Dima Elissa is CEO of VisMed-3D Healthcare TechnologyTM a global strategic healthcare tech consultancy.

A recognized, in-demand speaker she is versed in advanced technologies including 3D-printing, blockchain, cybersecurity, data interoperability, media/marketing, and supply chain management delivering her insights across varied global enterprise markets.

She is a founding board member of both the DePaul University’s Driehaus College of Business, Women in Entrepreneurship Institute, the nation’s first comprehensive Institute integrating academic learning, research, incubation funding and public policy, and the globally recognized mHUB Chicago, a hardtech innovation hub.

Launching over 16 start-ups she brings real-world innovation experience to over 100 start-up mentees to grow and scale their new ventures. Dima distinctively serves as the technology and innovation lead for AMWA’s (American Medical Women’s Association) JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) initiative, board member at several academic, innovation hubs and life science organizations. As a healthcare leader and executive, she is entrusted to teach future physicians “Innovation in Medicine for Medical Professionals” at RUSH Medical College.

Dima holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Hanover College and has earned her MBA from Texas A&M’s May’s School of Business with a concentration in Finance. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees at Hanover College.

Lauren is a Director of Commercial Business Development for the JMCRS team at The Jackson Laboratory. She focuses on creating long-term partnerships within the scientific community to help scientists expedite the process of bringing therapeutics to market.

Prior to joining The Jackson Laboratory, Lauren held various sales roles at Bioanalytical Systems, Inc. (now Inotiv, Inc.) and Stoelting Co. Lauren obtained a PhD in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Neurobehavior from the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth and an MBA from The University of Texas at Dallas. She is excited to remain a part of the Advisory Board with CHIentist and is looking forward to progressing the initiatives of the new leadership team!

Cliff Turner is the Founder and General Manager of DNArP Consulting, LLC.

He has more than 30 years of experience in sales and business development management within the healthcare and life science market, holding positions of increasing responsibility at J&J-Ortho Diagnostic Systems, Coulter Cytometry, Genzyme, Life Technologies-Invitrogen, Affymetrix, Nanosphere, and NextGen Sciences.

DNArP works with Life Science Companies aiding their Sales, Business Development, and Market Analysis\Development activities. Client companies are involved in Gene Editing, Genomics, Pharmacogenomics, Transcription Profiling, RNAi, Proteomics, Immunoassays, Cellular Therapy, Protein Production, Imaging, Medical Devices, as well as Molecular Diagnostics.

In addition to Consulting, Cliff is an active angel investor, having invested in a number of local startups. He was the Executive Manager of Heartland Angels, and has served on the Board of Directors of several startup companies.​

Cliff was the Co-lead for ​the Investment Preparation Assistance Program at the PROPEL-iBIO Institute and a Mentor at Polsky as well as MATTER-Chicago.

Dr. Williams is an Assistant Professor of pathology and immunology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. There, his studies focus on delineating mechanisms that drive castration-resistant prostate cancer and resistance to hormone therapy.

Dr. Williams completed his thesis work at the University of Miami, where he led efforts to develop a novel, membrane microfilter device for the size-based enrichment and characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of metastatic cancer patients. His work there yielded numerous first and co-author publications, and a graduate fellowship award from the prestigious United Negro College Fund-Merck Science Initiative. Since the completion of his thesis work, Dr. Williams co-founded a startup company, Circulogix, Inc., an effort to commercialize the CTC technology he developed, for which he currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr. Williams has recently shaped a strong research interest in prostate cancer health disparities. In this work, his primary objective is to define biologic factors that play a critical role in driving disparate prostate cancer aggressiveness in African-American men, as a means to expose key biomarkers and actionable drug targets that could improve prostate cancer patient management, specifically for this disproportionately affected population.