Our People

Stephen is CEO of Zoan and was an early investor in the business. Sharing the business ambitions to innovate in the Orthopaedic industry, he recognised the enormous opportunity to deliver improved patient outcomes with Zoan’s unique platform.  Stephen brings senior operational and leadership experience across many markets and industries.  He has 20+ years experience in the US, Europe and Asia holding Managing Director positions with General Electric, LBG and HSBC and has worked extensively with private equity partners and investors. Stephen graduated from Trinity College in Business & Economics and graduated as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG.

James’s unique skill set is built on 20+ years of passion and determination in understanding, refining and developing processes that allow a multitude of marine vertebrates and invertebrates to be cultured in land based recirculation systems.

His vision has facilitated our fully cultured coral to be integrated and certified to the ISO 13485:2016 standard.

A recently published patent demonstrates his life’s work – the understanding of environmental, chemical, and physical characteristics of coral that have been harnessed to produce a naturally assembled bone graft material.

BSc in Process Technologies in Pharma & Medtech.

Martin leads the development of Zoan’s portfolio and the research that underpins it. He combines a deep knowledge of our materials and production methods to spearhead the development of medical devices, 3D printed materials and coral conservation solutions.

Martin’s 20 year academic career gives him a deep understanding of science, evidence needs and research methods. He has worked with WWF, the European Commission and the Dutch Environment Ministry, covering a diverse range of topics including carbon storage by marine ecosystems and control of chemical properties of aquaculture systems. He is an author on 30+ peer reviewed publications to date.

Martin has a PhD in Marine Biogeochemistry and a Degree in Environmental Science.

Flora brings a wealth of experience from her diverse background spanning research, academic teaching and most recently clinical work as a practising pharmacist and member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. Flora completed her B.Sc (Hons) in Biotechnology and M.Sc in Neuropharmacology at NUI, Galway. As part of her M.Sc studies she worked in London for GSK, developing a model for Alzheimer’s. She went on to spend two years lecturing in pharmacology and neuropharmacology. Flora undertook prize winning research, presenting a systematic review of the literature around Ankylosing Spondylitis and co-ordinated an audit of patient clinical data in Scotland and Ireland.

Lecturer in Cellular Manufacturing & Therapy at the National University of Ireland Galway.  She has significant experience in creating, evaluating, patenting and translating cellular therapies and medical devices in enterprise and academic settings. Experience includes Johnson & Johnson and collaborations with Medtronic, Smith & Nephew, Orbsen Therapeutics, Owl Biomedical and Galway University Hospitals. Cynthia has contributed to clinical trials in Ireland, Germany, the US and Denmark, secured patents and developed an extensive publication record in orthopaedic repair.

Hsu Min specialises in patents in the fields of chemistry, material science and pharmaceuticals and has been advising Zoan on its IP Strategy since 2020. Her experience includes drafting and prosecuting patent applications in a wide range of technologies, including those relating to pharmaceuticals, catalytic processes, household products, electrochemistry, medical devices and polymers.

Hsu Min particularly enjoys working with start-ups and SME’s to build IP portfolios and develop IP strategies that help bring sustainable innovations to market.

Hsu Min also has a wealth of experience in European Oppositions and Appeals and regularly represents clients at Oral proceedings at the European Patent Office. She manages substantial patent portfolios and regularly provides clients with opinions on their freedom-to-operate in the light of third party rights.

Hsu Min has a First Class Masters’ Degree in Chemistry from Oxford University. She started in the patent profession in private practice in 1996, before joining the in-house patent department of a FTSE 100 multinational Oil & Gas company. She is a Partner at HGF, London.

Frank graduated in Medicine from Trinity College having trained in surgery in Ireland, the UK and the Mayo Clinic.  Consultant in General and Colorectal Surgery and became an Associate Professor of Surgery in Trinity College. Examiner in surgery at  Imperial College, London.  Former President of Royal College of Surgeons Ireland and Chair of the Joint Surgical Colleges, UK and Ireland.

Lead of the National Clinical Programme in Surgery between RCSI and the Health Service Executive.  Chaired national groups on medical card eligibility, recruitment, acute hospital performance and currently advising the Slaintecare Programme.

Frank has over 100 publications in scientific journals and is an honorary fellow of the Surgical Royal Colleges of London, Edinburgh and Glasgow and the College of Physicians of Ireland.

