Our team merges deep industry and operational experience with diversified capabilities.

David serves as an Associate at Ajax Health.

Prior to Ajax, David was an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he advised emerging companies and VC and PE firms on corporate governance issues, equity financings, and M&A transactions.  Before Latham, David served as a judicial law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts (U.S. Supreme Court), Judge Brett Kavanaugh (U.S. Court of Appeals), and Judge Dabney Friedrich (U.S. District Court), and as a judicial extern to Judge Mark Wallace (U.S. Bankruptcy Court).

David received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated first in his class, summa cum laude.  He received his B.S., summa cum laude, from the University of Southern California.  Before law school, David led business development for The Drop Box, a documentary film that has raised over $10 million for children with disabilities through strategic partnerships and worldwide distribution.

Jocelyn serves as the VP of Finance of Ajax Health. She is also the CFO of Protaryx and VP of Finance of current Ajax companies Ablacon, Serpex Medical, Verix Health, and EPMap-System.

Prior to Ajax, Jocelyn was the CFO of Symic Bio, a biopharmaceutical company that developed therapeutics focused on matrix biology. At Symic, Jocelyn was responsible for the management of all finance and accounting functions, as well as investor communication. Jocelyn was with Symic Bio from its inception to partnering of its lead assets. Jocelyn was also the CFO of TauTona Group, an early-stage life science venture. She was closely involved in the sale of TauTona’s assets to Allergan (AGN), LifeCell, and Novadaq (NVDQ). Previously, she was the Controller of CV Ingenuity, a medical device company that developed drug-coated balloon platforms that was acquired by Covidien. Jocelyn started her career at Deloitte and Touche, LLP, where she spent time in both the tax and audit departments.

Jocelyn received a B.A. from the University of San Diego.

Aftab serves as Chief Medical Officer and Managing Director of Ajax Health. He also serves as Executive Vice Chairman of current Ajax companies Ablacon, Serpex and Verix, and as a board member of Cortica and Protaryx. He additionally serves as Chairman of Summus Global and on the Board of Visitors of Duke University School of Medicine.

Prior to Ajax, Aftab was a Partner at Aisling Capital, a life science-dedicated investment fund in New York, where he continues to serve as an Operating Partner. While at Aisling, Aftab was actively involved with all aspects of sourcing, diligence, and managing investments in several private and public medtech, biopharma, and diagnostic companies. His historic board involvement includes companies such as Arcus Biosciences (NYSE:RCUS), Loxo Oncology (acquired by Eli Lilly), Spirox (acquired by Entellus), Syros Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SYRS), and TransEnterix (NYSE:TRXC). Prior to Aisling, Aftab was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, where he was a member of the Pharmaceutical, Medical Product, and Private Equity practices. Before that, Aftab was a Chief Resident in Surgery at Duke University Medical Center, where he completed his residency in general surgery. He also completed a two-year post-doctoral research fellowship investigating treatments for heart failure, valve disease, and arrhythmia at Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons. While at Columbia, he served as an organ procurement fellow as part of the cardiothoracic transplantation team of New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Aftab received his M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellowship recipient, and his B.S. in Biology and A.B. in Economics from Duke University, awarded magna cum laude and graduating Phi Beta Kappa.

Joe serves as a Principal at Ajax Health. He also serves as the Chief Strategic Officer of Ablacon, Chief Technology Officer of Verix Health and Serpex Medical, and a Senior Technical Advisor for EPMap-System. He has over 27 years of research and development experience in medical device companies.

Prior to Ajax, Joe served as the SVP of R&D at EPIX Therapeutics and the principal inventor of EPIX’s technology, which was sold to Medtronic in 2019. Prior to EPIX, Joe served as a technology leader at Boston Scientific, US Surgical, and EP Technologies where he invented, developed, and commercialized numerous diagnostic and therapeutic devices and technologies. Joe is credited with 90 issued U.S. patents covering a wide spectrum of technologies for medical devices, specifically related to steerable catheter technologies and cardiac electrophysiology. Joe is the author of numerous scientific publications related to the diagnosis and treatment of arrythmias and ablation biophysics.

Joe received a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Engineering.

Melissa serves as a Clinical Advisor for Ajax Health. She also serves as Senior Medical Director for Ablacon.

As a cardiac electrophysiologist, she was a partner at Silicon Valley Cardiology, a high-volume private practice with an extensive clinical research program and has expertise in the management and ablation of complex arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation, supraventricular, and ventricular tachycardias as well as comprehensive cardiac device management including pacemaker, cardioverter-defibrillator, cardiac resynchronization therapy device implantation and both laser and mechanical lead extraction. She has also served as the EP liaison on the Heart Failure Council of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and was a Sequoia Hospital Foundation board member for six years. As an author on numerous peer-reviewed articles, Melissa remains actively involved in preclinical and clinical research, having served in principal investigator and international steering committee roles in multicenter and international clinical trials. She also serves as an advisory board member and/or consultant to several public and private healthcare companies.

