Leadership

Mary Szela

Ms. Szela has nearly 30 years of experience in both the commercial and clinical arenas. Her accomplishments in building billion-dollar businesses, turning around faltering businesses, igniting growth in stagnant businesses, and devising innovative, differentiated strategies for undistinguished products make for a remarkable record.

Previously, Ms. Szela served as Chief Executive Officer of Novelion Therapeutics, a rare disease company, where she orchestrated the merger of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals and QLT Therapeutics. Prior to Novelion, she was Chief Executive Officer of Melinta Therapeutics, leading the company’s revitalization effort and accelerating clinical development of its lead asset for treatment of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

Ms. Szela held ascending management positions at Abbott Laboratories including President of the company’s $8 billion U.S. pharmaceutical business. She developed global brands such as Humira® and served as Vice President for global strategic marketing and services. Ms. Szela currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Coherus Biosciences.

She earned an MBA and a BS in nursing, both from the University of Illinois.

Steven Katz, MD, FACS

Dr. Katz joined TriSalus in 2018 as Chief Medical Advisor and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. In September 2020, Dr. Katz became Chief Medical Officer of TriSalus. Previously, he was Director of the Office of Therapeutic Development at Roger Williams Medical Center. He also serves as Associate Professor of Surgery at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Katz attended the New York University School of Medicine, receiving the Alpha Omega Alpha Award. He completed his general surgery residency at the New York University Medical Center and fellowships in Immunology and Surgical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he served as the Chief Administrative Fellow. His clinical expertise is in liver surgery, pancreatic surgery, sarcoma, and melanoma.

His laboratory research endeavors focus on immunotherapy for liver metastases and sarcoma. He has invented numerous cell therapy products and methods currently under testing or development. Dr. Katz has received research grants from numerous societies and the NIH and DOD. He has led five solid tumor CAR-T clinical trials, testing novel delivery approaches. Dr. Katz serves as a reviewer for several scientific and clinical journals and is a member of the Cancer Gene Therapy editorial board, among others. Dr. Katz also participates on NIH study sections and American Board of Surgery exam committees.

Scott Davie

Scott Davie has more than 25 years of medical device experience, creating and leading teams to deliver innovative, complex, high quality systems from conceptualization to market launch and end of life cycle. He spent the majority of his career at Medtronic. He possesses a deep understanding of clinical workflow and use cases across a variety of medical specialties. Throughout his career, he has developed implantable defibrillators, pacemakers, and pressure sensors; ablation catheters and consoles. His regulatory experience includes 510k’s, PMA-S, original PMAs, and CE Marks, and he has global experience having lived in Spain, Japan, and Canada.

Scott earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford with a focus on Biomechanics and Electronics.

Sean Murphy

Sean Murphy joined TriSalus as Chief Financial Officer in June 2022, after serving on the Board of Directors since September 2021. Previously, he was Executive Vice President of Malin Life Sciences Holding, a publicly traded company that invested for a portfolio of clients, which included pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthcare services. Sean has also been a Senior Advisor at Evercore Partners, a leading investment-banking advisory firm, and Head of Corporate M&A and Business Development at Abbott Laboratories, where, over 30 years with the company in financial planning and controllership positions, he played a leading role in strategic and operational investments. Currently, he serves on the board of directors of several life science companies, including Radius Health, Immucor Diagnostics, Xenex, and Prenosis.

A CPA, Mr. Murphy earned an MS in Finance from the University of Illinois and a BBA from Western Illinois University.

Bryan F. Cox, PhD

Dr. Bryan Cox joins TriSalus as Chief of Research with an emphasis on pharmaceuticals. Dr. Cox has extensive experience working with due diligence teams as they determine the best path forward from early discovery to first-in-man studies, including involvement in projects resulting in U.S. FDA regulatory approval such as Baxalta^®, Gocovri^®, Giapreza^®, Tricor^®, and Orilissa^®. He has (co-) authored/approved over 250 documents for Regulatory submission and participated in the advancement of over 60 compounds to Phase I clinical trials.

Prior to TriSalus, Dr. Cox was President of CoPharm Global Consulting and spent 17 years at Abbott/Abbvie as Director of Integrative Pharmacology, responsible for both lead optimization and IND-enabling studies. In addition, Dr. Cox was a charter member of the technical assessment team for Abbott BioVentures and spent over 20 years serving on their due diligence teams.  Prior to joining Abbott, Dr. Cox was with Rhone Poulenc Rorer. Dr. Cox has published more than 100 papers in peer reviewed journals and has twice been elected to the Council for the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

He received his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Iowa and is currently an adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa, College of Medicine.

Trevor McCaw

Trevor joined TriSalus in October 2020 and serves as Chief Commercial Officer. With extensive experience as a commercial leader in the healthcare industry, Trevor is instrumental in the Company’s integration of novel therapies with innovative drug delivery. Trevor is working to improve patient lives especially for those with the most intractable forms of cancer, namely solid tumors of the liver and the pancreas.

Prior to joining TriSalus, Trevor served as President and Chief Commercial Officer of Clerio Vision and President and Chief Operating Officer for Blueprint Clinical, where he oversaw the development and commercialization of COMPASS, a leading risk-based monitoring analytic platform for clinical trials. In addition, Trevor founded Aegis Medical Innovations of Vancouver, and oversaw the fundraising, operations, R&D and clinical trials, specifically the break-through implantable cardiovascular stroke prevention device licensed from the Mayo Clinic.

Trevor received his Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Computer Engineering from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, and a Master of in Business from Harvard School of Business, Cambridge, MA.

Jennifer Stevens

Jennifer joined TriSalus in March 2021 as Senior Vice President, Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs. She brings us expertise in regulatory affairs, law, and policy developed over nearly 30 years of advising clients as a regulatory leader in industry, a regulator at the FDA, and an attorney/partner in several law firms, including Kirkland & Ellis, Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, and Pillsbury, where her work included counseling regulated industry.

Most recently, Jennifer was Executive Director, Immuno-Oncology/Oncology, Global Regulatory Affairs at EMD Serono (Merck KGaA) where she had oversight responsibility for early and late-stage immuno-oncology/oncology assets. Her accomplishments included regulatory approvals globally for Bavencio, an anti-PD1 therapy being developed in collaboration with Merck KGaA/Pfizer, including BLAs/sBLAs (Merkel Cell carcinoma, 2L urothelial carcinoma (UC), Renal Cell carcinoma, and 1L UC maintenance). Her work also included due diligence projects for in-licensing/purchase of early/mid-stage assets. 

Before EMD, Jennifer spent 4+ years as Counsel at the FDA, advising on regulations, policy, and agency guidance.

Jennifer received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and her JD from George Washington University, graduating cum laude from both institutions.

Richard Marshak

Dr. Richard B. Marshak joins TriSalus as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategy, and will be leading critical business development and partnership efforts, including guiding the SD-101 go-to-market strategy. Richard brings nearly 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech space, where he has had major roles in more than 13 product launches.

Previously, Richard was Managing Principal of LF Consulting; an Advisor to EMA Partners, a boutique investment bank; and CEO of Mount Tam Biotechnologies, a spin-off of Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Richard also spent 15 years at Abbott/Abbvie in roles in marketing, business development, strategic planning, and general management in the Pharmaceutical Products Group. Currently, he serves on the board of directors of Nephraegis, which he co-founded. 

A former equine veterinarian in Pennsylvania, Mr. Marshak holds BA and VMD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.