Team | Global CoCreation Lab

Founding CoCreators

With support from

CoCreation Leadership

Management team

Alejandro Roman, MBA

Executive Director

Alex is a health entrepreneur and boundary spanner, with a formal background in health economics and business of health, specializing in chronic disease management, remote care, telemedicine, digital health, and population health (ACA, HealthCentrix, ADNGenomix). He pioneered interoperable digital health technologies for the acquisition, integration, and operationalization of clinical data to create intelligent care plans, novel patient experience, and sustainable business models.

Kjell deOrr, MBA

Director, Strategic Partnerships

Kjell has more than 25 years of international experience leading Insights, Strategy & Tech Innovation firms, including Chairman and CEO positions within global top 5 Insight and Innovation agencies. As an active business mentor during the past 15 years he has held several partner & board advisory positions in firms within Insights & Strategy, AI & Data, Business & Media consulting.

Gemma Molins, MSc

Director, Operations

Gemma is a chemist and bioengineer with a diverse research background in medical device and materials innovation. Prior to joining Global CoCreation Lab, she was a Research Scholar in the MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Sciences. In Global CoCreation Lab, she manages the research teams and projects to keep them on schedule and on mission.

Eric Norman

Director, Communications

Eric has developed communication strategies for special initiatives for more than 20 years, for internationally recognized academic, professional services, and startup organizations.

Cinta Lopez

Director, Girls Teaching Girls

Cinta Lopez is a seasoned manager of international innovation collaborations, and a consultant in leadership and communications. Throughout her career she has focused on helping people and organizations improve their impact and realize their full potential.

Board of Directors

Mercedes Balcells, PhD

Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor

Mercedes Balcells, PhD, is a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science as well as a Profesora Titular in Bioengineering at Institut Químic de Sarrià in Barcelona. Dr. Balcells founded and directs the MIT-Spain Program and she is also Program Chair of IDEA² Global. She embraces working with clinicians and industry partners to accelerate translation from bench to bedside.

Ernesto de la Fe, MBA

Principal at Global City Development

Ernesto has a diverse background in global finance, wealth management, asset management, real estate development, health care, and education. He has been involved with the Hoover Institution, Council of the Americas, New America Alliance, & he has served as Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Public Health Trust. His recognition include Hispanic Business Corp Elite Top 25 & Poder Magazines Most Influential.

Giselle Guerra, MD

Medical Director of the Miami Transplant Institute (MTI)

Dr. Giselle Guerra serves as medical director of the Miami Transplant Institute (MTI) and oversees the kidney transplant program, including the living kidney donor program. She is also an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Her dedication to MTI’s kidney-specific programs has been recognized both nationally and internationally.

Vincent Omachonu, PhD

Professor and Chair, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Miami

Dr. Omachonu is an internationally renowned, award-winning, subject-matter expert, author and early contributor in the field of health care quality management. He is also the recipient of the Miami Dade County Commissioners (BAAB) award for his role in the community as an educator. Since 1993, his books have been used as reference material in the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico in over 28 colleges and universities.

Alejandro Roman, MBA

Executive Director, Global CoCreation Lab

Isela Sotolongo

Senior Regional Vice President at IPC Healthcare, Inc.

Throughout her career in healthcare leadership, Ms Sotolongo has focused on achieving growth, stability, and impact. In her executive roles she has overseen finances, operations, and contracting; she has successfully started and sold healthcare ventures; and she has served as a board member for Hospitalists of America and Palmetto Hospital.

Doris Sommer, PhD

Doris Sommer, PhD, is Ira Jewell Williams, Jr., Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She is also Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative at Harvard. Her academic and outreach work promotes development through arts and humanities, specifically through “Pre-Texts” in Boston Public Schools, in the Americas and beyond.

CoCreation Fellows

Elazer R. Edelman, MD, PhD

Director, MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES)

Elazer R. Edelman, M.D., Ph.D., directs MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and Clinical Research Center (CRC) as well as the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center (BMEC). He is the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Senior Attending Physician in the coronary care unit at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Mercedes Balcells, PhD

Co-Founder and Scientific Advisor

Martha Gray, PhD

Martha Gray, PhD, directed for 13+ years the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). She currently directs MIT linQ. She has served as an MIT faculty for nearly three decades and has held numerous leadership positions. She has a multifaceted career in which she has built programs to drive biomedical technology innovation.

Ellen Roche, PhD

Ellen Roche, PhD, is the Helmholtz Career Development Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science. Her research incorporates engineering advances in manufacturing technologies and computational analysis in the device design process to develop novel therapeutic strategies for organ assistance and tissue repair. She has experience in both the Medtech industry and academia.

Lydia Bourouiba, PhD

Lydia Bourouiba is an Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she directs the Fluid Dynamics of Disease Transmission Laboratory. Her research leverages advanced fluid dynamics experiments at various scales, biophysics, and applied mathematics to elucidate interfacial flow and fluid fragmentation processes driving mixing, transport, and persistence of particles and microorganisms relevant to disease transmission in human, animal, and plant populations.

Global CoCreators

Brian W. Anthony, PhD

Brian W. Anthony, PhD, is an Associate Director of MIT nano Program and Co-Director of the Medical Electronic Device Realization Center. With over 25 years experience in product realization, Dr. Anthony designs instruments and techniques to monitor and control physical systems.

