Chairwoman of the Board
Director
Director
Co-chairman of the board & CEO
Director
Director
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Chairwoman of the Board
María Camila Leiva, Executive Vice President, is in charge of MFZ Management’s general administration, accounting and community relations. She attended the Institute Catholique in Paris, France receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Translation and Civilization and thereafter was awarded a special degree in Conference Interpretation and Translation at Washington's Georgetown University. She is fluent in French, Spanish and English, having served as Dean of the School of Interpretation and Simultaneous Translation of the Universidad Del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia. She has intensive experience in Latin America and U.S. international trade and commerce regulations.
She is a member of the board of Baptist Hospital of Miami, Past Chair of the Baptist Children’s Hospital Foundation and past member of the Baptist Hospital Foundation Board. Member of the Board of Give to Colombia, Inc., and Past Chair of the Greater Miami Foreign-Trade Zones Inc. She is also past Chair of PRIDE of Florida, Inc., Industries Training Corp. (ITC) and the Emergency Financial Oversight Board for the City of Miami. She also served in the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Director
I am a plastic surgeon who specializes in microsurgical reconstruction. This is a versatile skill that allows me to address a number of reconstruction challenges in people who have undergone surgery for breast cancer and head and neck cancers. My passion is to use surgical innovation and individualized care to help cancer survivors preserve or restore their relationship with their body.
A major part of my practice is breast reconstruction. I am skilled at a number of techniques that use a person’s own tissue. These include DIEP, GAP, and PAP flaps. More recently, I pioneered the DUG flap technique, enabling even more people to be treated in this manner.
Microsurgical tissue transfer is also useful for nerve reconstruction. For example, people with facial paralysis due to parotid cancer, acoustic neuroma, or Bell’s palsy and people with developmental facial paralysis can benefit. I serve as Director of the Facial Paralysis Program at MSK. I have extensive experience using the full spectrum of techniques for facial reanimation after facial paralysis. These include multiple nerve transfers, nerve grafts, and muscle transplants.
My research is focused on lymphedema, and I serve as Co-Director of Lymphatic Surgery and Research at MSK. I am recognized as an international expert in lymphedema, serving as president and co-founder of the American Society for Lymphatic Surgery and as a board member of the Lymphatic Education and Research Network. I use both microsurgical and other techniques for the treatment of people with lymphedema and I have pioneered techniques to safely perform lymph node transplantation. I also use novel imaging studies to develop tailored treatment plans for each person I care for.
Chief Operating Officer of Health Decisions
Mary Gunn is a Chinese American scientist and the Chief Operating Officer of Health Decisions, a 30-year-old biotechnology and diagnostics service provider in R&D with a focus on women’s health. Gunn has a PhD in Psychology, MBA from Instituto Empresa and Brown University, LLM in Medical Ethics and Law from the University of Edinburgh, BA in Psychology, BA in Economics, and master’s in International Relations from Freie Universität Berlin.
Gunn is an executive-level scientist with 25 years of experience including as COO and GM of private and public biotechnology, medical technology, and CRO companies, overseeing up to 38 countries, 4200 employees, and a $1.6 Billion portfolio in pharmaceuticals (Pfizer), biotechnology (Crucell), medical devices/diagnostics (Becton Dickinson), and Clinical Research Organizations (ICON Plc). Therapeutic areas of expertise include women's health, oncology, autoimmune disease, neurology, vaccines/pandemic planning, and diagnostics. Her career experience is in building and operating companies, fundraising, increasing sales/productivity, and turning around difficult situations through in-depth understanding of drug/device development and their commercialization, as well as global business expertise, having been based out of Europe (UK, Germany, Switzerland), Asia (China, Singapore), and the USA.
Gunn serves on the board of a startup cell therapy company, SpotArt Foundation, is an industrial advisor to private equity, and was elected to the Advisory Board of University Planning for Brown University. She was also a founder of the first medical device trade association based out of Asia (APACMed). Gunn served as the President of Alumni for University of Edinburgh and Brown University, where she was a President’s Scholar and an Eve and Simon Colin Foundation Scholar.
CEO
Alex J. Ness is an entrepreneur with a strong passion for a humanistic approach to technology and science. Originally from Spain, Alex has dedicated over 20 years to build his career in private equity in the U.S., after starting his career in private banking in Europe. Alex founded Sofos Capital, a multifamily office wealth advisory group, Domus One Group, a private equity platform for real estate developments, and One Eleven Capital, a private equity firm managing capital across selected asset classes, which consequently led him to found and spearhead Welwaze Medical. The recession in 2008 brought a great deal of personal growth and Alex shifted his investment strategy focusing on companies and opportunities that have a strong social impact while creating value and return to his investors and shareholders.
Alex is an early stage investor in technology startups and currently sits on the Board of three family groups. He is invited to speak to groups looking for inspiration, purpose, and growth. His continuous support to Miami’s community has earned him recognition as a Miami-Dade County Key recipient.
Director
Frédéric’s professional career started 1990 when he joined
Arthur Andersen in Paris as Consultant then Manager.
He joined the AXA Group in 2000 as Responsible for Corporate Finance for Europe, Latin America and Reinsurance in Paris. In 2003, he was appointed Chief Finance Officer of AXA Seguros in Spain. He then assumed the position of Chief Financial Officer of the Mediterranean and Latin American Region (MedL-12b€ premium) in 2004 and leads the development of the AXA Group in this area namely through the reinforcement of its operations or through the entry in new territories in Southern Europe, in the Gulf Region, in Africa and in Latin America.
In 2010, he was named Chief Executive Officer of New Markets Development, supervising AXA’s operations in countries as Brazil, Nigeria, Algeria, Serbia or Azerbaijan. From 2016 to 2018, aside of his position as Executive Vice Chairman of AXA Africa Specialty Risks, Frédéric was also Responsible of the AXA Group’s development in Africa and the Middle East.
From 2019 to current days, he, between others, serves various board of insurance, reinsurance and bank companies, managed over the two last years a biotech company specialized in cancer detection and is senior advisor of a venture tech fund while supporting the organic and external growth of various Insurtech companies.
He graduated in Engineering at the École Centrale de Paris, member of the French Institute of Actuaries, holding accountant degree and graduated of the “International Director Program” at Insead.
Director
Nina Nashif is an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor with over 25 years of global experience building, backing, and scaling innovative healthcare companies. Most notably, she was the founder and CEO of Healthbox, one of the first healthcare innovation and venture platforms, which partnered with leading healthcare organizations and launched one of the country’s first digital health seed accelerator funds. Her experience spans both operating and investing, with a focus on driving meaningful transformation across the healthcare ecosystem.
Today, Nina is focused on advancing women’s health through Nora, an AI-powered solution redefining how midlife women receive care across menopause and related chronic conditions.
In addition to her operating work, she has held board roles with several venture-backed and privately held companies and previously served on the advisory council of the Stanford Center on Longevity. She is currently a board member at Insperian, a leading privately held healthcare risk management company.
Nina has been recognized as one of Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40” and as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. She is also an active member of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization), a global leadership community of extraordinary chief executives.