Meet the Alumni 2021-2022 Fellows!
Nicky Agahari
2021-22 HealthTech Innovation Fellow
Nicky Agahari was most recently Head of Innovation (Asia Pacific) and Business Development Manager (Australia & New Zealand) for global medical technology company Boston Scientific. Nicky’s interests and passion for healthcare began during his services as a combat medic in the Royal Australian Army; learning the skills to dispense live sustaining procedures to care for patients and the importance of working in teams to accomplish common goals. Professionally Nicky has spent the past 13 years holding multiple commercialization and strategic roles with the world’s leading med tech and pharmaceuticals companies including; Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Medtronic. Through the breadth of his roles Nicky has developed expertise into multiple disease specialties including; mental health, urology, gastro-enterology, neuromodulation and structural heart. Through these experiences Nicky has garnered a nuanced insight into how to scale innovation, bring products to market and accelerate patient ‘access’ to medical solutions; ‘access’ that is affordable, timely and of high quality. With in-country experiences in Australia, South East Asia, United States and Greater China; Nicky understands the intricate complexities of decision making in healthcare systems. He believes although there are barriers to each nation state’s healthcare system there are also ‘best practices’ from each that can be translated transnationally to improve delivery of care to patients globally. Away from his corporate career Nicky continues to pursue his interests in med-tech dedicating his personal time to developing a novel, wearable and minimally invasive neuromodulation device that minimizes patient symptoms of urinary and fecal incontinence.
2021-22 HealthTech Innovation Fellow
Nicky Agahari was most recently Head of Innovation (Asia Pacific) and Business Development Manager (Australia & New Zealand) for global medical technology company Boston Scientific. Nicky’s interests and passion for healthcare began during his services as a combat medic in the Royal Australian Army; learning the skills to dispense live sustaining procedures to care for patients and the importance of working in teams to accomplish common goals. Professionally Nicky has spent the past 13 years holding multiple commercialization and strategic roles with the world’s leading med tech and pharmaceuticals companies including; Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Medtronic. Through the breadth of his roles Nicky has developed expertise into multiple disease specialties including; mental health, urology, gastro-enterology, neuromodulation and structural heart. Through these experiences Nicky has garnered a nuanced insight into how to scale innovation, bring products to market and accelerate patient ‘access’ to medical solutions; ‘access’ that is affordable, timely and of high quality. With in-country experiences in Australia, South East Asia, United States and Greater China; Nicky understands the intricate complexities of decision making in healthcare systems. He believes although there are barriers to each nation state’s healthcare system there are also ‘best practices’ from each that can be translated transnationally to improve delivery of care to patients globally. Away from his corporate career Nicky continues to pursue his interests in med-tech dedicating his personal time to developing a novel, wearable and minimally invasive neuromodulation device that minimizes patient symptoms of urinary and fecal incontinence.
Nancy Anoruo
2021-22 Leerink Innovation Fellow
Nancy Anoruo is a physician and public health scientist with an interest in health technology innovation as a means of overcoming pervasive challenges in health care― namely improving care access to mitigate inequity. She studied microbiology and biomechanical engineering at the University of Florida, then obtained graduate degrees in medicine and public health at the George Washington University. Her clinical training was in internal medicine at the University of Massachusetts. She completed a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health where her notable work included development of a renal cell carcinoma blood screening test to facilitate early detection and reduce diagnostic racial inequities. While at NIH, she helped develop several grassroots community health projects and initiatives to reduce health disparities in minority, underserved, and marginalized populations. She was most recently faculty at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and a journalist / medical contributor for ABC News. Her favorite things to do outside of work are spending time with her dog, traveling with her husband, and woodworking / completing home renovation projects as an aspiring builder and carpenter. She has also played the violin since age 8 and enjoys arranging and writing non-classical music.
Ricky Cordova
2021-22 Leerink Innovation Fellow
Ricky Cordova is a professional biomedical engineer and was most recently a researcher at the University of Arizona Tissue Optics Lab, where he developed multimodal endoscopes for the early detection of gynecologic cancers and other pathology affecting women’s health. Ricky is an outgoing leader, an award-winning writer, and a true multipotentialite with nearly a decade of eclectic research experience in synthetic biology, laboratory automation, medical devices, and more. He serves on the advisory board of the Keep Engaging Youth in Science (KEYS) Research Internship Program and is the cofounder of SonoArmor, an early-stage startup aimed at ruggedizing mobile ultrasound technology for use in the clinic and on the battlefield. He studied bioengineering as an undergraduate at Stanford University, and there became a practiced intersectional innovator through training at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. Outside of work and school, Ricky has volunteered with Planned Parenthood and community free clinics as a certified Spanish medical interpreter, trained as an emergency medical technician, performed for huge crowds as a touring jazz drummer and DJ, and worked to discover a new species of tardigrade. Now he looks to build a successful career as an entrepreneur, physician, and scientist with participation in the Harvard HealthTech Fellowship and future MD-PhD training.
M. Martin Jensen
2021-22 HealthTech Innovation Fellow
M. Martin Jensen is a biomedical engineer working at the interface of technology and medicine. He received departmental and university honors for his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Utah. During his undergrad, he worked at Catheter Connections Inc. and was responsible for developing an FDA cleared IV-line disinfecting system using the Dualcap® technology that was 6 times faster than competing products at the time and is still twice as fast as competing technologies. During his doctoral work at the University of Utah, he received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship and a NSF INTERN award to pursue industry experience. His research focused on developing and translating innovative technologies including gels to protect soft tissues from radiation damage, embolics to treat cerebral aneurysms, markers to guide surgical resection of tumors, and delivery systems to improve the selectivity of herbicides. Most recently, he was a post-doctoral research fellow with Harvard Medical School mentored by Jeff Karp and Siam Oottamasathien where he developed a prize winning body fluid management technology for the United States Airforce AFWERX Sky High Relief Challenge. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his daughters, fishing, and listening to audiobooks.
2021-22 Leerink Innovation Fellow
Nancy Anoruo is a physician and public health scientist with an interest in health technology innovation as a means of overcoming pervasive challenges in health care― namely improving care access to mitigate inequity. She studied microbiology and biomechanical engineering at the University of Florida, then obtained graduate degrees in medicine and public health at the George Washington University. Her clinical training was in internal medicine at the University of Massachusetts. She completed a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health where her notable work included development of a renal cell carcinoma blood screening test to facilitate early detection and reduce diagnostic racial inequities. While at NIH, she helped develop several grassroots community health projects and initiatives to reduce health disparities in minority, underserved, and marginalized populations. She was most recently faculty at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and a journalist / medical contributor for ABC News. Her favorite things to do outside of work are spending time with her dog, traveling with her husband, and woodworking / completing home renovation projects as an aspiring builder and carpenter. She has also played the violin since age 8 and enjoys arranging and writing non-classical music.Ricky Cordova
2021-22 Leerink Innovation Fellow
Ricky Cordova is a professional biomedical engineer and was most recently a researcher at the University of Arizona Tissue Optics Lab, where he developed multimodal endoscopes for the early detection of gynecologic cancers and other pathology affecting women’s health. Ricky is an outgoing leader, an award-winning writer, and a true multipotentialite with nearly a decade of eclectic research experience in synthetic biology, laboratory automation, medical devices, and more. He serves on the advisory board of the Keep Engaging Youth in Science (KEYS) Research Internship Program and is the cofounder of SonoArmor, an early-stage startup aimed at ruggedizing mobile ultrasound technology for use in the clinic and on the battlefield. He studied bioengineering as an undergraduate at Stanford University, and there became a practiced intersectional innovator through training at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign. Outside of work and school, Ricky has volunteered with Planned Parenthood and community free clinics as a certified Spanish medical interpreter, trained as an emergency medical technician, performed for huge crowds as a touring jazz drummer and DJ, and worked to discover a new species of tardigrade. Now he looks to build a successful career as an entrepreneur, physician, and scientist with participation in the Harvard HealthTech Fellowship and future MD-PhD training.M. Martin Jensen
2021-22 HealthTech Innovation Fellow
M. Martin Jensen is a biomedical engineer working at the interface of technology and medicine. He received departmental and university honors for his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Utah. During his undergrad, he worked at Catheter Connections Inc. and was responsible for developing an FDA cleared IV-line disinfecting system using the Dualcap® technology that was 6 times faster than competing products at the time and is still twice as fast as competing technologies. During his doctoral work at the University of Utah, he received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship and a NSF INTERN award to pursue industry experience. His research focused on developing and translating innovative technologies including gels to protect soft tissues from radiation damage, embolics to treat cerebral aneurysms, markers to guide surgical resection of tumors, and delivery systems to improve the selectivity of herbicides. Most recently, he was a post-doctoral research fellow with Harvard Medical School mentored by Jeff Karp and Siam Oottamasathien where he developed a prize winning body fluid management technology for the United States Airforce AFWERX Sky High Relief Challenge. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his daughters, fishing, and listening to audiobooks.