We redefine drug delivery for the benefit of patients, providers, payers, and partners.
Founded in 2010, Enable Injections is a healthcare innovation company committed to improving the patient treatment experience through the development and manufacturing of enFuse.
enFuse is a wearable drug delivery solution featuring the first-ever purely mechanical hands-free wearable technology designed to deliver large volumes of pharmaceutical and biologic therapeutics subcutaneously, in which patients receive their needed treatment through a simple injection under the skin, instead of intravenously.
Driven by patient insights, we are continuously exploring ways to improve the patient experience, increase patient and provider safety, and reduce the time, treatment, and cost burden of treating chronic diseases.
Headquartered with design, development, and manufacturing in Cincinnati, Ohio, Enable Injections has received more than $300 million in capital funding.
Executive Team
Mike Hooven
Mike Hooven has over 30 years of experience in the medical device industry in a broad variety of technical and clinical areas. He is the founder of three medical device companies and holds over 100 issued and pending US patents.
Mike is the founder, and a Director of AtriCure, Inc. (Nasdaq ATRC). AtriCure is a Medical Device company that manufactures and sells surgical devices to treat the most serious forms of atrial fibrillation. AtriCure has grown rapidly to become the market leader, with over 200,000 procedures performed. AtriCure completed a successful Initial Public Offering on August 5, 2005, and currently lists on the NASDAQ under the symbol ATRC as a multibillion-dollar company. Mike also is a Director and past Chairman of BioOhio, a state-funded organization to accelerate life-science start-up companies in Ohio. Mike was appointed by the Governor to the Third Frontier Advisory Board, a $2.3BB state funded initiative to accelerate high tech job creation in Ohio. Mike also sits on the Commercial Advisory Committee for the University of Cincinnati.
Mike previously held positions as the Chairman and CEO of AtriCure, and the Founder and Chairman of Enable Medical, a surgical device manufacturer that was acquired by AtriCure in August of 2005. Mike founded Enable in April of 1994, and prior to that he headed up all internal product development at Ethicon Endo-Surgery from 1988 to 1994. Mike held Engineering positions at Siemens/Pacesetter from 1986 to 1988, and at Cordis Corporation from 1981 to 1986. He earned a BS in Physics and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Matthew J. Huddleston
Mr. Matthew J. Huddleston serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Enable Injections. He is an experienced medical device professional with more than 20 years of experience in startup environments with emphasis in project management, design, development, manufacturing, regulatory, and intellectual property. He has several issued and pending patents in the medical device field, including soft tissue and cardiovascular fixation devices and delivery instruments, histologic automated embedding systems, laparoscopic visualization devices, and automatic injection devices. He is a professional engineer and a licensed patent agent. Matt holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from The Ohio State University.
Tim Flaherty
Tim Flaherty has more than 25 years of public and private company experience in finance, accounting, human resource, and information technology management. At Enable Injections, he is responsible for the finance, accounting, and information technology. Prior to Enable Injections, Tim served as North American CFO for Bonfiglioli, Inc., a leading billion-dollar global Italian owned company in the power transmission market. Tim was nominated for CFO of the year in 2014 by the Cincinnati Business Courier in the large private company category for his achievements at Bonfiglioli, Inc.
Prior to Bonfiglioli, Tim held several executive financial roles in large publicly traded companies and small private companies, including ArvinMeritor (NYSE:ARM), Ametek (NYSE:AME), and AtriCure /Enable Medical (NASD: ATRC), with experience in Merger and Acquisitions, IPO experience, plant consolidations, shared-service operations, multi-location oversight, SEC Reporting, system implementations, scalability, cost and risk controls, and forecasting and strategy. Tim earned his accounting degree from the University of Kentucky and his Master of Business Administration from Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH.
David Kroekel
David Kroekel has over 35 years of experience in medical device and combination product operations and product development. At Enable Injections, he is responsible for Product Development and Operations for the enFuse on-body platform. He joined Enable from DSM Biomedical, where he was most recently the Biomedical Global Head of Operations, responsible for global leadership of biologics and medical materials manufacturing. Dave previously served as the Innovation Director, where he led new product development and innovation.
Prior to DSM, Dave held various senior positions in the medical device industry as Vice President of R&D for Flowonix Medical and Teleflex Medical, as well as the Sr. Director of R&D for Arrow International’s EMEA business in Belgium and the Czech Republic. Dave earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Lehigh University.
