The Hound Labs Team
Business Team
Mike Lynn, MD
CEO & Co-Founder
A practicing emergency medicine physician and teacher at a premier trauma center in Oakland, CA, Mike is also a clinical faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition to being an ER physician, Mike worked for 10 years as a venture capitalist specializing in medical devices and biotechnology. In this capacity, Mike invested widely in emerging life science companies and served on multiple boards of directors. A former White House Fellow and Fulbright Scholar with an extensive background in public policy and public health, Mike is currently a reserve deputy sheriff and a fully qualified and active SWAT team member.
Jenny Lynn
Co-Founder
An experienced marketing executive with an extensive background in launching new companies and products across a wide range of business sectors, Jenny has experience in the finance, consumer products, education, and tech industries. Before joining Hound Labs, Inc., Jenny was the Global Head of Marketing for Camberview Partners, LLC, the leading source of independent, investor-led advice for management of boards of public companies. A former White House Fellow and graduate of Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Jenny currently volunteers with local public schools.
Sobha Pisharody, PhD
Chief Product Officer
Sobha has 20 years of experience commercializing products in the Life Sciences and Diagnostics industries. Prior to joining Hound Labs, Dr. Pisharody was the SVP of Product and Strategy at Talis Biomedical, a point-of-care diagnostics company. Previously, she was a Director of Product Management at Thermo Fisher Scientific where she led businesses within the qPCR and Capillary Electrophoresis franchises. Prior to that Dr. Pisharody was the founder and CEO of GenoRx, Inc. She holds a PhD in molecular oncology and immunology from the New York University School of Medicine and a BS in genetics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Douglas Boxer
Chief of Strategic Partnerships and Policy
Having started his career as an attorney with San Francisco law firm Hanson Bridgett, Douglas later worked for the administration of President Bill Clinton, and then for the mayor of Los Angeles. Since leaving public service, Douglas has worked with some of California’s leading business and political leaders, advised large public corporations on governmental relations and public affairs strategies, and lent business development insight to start-ups. Douglas also chaired the Oakland Planning Commission, having been appointed by then-mayor Jerry Brown. He received his BA in international political economy from the University of California, Berkeley and his JD from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he graduated cum laude.
David Shack, PhD
Senior Vice President of Engineering
David has been an R&D leader developing complex scientific and clinical instrumentation for over 25 years. During that time, he’s led development teams working in multiple domains including Flow Cytometry, Genomics, Pathology, X-Ray Fluoroscopy, and Atomic Force Microscopy. Prior to joining Hound Labs, David was most recently an R&D leader at both Agilent Technologies and BD Biosciences. David received his PhD and MS in mechanical engineering from Stanford and his BASc in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto.
Hannah Burris
Chief of Staff & Executive Director, Global Health Innovation and Strategy
Hannah is a former senior advisor and chief of staff for the Office of Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a true global health and health security expert with extensive experience in policy development and government affairs. Hannah has launched multiple global initiatives in public health and infectious disease control. Just prior to joining Hound Labs, Hannah led the Multilateral Diplomacy Team for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief at the State Department, overseeing $1.35 billion in annual U.S. government contributions to the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB, and Malaria. Hannah holds a BA in international relations from Boston University and an MSc in Control of Infectious Disease from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Jeffrey Stoll, PhD
Senior Director of Product Management
A seasoned product leader, Jeffrey has over 10 years of experience in research, engineering, and marketing of medical devices, launching multiple award-winning products in a variety of disciplines. Before joining Hound Labs, he held senior leadership roles at Ekso Bionics and Siemens Ultrasound. He has a PhD in surgical robotics from Boston University and a BS in engineering from Harvey Mudd College. An outdoor enthusiast, he enjoys adventuring with his family whenever he can.
Mary Roach
Senior Director of Product Marketing
Mary is an accomplished B2B product marketing leader with extensive experience launching new products across several industries, including educational technology, enterprise software, and Wi-Fi. Previously, Mary was at LinkedIn, where she led the go-to-market strategy for LinkedIn Learning’s core enterprise segment. Prior to LinkedIn, Mary held senior marketing positions at various technology companies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and spent several years in management consulting. Mary holds a BA in quantitative economics from Tufts University and an MBA from Kellogg. In her spare time, Mary enjoys playing the piano, traveling, mountain biking, scuba diving, and spending time with family and friends.