Natalie Artzi, PhD

Natalie Artzi, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She is a principal Research Scientist at the MIT IMES, and is an Associate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Leveraging material science, chemistry, imaging and biology, Dr. Artzi’s group is dedicated to designing smart material platforms and medical devices to improve human health.

Irene Bosch, PhD

Irene Bosch, PhD, graduated from Harvard University and did Post-doctoral training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston. Dr. Bosch is an expert in Dengue virus, and has traveled and collaborated extensively in the Americas to study Dengue virus biology. Dr. Bosch is CEO and founder of E25Bio.

Vipul Chitalia, MD, PhD

Vipul Chitalia, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Renal Section of Department of Medicine at Boston University and an affiliate of IMES, MIT. He is a practicing nephrologist at Boston Medical Center and a physician-scientist addressing major bottlenecks in the field of nephrology and transplantation. His NIH-funded laboratory performs translational research to improve the management of patients with kidney failure on dialysis.

Frederik Claeyssens, PhD

Frederik Claeyssens, PhD, is a Reader in Biomaterials at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield. His research group is based in the Kroto Research Institute at the University of Sheffield. Frederik´s research expertise focuses mainly on laser processing of biomaterials, and its applications.

Àgata Gelabertó, MBA

Àgata Gelabertó, MBA, is an Expert in Business Innovation. She is an experienced businesswomen currently leading the Innovation and New Business division at Idilia Foods. She is also Vice President of AME (Spanish Society of Microtia), founder and CEO of Regenear and Regional Coordinator of Advisory Board Program at EJE&CON.

Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, PhD

Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, PhD, was a postdoctoral associate in the Molecular Machines at the MIT Media Lab. She joined MIT in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Biological Engineering as a faculty member from 2002-2012. She currently leads the Nanobiointerfaces Lab in the Department of Engineering at UMass Boston.

Kumaran Kolandaivelu, MD, PhD

Kumaran Kolandaivelu, MD, PhD, is the Medical Director of the MIT/IMES Clinical Research Center, Associate Director of the Harvard Catalyst / MIT Bridge, Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and on staff in the Cardiology Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). His research defines local and systemic factors underlying outcome variability to cardiovascular treatments, bridging clinical association to causal mechanism.

Tami Lieberman, PhD

Tami Lieberman, PhD, is the Hermann L. F. von Helmholtz Career Development Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT. She leads a computational and experimental research group focused on uncovering the principles governing colonization, niche range, and personalization in the human microbiome.

Jordi Martorell, PhD

Jordi Martorell, PhD, is Head of the Vascular Engineering and Applied Biomedicine Group at IQS School of Engineering (Barcelona, Spain). His research has focused on vascular biology for more than ten years at MIT and IQS. He has collaborated with medical device companies to improve the design of coronary stents and arterial valves. He is also the CEO and Co-Founder of Aortyx.

Gemma Molins, MS

Gemma Molins, MS, graduated in Chemistry and Bioengineering from IQS School of Engineering, Spain. Her research work includes biomaterials and nanocarriers development for targeted delivery. She has also led the development of biomaterials for endovascular cardiology and neuroradiology in the medical device industry.

Camila Maciel de Oliveira, MD, PhD

Camila Maciel de Oliveira, MD, Ph.D., is an Endocrinologist, Professor of the Department of Integrative Medicine, Federal University of Paraná (Brazil) and Unipac. Ph.D. in Cardiology (Heart Institute, Brazil) and postdoc in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (Boston University). She was a visiting researcher at Brigham and Women´s Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2018-2020) and at Framingham Heart Study (2017-2020). Currently, she is a visiting scholar at the Global CoCreation.

Pedro Melgar-Lesmes, PhD

Pedro Melgar-Lesmes, PhD, is a Researcher at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) in Barcelona and an affiliate of IMES, MIT. He is a scientist interested in optimizing state-of-the-art technologies (nanomedicine & tissue engineering) to modulate tissue regeneration with special emphasis in hepatic regeneration. His lab performs translational research in new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in liver diseases.

Farhad Rikhtegar Nezami, PhD

Farhad Rikhtegar Nezami, PhD, graduated in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich and is currently affiliated as a postdoctoral associate and project leader in the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT. His work embraces precision medicine and personalized therapy and developing predictive/prognostic tools incorporating clinical data and machine-learning algorithms.

Javier Pedreño, MD, PhD

Javier Pedreño, MD, PhD, is CEO and Scientific Founder of Alxerion Biotech. In addition, he serves as a Profesor de Investigación in Translational Medicine at Austral University Medical School (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Dr. Pedreño brings a wealth of both academic and commercial scientific research and novel drug development experience.

Paola Divieti Pajevic, MD, PhD

Paola Divieti Pajevic, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at Boston University, Goldman School of Dental Medicine. She is also the Director of the Bone Cell Core, Center for Skeletal Research and a member of the Endocrine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

José M. de la Torre Hernandez, MD, PhD

José M. de la Torre Hernandez, MD, PhD, is head of the interventional cardiology dpt. at Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla (Santander, Spain). Dr. de la Torre Hernandez has more than 20 year of experience as a research clinician and has recently performed a 12-month research stay at MIT IMES as a visiting scholar.

Rami Tzafriri, PhD

Rami Tzafriri, PhD, received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and then hen joined Professor Elazer Edelman’s laboratory at MIT as a Postdoctoral Scientist, where he developed quantitative models for growth factor biology and endovascular drug delivery. He is the Director of Research and Innovation at CBSET, a pre-clinical research organization dedicated to research and the advancement of early-stage biomedical technologies.