About Our Company

Dr. Erika Dillard received her medical and graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN where she focused on the development and characterization of an oncolytic virus for the treatment of malignant brain tumors. She then completed five years of neurosurgical training in Philadelphia where her interests included skull base surgery, neuro- oncology and patient safety and quality improvement. As a resident, she witnessed first-hand how patient outcomes after surgery are influenced by factors external to the surgery performed. These combined interests and experiences led to her most recent venture.

Dr. Dillard is currently a 2nd year academic post-doctoral fellow in the Patents-2- Products (P2P) fellowship at the University of Memphis. P2P is jointly funded by the FedEx Institute of Technology and Epicenter Memphis and aims to serve as a launching pad for turning innovative ideas into successful startup companies. During this fellowship, Dr. Dillard started PopCheck Technologies^®, an early-stage healthcare technology company creating AI-driven remote monitoring biosensors for postoperative patients with an emphasis on those at highest risk for surgical complications such as venous clots.

In addition to her clinical and entrepreneurial endeavors, Dr. Dillard is passionate about diversifying representation of healthcare professionals and mentors students interested in careers in medicine. She is also the current President of BioTN Academic Alliance in Memphis whose mission is to provide career development resources and industry exposure for local graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in order to grow Tennessee’s life science workforce.

Dr. Baynham has over 15 years of medical device experience in R&D, intellectual property development, and clinical research, with positions at Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, and Nevro. She also founded Ingenuity Medical Device Research, LLC in 2013 providing intellectual property development, pre-clinical and clinical study development, and medical writing services. Her clinical research experience encompasses Phase 1 (feasibility) to Phase 4 (post-market) studies in cardiovascular (post-MI, angina, and heart failure), cardiovascular & metabolism (pharmaceuticals), and neuromodulation (Vagal nerve stimulation for obesity, transcutaneous Sacral neuromodulation for overactive bladder, transcutaneous peripheral stimulation for obesity, spinal cord stimulation for pain).

Tamara is also a patent agent registered to practice at the United States Patent and Trade Organization (USPTO). Tamara currently holds over 40 patents granted by the USPTO in the areas of electrical stimulation and neuromodulation therapies.

Dr. Baynham earned her undergraduate degree in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering at Vanderbilt University and her MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Sydney Pollock is a communications strategist with over seven years of experience in various industries, including healthcare, technology, and CPG companies. She has been instrumental in helping a number of organizations build relationships with their audience and community by creating meaningful dialogue across digital channels. Sydney is a graduate of Howard University and holds a BA in Strategic, Legal, and Management Communications.

Dr. Ouma is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Vascular Medicine Division, at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Prior to this, he spent 5 years at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he served as Professor of Medicine and Surgery in the Vascular Medicine Department. He manages all aspects of vascular medicine ranging from peripheral artery disease and carotid disease to venous pathologies such as lifethreatening pulmonary embolism.

He has a passion specifically for venous leg ulcers and specializes in the evaluation of the surgical patient with vascular disease. He has participated and led a number of research projects with particular focus on therapeutic angiogenesis and tissue regeneration in vascular wounds, pharmacotherapy in venous leg ulcers and therapeutic angiogenesis in peripheral artery disease.

Geoffrey was born in Kenya and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in Microbiology. He subsequently completed his medical training at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. After his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, he completed fellowship training in Vascular Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania. He additionally completed the Master’s Program in Translational Research funded by a scholarship award through the National Heart, Lung and Blood institute of the NIH.

Jan joined Innova in 2010 and has been an active early-stage investor since 2002. At Innova he has invested across in over 75 companies, and co-founded Top 25 accelerator ZeroTo510. Prior to Innova, Jan spent 7 years at Aurora Funds, a where he was involved in negotiating, structuring and monitoring 11 investments, and was involved in 3 IPOs and 3 acquisitions in the healthcare and technology fields.

His professional experience includes founder and executive of two startups, 10+ years of high-tech industry experience in engineering, marketing and sales, and more than 15 years as a seed and early-stage VC. This solid, diversified experience base allows him to provide advice and mentoring to companies and entrepreneurs.