Miles Lavin
Senior Director of Business Operations
Miles has spent more than 12 years helping companies scale rapidly, focusing on growth strategy and business operations. He has developed go-to-market plans, company operating models, pricing algorithms, and built analytics backbones for Fortune-5 companies and start-ups alike. Prior to joining Hound Labs, Miles held business operations and leadership positions at Wizeline and McKesson and spent 5 years as a strategy consultant at PwC. He has also worked on Capitol Hill for the United States Congress. Miles received a BS in mechanical engineering and a BA in political science from Lehigh University, where he graduated on the Dean’s List.
Warren Tolman
Director of Business Development
Warren started his career as an attorney in Boston where he worked at the law firms of Burns & Levinson and Holland & Knight. At Holland & Knight, he worked closely with several start-up companies assisting them in their business development plans. He also worked directly with companies of all sizes in developing their long-term strategies. Warren is a former Massachusetts State Representative and State Senator. In 2014, he was the Democratic Convention endorsed candidate for Massachusetts Attorney General, the Commonwealth's chief law enforcement officer, and was publicly supported by former Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. Warren earned his BA in economics from Amherst College and his JD, cum laude, from Boston College Law School.
Boris Melnikov
Director of Sales Operations
A sales operations leader, Boris brings more than 12 years of experience in a variety of industries, ranging from management consulting to cloud and colocation data centers and hardware manufacturing. Throughout it all, he's been passionate about unlocking the strategic and practical potential of clear processes, augmented by automation and productivity technologies designed to centralize information, drive clarity and simplicity, and build efficient and responsive sales organizations. Boris holds an MA in international relations and international economics from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. He enjoys long hikes in the Bay Area and exploring other corners of the globe.
Tom Simonson
Director of Finance & Accounting
Tom leverages years of experience in and around entrepreneurial finance to help companies, boards, and investors make confident decisions. In addition to building the finance function at Hound Labs, his track record includes three years in transaction advisory services helping companies prepare for growth, capital formation, and M&A activity; ten years in private equity performing financial diligence and assisting portfolio companies to raise debt and equity; three stints in operational finance roles in early and growth stage companies; and four years in asset management overseeing a portfolio of private investments. Tom received an MBA in Finance from the University of Denver.
Louisa Ashford
Marketing Manager
A graduate of Kenyon College, Louisa’s involvement with children’s organizations has inspired her to spread the word about the dangers of marijuana-impaired driving and to work toward a fair solution to address the safety issues caused by stoned driving. Before joining Hound Labs, Louisa managed personnel, budgets, and deadlines for a global linguistics company. Though a native Californian, she spent seven years in the U.K. and four in the Midwest before returning to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Monserrat Baeza
Scientist 1
Monserrat joins the team to support research and development efforts in creating leading-edge diagnostic systems and publications. She brings a wealth of clinical, scientific, and regulatory experience to the Hound Labs team. Monserrat received her BSc in forensic science with a concentration in molecular biology and a minor in chemistry from San Jose State University.
Scientific Advisory Board
David Cornfield, MD
Stanford University Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine
A physician and scientist, Dr. Cornfield is actively engaged in clinical medicine, teaching, and research. In the clinical arena, Dr. Cornfield is a pediatrician with an active practice in both pediatric pulmonary medicine and pediatric critical care medicine. In the research arena, Dr. Cornfield's lab addresses several large thematic issues. Areas of concentration include regulation of pulmonary vascular tone, oxygen sensing in the lung, biological determinants of preterm labor focusing on myometrial smooth muscle cells, developmental regulation of barrier function in the lung, and the role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 in lung development. In addition, there is an active translational research component.
Dan Fletcher, PhD
UC Berkeley Purnendu Chatterjee Professor and Chair
Dan holds the Purnendu Chatterjee Chair in Engineering Biological Systems, Department of Bioengineering, UC Berkeley and is a faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Some of his recent awards include the 2010 Bioengineering Teaching Award, Outstanding Instructor, Bioengineering Honor Society, UC Berkeley; the 2010 Tech Award Laureate, Museum of Technology and Innovation, San Jose, CA; the 2009 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Exploration Grant; and the 2009 Intel Inspire Empower Challenge for Healthcare. He also held a White House Fellowship in Washington, D.C. from 2008 to 2009. Dan attended graduate school at Oxford and Stanford universities and was a Rhodes Scholar.
