Juliana Elstad, CEO

Juliana Elstad is a CEO, entrepreneur, and advisor with over 20 years of experience identifying opportunities for growth and delivering success in small startup to multi-billion-dollar environments. She has a proven track record of creating, growing, and leading medical technology organizations with a focus on building dynamic cultures and mentoring high-potential leaders. In addition to holding the CEO role at Vibrato, Ms. Elstad is a Board member of AdvaMed Accel, the world’s largest MedTech trade association. Prior to Vibrato, Ms. Elstad was CEO of Impleo Medical, a medtech company recognized as one of the world’s Top 50 most innovative startups in 2018; founder of Elstad Medical, advisory firm to medtech CEOs and boards; EVP of business development at Intelect Medical (acquired by Boston Scientific); and led business development efforts at Medtronic, Inc. as well as coordinated strategic planning, performed market analyses for new therapies, and led cross-functional committees.

Juliana started her career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and a financial auditor with Arthur Andersen. She received her MBA from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, and her Masters in Economics from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. She is married with two kids and lives in Irvine, CA.

Derek Daw, Chief Technology Officer

Derek Daw has over 30 years of experience in medical device research and development. He graduated with an Engineering degree from University of California, Irvine. He has a long history of supporting initial clinical trials in both US and international locations and developing strong relationships with clinical KOL’s. He is experienced at taking the product from the lab into the first clinical cases and working with clinicians to identify product strengths and weaknesses. His experience includes developing products at large companies, (Edwards LifeSciences and Bard) as well as several small startup companies that brought their products through initial clinical studies to commercialization. He worked to support the sale of InterTherapy Inc. to CVIS (became Boston Scientific), Neuro Navigational Inc. to NeuroCare, Endovascular Inc. to ESC Medical Systems, and SenoRx Inc. to C.R. Bard (now BD). His technology experience has been focused on products that include capital equipment and disposables. Derek’s technology experience includes; intravascular ultrasound and therapeutic oxygen treatment sold to interventional cardiologists, neuro endoscopy for pediatric neurologists, varicose vein treatment for vascular surgeons, and breast care products for radiologists and breast surgeons. As Vibrato’s CTO, he developed the first wearable therapeutic ultrasound device for the treatment of PAD and is working to move that product into clinical studies and FDA clearance.

bisrat Woldemichael, Sr. Director of Clinical Affairs

Bisrat Woldemichael comes to Vibrato with over 25 years of medical device, clinical, and engineering experience, having worked in pre-clinical, clinical affairs, R&D, manufacturing, and field clinical engineering. Her diversified background has made her a valuable asset in clinical-stage companies like Irvine Biomedical (acquired by St. Jude Medical/Abbott) and NovaSignal where she provided cross-functional leadership when developing and implementing clinical plans.

Bisrat’s career began with Abbott designing peripheral stent delivery systems. Her focus continues to be designing and executing clinical trials for ground-breaking technologies primarily in the peripheral vascular, cardiovascular, and neurovascular therapeutic areas. She has designed clinical trials, monitored compliance, and supported devices and procedures that have resulted in 510(k) clearances, PMA approvals, and CE marks of stents, cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, ablation catheters, transcranial doppler ultrasound devices, and others. Her extensive field experience at St. Jude Medical and Boston Scientific working directly with key opinion leaders in a clinical environment has provided Bisrat with practical and strategic expertise in creating clinical programs. Bisrat’s leadership and organizational skills also contributed to passing an FDA inspection of a Class III Implantable device.  

Bisrat received a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Washington and B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego in addition to being IBHRE Certified Cardiac Device Specialist (CCDS).