The Team

Mark Novotny has 28 years of experience with “Bench to Bedside” medical device innovation. During these three decades, Mark held roles across all functions of R&D, Operations, Sales and Marketing, Clinical Sciences, Regulatory and Quality. Mark has worked on numerous projects in critical care, cardiovascular and spinal surgery throughout the US, Asia and Europe. Medical device technologies he has worked on are used every day in at least 40 countries and collectively they have generated billions of dollars in sales.

Brian Dowling is the Finance Director of SST Spine and General Manager of SST Spine Limited, SST Spine’s device manufacturer. Brian is a Chartered Accountant having trained with PWC in Ireland. Brian has over 25 years of experience in Europe, the USA and China across Financial Planning & Analysis and Financial Control roles. Brian has worked in various industries including biotech, retail, software, electronics and financial services. He has held roles such as Director of FP&A for a biotech in Seattle (Corixa) and Group Controller for CIT Vendor Finance Asia Pacific in Shanghai. Brian has also set up the international finance functions of companies such as Beats by Dr. Dre, Gilt Group and Easylink in Ireland.

Jeff Golan completed his medical and neurosurgical training at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. He went on to complete spinal fellowships at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Ohio State University. Dr. Golan is currently an assistant professor at McGill University and has been Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada since 2010. He has trained numerous residents, fellows, and physicians nationally and internationally on the use of advanced minimally invasive techniques. His current research focus is on functional outcomes following spinal surgery as well as translational research on disc preservation technology.

David LoPresti received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Performed his residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California and his fellowship in Vascular and Interventional Radiology at the University of California, San Diego.

Loren Francis is the Vice President of R&D and Operations for SST, Ltd. He has been working in the field of biomechanics, spine injury mechanics and medical device development for over 15 years. He started his career at NASA as an aeronautical engineer, performing design and development on a variety of International Space Station projects before perusing a career in biomechanics. He is an expert in developing systems to assess the biomechanics of the spine and device verification and validation testing. Loren is the author or co-author of multiple journal publications, book chapters and conference papers on biomechanics.

Molly Bond leads the Quality and Compliance within SST’s Quality Management System. She also secures and maintains clinical trial approvals in target geographies to assure compliance with applicable national and local regulations as well as corporate requirements. Molly has over 10 years of experience in the medical device field. Prior to starting at SST, Molly worked for various small to mid-sized medical device companies and has successfully launched multiple products in the US and International markets. She is highly experienced with ISO standards, auditing, design assurance, risk management and CAPA.