Illuminant Surgical

I’m excited to announce that Illuminant Surgical has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Institute on Aging, a branch of The National Institutes of Health! Receiving public recognition from a major federal agency like the NIH hallmarks the transformational changes Illuminant has undergone this past year. Once just Eldrick Millares and me in a small closet scrapping prototypes together, we are now a medical device organization at the cusp of delivering surgical innovations that will serve patients all across the country. I want to thank our dedicated team, advisors, investors, and friends?for their unwavering support ??

This week's #Illuminant Spotlight is on our Director of Quality and Regulatory, Harry Nguyen. ?? Harry brings over 25 years of experience in quality assurance in medical devices, biologics, diagnostics, and combination products to the Illuminant team. Harry holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and was most recently a Quality Manager at Vertos Medical, a company developing minimally invasive devices for spinal stenosis which was recently acquired by Stryker. ?? Harry plays a key role in helping Illuminant develop devices to be safe and effective. In addition to leading the regulatory strategy at the company, Harry manages the Quality Management System at Illuminant, which he built from the ground-up. ?? One of the things that he loves about working at Illuminant is the opportunity to work with highly talented individuals who make the workspace fun and full of energy. ?? Outside of the office, you can find Harry gardening and doing a variety of DIY projects. ?? Harry is passionate about eco-friendly living. He enjoys watching sci-fi movies and exploring cuisines. We're grateful to have you on the team!

This week's #Illuminant Spotlight is on our Director of Quality and Regulatory, Harry Nguyen. ?? Harry brings over 25 years of experience in quality assurance in medical devices, biologics, diagnostics, and combination products to the Illuminant team. Harry holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and was most recently a Quality Manager at Vertos Medical, a company developing minimally invasive devices for spinal stenosis which was recently acquired by Stryker. ?? Harry plays a key role in helping Illuminant develop devices to be safe and effective. In addition to leading the regulatory strategy at the company, Harry manages the Quality Management System at Illuminant, which he built from the ground-up. ?? One of the things that he loves about working at Illuminant is the opportunity to work with highly talented individuals who make the workspace fun and full of energy. ?? Outside of the office, you can find Harry gardening and doing a variety of DIY projects. ?? Harry is passionate about eco-friendly living. He enjoys watching sci-fi movies and exploring cuisines. We're grateful to have you on the team!

We've had the great privilege of having two DIH Fellows this summer. We’re excited to bring in Lilian Mo, our newest Diversity Innovation Hub (DIH) Fellow from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine! ?? After studying biology at the University of Chicago, Lillian spent two years in healthcare investment banking at J.P. Morgan focusing on life sciences M&A and now attends medical school at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She hopes to combine her background in medicine and finance at Illuminant as a DIH fellow this summer. ?? Lillian’s role entails exploring various commercialization strategies and working on financial planning and fundraising, including grant writing, to enable Illuminant to expand the reach of its device to more patients. She is excited to wear many hats and assist with different projects at Illuminant to better understand what it takes to bring a medical device to market and how to run a company. ????Lillian is passionate about using new technology to improve access to care and health equity. She is excited about Illuminant’s cutting edge, low cost, scalable technology that enables broad reach to patients from care centers across the spectrum, from large academic hospitals to small regional facilities. ?? Outside the office, Lillian can be found at workout classes, trying different restaurants, and reading about the newest therapeutics. We’re excited for all that you’ll contribute over your summer fellowship??

We've had the great privilege of having two DIH Fellows this summer. We’re excited to bring in Lilian Mo, our newest Diversity Innovation Hub (DIH) Fellow from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine! ?? After studying biology at the University of Chicago, Lillian spent two years in healthcare investment banking at J.P. Morgan focusing on life sciences M&A and now attends medical school at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She hopes to combine her background in medicine and finance at Illuminant as a DIH fellow this summer. ?? Lillian’s role entails exploring various commercialization strategies and working on financial planning and fundraising, including grant writing, to enable Illuminant to expand the reach of its device to more patients. She is excited to wear many hats and assist with different projects at Illuminant to better understand what it takes to bring a medical device to market and how to run a company. ????Lillian is passionate about using new technology to improve access to care and health equity. She is excited about Illuminant’s cutting edge, low cost, scalable technology that enables broad reach to patients from care centers across the spectrum, from large academic hospitals to small regional facilities. ?? Outside the office, Lillian can be found at workout classes, trying different restaurants, and reading about the newest therapeutics. We’re excited for all that you’ll contribute over your summer fellowship??

We’re excited to bring in Julian Javier, our newest Diversity Innovation Hub (DIH) Fellow from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine! ???After earning his BS in Neurobiology from Georgetown University and enhancing his clinical experience at CityMD Urgent Care, Julian is now pursuing his MD at the Icahn School of Mount Sinai. His background in medicine, clinical research, and equitable healthcare solutions motivated him to join Illuminant as a DIH fellow this summer. ?????Julian’s role is spans multiple disciplines all in service to brining our surgical navigation device to market. He is overseeing clinical usability and engineering studies in several critical components of our device. Additionally, he is making essential contributions to future federal grant submissions. ???Julian is passionate about increasing representation of Latinos in medicine and driving initiatives that address healthcare disparities. His dedication to equitable healthcare solutions is a cornerstone of his professional pursuits and personal advocacy. ???♂??Outside the office, you can find Julian hitting PRs, watching the Yankees or thrift shopping. We’re excited for all that you’ll contribute over your summer fellowship??

We are excited to be attending AANS this May to present on our research! Ikaasa Suri, alongside last summer’s Diversity Innovation Hub Fellow, Daniel Kwon, conducted a study to examine how prone and supine positioning of patients affects clinical measures of the lumbar and thoracic spine. Congratulations to all involved in this manuscript! #AANS2024 #AANS #spinesurgery #mountsinai

We are excited to be attending AANS this May to present on our research! Ikaasa Suri, alongside last summer’s Diversity Innovation Hub Fellow, Daniel Kwon, conducted a study to examine how prone and supine positioning of patients affects clinical measures of the lumbar and thoracic spine. Congratulations to all involved in this manuscript! #AANS2024 #AANS #spinesurgery #mountsinai

What a bonus visit to portco Illuminant Surgical while in LA! ???? “Standard of Care” now has a whole new meaning to my family! How can doctors not know more about it????♀? Such an honor to sign on Taylor Swift’s 1989 album! I almost made “Tay” my son Baby Leon’s middle name ??

Next in our?#Illuminant Spotlights, we have our Software Engineer, Enoch Omale ?? After working in the video game industry, and completing a master’s in Computer Science (with a focus on computer graphics and physically-based simulation), Enoch joined Illuminant in June 2023. ????His role entails leading our software R&D efforts. He is currently implementing the final pieces needed to make Illuminant’s surgical navigation device as accurate and capable as possible. ?? To Enoch, one of the best aspects of working at Illuminant is the team’s dynamic and how well such a small group of talented people have been able to band together and produce incredible results, learning from each other in the process. He also has loved the opportunity to apply his computer graphics knowledge, originally aimed at the visual arts, to the medical field, and the challenge that comes along with that. ?? Outside of the office, you can find Enoch playing soccer, watching (and reviewing) movies, or creating digital art for his Instagram account. ? Enoch is passionate about the impact that his efforts can have on others. He has enjoyed speaking with experts in the field to learn more about the specific needs of software in guided surgeries today, and plan research to achieve these goals.