Management Team

Michael Gertner, M.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Michael Gertner is a serial entrepreneur, general surgeon, and inventor. He is an adjunct venture partner with Essex Woodlands Health Ventures and through this collaboration in late 2009, formed Kona Medical by combining the assets of Therus Corporation with his own inventions in the field. Prior to Kona, Mike founded Oraya Therapeutics, developed the product, and led the company through CE mark and feasibility studies. Mike is the author of over 100 patents and is a registered patent agent.

Mike obtained a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University. He holds an M.D. from Cornell Medical College, and completed a surgery residency at University of California at San Francisco.

John Bowers, Chief Operating Officer

John is an experienced medical device executive who most recently was Senior Vice President for North America and Strategic Development at point-of-care ultrasound leader SonoSite, Inc. (recently acquired by Fujifilm). At SonoSite, John led a team of 150 sales and clinical professionals to record results, and directed the acquisition of specialty ultrasound manufacturer Visualsonics. Previously, John was CEO of Northstar Neuroscience and held various executive roles at Guidant Corporation and Eli Lilly. While at Guidant, John led the team that acquired enabling technologies for the XIENCE drug-eluting stent, which is now marketed by Abbott and is the worldwide market share leader.

John received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics-Accounting from Gonzaga University and a Master in Business Administration with distinction from Harvard University.

Thomas L. Anderson, Ph.D., Senior Advisor

Thomas Anderson is Senior Advisor for Preclinical and Clinical Affairs, and earlier served as Kona’s General Manager and Sr. VP of Clinical, Regulatory and Quality. He has 30 years of experience in high-technology medical device R&D and commercialization. Tom was a founder of Therus Corporation, where he was a Director and Vice President of Clinical Programs. Prior to this, he served in various senior management roles in marketing, regulatory affairs, government relations and strategic business development for NeoPath, Inc. Tom also was a founder of UltraThermics, Inc., which developed ultrasound-based hyperthermia systems for applications in dermatology and oncology, where he served as a Director and Vice President of Research and Marketing. Concurrently, he was a special consultant on therapeutic ultrasound to the National Institutes of Health. Before founding UltraThermics, he was a Principal Scientist for ultrasound therapy systems research at ATL Ultrasound and at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. In addition he served as an Executive in Residence at the Lumpkin School of Business, Eastern Illinois University.

Tom received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Northern Illinois University, and his Ph.D. degree in Solid State Science from the Pennsylvania State University.

Don Christopher, PhD, Senior Director of Product Development

Don Christopher is our Director of Product Development. Don has over 25 years’ experience in ultrasound research and development. Prior to joining Kona, Don worked at Philips Medical for 15 years in a number of senior technical roles, during which time he lead the development of over 20 products, including the industry-leading iU22 ultrasound imaging platform. Earlier in his career, Don co-founded ultrasound start-up UBM Technologies.

Don received a Bachelor of Engineering from Dalhousie University, and he earned his Masters and Ph.D. in Medical Biophysics Ultrasound from the University of Toronto, where he worked with renowned ultrasound scientists Peter Burns and Stuart Foster.

Stuart Farrell, Associate Director, Quality

Stuart Farrell is Kona Medical’s Associate Director of Quality, offering more than 15 years of medical device experience in a wide variety of technologies and clinical applications. Prior to joining Kona, Stu served in leadership roles at a number of companies, including Heartstream, Inc., Pathway Medical, Therus, Cardiac Science, and Physiosonics.
Stuart earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Philosophy from Southern Illinois University.

Stephanie Higie, Director, Clinical Affairs

Stephanie Higie is our Director of Clinical Affairs. She brings more than 10 years of domestic and international clinical expertise with a number of medical technology companies, including Abbott Vascular and Oraya Therapeutics. Prior to joining industry, Stephanie dedicated more than 15 years in the healthcare industry as a staff nurse, eventually becoming a Director of Emergency Services.

Stephanie received a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Arizona, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Wilkes College.

David Perozek, Senior Advisor

David Perozek is Senior Advisor for Ultrasound Technology. Prior to joining Kona, David was a founder of Therus Corporation where he was President and Chairman. Prior to this he was President, Chief Operating Officer and a Director of ATL Ultrasound, Bothell, WA (now part of Philips). Before joining ATL Ultrasound, David spent 17 years with the Medical Products Group of the Hewlett-Packard Company where he was R/D Manager for HP’s diagnostic product areas, which included diagnostic ultrasound systems. As General Manager of the Andover Division and Imaging Systems Division, he led the development of HP’s diagnostic ultrasound business. David also held a leadership role with Apollo Computer following its acquisition by HP.

David received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Detroit, and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Electrical Engineer degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has also completed the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University.

Deborah Sheffield, Clinical and Regulatory (Consultant)

Deborah Sheffield serves as Kona’s head of Clinical, Regulatory and Quality. During her more than 20 year career in the medical device industry, Deb has held various clinical, regulatory and quality leadership positions in leading medical device technology companies, including the Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Indigo Medical and Lifescan divisions of Johnson & Johnson. Prior to joining Kona, Deb was the Vice-President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs for Northstar Neuroscience and led regulatory, clinical and quality systems at Class III medical device companies Co-Aptus Medical Corporation and Therus Corporation.

Deb received a Bachelor of Science in industrial manufacturing engineering from Kettering University and a Master of Science in applied statistics from Oakland University, and holds a certificate in clinical research from the University of Cincinnati Nursing Program.

Jimin Zhang PhD, Chief Technical Officer

Dr. Jimin Zhang is a recognized leader in ultrasound transducer/system technology with more than 17 years’ experience developing ultrasound for both diagnosis and therapy. He was previously Director of Advanced Acoustics at Physiosonics and Senior Acoustic Engineer at Therus Corporation. Jimin also served in leadership roles in acoustics development at Furono Diagnostics America and Philips.

Jimin holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Pennsylvania State University, an Master of Scince from the Ultrasound Division, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering, from Zhunshan University, Canton, China.