ABOUT US

Our technology was spun out of the laboratory of Professor Elisa Konofagou, a pioneer in the field of ultrasound. Dr. Konofagou is the Robert and Margaret Hariri Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Radiology as well as Director of the Ultrasound and Elasticity Imaging Laboratory at Columbia University in New York City. Her main research interests are in the development of novel methods for the advancement of therapeutic ultrasound. Her group has been working in the field for over two decades with applications in a wide array of therapeutic areas, including in breast and pancreatic cancer as well as CNS therapeutics that involve drug delivery through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Konofagou’s work has been internationally recognized by numerous grants and awards from multiple government and private agencies and has resulted in over 270 published articles in peer-reviewed journals. She is recipient of the CAREER award by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Nagy award by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Technological Achievement Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology society (EMBS), the Carl Hellmuth Hertz Ultrasonics Award by the IEEE Society in Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control (UFFC) gas well as additional recognitions by the American Heart Association, the Acoustical Society of America, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the Wallace H. Coulter foundation, the Bodossaki Foundation, the Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Dr. Konofagou is an Elected Member of the National Academy of Medicine (US), an Elected Fellow in multiple organizations including the IEEE, the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering (AIMBE) and of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). She is an administrative committee member of the IEEE in Engineering in Medicine and Biology conference (EMBC) and technical committee of IEEE in Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society (UFFC), the Acoustical Society of America and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. Professor Konofagou is also a technical committee member of the Acoustical Society of America, the International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound, the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology conference (EMBC), the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). She serves as Associate Editor in the journals of IEEE-UFFC Transactions, Ultrasonic Imaging and Medical Physics. She also served as a member of the Greek National Council for Research, Technology and Innovation (ESETEK) which directs all scientific research and innovation in Greece. She recently served as President of the Focused Ultrasound Symposium held in Bethesda, Maryland and is the President-Elect of the International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound.

Dr. Konofagou received her B.Sc. in Chemical Physics from Paris VI University and her M.Sc. in Biomedical engineering from Imperial College, London. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Houston and subsequently trained as Postdoctoral Fellow and served as Instructor at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Simos Simeonidis is Delsona’s CEO, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare space, including as an investor in private and public companies, as a senior biotechnology analyst for a number of investment banks, as a biopharmaceutical executive, board member and biomedical researcher. Most recently, he was the co-CEO and co-CIO of Ally Bridge Group, a healthcare dedicated investment firm investing in private and public companies in the life sciences space. Prior to Ally Bridge Group, he was Partner, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Research of Sarissa Capital Management, a biotechnology focused investment firm. Prior to joining Sarissa, he was a Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in New York and had spent more than a decade covering the biotechnology sector as an analyst at a number of investment banks, including Cowen and Company, First Albany Capital and Morgan Stanley. In addition to his investment management and financial expertise, Dr. Simeonidis combines both biopharmaceutical industry and biomedical research expertise, having worked at Novartis in Business Development and Strategic Planning, and prior to his corporate career, having served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Simeonidis received his B.S. degree in Biology from Loyola University Chicago, and his M.A., MPhil and PhD degrees in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Sciences from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons. He completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the laboratory of Professor Tucker Collins at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he worked on the transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Dr. Simeonidis also holds an MBA in Healthcare Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Vassilis Kontozamanis is a Member of Board of Directors of Delsona Therapeutics. Mr. Kontozamanis is a seasoned healthcare executive and regulator who brings extensive healthcare sector expertise to Delsona, spanning over two decades of leadership in international healthcare environment, policy and management, human resources, economics, strategic planning, financing and outcomes measurement.

From July 2019 until September 2021, he played a key role in successfully managing the COVID pandemic crisis in Greece with the oversight of the country’s healthcare system as Deputy and Alternate Minister, where he led the way in the design and implementation of structural reforms.

Prior to his leadership roles within the Ministry of Health, Mr. Kontozamanis managed the pharmaceutical sector in Greece as Executive Vice President and President of the National Medicines Organization (EOF) and as member of the Management Board of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), where he developed regulation, pricing and reimbursement arrangements for Greece, addressing key industrial and pharmaceutical policy issues in the country. Mr. Kontozamanis has also managed the healthcare system in Greece, via his roles as Chief Executive Officer of the 1st Regional Health Authority (Attica), and as Secretary General of the Ministry of Health and as Advisor to the Prime Minister of Greece for health affairs.

Mr. Kontozamanis received his BS degree in Mathematics from the University of Ioannina/Greece, his MSc degree in Health Care Policy and Management from the University of Birmingham, UK and his MBA from ALBA Graduate Business School. He has also received additional healthcare executive training through seminars and coursework from Harvard, LSE, INSEAD and the University of York, UK.

Konstantinos Alataris, PhD is a serial entrepreneur with a track record in building healthcare companies focused on innovation and bringing new therapeutics to patients. Konstantinos has decades of experience in the biotechnology and medical device industries as a company founder, chief executive officer, investor and board member. Konstantinos was the founder and CEO of Nevro, a publicly listed medical technology company (NYSE: NVRO). Under his leadership, Nevro advanced Senza®, its implantable therapeutic, from concept to commercialization for neurological disorders. He also was the founder and CEO of Nēsos, a company that designed and tested in the clinic, disease modifying neuro-immunotherapeutics to restore autonomic control of the immune response. Nēsos clinical portfolio included clinical trials in autoimmune, neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.