John Power
Aerogen Founder & CEO
A serial entrepreneur in a technology and innovation focused career spanning over 30 years, John has held executive-level positions in R&D, Operations, Sales, and General Management in both the SME and MNC environment. During this period he has been a founder or co-founder of several ‘Blue Ocean’ technology start-ups, the last three of these in the life-science sector.
John has led the company from a start-up in 1997 through a US merger, NASDAQ IPO, trade sale and return to a privately held company by MBO in 2008. Today, Aerogen is recognised as a pioneer and the global leader in ICU ventilator/hospital-based aerosol drug delivery. Its award-winning products are employed in over 75 countries throughout the world, helping to provide life critical interventions from the emergency department through to the NICU. Aerogen’s proprietary technology permits proteins, peptides, suspensions and solutions to be nebulized, paving the way for targeted drug delivery to the lung.
Under John’s Leadership Aerogen has achieved circa 30% CAGR since 2008 and in recognition of its export success, Aerogen was awarded the prestigious European Business Award Ruban d’Honneur in 2011 and again in 2016, when John was also named the European Entrepreneur of the Year. As a leader within the Irish life-science sector, Aerogen was named both The Irish Med-Tech Company of the Year and The Irish Exporter of the Year. The Company has received the highest award granted by the US respiratory community, the American Association of Respiratory Care, the Zenith Award, for ‘providing products and services that enable respiratory care physicians and therapists to achieve clinical excellence’.
A Chartered Engineer, John is recognized as a technology innovator and is credited with over a dozen commercialized international patents in products ranging from robotics to life-support ventilation. He holds an MBA from Oxford Brookes University and as an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), he guest lectures on his core business interests of Innovation Strategies and Technology Entrepreneurship.
He is a founder faculty member of the NUIG Bio-Innovate program (run in conjunction with Stanford University Bio-Design), an incubator unit that promotes entrepreneurial start-ups in medical technologies where he has actively mentored several early-stage companies. In 2016, in recognition of his contribution to the development of the Irish Medical Device sector, John was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the National University of Ireland, Galway.
John is a Board member of Kedalion Therapeutics Inc. a pioneering ophthalmic drug delivery company based in San Francisco. He is a former member of the Board of the Irish Med-Tech Association and The Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology and has represented Ireland as an industry expert in the European Competitive Council in Brussels.
John is a very active social entrepreneur in his local community where he long-term member of his Community Development Association and a founder member of The Connemara Greenway Alliance. An ardent supporter of International charities such as World Vision and Their Life’s Matter’ he continues to lead significant fundraising initiatives for irrigation / agricultural, healthcare, and local enterprise creation in the developing world.
Dr. Bernard Collins
Chairman
As the chairman of Aerogen’s Board of Directors, Dr. Bernard Collins brings a wealth of business experience. He serves on the Board of Directors of several U.S. and Irish life-science companies. Prior to forming Lifemed, his consultancy company, Dr. Collins served for 10 years as Vice President of International Operations at Boston Scientific Corporation and before this held senior executive positions in life-science companies including Baxter Corporation. His general management experience in the medical device and health care industry spans start-ups, turnarounds, leveraged buyouts and IPOs for both large and small businesses.
Dr. Collins holds a BA Honors in Applied Industrial Psychology/Business from University College Cork, Ireland and an honorary Doctorate in Law from the National University of Ireland Galway. He is a recipient of the prestigious RDS Gold Medal for Industry in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the development of the biomedical industry in Ireland.
Dr. Jane E. Shaw
Board Member
Dr. Shaw currently serves as a member of the Board of Aerogen. She also serves on the Board of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and Grace Cathedral, in San Francisco. She was Director of Intel from 1993 until 2012 and served as Chairman of the Board from 2009 until 2012; she served on the Boards of McKesson from 1992-2014, and Yahoo from 2014- 2017.
Dr. Shaw served as Chairman and CEO of Aerogen, Inc., a specialty drug delivery company in Mountain View, California that developed drug-device combination aerosol products for patients with respiratory disorders from 1998-2005. Dr. Shaw served as President and COO of ALZA Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, from 1987 to 1994; she joined the company as a Research Scientist in 1970. She founded and led The Stable Network, a biopharmaceutical consulting company from 1994 to 1998 and has served on the board of numerous private companies.
Dr. Shaw has received many honours and awards including the 2010 ODX Outstanding Director Award and the Outstanding Woman of Silicon Valley in 2009; she was inducted into the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame in 2016. Ms. Shaw received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts in 1992.
Dr. Shaw did postdoctoral research at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Worcester, Massachusetts from 1964-1970 after obtaining a Ph.D. in Physiology from Birmingham University, England in 1964 and a Bachelor of Science in Physiology in 1961.
John O'Dea
Board Member
Dr O’Dea has 30 years experience in the medical device industry and works at Medtronic, following on from Medtronic ‘s acquisition in 2017 of GI Diagnostic company Crospon which he founded in 2006. In 1998 he co-founded Caradyne, an Irish respiratory medical device company, which was acquired by Respironics Inc. in 2004. In the past 35 years he has held R&D management positions in Nellcor Puritan Bennett and engineering positions in Digital Equipment Inc. and in Dataproducts Inc. He is a named author on 18 U.S. Patents. He holds Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Mechanical Engineering, a PhD in Electronics Engineering all from University College Dublin and an MSc in Clinical Research from NUI Galway. He is Adjunct Professor at the School of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Galway where he is Chairman of the External Advisory Board of BioInnovate Ireland, and has served as a special advisor to CURAM, the Science Foundation Ireland medical device research centre. He is a past Chairman of the Board of the Irish Medical Devices Association, and a Past President of Engineers Ireland. In 2016 he was awarded a Doctor of Engineering (honoris causa) by NUI Galway for his contribution to the Irish Medical Device industry, received the 2016 Outstanding Contribution to Medtech Award from the Irish Medtech Association, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland and the 2019 UCD Engineering Graduates Association Distinguished Graduate Award in 2019. He is currently Chairman of Irish Medical device companies FoodMarble, Janisys and Palliare.
Ethan Park
Board Member
Ethan Jung Ryun Park is a Managing Director at Temasek, a global investment firm headquartered in Singapore. Ethan is based in London and leads the firm’s healthcare investment activities in EMEA. Previously, he worked at SK Corporation in Seoul, Korea. Ethan received a BA from Tufts University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude, and an MS from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has also received an international diploma from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Ethan currently serves on the boards of Alvogen and ITM, and has served on the boards of BenevolentAI and Celltrion Healthcare.