Jan received his MBA from Duke University, and also holds a MS degree in Human-Computer Systems (AI & UX) from the United Kingdom, and a BS in Computer Science from The Netherlands.
----- About Innova
We invest in early-stage, high-growth companies that have the potential to grow into significant economic contributors. Our focus is on companies with strong intellectual property or other competitive advantages in the Biosciences, Technology and AgTech fields. Innova’s goal is to nurture the growth of high technology and entrepreneurial efforts that will result in significant job creation, economic growth and competitiveness.

An engineer by training, Troy transitioned from product development to commercialization and followed a trajectory of success based on the balance between technical and business acumen. This trajectory included working for organizations like Johnson & Johnson and Stryker, wherein he was schooled in operational excellence, customercentricity, and shareholder value. Troy’s diverse experience in these multinational firms paved the way for him to launch Keystone Life Sciences, a consulting firm with a focus on HealthTech startup and early-stage companies.

Over the years, Troy has had the privilege of working with specialists from across the healthcare spectrum and see, first hand, the impact the appropriate therapy can have on patient lives. Troy is continuing his passion for being at the beginning of the startup’s journey, but now as the Director of Commercialization Solutions within the University City Science Center.

Troy is a Drexel University alum with an MBA from the LeBow School of Business and a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Sekou Campbell attended Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he interned for a life-tenured, federal judge in Brooklyn; edited the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, a nationally-recognized intellectual property journal; and served as an officer for two student-led organizations (Public Interest Law Student Association and the Black Law Students Association). He also earned a Public Service Scholarship and Award from his school.

He began his legal career at an AmLaw 100 firm. He has represented start-ups in FinTech, AI, and other software and data companies. Campbell has, among other things, drafted and formed 501(c)(3) (non-profit) corporations, C-Corps, S-Corps, LLCs, and various partnerships; debt and equity instruments; drafted and negotiated non-disclosure (confidentiality) agreements; and drafted and negotiated buy/sell, operating, employee, separation, redemption and other corporate transaction agreements.

Dr. Erika Dillard received her medical and graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN where she focused on the development and characterization of an oncolytic virus for the treatment of malignant brain tumors. She then completed five years of neurosurgical training in Philadelphia where her interests included skull base surgery, neuro- oncology and patient safety and quality improvement. As a resident, she witnessed first-hand how patient outcomes after surgery are influenced by factors external to the surgery performed. These combined interests and experiences led to her most recent venture.

Dr. Dillard is currently a 2nd year academic post-doctoral fellow in the Patents-2- Products (P2P) fellowship at the University of Memphis. P2P is jointly funded by the FedEx Institute of Technology and Epicenter Memphis and aims to serve as a launching pad for turning innovative ideas into successful startup companies. During this fellowship, Dr. Dillard started PopCheck Technologies^®, an early-stage healthcare technology company creating AI-driven remote monitoring biosensors for postoperative patients with an emphasis on those at highest risk for surgical complications such as venous clots.

In addition to her clinical and entrepreneurial endeavors, Dr. Dillard is passionate about diversifying representation of healthcare professionals and mentors students interested in careers in medicine. She is also the current President of BioTN Academic Alliance in Memphis whose mission is to provide career development resources and industry exposure for local graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in order to grow Tennessee’s life science workforce.

Aron has built and run several healthcare accelerators on four continents, including the U.S. Over the last decade, he has been consulted on or run 25+ accelerators. His clients have included large university systems, nonprofit research entities, and multiple $1B+ corporations. They’ve all leveraged his expertise to build new pathways for innovation and revenue.

In addition, over the past 25+ years, he has provided services as an independent due-diligence expert for VCs, reviewing the technical and commercial investment viability of numerous start-ups.

Aron Starosta has been involved in both healthcare-related and venture-capital (VC)-related endeavors since 1992. Through faculty appointments at the schools of medicine at New York University and University of Pennsylvania, Aron has seen the drug development process through most of it phases and has been employed as an addiction-domain expert by a number of pharmaceutical companies. In this latter capacity, Aron worked as a researcher and a national speaker on the development and treatment of medications to treat various forms of addiction, including addiction to opiates and alcohol. Aron has also served as an independent information technology consultant, working on process management and technology transfer.

Dr. Starosta completed his bachelor’s degree at McGill University and received advanced degrees in psychology and neuroscience from Temple University.