Melissa received her M.D. from Duke University, where she stayed for her internship and residency in internal medicine, fellowship in cardiovascular disease, and subspecialty fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology. She is board-certified in cardiology and electrophysiology. She received her A.B. from Princeton University where she graduated summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Doug serves as CFO and Managing Director of Ajax Health. He also serves as the CFO of current Ajax companies Ablacon, Serpex Medical and Verix Health, is a Managing Director of EPMap-System, and serves on the board of Protaryx Medical and Cortica. He has over 25 years of experience in management consulting and as an executive of venture-backed companies.

Prior to Ajax, Doug was the CFO of EPIX Therapeutics, which was acquired by Medtronic in 2019, the CFO of Spirox, which was acquired by Entellus in 2017, and the CFO of CV Ingenuity, which was acquired by Covidien in 2013. Prior to CV Ingenuity, Doug served as CFO and CEO at several high-tech and healthcare services companies. Doug began his professional career as a management consultant at Gemini Consulting. Doug also currently serves on the Board of Bear Cloud Technologies.

Doug received an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. from UC San Diego.

Shane serves as an Associate at Ajax Health. 

Prior to Ajax, Shane was an associate at Cooley LLP where he worked on venture capital and growth equity financings with a focus on life sciences companies. 

Shane received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he participated in the Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project and graduated magna cum laude. He received his B.S. in Economics from Duke University, where he was a member of both the track and cross-country teams and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Cason serves as a Senior Associate at Ajax Health. He also serves as VP of Business Development for Verix Health and Serpex Medical.

Prior to Ajax, Cason received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as editor and Business Chair of the Harvard Law Review, participated in the Harvard Innovation Lab venture incubation program, and graduated magna cum laude. Prior to law school, he was an account manager at Oracle, covering data security solutions.

He received his B.A. from Stanford University, where he played defensive back on the football team.

Duke serves as CEO and Managing Director of Ajax Health. He also serves on the board of current Ajax companies Ablacon (Executive Chairman), Serpex Medical (Executive Chairman), Verix Health (Executive Chairman) and Foresight. He has over 20 years of experience as an executive in medical device companies.

Prior to Ajax, Duke co-founded and served as the Chairman and CEO of EPIX Therapeutics, which was acquired by Medtronic in 2019. Prior to EPIX, Duke served as co-founder and CEO of Spirox, which was acquired by Entellus in 2017. Prior to Spirox, he co-founded and served as CEO of CV Ingenuity, which was acquired by Covidien in 2013. Prior to CV Ingenuity, Duke served in a variety of roles at FoxHollow Technologies before being named President. In this role, Duke led the sale of the company to ev3 (now Medtronic) in 2008. Prior to FoxHollow, Duke served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the private equity firm Alta Partners. Duke began his professional career as the co-founder and President of a 9-unit, ~$20 million per year restaurant company. Duke currently serves as a Trustee of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association.

Duke received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Stanford University.

Sarah serves as the Human Resources Manager of Ajax Health. She has over 15 years of experience in the start-up medical device industry.

Most recently, Sarah served as the Human Resource Manager of EPIX Therapeutics, which was acquired by Medtronic in 2019. Prior to EPIX Therapeutics, Sarah held roles in Human Resources and Business Management at Spirox, which was acquired by Entellus in 2017. Preceding both EPIX and Spirox, Sarah was an independent Human Resources and Business Management consultant for Pivot Medical, Miramar Labs, The Foundry, ProDuct Health, Ensure Medical, and Oculeve.

Sarah received her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from The University of Phoenix.

Garheng serves as Chairman of the Board of Ajax Health. A physician, scientist, and engineer by training, Garheng has over two decades of experience investing in innovative companies in all areas of healthcare, and has led over 25 companies to successful exits (IPO and M&A).

Garheng is the Founder and Managing Partner of HealthQuest Capital, a private asset firm that currently provides growth capital to transformative companies that are improving value in the healthcare system. HealthQuest Capital has a longstanding capital partnership with Ajax Health, having first invested in Spirox (led by Duke Rohlen and sold to Entellus), and subsequently in all Ajax-backed companies. Prior to founding HealthQuest, Garheng was a partner at Intersouth Partners and Sofinnova Investments, and has also spent time at GlaxoSmithKline and McKinsey, and as a CEO of two early-stage biotech companies.

Garheng also serves on boards of LabCorp (LH), Alimera Sciences (ALIM), StrongBridge (SBBP), Be The Match, and the Duke University Medical Center. He is an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow, Kauffman Fellows Mentor, and member of YPO.

Garheng received undergraduate degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Biological Sciences from Stanford, while on an athletic scholarship, and earned MD, PhD and MBA degrees from Duke University.