Unlocking overall health through complete digestive care

Robert is a Partner at 7wireVentures, focused on investments in digital health companies that empower consumers to be better stewards of their health in today’s changing health ecosystem. He is a board member of Cylinder, RecoveryOne, SameSky Health, and HomeThrive. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors at HealthBeacon and a board advisor for HealthXL.

Robert has over 30 years of experience investing in, advising, and operating early-stage health care and tech companies. He has co-managed four venture funds with $400M+ AUM. Before joining 7wireVentures, Robert led health care and technology investments as Managing Director at Stratus Ventures and KB Partners.

Smarts

• Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University
• University of Pennsylvania

Joe is a growth-stage investor and Managing Director at Mercato, where he leverages his two-plus decades of operating and investing experience. He advises and supports Midwestern entrepreneurs who have built unique growth engines and are ready to scale. He sits on the board of directors at Cylinder, Attain, Beam Benefits, Kalderos, MNTN, and Summersalt.

Joe started his career in investment banking at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., followed by the private equity firm Erie Management Group where he evaluated, structured, and managed growth-stage investments. After obtaining an MBA, Joe joined The Blackstone Group, advising investors and corporate clients, managing mergers and acquisitions, and structuring financial transactions. As Director of Capital Markets at Vivint Solar, Joe guided the company to its $1.6B IPO in 2014 and $3.2B sale in 2020. During his time at Vivint, he raised more than $1B in project financing to facilitate the deployment of residential and commercial solar assets.

Smarts

• Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
• Saint Louis University

Rachel is a former Chief People Officer, advisor, author, and current faculty member at the Wharton School of Business, where she teaches global strategy and organizational behavior. Her work includes ongoing research on management, specifically about power and culture. Rachel’s first book, Bringing Up the Boss: Practical Lessons for New Managers, provides practical tools for new managers in start-up organizations.

Over the past decade, Rachel has served on health care and big data startup executive teams. As an advisor on organizational design, team dynamics, talent strategies, and building a healthy culture, she has supported numerous digital health care startups, including Maven Clinic, Wellthy, Cityblock Health, and Included Health. Rachel was a founding faculty member of the Entrepreneurship in Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Smarts

• PhD, MBA, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
• Georgetown University

As Cylinder’s CEO, Bill works with Fortune 500 companies and national health plans across the U.S. to reduce GI-related health care costs, which total $136B per year. Before joining Cylinder, he led commercial and health plan partnerships at Virta Health and spent over a decade in leadership roles at Humana, where he oversaw its $500M IL market.

Smarts

• Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
• Vanderbilt University

With over 30 years of experience in payer and employer solutions, Sally advises health care organizations and entrepreneurs in health care and employee benefits. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President of Global Benefits at Walmart Stores, Inc. Before that, she was Senior Vice President of Corporate Benefits for Wells Fargo & Co. She is a member of the board of directors for Cylinder, Truveris, Inc., and the Leapfrog Group. She is also a Board Advisor at the Penn Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics.

Smarts

• The University of Texas at Arlington

Jonathan is Managing Director for the Marwood Group, a leading advisory and research company in health care services. He is also the Managing Director of US Imaging, a Marwood subsidiary and member engagement concierge program for advanced imaging. In addition, he is a strategic advisor to health care management teams, where his experience equips him with a broad view of the market, including health care benefits. His relationships with health care thought leaders across corporate, labor, municipal, health plan, third-party administrator, and benefits consultants provide great insight into the health care market.

Smarts

• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jason has over 25 years of enterprise health and welfare experience with leading employers, including Vida Health, AT&T, and Boeing. He served as Board Chair for the Midwest Business Group on Health in Chicago and works with the Employer Health Innovation Round Table. Jason supports Cylinder with his knowledge of the GI and digestive health marketplace.

Smarts

• Benedictine University
• Illinois State University

Joe is a human resources professional with over 20 years of leadership experience in all aspects of benefits. Currently serving as US Foods’ Senior Director of Health & Welfare Plans, he is responsible for the company’s benefits strategy, plans, programs, and activities. Before US Foods, he led benefits at Sears Holding Company.

