Our History

Vincent has held different QA and RA management positions in start-up, scale-up and international medical devices companies such as Miracor Medical, Vancive Medical Technologies, Terumo Europe  and IBA for over 25 years. 

In this context he was responsible for obtaining and maintaining national and international regulatory approval for Class III and IIb active medical devices and for obtaining the needed QMS certifications.

Gijs Klarenbeek holds an MD from the University of Leuven and was trained as a general surgeon. Following his clinical and academic experience, Gijs held for over 15 years roles in Medical Affairs and Clinical development in pharmaceutical and medtech companies, with a strong focus on clinical strategy for (implantable) medical devices, including preclinical evalulation and pre-approval development, to post market clinical requirements across different therapeutic areas. 

More than 20 years of experience in medical device marketing & market access. In neurostimulation, Anne has launched 2 industry-first implantable systems on the EU market (DBS for dystonia and ONS for chronic migraine).

Before joining Synergia Medical, Dan has held operational management positions in medical device companies such as DePuy Spine (a Johnson & Johnson company), Synthes, Biwi and iSTAR Medical. Prior to that, Dan worked for 6 years in the automotive and electronics industries. His operational responsibilities included global supply chain management, global manufacturing, product development, engineering, procurement and logistics. Dan also has experience in prototyping, testing and quality systems, as well as extensive, multi-site, operational experience in various environments such as start-up, ramp up, and corporations.

Dan is a Swiss national with an Engineering degree in electronics and physics from the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, and is a certified Six Sigma Black belt.

With over 24 years of experience in finance, Dimitri specializes in guiding start-ups and scale-ups through strategic growth, funding, and grants. He has more than 15 years of expertise in establishing and overseeing company growth strategies, managing complex Research & Development programs, and leading recruitment and funding strategy implementations. His work spans both Europe and the United States, enabling organizations to thrive in dynamic and competitive markets.

Catherine brings 10 years of experience in the development of active implantable medical devices. With a bio-engineering degree and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), Catherine has cultivated a profound understanding of the intersection between engineering and biomedical innovation.

At Synergia Medical, she led the end-to-end preclinical and clinical development of the NAO.VNS device, an innovative optoelectronic neurostimulation solution. Her leadership and technical acumen were instrumental in achieving the successful completion of the First-In-Human (FIH) study, a key milestone in advancing the device's clinical viability. Catherine's commitment to medical innovation continues to drive Synergia Medical's mission of transforming patient care through advanced medical technologies.

Sophie Baratte was the General Manager of Johnson & Johnson France and the Sorin Group, before becoming the CEO of CitoxLab in 2009. She then continued her career as EMEA S&M VP for Lifecell and as CEO of Cellnovo Group. She has a good experience in the US Market and a good understanding of all health and economics environments across Europe.

She studied Life Sciences Engineering in France. She holds a PhD in Biotechnologies and an MBA from the HEC Paris.

Marc Nolet de Brauwere was appointed CEO of PhysIOL in 1997 when he took over the company. He previously held different positions at Petrofina S.A. in the US and as an associate at McKinsey.

He is currently an Independent Director at Cardiatis, Mymicroinvest, Endo Tools Therapeutics, Biotech Coaching, iSTAR Medical and Aliaxis and is currently a Member of the Ashoka Support Network.

He holds a Master’s degree in Civil Mining Engineering from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium and a Master’s degree in Industrial Management from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Pierre DETRIXHE is Investment Manager at INVESTSUD Group. Prior to that, he worked as Technology Transfer Officer and Scientist in biotechnology. He holds a master in Bioengineering (ULiège) and a master in Management (UCL). 
At INVESTSUD Group, Pierre manages the “Financière spin-off luxembourgeoise” which is a specialized vehicle investing in seed and early-stage technological start-ups. The portfolio companies features some of the regional leading tech companies mainly in the Life Sciences and in the Medtech Industries.

Attila Borbath’s M.Sc. in Business Administration and Engineering from the UCLouvain followed by the CEMS Master’s in International Management naturally brought him to pave his professional way in a technological start-up in the finance sector for 10 years.

In parallel, he obtained his Airline Transport Pilot License. He was then convinced by the idea of joining an innovative technology start-up where he had the role of VP Sales & Marketing. In 2013 he moved to Synergia Medical that he co-founded. Well-travelled, multilingual and energetic, Attila has developed remarkable management, entrepreneurial, marketing and business development skills.

Denis Gestin has over 30 years of experience in the management of medical device companies.

He worked for more than 20 years at Abbott Laboratories (previously St. Jude Medical), where he occupied the positions of President of the International Division and then Senior Vice President of Global Commercial Integration. He has a wide experience in neurostimulation, as he was involved in St Jude’s acquisition of Advanced Neuromodulation System and Spinal Modulation.

Enrique Vega holds a Master's Degree in industrial engineering from ICAI (Spain) and ESIEE (France). He started his career developing algorithms for CPAP devices to monitor and treat Sleep Apnea patients. After an MBA at INSEAD, he worked in the cardiology and heart failure businesses in different positions (sales, business management) and in different countries (France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America).

In 2013, he joined the New Ventures department of Livanova, and participated on the investment and management of different start-ups in neuromodulation for heart failure and sleep apnea. In 2016, he became the CEO of Nyxoah, and brought the company from R&D stage to CE-Mark, IDE-FDA approval, and IPO preparation process. He is today supporting different early-stage start-up to accelerate their path to market.