Mehul Desai
Mehul Desai, PharmD, MBA, has vast experience in medical and clinical affairs across the pharmaceutical space. At Enable Injections, he leads medical and clinical programming to support publication, new partnerships, and regulatory approvals. Prior to Enable Injections, Dr Desai served as Associate Medical Director for argenx, driving the strategic direction, supporting clinical trial execution, and contributing to business development activities across various therapeutic areas. Previous experience includes field medical assignments in rare disease, nephrology and neurology for Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, nephrology and hematology for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and post-doctoral fellowship work in Medical Affairs for Johnson & Johnson. Desai also served as a clinical instructor of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmacy Administration at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Mehul Desai holds a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Business Foundations from Indiana University, Bloomington, a Doctor of Pharmacy from Purdue University, and a Master of Business Administration in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Tiffany Khodadad
Tiffany Khodadad has over 20 years of pharmaceutical experience in operations, regulatory affairs, human resources, and strategic planning and change management. Tiffany joined Enable in 2016 and has been instrumental in its growth. Prior to joining Enable, Tiffany formerly worked with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Medpace, a global CRO, and a niche pharmaceutical company. Tiffany earned her bachelor’s at The Ohio State University and master’s at New York University.
Russ Pagano
Russell Pagano, PhD, has over 28 years of regulatory affairs experience in various sectors including start-ups, the FDA, consulting, medical device, and pharma. At Enable Injections, he leads both the quality and regulatory teams, which includes responsibility for the regulatory submission and approval efforts for the enFuse®. Prior to Enable Injections, Dr Pagano was the Global Regulatory Lead for Baxter Healthcare’s Advanced Surgery business unit. In this role, he led a team in gaining approval for new products and geographical expansion as well as supporting renewals for an approximately one-billion-dollar portfolio which included multiple combination biologic/device applications. Prior to Baxter, Dr Pagano held positions covering urological, neurological, orthopedic, and cardiovascular devices at the FDA Office of Device Evaluation. After the FDA, he co-founded a regulatory and clinical consulting company, MSquared Associates, in the DC area, where he served as a consultant for a variety of medical device firms until he left to become Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at BioMimetic Therapeutics, a medical device start-up company.
Russ earned a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University.
Eileen Rogers
Eileen has more than 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry. Her career spans from construction and licensing of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, development of drug device combination products and operations of manufacturing facilities in compliance with the FDA’s Code of Federal Regulations as well as ISO and ICH guidelines to meet global requirements. Eileen filled various management roles in Validation, Engineering, Capital Expansion and Development while working for both Stryker Biotech and Amylin Pharmaceuticals. As the Senior Director of Operations at Amylin, Eileen led a cross functional team in the development and approval of an innovative drug delivery system for a sterile injectable product. Currently, Eileen is the Senior Vice President, Program General Manager at Enable Injections, serving as a key liaison for drug partnerships throughout the life cycle of the collaboration, overseeing the integration and progress of major milestones in various project teams and ensuring communication with all stakeholders. Eileen received her Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Drexel University and a Masters degree in Engineering Management from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.
Donald Rindell
Mr. Rindell is currently Managing Director of Camino International, LLC, a consulting practice for Business and Product Development for therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices. Clients in the US and Japan range from early biotechs to major biopharmaceutical companies.
He previously managed several partnered pharmacodiagnostic programs for Bristol Myers Squibb’s Translational Medicine initiatives in oncology. He served as Senior Director of Corporate Development at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, which was purchased by Bristol Myers Squibb. At Amylin, he led a number of key global transactions with companies including Shionogi Pharmaceuticals, Biocon, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and selected device delivery companies. He also provided management leadership to the Amylin Drug Delivery Team. He has previously held senior executive positions at CardioNet, Advanced Tissues Sciences, Braun/Thermoscan, Hybritech, and Syntex.
Mr. Rindell received his B.A. degree in Economics from the College of Wooster and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University Graduate School of Business.
Board Members
Mike Hooven
Mike Hooven has over 30 years of experience in the medical device industry in a broad variety of technical and clinical areas. He is the founder of five medical device companies and holds over 100 issued and pending US patents.
Mike is the founder, and a Director of AtriCure, Inc. (Nasdaq ATRC). AtriCure is a Medical Device company that manufactures and sells surgical devices to treat the most serious forms of atrial fibrillation. AtriCure has grown rapidly to become the market leader, with over 200,000 procedures performed. AtriCure completed a successful Initial Public Offering on August 5, 2005, and currently lists on the NASDAQ under the symbol ATRC as a multibillion-dollar company. Mike also is a Director and past Chairman of BioOhio, a state-funded organization to accelerate life-science start-up companies in Ohio. Mike was appointed by the Governor to the Third Frontier Advisory Board, a $2.3BB state funded initiative to accelerate high tech job creation in Ohio. Mike also sits on the Commercial Advisory Committee for the University of Cincinnati.
