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Babak is a 30+ year veteran of the healthcare industry, serving in executive roles at leading corporations, such as Johnson & Johnson. He currently leads Strategic Intelligence, Inc., a comprehensive strategy consulting firm focused on the commercial development of new and emerging technologies in the medical device industry. He is a frequent advisor to venture capital, private equity, and strategic venture funds. Babak previously served as a consulting member of the Emerging Technologies Group of the Corporate Office of Science and Technology at Johnson & Johnson, and he currently leads scouting and diligence activities of the Alcon Seed Fund as a consulting partner to Alcon.

Babak started his career in the medical laser industry and then joined J&J in corporate development roles. While at J&J, he served as the Director of Surgical Oncology for Ethicon and Ethicon Endo-surgery and Chair of Medical Optics for the Corporate Office of Science and Technology. In these roles, he was responsible for strategic planning for new franchises within the Corporation, assessment of new and emerging technologies (sourced globally) for their strategic fit, technical merit, and commercial viability, and leading or contributing to licensing and acquisition negotiations with emerging companies.

Outside of J&J, Babak has served in executive roles for emerging medical device and biotechnology companies in a wide range of specialties ranging from oncology, general surgery, ophthalmology, and women's health to dermatology and plastic surgery. He has a proven track record of success in a diverse range of operating responsibilities such as research and development, global program management, new business development, marketing and sales, corporate planning, and strategic management of clinical and regulatory functions.

He holds several patents in the field of medical optics and has published a number of original articles in refereed journals. Additionally, he has served as a member of the Advisory Board for the Medical Technology Program of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Plebys International, and Nanoverse. His academic training includes a Bachelor of Arts in Physics (with Special Honors), a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, and a Master's and a doctoral degree in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, all from the University of Texas at Austin.

Debbie is an experienced business analyst serving SI's strategic consulting practices by focusing on critical issues that small startup companies face in their growth cycle, ranging from product development issues to proper positioning of emerging technologies in the marketplace to developing a strong defensive and offensive intellectual property portfolio. Debbie has significant expertise in technical, clinical, and market risk analysis of medical device opportunities, specialty pharmaceuticals, life science products, and new chemical entities, and she serves as a specialist in global market evaluation, including competitive assessment of technologies and products for startup, high growth, and established corporate environments. Debbie has served as Executive Director of Intellectual Property at Epicyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Director of Intellectual Property at Sequenom, a scientific advisor for Lyon & Lyon, LLP, and a freelance biotechnology writer for Nature Biotechnology. With over 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry's strategic corporate and business development, Debbie was recognized as an "outstanding woman in business" by the San Diego Business Journal.

Debbie holds a doctoral degree in microbiology from the University of California at Los Angeles, a BA in Biology from the University of California at San Diego, and she completed her postdoctoral training in the Departments of Molecular Biology and Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute.

Steve has worked in the field of biophotonics as a research manager and researcher for the last 20 years, first in the Medical Technology Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, then for the last 5 years as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Davis. At UCD, he has been a member of the Departments of Radiology and Neurological Surgery. Steve currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer and Associate Director of the NSF-funded Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology headquartered at UCD.

For most of his career, Steve has been involved in both applied research and the development of instrumentation for physics, biology, and medicine. His technical interests include medical sensors, x-ray and optical spectroscopy, imaging and microscopy, computer simulations of photon interaction and transport in tissue, and the development and commercialization of medical devices.

He completed MS and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Science Engineering from UCD, holds 15 patents, has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, received two R&D 100 Awards, a DoE Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer, and, at a White House ceremony, received the Department of Energy Bright Light Award for work on the development of an optical glucose sensor. Steve has led or participated in projects funded by DoE, DoD, DARPA, NIST, NIH, NSF, LLNL, and UC. He was the founder and executive officer of a startup company that performed technical consulting and produced products for radiation detection and protection for research and for the radiopharmaceutical industry. He is currently or has formerly been a member of numerous boards and review panels, including the Executive Committee of the UCD Cancer Center Biotechnology Program, the Research Advisory Committee of the UCD McClelland Nuclear Radiation Center, the Scientific Advisory Board for the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-Ray Science, the NSF Biophotonics Advanced Imaging and Sensing for Human Health (BISH) proposal review panel, the Special NIBIB Director's Optical Imaging Program Progress Review Committee, and the DoE Committee on New Frontiers in Characterizing Biological Systems. He has taught graduate classes in biomedical imaging and is currently an instructor for the Super-Resolution Microscopy short course at the annual Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics, Optical Society of America.