With this objective in mind, the Netherlands and Belgian best and brightest life science companies get to come to the US (MA & CA) to participate in several days of workshops, company and local college tours. After a week of soaking up all that Boston has to offer, these up and coming entrepreneurs are ready to put their pitches to the test.

Meet the ‘Sharks’

 Susan Long, PhD, is a Mentor at North Shore Innoventures, a nonprofit technology business incubator committed to accelerating the growth of innovative startups in the cleantech and biotech sectors (two of the strongest technology clusters in Massachusetts) and supporting the economic development on the North Shore by successfully launching new companies and creating high-quality, sustainable jobs. She is also a member of Launchpad Ventures, a Boston-based angel investment group – the largest of its kind in the Northeast and one of the top three most active groups in the United States in both deal volume and dollars invested. Sue is the Former Vice President of Business Development for Genzyme

Dr. Greg Martin is an executive, entrepreneur, engineer and scientist with over 20 years experience taking medical technologies from concept to bedside to commercialization in academic, start-up and corporate environments. He has held leadership roles in multiple medical device companies ranging from start-ups to publicly-traded corporations, such as Fractyl Laboratories, Hologic, Cytyc & Hemedec. He has a track record of success in executive management, team building, R&D, change/crisis management, product development, product launch, operations, clinical research, regulatory affairs, business development, manufacturing and marketing. Dr Martin is also Senior Lecturer of Biomedical Engineering and Director, Coulter Program at BU where he teaches graduate and undergraduate medical device product development. Previously he was a Research Scientist at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and a Principal Investigator at the World Health Organization.

Joshua Phillips is the Managing Partner of Catalyst Health Ventures and a member of the Investment Committee. Josh led Catalyst’s investments in Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme Corp. NYSE:SNY), BioTrove, Inc. (acquired by Life Technologies Corp. NASDAQ:LIFE), Biocius Life Sciences, Inc. (acquired by Agilent Technologies, Inc. NYSE:A), Vortex Medical, Inc. (acquired by Angiodynamics, NASDAQ: ANGO), Allegro Diagnostics, Inc. (acquired by Veracyte, NASDAQ: VCT), Pavilion Medical Innovations, Sera Prognostics and Cruzar Medical. He is a Director of SevenOaks Medical, Pavilion Medical Innovations, Sera Prognostics, Cruzar Medical, Saphena Medical and Kaleidoscope. He was past Chairman of BioTrove, past Director of Biocius Life Sciences and past observer to Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Prior to joining Catalyst, Josh was a Manager at the Lucas Group, a boutique strategy-consulting firm, where he led engagements advising healthcare, life science, and technology-based companies. In 1990, Josh co-founded, managed and built a new business unit at Russelectric Inc., a privately held engineering technology firm. In five years, the business achieved annual sales in excess of $5 million and employed 15 engineers and technicians.