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Team
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Tom Merrill, PhD Co-Founder & CEO Tom brings a diverse background to FocalCool, with research and development experience in heat transfer biomedical devices, and biotechnology. He has worked for United Technologies - Carrier, the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Abiomed, Inc., Pfizer, MicroDose Therapeutx, and Rowan University. Tom received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University. After working for a DOD contractor in D.C. and then Link-Miles Simulation Corp. in Columbia, MD, he went on to complete this M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan and Penn State. Jay Yadav, MD, former Chairman and Co-Founder of FocalCool provided critical business support & insights from the start at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. 
Jennifer Mitchell, MS Co-Founder & Technical Advisor Jennifer worked directly for FocalCool from 2008 through 2018. As R&D Director she coordinated the daily research and engineering activities, including in vitro testing, data processing, animal testing protocol preparation and execution. Jennifer also led our grant application development work, including doing most of the initial writing and building important collaborations with a broad range of experts: clinical, academic, and industrial. Jennifer received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rowan University. After working for the Army Research Laboratory she completed her Master's in ME at The University of Delaware. 
Shannon Hornibrook, MS Sr. R&D Engineer Shannon plans and conducts all in vitro testing used to characterize the thermal performance of FocalCool prototype catheters. She also contributes to the design and development of the Khione infusion console and an insulative IV bag holder, the Brrr-it0; both devices have been used in pre-clinical in vivo testing with the Khione guiding catheter. She designed and assembled the infusion line tubing set for pre-clinical testing at New England Center for Stroke Research at the University of Massachusetts . Finally, she spearheaded our right-sized quality management system for design and document control. Shannon received her BS in Environmental Science from Rowan University. After teaching high school science for 22 years she completed her Master's in Geoscience at Mississippi State University. 
Denise Merrill, MS Former Principal R&D Engineer Denise was the lead engineer responsible for the design and testing of our prototypes. Using computational tools MATLAB, Engineering Equation Solver (EES), and SolidWorks, she designed and simulated performance before manufacturing. Using LabView she created programs to monitor and control in vivo and in vitro experiments. Finally, she also led initial prototype fabrication using our mini-milling machine and UV adhesive tools. Denise received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Stony Brook University. Her Master's degree, also in Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook focused on developing math models for refrigerant properties. Prior to joining FocalCool she worked for 13 years in United Technologies - Carrier Heat Transfer Research Division. |