Team
Management Team
Tivic Health management is grounded in deep expertise. Tivic’s team of motivated professionals have a talent for innovation and a deep conviction for developing heath-tech medical devices that are non-invasive, drug-free and address US chronic healthcare conditions.
Jennifer Ernst
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Jennifer is a co-founder and has served as our Chief Executive Officer and as a Director. Jennifer served as the CEO and Chief Strategy Officer of the U.S. subsidiary of Thin Film Electronics ASA. She worked for Xerox PARC for over 20 years, where she held multiple go-to-market roles, including as the Director of Business Development. Ms. Ernst previously served as a director of FlexTech Alliance, the U.S. national consortium for flexible and printed electronics, for three years, including one year as the Chair. Ms. Ernst earned her Master of Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University.
Jennifer has been featured in Inc., The HealthCare Technology Report, and Thrive Global as a female leader who is shaking up things in the industry.
Briana Benz
Chief Financial Officer
Briana has over 30 years of broad based financial, investment banking and growth company experience. Previously Ms. Benz was CEO of Campus Televideo, Inc., the nation’s largest private cable operator dedicated exclusively to the college and university market, where she also served as both CFO and COO. Prior to that, Ms. Benz held CFO positions with several venture capital backed ventures and was an Investment Banker with Merrill Lynch Interfunding. Ms. Benz was previously a Certified Public Accountant and earned her Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.
Blake Gurfein, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Blake leads Tivic Health’s clinical and scientific research. In addition to his full-time role at Tivic Health, he is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSF. Blake is an expert in neuromodulation device development and has served as a research executive and consultant for medical device and pharma companies including Rio Grande Neurosciences and EMD Serono/Pfizer. Blake’s prior research in neuroscience and immunology has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and philanthropic donors, yielding high-impact journal publications.
Ph.D., Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Sc.B., Neuroscience, Brown University.
Ryan Sabia
VP Operations and Sales
Ryan serves as Vice President of Sales and Operations with 18 years of experience in global supply chain, systems infrastructure, and sales operations in industries that range from automotive, medical supply, and consumer electronics. Ryan served as Global Director of Strategic Operations for Mars, Inc., General Manager of Operations for Medelita, LLC, a medical apparel and manufacturing company. Prior to that, he worked as Senior Director of Operations for Pinpoint Resources Group, a software technology consulting company and as Hedge Fund Financial Reporting Analyst for J.P. Morgan. He is is seasoned in environments that range from Fortune 500 companies (J.P. Morgan, BestBuy, and Toyota) to bootstrap startups, while specializing in scaling for global omnichannel logistics and e-commerce marketplaces.
Chandrasekhar Durisety, PhD
VP Engineering and Manufacturing
Chandrasekhar is incharge of product development, supply chain, procurement, manufacturing as well as identifying, building and optimizing partnerships with vendors related to product design and production. Since joining Tivic Health as the 1st full-time employee, Chandrasekhar has played an important role in the product development and manufacturing. Prior to Tivic Health, Chandrasekhar worked as Director of Field Applications Engineering at Thinfilm Electronics Inc. and built field teams across APAC, EMEA and North America. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Instrumentation from Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS, Pilani) , Master’s and Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Michael Nketiah
VP Quality and Regulatory Affairs
Michael has more than 22 years of experience in the medical device with a cross-functional background in multiple industry segments. Prior to joining Tivic Health, Michael served as VP in the areas of Quality and Regulatory for other medical technology companies such as Siris Medical, ClearPath Surgical Inc., and Previvo Genetics, Inc. He also served as Senior Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at PROCEPT BioRobotics. Michael’s extensive background includes companies like Boston Scientific, Thoratec Corp. Evalve, Crux Biomedical, Biomimedica, and Altura Medical. MBA St Mary’s College of CA; ME, San Jose State Univ.; BS, Chemistry with Biology minor, Midwestern State Univ.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors bring their expertise and contributions in consumer health and technology to the Tivic Health team, as we scale up commercial operations and develop new bioelectronics therapies.
Jennifer Ernst
Jennifer is a consummate hi-tech business developer with a history of developing markets from new technologies such as Thin Film Electronics ($480M market cap in 5 yrs) with Xerox PARC. With over 20 years at Xerox PARC, she held multiple go-to-market roles and marketed multiple award-winning products. MBA, Santa Clara University. Jennifer has been featured in Authority Magazine and Thrive Global as a female leader who is shaking up things in the industry.