A qualified accountant with KPMG holding a BSc in Business & Economics from Trinity College, Dublin. Michael is involved in many businesses, providing finance and sitting on a number of boards in executive and non-executive roles. His business interests include med tech, renewable energy, civil construction and property development

Our Chairman and Co-Founder, Ronnie Invested in the Inagh Valley site where Zoan BioMed is located. His aim was and remains today, to establish an enterprise community in Connemara that would preserve and enhance the pristine environment in the shelter of the Atlantic – while offering an invaluable source of employment in the region. Ronnie was a highly successful Irish Barrister, elected Senior Counsel.

Mary has over 25 years of regulatory experience in the medical device, diagnostics, and biotech industries. She has successfully authored over 170 510(k)s/responses, multiple PMAs, De Novo submissions, Breakthrough device designations, and has been responsible for several clinical trials. In addition, she has strong regulatory knowledge of global regulatory practices and registrations in Europe, Korea, and Australia having worked on many technical files and CERs. Senior Vice President of Regulatory at Alira Health and responsible for management of all medical device/combination product strategies, submissions, and FDA meetings. Previous experience at Intrinsic Therapeutics, Echo Therapeutics, Z-Medica, and  Molecular Biometrics.

Roger Sloan is an active Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at South Warwickshire Hospitals, UK. He was brought up in Holywood, Northern Ireland, trained at Edinburgh Medical School and completed specialist orthopaedic training occurring at Oswestry, Birmingham, Coventry and Warwickshire. Specialist training in upper limb surgery where he completed two fellowships in Derby, UK and Melbourne, Australia.

The spectrum of patients Roger cares for includes the entire upper limb from shoulder to elbow, hand and wrist including acute trauma. He is fully experienced in all aspects of arthroscopic work for shoulder and elbow conditions. He also deals with degenerative, inflammatory and post-traumatic conditions requiring arthroplasty in the shoulder and elbow.

Derek Cawley works as a spine surgeon in Dublin, Ireland (www.thespineacademy.ie). He completed spine fellowships at CHU Bordeaux, France and RNOH Stanmore, UK. Awards include the BOA ZimmerTrauma, Eurospine, Ethicon, Mark Paterson and EFORT travelling fellowships. Derek chairs the PatientLine group as part of the European Spine Society and is the editor of the popular patient website:  www.myorthoclinic.com. Previously Derek completed Masters’ degrees in Medical Sciences and in Surgery. He directs the Spinal Studies Module on the UCD Masters in Physiotherapy. Derek has co-authored over 70 research papers, 4 book chapters and a book entitled “Spinal Anatomy: Modern Concepts”.

Co-Founder of Zoan BioMed with a passion for commercialising innovative medical device research. Declan holds an MSc in Marine Science and spent a number of years advising the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science on commercialisation strategies.

Stan is an internationally recognised scientist. His research focuses on biomineralization, a field that is poised to have tremendous impact on human health. Initially, Stan applied analytical chemistry methods to reconstruct the puzzle of bone and coral biomineralization. Among the work he has led over the last few years, Stan revealed the mechanism of calcification in reef-building corals. This work attracted much attention from mainstream media including The New York Times as it has important implications for the health of corals in our ever-warming, rising-CO₂ future climate. At present, Stan’s ambition is to convert his advanced knowledge in biominelization into disruptive biomaterials for bone repair and regeneration.

Leads the strategic partnership with PBC Biomed Ltd. Paul has extensive experience in bringing orthobiologic products through the product lifecycle to Regulatory Approval and has an extensive network of clinicians and key influencers. Paul successfully managed the spin-out of CelgenTek which was acquired by ZimmerBiomet. CelgenTek developed, manufactured and commercialised innovative orthobiologics for treating compromised bone. Paul has a B.Sc. Biochemistry, University of Limerick, Ireland.

Barrister at Law (2000) and a European Trade Mark and Design Attorney, specialising in contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters and commercial law. Helen is the author of a textbook and several articles on IP and, as well as lecturing and tutoring, she has co-developed IP courses for the Law Society of Ireland in addition to other third level legal courses. She also specialises in animal health and welfare law and prosecutes breaches of the legislation before the Irish courts.