Mike previously held positions as the Chairman and CEO of AtriCure, and the Founder and Chairman of Enable Medical, a surgical device manufacturer that was acquired by AtriCure in August of 2005. Mike founded Enable in April of 1994, and prior to that he headed up all internal product development at Ethicon Endo-Surgery from 1988 to 1994. Mike held Engineering positions at Siemens/Pacesetter from 1986 to 1988, and at Cordis Corporation from 1981 to 1986. He earned a BS in Physics and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Rick J. D'Augustine
Rick has over three decades of medical-industry experience in general management, venture capital investing and technology and business development in both public and private companies. He has served in a variety of C-Level capacities, including President & CEO, Chairman and Director of several private life-science companies. Previously, he spent five years as a group director at Senmed Medical Ventures, a private medical venture capital and business development firm.
D’Augustine spent 16 years with Johnson & Johnson and was a founding board member of Cincinnati-based Ethicon Endo-Surgery, initially serving as vice president of administration and CFO, and subsequently as vice president of business development. He was a founding board member of Enable Medical Corp., a private, high-technology medical device company, as well as Atricure Inc., an Enable spinoff focused on surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation, which is now a public company. Currently, Rick is an independent consultant focused on early stage companies and technologies, and serves as a director for Enable Injections, Inc. and Ischemia Care Diagnostics, LLC.
He has a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA in finance from Seton Hall University.
Vickie Capps
Vickie Capps has more than 30 years of experience in global strategic business development, corporate finance and accounting, capital markets and investor relations, operations, corporate governance, executive leadership, and mentoring.
In addition to Enable Injections, she currently serves on the boards of other healthcare and life sciences companies, including Amedisys, Inc. and Janux Therapeutics, Inc., as well as past experience as a member of the board of directors of NuVasive, Inc., Otonomy, Inc., Silverback Therapeutics, Inc., Synthorx, Inc., and more. Vickie previously served as chief financial officer of DJO Global, Inc. from 2002-2013, significantly growing the business and leading over ten acquisitions and one transformational merger. She is also a member of the Senior Advisory Board of Consonance Capital Partners, a healthcare focused private equity firm.
After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Accounting from San Diego State University, Vickie began her career with Ernst & Young LLP and served 10 years as a senior audit and accounting professional. She is a California Certified Public Accountant.
Jim Collins
James (“Jim”) Collins has more than 20 years of experience in Global BioPharma Executive leadership at Eli Lilly and Sanofi. Mr. Collins dedicated his time in BioPharma to creating innovative delivery devices that help people take their medicine as conveniently as possible, including the Trulicity pen.
Using human-centered design principles, Mr. Collins and his teams partnered with world class design, development, and manufacturing companies to ideate, develop, and launch multiple market leading delivery device technologies. Mr. Collins’ key BioPharma drug delivery accomplishments include the creation at Lilly of market leading insulin KwikPen Platform, the Trulicity pen Platform, the Talz pen Platform, the Savvio Pen, the Forteo Pen, and many others. At Sanofi, multiple devices were developed for Toujeo, Soliqua, Praluent, Kevzara, and Dupixent including the development and launch of a number of first-to-market delivery systems, including the first 2mL PFS safety system with BD, and the first-to-market 2mL autoinjector in partnership with SHL.
Mr. Collins received his Bachelor’s degree in Naval Architecture from the U.S. Naval Academy, and his M.B.A. from Georgia State University.
John DeFord, Ph.D.
Dr. DeFord is currently chairman, chief executive officer and president of Samothrace Medical Innovations, Inc. Dr. DeFord previously served as the executive vice president and chief technology officer for Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) (BDX), a global medical technology company, until his retirement in May 2021. While at BD, Dr. DeFord also served as the senior vice president, research and development for the interventional segment from December 2017 to June 2018, following its acquisition of C.R. Bard where he had served as senior vice president, science, technology and clinical affairs since June 2007. Dr. DeFord joined Bard in 2004 and served in science and technology roles of increasing responsibility during that time. Prior to joining Bard, Dr. DeFord was managing director of Early Stage Partners, a venture capital fund. Prior to joining Early Stage Partners, Dr. DeFord was president and chief executive officer of Cook Incorporated, a privately held medical device manufacturer. He also serves on the board of directors of Nordson Corporation (NDSN), NuVasive (NUVA) and Blue Spark, Inc. DeFord graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in electrical/biomedical engineering.