Sheryle Bolton
Sheryle is Professor of Entrepreneurship, Hult International Business School. She is an experienced public company CEO, international Board Member and serial entrepreneur. As CEO and Chairman of Scientific Learning Corporation, a neuroscience technology company, she built the company from pre-product to a highly successful IPO. Previously, she was vice president at Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, and a senior executive at Home Box Office and Rockefeller and Co. Two Stanford Business School cases have been written about her career, and she has been recognized as one of the most influential female Harvard Business School graduates.
Karen Drexler
In addition to the Tivic board, Karen currently serves on the boards of ResMed (NYSE: RSMD), OutSet Medical (NASDAQ: OM) and VIDA Diagnostics. She has extensive and operational experience building consumer health tech device companies. Karen is the former CEO and board member of Sandstone Diagnostics. Previously, she served as chairman of the board of Hygieia, Inc., and remains as an advisor to the CEO. Karen is an active mentor and advisor with Astia, a global nonprofit that supports high-potential female founders. She founded and ran Amira Medical until its sale to Roche Diabetes Care. She managed a variety of functions across the company at LifeScan and executed the sale of the company to Johnson & Johnson. She has received 11 patents, served on numerous boards and is active in non-profits that support female entrepreneurs. Karen was named Female Entrepreneur of the Year by the Stevie Awards, 2013, and Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year by Silicon Valley Women’s Fund, 2002.
Dean Zikra
Dean Zikria has served as a director since July 16, 2019. Dean brings deep industry experience in allergy and asthma as well as other chronic diseases to the Board. From 2019 to 2021, Mr. Zikria served as the CEO of Mind Machine LLC, a marketing/advertising agency, where he was also the Founder and continues to serve as Chairman. He has previously served as CEO of Spirosure, a FeNO detection company for asthma diagnostics, from 2014 to 2017. He has also previously served as head of global marketing for Johnson & Johnson’s Animas Corporation within their medical device & diagnostics division. He was head of strategy for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals U.S. Cardiovascular Unit, a division with approximately $7 billion in annual revenues. We believe that Mr. Zikria is qualified to serve as a member of our Board of Directors due to his experience in the allergy and asthma industries, as well as his experience in strategic planning, scenario planning and analysis, and mergers and acquisitions.
Medical Advisory Board
Thanks to our accomplished experts offering innovation and sound advice. We rely on your high-quality expertise and networking from the medical clinical perspective to financial strategy.
Alan Goldsobel, MD
- Past president of the California Society of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
- Voted “Best of Doctors in America” from 2001-2015
- Adjunct Professor, Stanford University Medical Center
- Allergy and Asthma Associates of Northern California
- Clinical Professor, UCSF
Howard Levine, MD, FACS, FARS
- Director, Cleveland Nasal Sinus and Sleep Center
- Adjunct staff of the Head and Neck Institute of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
- American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
- American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
- American College of Surgeons
- American Rhinologic Society
- Triological Society
Subinoy Das, MD
- CEO and Medical Director at U.S. Institute for Advanced Sinus Care and Research (Ohio)
- Received multiple awards as one of America’s Best Doctors, voted into the top 5% of surgeons
- U.S. board-certified otolaryngologist
- Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
- Fellow of the American Rhinologic Society (received Presidential Citation in 2015)
- Awarded 2013 Fowler Award for NIH funded research (top basic science research award in otolaryngology) for detecting the cause of sinus infections
- Former Research Associate, Center of Microbial Pathogenesis at the Research Institute, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
- Former Director of the Ohio State University Sinus and Allergy Center
Michael B. Foggs, MD, FAAAAI, DFACAAI, FCCP
- Chief of Allergy and Immunology at Advocate Medical Group of Advocate Aurora Health
- Distinguished Fellow, American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
- FDA Distinguished Service Award
- Fellow, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
- Fellow, American College of Chest Physicians
- Living Legend Lifetime Achievement Award, National Medical Association
Mitesh Popat, MD
- CEO, Marin Community Clinics
- Chief Clinical Officer, Sprinter Health
- Board-Certified Family Physician
- Board Member, Partnership Health Plan of California
- Former Board Member and Northern California Chair, American Cancer Society
- Spearheaded innovations in care delivery, with a focus on operational execution and financial viability
- Doctor of Medicine and Masters of Public Health, Tufts University School of Medicine
- Stanford University/O’Connor Hospital Family Medicine Residency