Makana Board of Directors

Kurt Dasse, PhD
Board Member
Dr. Dasse has spent over thirty years developing and commercializing medical devices and drugs to treat cardiac, respiratory and kidney disorders. His experience includes Cofounder and CEO of Levitronix, CEO of GeNO LLC, and past president of ASAIO. He received his doctorate in physiology from Boston University.

Bill Farrell
Board Member
Farrell is Senior Vice President of Business Services for Gundersen Health System. He is a mechanical engineer by training with more than 20 years of experience, including various leadership roles at Medtronic. He was also co-founder of FreshRealm, a player in disrupting traditional grocery with meal kits.

Peter Hajas
Board Member
More than 40 years experience in the capital markets. Peter is Chairman of the Board of FreshRealm; Former CEO & CFO at Telluride Asset Management; Former President & CEO at Knight Trading. B.S. – Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Loyola University.

Guido Junge, MD, MBA
Board Member
Dr. Junge is the Transplantation/ Nephrology head at Novartis. His experience spans from pre-clinical and early to late stage drug development across variety of therapeutic areas with demonstrated optimization of drug development processes. for high performance.

Manish Kapoor
Board Member
Manish’s career spans 20 years in Marketing, Sales, Product Development, and P&L Management, primarily within the Medical Device industry. Vice President, Innovation & Pipeline, in Baxter’s Renal Care global business unit. He is responsible for developing and executing the internal & external innovation strategy for a USD $3.5B product & services portfolio. Manish holds Bachelor’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

David Largaespada, PhD
Board Member
Dr. Largaespada is a leading authority on gene modification, cancer genes and disease models. He’s a Professor at the University of Minnesota and Director of the Center for Genome Engineering. Dr. Largaespada earned his B.S. – Cell Biology and Genetics from University of Minnesota and his Ph.D., Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Mark Platt
Board Member
Platt has 34 years of experience in business and organizational leadership with strong background in manufacturing, engineering, hospital administration, sales, marketing and product development. Former Pres/CEO of Multistack, SVP at Gundersen Health System, Gundersen Board of Trustees, Combat Engineering Officer-U.S. Air Force Reserve. B.S. – Electrical Engineering and Mathematics, Vanderbilt University.

Joe Tector, MD, PhD, FACS
Board Member/Founder
More than 30 years of experience in transplant surgery and as Director, Xenotransplant Institute; Surgical Director, Small Bowel and Multivisceral Transplant Program, University of Miami Medical School. Dr. Tector received his training from McGill University, University of Miami, and St Louis University School of Medicine.