John Rice
John Rice, director of life sciences at CincyTech, has 28 years of venture investing and 13 years of research and R&D management experience in biomedical science. He is a published scientist and inventor. Over the course of his career, John has been co-founder and Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures; a Managing Director of Senmed Medical Ventures, leading the emerging medical technology investment practice; and served in research, research management and business development roles with Battelle Memorial Institute. John serves on the Boards of Meridian Biosciences (VIVO), Eccrine Systems, Enable Injections, and is Chairman of Airway Therapeutics, Standard Bariatrics, Genetesis and Xact Medical. He has served previously on the boards of Akebia (AKBA) (Founder and Chairman), Aerpio (ARPO), Kereos, Syntherix (CEO), CS-Keys (interim CEO) and as an observer at Endocyte (ECYT) and CoLucid Pharmaceuticals (CLCD).
John is past chair of BioOhio and BioStart, Member of the Board of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center at the Cleveland Clinic, Chairman of the Investment Advisory Board of the Harrington Discovery Institute, Member of the Innovation Fund Advisory Board at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and the Neuroinnovation Translator at Ohio State.
John earned his BS, MS and Ph.D. in microbiology and virology at Ohio State.
Beckie Robertson
Ms. Robertson is an executive with 30+ years of venture capital and operating experience. She is a founding member and the previous Managing Director of Versant Ventures, where she specialized in medical devices and diagnostics, since 1999.
Today, through Longridge Business Advisors, Ms. Robertson provides business advisory and board services, and served as a general partner at Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), where she was an investor in the life sciences group, from 1997 to 1999. 1994 to 1997, Ms. Robertson served as senior vice president at Chiron Diagnostics, a division of Chiron Corporation, where she had responsibility for the critical care business unit and led the division’s business development efforts. In 1994, Ms. Robertson was an entrepreneur in residence for IVP in the life sciences group. From 1990 to 1993, Ms. Robertson was a co-founder and Vice President at Egis, a consumer products company. From 1983 to 1990, Ms. Robertson held senior management positions in operations and finance at Lifescan, a Johnson & Johnson Company.
Ms. Robertson holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University and currently serves as trustee for the university, co-chairing the Research and Innovation committee.
Nigel Sheail
Nigel Sheail has more than 30 years of experience in Global BioPharma Executive leadership. Mr. Sheail dedicated his time in BioPharma in mergers and acquisitions, business development, and licensing, and as a global controller and finance director.
Mr. Sheail served as the Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions and Business Development & Licensing at Novartis AG since September 2017 and joined Novartis in 2015 as Head of Business Development & Licensing. Prior to Novartis, Mr. Sheail served as the Global Head of Business Development and Licensing at Bayer Healthcare AG. Before serving at Bayer Healthcare AG, Nigel Sheail was Global Head of Licensing and Head of Corporate M&A at F.Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Additionally, Mr. Sheail has also worked at GSK plc.
In addition to his work in business development, Nigel has worked as a global controller for research and was finance director responsible for the establishment of Roche’s operations in China which included a holding company and five joint venture operating companies.
Nigel Sheail received a B.Sc (Hons. Molecular Biology) from Edinburgh University in 1987 and in 1989 he became an Associate Chartered Accountant while at Ernst and Young (London). Nigel was the founding treasurer of the Swiss Pharma Licensing Group and a board director of Vernalis PLC from August 2011 until October 2017.
Simone Song
Ms. Song is the Founding Partner of ORI Capital, a healthcare focused venture fund. She has more than 20 years of corporate finance experience. She was most recently a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, responsible for its healthcare activities in Greater China and involved in a broad range of strategic advisory and financing transactions for healthcare clients. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, she was a Managing Director of Cowen Group from January 2010 to September 2010. Ms. Song also served as a member of the advisory board of AXA Investment Managers from 2004 to 2010, and an executive board advisor to AXA Asia Pacific Holdings from 2004 to 2006. She received a BA in Economics from Fudan University and an MA in Economics from Claremont Graduate School.
Alex White
Alec White is a Senior Analyst covering Therapeutics on the Healthcare Investment team at Magnetar Capital. Mr. White has more than 14 years of experience in therapeutics investing and corporate finance. Prior to his current role, Mr. White held similar positions with Healthcor Management LP, Deutsche Bank, and Genesis Capital.
Mr. White received his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame.