successfully exited four companies including a structural heart start-up, a new treatment paradigm for respiratory patients and what was the largest sleep testing company in the U.S. Most recently, Mr. Niland was President and CEO of Harpoon Medical, Inc. He co-founded Harpoon and successfully exited to Edwards Lifesciences in less than five years for $100M upfront (potentially $250M with milestones) with only $6.5M in dilutive capital, generating >100% IRR for investors. Prior to Harpoon, he founded Vapotherm (NYSE: VAPO) a non-invasive ventilation company that created the field of high flow nasal canula therapy for patients in respiratory distress. Vapotherm devices have been used to treat >1.5M patients since being founded in 1997 and the company recently went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to Vapotherm, Mr. Niland successfully founded and exited two businesses, including National Sleep Technologies which was the largest sleep diagnostic and therapy company in the US when it was acquired by Vital Signs. Mr. Niland also holds 16 patents.

Henrik Rasmussen, M.D., Ph.D. 

Dr. Rasmussen has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Prior to joining NeoProgen, Dr. Rasmussen was the CMO at ZS Pharma, where he worked from 2010 to 2016. Prior to joining ZS Pharma, he was the President and CEO of Rasmussen Biotech & Pharma Consulting. Dr. Rasmussen has held the positions of Corporate Vice President, Head of Clinical Development, Medical & Regulatory Affairs at Novo Nordisk, and CMO, for Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and GenVec. He was the Senior Vice President for Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs at British Biotech and Global Study Director for Cardiovascular Drug Development at Pfizer Central Research. Dr. Rasmussen has led numerous global development programs and regulatory filings worldwide, including INDs, clinical trial applications (CTAs), NDAs, supplemental new drug applications (sNDAs), biologic license applications (BLAs), and MMA filings. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers in the therapeutic areas of Nephrology, Cardiology, Ophthalmology, Gastroenterology and Diabetes. 

Dr. Rasmussen received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and is trained in Internal Medicine and Cardiology.

Margot Conner 

Margot Conner brings over 30 years of experience in the healthcare and life science industries, Connor brings executive level expertise in leadership, business growth, operational execution, corporate development, strategic planning, and M&A. She most recently served as CEO and Board Member of RoosterBio, Inc., where she joined as a founding team member in 2015 and led multiple rounds of investment funding. Over the course of her career, Connor has been involved in over 20 M&A transactions valued at over $1 billion. She has held various senior leadership roles at companies including Lonza, Unilever, FMC and Chr. Hansen.

Javed Butler, M.D.

Javed Butler is President of the Baylor Scott and White Research Institute, Dallas, TX, and was previously the Patrick H. Lehan Chair of Cardiovascular Research, Chairman of the Department of Medicine, and Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS. Prior to joining the University of Mississippi, he was Charles A. Gargano Professor, Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, and co-Director of the Stony Brook University Heart Institute, NY, USA. Dr. Butler served as Director for Heart Failure Research at Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA, and prior to this served as the director of the heart and heart-lung transplant programs at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA. He also serves on the FDA Cardio-Renal Advisory Committee and on the editorial board of several peer-reviewed cardiovascular journals. Dr. Butler has authored over 650 peer-reviewed publications, and has been listed in Best Doctors in America numerous times.

 

 

 

 

Sanjiv Shah, M.D.

Dr. Sanjiv Shah is the Stone Endowed Professor of Medicine, Director of Research for the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, and Director of the HFpEF Program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. His clinical expertise is in HFpEF, pulmonary hypertension, echocardiography, hemodynamics, and rare cardiomyopathies such as cardiac amyloidosis. Dr. Shah’s research interests include understanding the physiology, mechanisms, epidemiology, and treatment of HFpEF. He started the first dedicated HFpEF clinical program at Northwestern University in 2007 and has been the overall principal investigator or on the steering committee/executive committee of > 25 international HF clinical trials. His research interests also include the study of acquired and genetic risk factors for abnormal cardiac mechanics, and novel machine learning techniques for improved classification and therapeutic targeting for HF syndromes. Dr. Shah is currently the PI of multiple active NIH R01 grants and an AHA Strategically Focused Research Network project grant. Dr. Shah has published over 320 peer-reviewed research publications, and he is an Associate Editor for JAMA Cardiology.

Barry H Greenberg, M.D.

Barry H. Greenberg, MD is Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Director of the Advanced Heart Failure Treatment Program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine (UCSD). He serves on the executive steering and data safety monitoring committees of numerous national and international clinical trials in heart failure. He is a founding member and a past President of the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA). Dr. Greenberg’s research interests include the basic cellular mechanisms of heart failure and the development of new forms of therapy. He has published extensively in these areas. He is co-editor of Congestive Heart Failure: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Comprehensive Approach to Management, the first comprehensive text in this field, now in its 3rd edition, and editor of Myocardial Remodeling: Mechanisms and Treatment, published in 2006, and Management of Heart Failure published in 2010. He is co-author of Contemporary Diagnosis and Management of Congestive Heart Failure. He served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology from 2001-2014, and he sits on the editorial boards of several other cardiology specialty and subspecialty journals. 

 

 

 

 

 

Steven E. Lipshultz, M.D., FAAP, FAHA