Matt Francis, PhD
UC Berkeley T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Professor
in Chemistry
A Harvard alumnus, Matt started his independent career in the UC Berkeley Chemistry Department, in 2001, and has built a research program involving the development of new organic reactions for protein modification. Over the years, Matt has received the Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award, an NSF Career Award, and a GlaxoSmithKline Young Investigator Award. He has also received the Departmental Teaching Award on two occasions, the Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and the 2009 University Distinguished Teaching Award.
Joe Heanue, PhD
President & CEO, Triple Ring Technologies
Joe has significant leadership experience in device and instrumentation research and development in interdisciplinary environments. He previously served as Vice President of Engineering at both NexRay, where he led the development of a low-dose X-ray imaging system for interventional cardiology, and Signature Bioscience, where he headed a group that delivered prototype radio frequency and microwave spectroscopy instruments to a major instrument partner.
Joe holds patents for detector and image processing and spectroscopy, and a patent for medical system imaging architecture that is licensed to a major medical equipment manufacturer. He received a BS in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. Joe was a postdoctoral researcher at Xerox PARC, and he has completed the Stanford University Executive Program for Growing Companies.
Board of Directors
Mike Lynn, MD
CEO & Co-Founder, Hound Labs, Inc.
A practicing emergency medicine physician and teacher at a premier trauma center in Oakland, CA, Mike is also a clinical faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition to being an ER physician, Mike worked for 10 years as a venture capitalist specializing in medical devices and biotechnology. In this capacity, Mike invested widely in emerging life science companies and served on multiple boards of directors. A former White House Fellow and Fulbright Scholar with an extensive background in public policy and public health, Mike is currently a reserve deputy sheriff and a fully qualified and active SWAT team member.
Dick Wolf
Acclaimed Television Writer and Producer
Dick Wolf, a multiple Emmy- and Grammy-winning producer, is the architect of the most successful brand in the history of television: Law & Order. As creator and executive producer of all the Law & Order branded series, he is one of television’s most iconic producers. His company has also produced the Emmy-winning HBO telefilm Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee; the Oscar-winning short documentary Twin Towers; the Grammy-winning Doors documentary When You’re Strange; NBC’s hit series Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med, and Chicago Justice; as well as the reality series Nightwatch, Cold Justice, and Inside the FBI: New York. In addition, through the Wolf Family Foundation, he has been a major benefactor to the Wolf Museum of Exploration and Innovation (MOXI) in Santa Barbara; the Carsey-Wolf Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara the Princess Grace Foundation; the Paley Center for Media; and the TV Academy.
Mitch Lasky
General Partner, Benchmark
Mitch Lasky is a General Partner at Benchmark. He has led Benchmark's investments in and holds board seats with Snapchat, Cyanogen, Discord (Hammer & Chisel), EngineYard, thatgamecompany, Meteor Entertainment, Red Robot Labs, PlayFab, and Learnist (formerly Grockit). Prior to their exits, he also held board seats with NaturalMotion Games (Zynga), Gaikai (Sony), Outpost Games, and Riot Games (Tencent). Mitch has spent more than two decades in the mobile gaming, new media, and interactive entertainment business. Prior to joining Benchmark, Mitch served as executive vice president of Mobile and Online at Electronic Arts. Previously, he was chairman and chief executive officer of JAMDAT Mobile, which he joined during its start-up phase in 2000, took public in 2004, and sold to EA in 2006.
Tom Mawhinney
General Partner, Icon Ventures
Tom Mawhinney joined Icon Ventures in 2003 as a General Partner, bringing a 15-year background in the technology industry as both a venture capitalist and an entrepreneur. Tom is currently on the Board of or actively involved with Bill.com, Ionic Security, Opcity, Reputation.com, Synack, Teladoc (TDOC) and The Muse. Prior investments include 41st Parameter (Experian), AmeriPath (PATH), DATAllegro (Microsoft), Infinera (INFN), IntelliQuest (IQST), MarketLive (Vista Equity), Mednax (MD), Microbank Software (SunGuard Data Systems), PostPath (Cisco Systems), Powerwave (PWAV), Solidcore Systems (McAfee), Voltage Security (HP) and Yodle (Web.com). Before joining Icon, Tom was with Canaan Partners and Summit Partners in their Silicon Valley offices. As an entrepreneur, Tom co-founded and spent five years as President and COO of North Systems, a venture-backed software company. Tom received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and graduated with honors from Harvard College.