Smarts

• Dominican University
• Northern Illinois University

Dr. Barbosa has over 20 years of experience leading drug discovery and development programs at major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He has held roles as the Chief Scientific Officer, Microbiome, at Assembly Biosciences, and Global Head, Vice President of Immunology Research & External Innovation for Janssen Research & Development, where he oversaw immunology research and development and new program initiatives, including Johnson & Johnson’s new microbiome enterprise. Previous roles included new drug research and development programs at prominent biopharmaceutical firms, including Centocor, Signal Pharmaceuticals, TRL USA, Chugai Biopharma, and Mirna Technologies.

Smarts

• Post-doctoral fellowship, National Cancer Institute
• PhD, Microbiology & Immunology, University of California, Los Angeles
• BS, Genetics, University of California, Davis

Dr. Bravata is a health care entrepreneur, executive, and nationally recognized health services researcher. She is the co-founder of Lyra Health and a founding member of the Aspen Institute Healthcare Strategy Group.

Previously, Dr. Bravata was the founding Chief Medical Officer and Head of Products at Castlight Health. She was also a practicing internist for 16 years and an attending physician at Stanford University and the Palo Alto VA. In 2021, Dr. Bravata received a national service award from the White House and CDC for her work on the pandemic response and Vaccines.gov.

Smarts

• MS, Stanford University
• Residency, Stanford University
• MD, Columbia University
• University of Oxford
• Yale University

Dr. Brill is an executive clinician with over 30 years of experience providing strategic leadership and medical oversight to data-driven health organizations, skilled in strategy, development, and implementation of innovative value-driven health programs, products, and payment systems, with extensive experience in clinical practice, research, coverage, reimbursement, quality improvement, observational registries, and bundled and episode payments.

Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Dr. Brill has run risk-bearing Independent Practice Associations and Physician-Hospital Organizations in California and Arizona. He has held management positions and serves on Scientific / Editorial Advisory Boards / Committees for several managed care companies and journals. He has authored over 150 CPT code applications, participates in the CPT Editorial Panel and the RBRVS Update Committee, and co-chaired the Part D medication measures Technical Expert Panel for CMS.

Dr. Brill is the lead physician for the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Bundled Payment Project, an author of several guidelines / quality measures in Gastroenterology and Preventive Services, and the co-founder of the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology.

Smarts

• AB, Biology, University of California, Los Angeles
• PhD, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Chicago Medical School
• Internship & Residency, Internal Medicine, UCLA – San Fernando Valley Program
• Fellowship, Gastroenterology, Los Angeles County – USC Medical Center
• Management Program for Health Care Organizations, UCLA School of Public Health

Dr. Hur is the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and the Director of Healthcare Innovations and Research at Columbia University Medical Center. He is a nationally recognized expert in cancer screening and the prevention of gastrointestinal cancers and a leader within the National Cancer Institute consortium of researchers working to improve cancer management.

His research focuses on esophageal, gastric, and pancreatic disease and the use of data analytics and advanced machine learning to develop clinical prediction rules.

Smarts

• MD, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• MPH, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Dr. Khalili is an esteemed gastroenterologist and Director of Clinical Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, Crohn’s and Colitis Center. He is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on studying dietary and lifestyle factors and their relationship to the development and progression of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Dr. Khalili has published over 150 peer-reviewed original papers and has received funding from the National Institute of Health, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, the American Gastroenterological Association, and the American College of Gastroenterology.

Smarts

• Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital
• MPH, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• MD, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Ladabaum is a Professor of Medicine in Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and the Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Prevention Program at Stanford University Medical Center.

Dr. Ladabaum is a nationally recognized expert in colorectal cancer screening, including evaluation of the economic impact and cost-effectiveness of screening strategies. His research program spans a range of methods and approaches, including epidemiological studies, observational and interventional clinical studies, decision analyses, and systematic reviews.

Smarts

• Fellowship, University of Michigan
• Residency, Stanford University Hospital
• A.B., University of California, Berkeley
• M.D., University of California, San Francisco
• M.S., University of Michigan

Dr. Pimentel is a leading expert in developing diagnostic and therapeutic programs for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and other diseases linked to the microbiome.

Dr. Pimentel is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Gastroenterology, and Executive Director of the Medically Associated Science and Technology (MAST) program at Cedars-Sinai. He is credited for developing the first blood test for IBS, discovering rifaximin for the treatment of IBS-D, identifying the auto-immune basis for IBS/SIBO, and developing the first multi-gas breath test for SIBO.

Smarts

• MD, University of Manitoba
• Internship, University of Manitoba
• Residency and Fellowship, University of Manitoba