The SoPE Miami Chapter brings together entrepreneurial professionals who want to apply their knowledge, experience, and innovation in the healthcare world. We welcome all interested in Healthcare, Medical Devices, Digital Health, and Biosciences. Are you a physician with a brilliant idea? Please join us! Are you a developer interested in launching a new program to improve our healthcare delivery? Come on over. Are you an investor looking for inspiration for your next big break? Please, join us too! Whether you are starting your entrepreneurial experience or interested in launching and scaling your tenth start-up, we gather an expert group that can help you bring your idea to fruition from start to finish.
Join us! We meet at quarterly meetings rich in presentations, provocative interactions and networking of like-minded individuals.
Alejandro Badia, MD, FACS, FRCSI is a hand and upper extremity surgeon, author and healthcare entrepreneur in Doral (Miami), Florida.
Badia studied physiology at Cornell University and obtained his medical degree at NYU, where he also trained in orthopedics. A hand fellowship at Alleghany General Hospital in Pittsburgh was followed by an AO trauma fellowship in Freiburg, Germany. He runs an international hand fellowship, served on the review board of a hand surgery techniques journal, and previously organized a yearly Miami meeting for surgeons /therapists devoted to upper limb arthroscopy and arthroplasty. This international meeting was held at the renowned Miami Anatomical Research Center ( M.A.R.C. ) which Badia co-founded in 2005.
In 2008 he created the Badia Hand to Shoulder Center, having previously co-founded the Miami Hand Center, and Surgery Center at Doral.
In 2010 he launched OrthoNOW®, the first immediate orthopedic care center in south Florida, later franchising the concept which can now be licensed to orthopedic colleagues and healthcare systems and currently seeking the optimal strategic healthcare partner.
He is past president of the International Society for Sport Traumatology of the Hand (ISSPORTH) is a member of several orthopedic societies (AAOS, ASSH, AAHS, EWAS), honorary member of more than 10 international hand surgery and arthroscopy associations, and served as honored professor at the prestigious Philadelphia Hand Course in 2012. Having lectured in all seven continents he is currently focused on improving healthcare delivery in the orthopedics and sports medicine realm.
Dr Badia has outlined his journey and delved into the major challenges and hurdles of delivering healthcare in the U.S. through his Amazon best-selling book, “Healthcare from the Trenches” published during the Covid19 pandemic.
Dr. Perez-Villa joined Innovations in November 2021 as part of the Engagement team. He is the Engagement and Partnering Associate for the Florida region where he is responsible for driving awareness of Cleveland Clinic’s culture of innovation and developing meaningful connections with Cleveland Clinic’s network of current and future inventors.
Prior to joining the team, he was a Research Associate at the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute in Cleveland Clinic Florida where he lead the deployment of the Outcomes Management and Evaluation system to collect patient-reported outcome measures in a highly structured and consistent manner before and after treatments.
Dr. Perez-Villa completed his MD at the National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina and then received training as a cardiologist at Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Spain. After finishing his residency, he worked in a county hospital, helping build the heart failure unit from scratch and developed a mobile application to improve the quality of care for heart failure patients. He served as the CSO of Wellian Inc., a digital health start-up based in Boulder, USA from 2018 to 2020. He holds an MSc in health economics, outcomes and management from the London School of Economics and a fellowship in healthcare innovation at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
DAVID BIGIO, MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Executive Member
David Bigio is a Mechanical Engineer from the Universidad de Los Andes, graduated in 1985, his thesis was on the reconstruction of the knee when, long beofre biomedical engineering was introduced, the university started the experiment of bringing together engineers with physicians to work together on their graduation projects.
With this project Bigio and Dr. Adolfo Llinas were awarded the National prize for Research in Orthopaedics, the first time an engineer was awarded such prize.
After 25 years in the industry, from oil services (Schlumberger) in various parts of the world, the development of advanced technologies and ventures on the Internet (HP) in Silicon Valley and leading a division of products dedicated to the defense (GE) Miami, David returns to the field of biomedical engineering to develop and commercialize medical devices and to advise students of biomedical Engineering at the University of Los Andes and other institutions in innovation and entrepreneurship in the biomedical field.
PEDRO MARTINEZ-CLARK, MD
Executive Member
Pedro Martinez-Clark, MD is an internationally renown cardiologist in Miami, Florida. He completed his internal medicine residency training in Cleveland, OH, and later a fellowship in cardiovascular medicine, interventional cardiology, vascular medicine and endovascular therapies at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medicine School. During these formative years, Dr. Martinez-Clark trained under some of the world’s top cardiologists. Today, Dr. Martinez-Clark is an active member of the American college of cardiology, society for cardiac angiography and interventions (SCAI), American board of vascular medicine, Latin American Society of Interventional Cardiology, and the American Board of Antiaging Medicine. Dr. Martinez-Clark specializes in management of cardiovascular risk, integrative medicine, complex minimally invasive cardiovascular procedures and technology integration for healthcare delivery. Dr. Martinez-Clark has published in the best peer–reviewed journals in cardiovascular medicine and lectures regularly both nationally and internationally; he is also a coauthor in the most respected textbook in cardiovascular medicine. He is one of the pioneers in percutaneous aortic valve replacement in South Florida and has been involved in the development of several cardiovascular technologies and procedures. Dr. Martinez-Clark is one of the original physicians who described the transcaval procedure wining the “best research award” at the 2014 SCAI meeting. After serving as medical director for Syntheon, LLC —a successful medical device firm in South Florida—— Dr. Martinez-Clark became the cofounder of Miami MedTech, the first Miami based healthcare incubator for medical devices and is also the founder and chief medical office of Interventional Concepts, Inc. a boutique contract research organization which caters to early stage life sciences startups. Dr. Martinez-Clark has developed a successful cardiovascular practice in Miami caring for many high profile personalities, athletes and celebrities. Dr. Martinez-Clark believes in patient empowerment through education and the use of technology platforms that allows the physicianpatient relationship to focus more on physiological potential and disease prevention.
DR. APARICIO, PH.D.
Executive Member
Dr. Aparicio, Ph.D. has more than 30 years of experience in technical and scientific leadership in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries where he has worked in R&D process and product development for Ciba-Geigy, Warner-Lambert, and Beckman Coulter. Dr. Aparicio is a world leader in the robotic automation of biological assays and pharmaceutical processes that enhance operating efficiency in both research settings and drug discovery-development, and is inventor on many patents. Prior to assuming the role of CEO in 2012, Carlos was the COO of ImmunoSite, directed the Automation Business Center, and established the Particle Testing Business Center. Carlos earned a Ph.D. in Chemical/Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University, M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University, and B.S. in Engineering Science from the University of Miami.
- Boards and organizations
- Advisory Board Member, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, South Florida Office
- Member at Council of Economic Advisors, Greater Ft Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
- Board of Directors, HiaTec, Hialeah Technology Center
- Industry Advisory Board, Biomedical Engineering, University of Miami
- BioFlorida, Entrepreneurial Network Committee
- Greater Ft Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
- Guest Speaker, Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University.
- Adjunct Faculty, Electrical Engineering, Florida Atlantic University.
- Industry Advisory Council Member, Palm Beach State College
- BioFlorida, Business Growth Subcommittee
Five Top Reasons You Should Attend Miami SoPE Chapter events
- Learn by Example & perfect your own!
- Understand what seasoned investors expect in real life terms
- Networking with like-minded professionals
- Create your own Due Diligence process
- Be Part of It!
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