Stanley “Stan” Lapidus has been providing executive level support and guidance while advising the Company’s CEO and serving as an observer to the Board of Directors since 2018.
Stan founded EXACT Sciences and served as its CEO and Chairman until 2006. Since the commercial introduction of the company’s Cologuard test for non-invasive, early detection of colorectal cancer, EXACT has been the most rapidly growing company in the history of the diagnostics industry.
Prior to EXACT Sciences, Stanley was founder and CEO of Cytyc Corp prior to its acquisition by Hologic for $6.2 billion. He is the principal inventor of Cytyc’s ThinPrep Pap test, which revolutionized screening for cervical cancer and now accounts for approximately 80% of the world market for cervical cancer screening. Stanley was also the founder and CEO of SynapDx and Helicos Biosciences.

Thomas Engels has 30 years of clinical research experience, with over 20 years medical devices, the majority being interventional cardiology. Thomas is currently responsible for Clinical and Medical Affairs at LimFlow, a subsidiary of Inari Medical.
Previously, Thomas was Vice President of clinical affairs for Claret Medical, Micell Technologies and CardioKinetix, taking the companies’ novel devices through trials to achieve CE Mark, European post-marketing safety surveillance, Chinese (CFDA) approval and de novo FDA clearance.
Previously, Mr. Engels was director of clinical research for 10 years at Guidant/Abbott Vascular, where he managed its global portfolio of interventional cardiology studies.
Mr. Engels holds a BS from Louisiana State University and MBA degrees from the Columbia Business School and the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley.

Zachary Woodson has worked in the medical device industry for over 26 years with most of that time in the cardiovascular space. He has worked extensively in the quality and regulatory space for both large and small companies.
Mr. Woodson has served as the Vice President of QA/RA for Claret Medical where he helped secure de novo clearance for the first cerebral embolic protection device for use during TAVR. Following Claret Medical, Mr. Woodson continued his successful track record with FDA as Vice President of QA/RA for LimFlow and upon a successful FDA Advisory Committee achieved approval for the LimFlow System, the first device approved for TADV.

Dr. Abe Zandi has over 30 years’ work experience in technology and product design in DARPA applications, military applications, medical devices, electronics, avionics, optics, aerospace, and green energy harvesting & energy storage. While electro-mechanical design is a primary focus of his work across these markets at both nano and MEMs scales, additional experience includes thermal and mechanical analysis, sensor miniaturization, packaging, electronic and RF assemblies, and procedure and audit approvals within multiple regulatory bodies.
Dr. Zandi is currently the CEO of Bitconcepts engineering that specializes in product design & development where he has contributed to the next generation design of Point-Guard. Dr. Zandi previously held positions as a staff engineer at ITT/Excelis defense, principal engineer at Micromedical Devices Inc., chief engineer at Pacific Antenna Systems and Manager of the R&D group at FMC technologies.
Within these markets, Dr. Zandi applies his extensive simulation expertise in key topics such as: FEA (Finite Element Analysis), CFD (Computational Flow Dynamics (Fluid /Thermal), Shock/Vibration/Impact, Natural Frequency, Static/Dynamic, electromagnetic, and rotor dynamics, test & simulation of multiple complex environments drives, prototyping, integrated and design of sensors and transducers.

Mr. Blankenship has over 30 years in the medical device industry and has served as a Director, CEO, President, COO and CTO of multiple start-up companies, as well as a product development executive for divisions of Eli Lilly, Pfizer and the Battelle Memorial Institute.
Mr. Blankenship brings to the Transverse Medical team his decades of professional experience within the Medical Device industry. Mr. Blankenship’s history with the development of the Point-Guard and his scientific and technical background in structural heart supports the technical and leadership expertise needed to support the Point-Guard development program.
Mr. Blankenship has led business planning, staffing, funding, design, development, approval, manufacturing, launch and exits via acquisition. He is a medical device development specialist, including conception, design, qualification, production, and FDA and EU product approvals.
Much of Mr. Blankenship’s career has focused on cardiac and cardiovascular products. He has led the design of three implantable heart valves, specialty tools associated with implantation of those heart valves, infrared imaging and RF ablation catheters, visible light angioscopes, and several tools associated with heart surgery in general.
Mr. Blankenship is a graduate of the College of Engineering at Arizona State University, holds numerous US and foreign patents, and is a decorated veteran of the United States Submarine Service.

Specialty Advisory Board