Armida Valles-Klute
Sherrie Palm
ENGENDERING THE NEXT SIGNIFICANT SHIFT IN WOMEN’S HEALTH DIRECTIVES
Sherrie Palm carves the trail to de-stigmatize pelvic organ prolapse (POP), a common but rarely acknowledged women’s health condition impacting an estimated 50% of women, as she educates and inspires regarding the evolution of women’s vaginal and intimate health awareness.
Sherrie Palm is the Founder/CEO of APOPS, Association for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Support, author of 3 editions of the award-winning book Pelvic Organ Prolapse: The Silent Epidemic, an internationally recognized speaker, pelvic organ prolapse advocate, vaginal and intimate health activist, POP key opinion leader, and prolific writer regarding POP physical, emotional, social, sexual, fitness, and employment quality of life impact.
Sherrie has presented speeches nationally and internationally to physician, research, academic, corporate, policy and patient audiences since 2011. Her points of focus are raising awareness of the next significant evolution in women’s health awareness, screening, practice, and policy, advancing global women’s vaginal and intimate health understanding, developing POP patient guidance and support structures, and bridge building within patient advocacy, white coat, and white collar sectors toward the advancement of women’s pelvic health and POP best practices.
Recognizing a need to shift the global view of the remaining stigmatized aspects of women’s health, Sherrie Palm takes steps to pioneer change. Cognizant of the diverse and sensitive needs of her audience, Sherrie delicately places all the cards on the table to disclose aspects of vaginal health and intimate wellness rarely effectively discussed. Sherrie’s capacity to respectfully and compassionately answer all questions posed during speaking engagements endears her to the audience.
Sherrie’s engagement in POP projects and protocol enables patient voice to be an integral part of women’s health and wellness evolution. Sherrie presented to the FDA Obstetrics and Gynecology Advisory Committee Panel transvaginal mesh complication meetings in 2011 and 2019, sat on the Pelvic Floor Disorders Stakeholder Advisory Committee from 2011-2013, and currently sits on the FDA Medical Device Epidemiology Network (MDEpiNET) committee. Additional information about APOPS, pelvic organ prolapse, or Ms. Palm’s book or speaking presentations is available on the APOPS website.
Dr. Brian A. Bernick
Dr. Brian Bernick is a graduate of Northwestern University where he was pre-med and earned a degree in economics. Dr. Bernick graduated from Chicago Medical School and then went on to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology, completing his residency through the University of Pennsylvania. Thereafter, Dr. Bernick spent over 20 years in private practice in Boca Raton, Florida. During that time, he served as the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and as an associate professor at Florida Atlantic University College of Medicine. In 2008, Dr. Bernick co-founded TherapeuticsMD, a woman’s healthcare company where he has remained part of the executive management and oversees product development and outreach with healthcare providers. TherapeuticsMD is a NASDAQ traded pharmaceutical company with prescription drug products ranging from prenatal care, contraception and menopause. In 2018, TherapeuticsMD obtained 3 new drug approvals. Dr. Bernick is the recipient of several national and regional awards, including recognition by his peers as one of the top doctor’s in his specialty. Dr. Bernick has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and presentations of original research at medical conferences. Dr. Bernick holds over 40 US and foreign patents focusing on drug therapies and analysis. Dr. Bernick resides in Boca Raton, Florida with his wife and two kids.
Jenny Yip
Minh Ngo
Minh Ngo is a social justice and women's rights activist, philanthropic leader and social entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley. She has worked with nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and private sector partners to solve intractable problems facing communities. She currently serves as the Executive Director of My New Red Shoes, Board Member and Immediate Past Board Chair of Friends of UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) and as an Advisor to Community Equity Collaborative, based in Menlo Park. Ms. Ngo is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Clara University’s School of Law.
Dr Itamar Netzer, OBGYN
I am a certified obstetrician and gynecologist, and former Fleet Surgeon of the Israeli Navy (Commander O4, retired). Currently studying Drug and Medical Device Regulation at the Israeli MOH.
I am an analytical, creative and nurturing leader, excelling in creating and maintaining network- or matrix-structure organizations.
My career has the unique characteristics of professional military physicians in Israel, including both high-stakes and decision-making roles in the military, and a full medical professional career in a hospital.
Publication: I am the author or co-author of 15 medical articles and 2 book chapters on the topics of telemedicine, gynecology, or military medicine and presented my academic work extensively in international conferences.
Honors: I was the recipient of two 1st prize awards given by the IDF Chief of the Technology and Logistics Directorate, for Medical Innovation.
My current goals and interests are:
Attaining a leadership position in the medical technology industry, where I may contribute to the future transformation of medical care in terms of personalized, equitable and empathic care driven by advanced tech and caregiver-training.
Stasia Obremskey
Before joining, Stasia served in 2018 as the first Fellow of the Tara Health Foundation. She has more than twenty-five years of experience providing financial and strategic planning consulting to organizations in the U.S. and Asia. She has joined management teams as the interim Chief Financial Officer on a short term and extended term basis to provide finance, accounting and strategic planning expertise to startups, fast growing companies and non-profit organizations. Current and past clients include 18Birdies, Posit Science, Circlepoint, West Shore Technologies and We Care Solar. She has lived for over 8 years in Bangkok, Thailand and Hong Kong, China. She began her consulting career as a management consultant with Bain & Company. Previously, she worked in investment banking for Morgan Stanley & Co. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. In addition to her consulting work, she has extensive experience as a member of several nonprofit boards where she has held a number of leadership positions.
Amy Welsh
Bill Gruber
Bill Gruber joined Solace Therapeutics in August 2011 as President and CEO. Prior to this role, he co-founded Interlace Medical in August 2006 and served as their President and CEO until Interlace was acquired by Hologic in January 2011. Bill has extensive experience in organizational development and in product development for rapid growth businesses. Prior to Interlace, Bill spent five years at Cortek Inc., a spinal products company. As Cortek’s V.P. of Sales and Marketing, he built sales from $612K to over $10M. During his last two years, he was the V.P. of New Business Development and Marketing. In this role, he was instrumental in creating Soteira, a Cortek subsidiary, focused on devices for treating vertebral compression fractures. Prior to Cortek, Bill spent 10 years at Boston Scientific Corporation. Before leaving Boston Scientific Corporation, he held the position of Director of the $172M Global Atherosclerotic Therapy business. Prior to entering the medical device sector, Bill spent five years in sales and marketing roles at Procter and Gamble.
Chandra P. Leo
Chandra P. Leo is a member of the private equity team at HBM Partners, a Swiss-based healthcare investment firm with approximately $1.8 billion in assets under management. He has been responsible for investments in more than 15 private biotech, medical device and diagnostics companies in the United States and Europe, in most cases as a board member or board observer. Collectively, these companies have so far generated five NASDAQ IPOs, five M&A transactions and four FDA-approved marketed products.
In the women’s health field, Chandra has backed and worked with companies focused on e.g. cervical cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, gynecologic infections, urogynecologic conditions, infertility and preterm labor. Before becoming a venture capital investor, he served as a physician in the Dept. of OB/GYN at the University Hospital in Leipzig, Germany, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive biology at Stanford University.
Chandra holds degrees as a Doctor of Medicine from the Freie Universität Berlin (Charité), a Master in Medicines Development (MAS) from the University of Basel, and an MBA with distinction from INSEAD (France/Singapore). He lives in Zurich with his wife (a gynecologist) and their two daughters.