About US

Dr. Chris Kaufmann is a co-founder and co-inventor of the company’s technology, and is responsible for business and technology development. Dr. Kaufmann is an early career clinician-engineer who is an Otolaryngology resident and current NIH T32 R01 research fellow at the University of Iowa, Department of Otolaryngology in Dr. Hansen’s lab. He completed his biomedical engineering graduate work in the Advanced Implant Materials and Systems lab under Dr. Mauli Agrawal. Dr. Kaufmann has industry concept development experience in the R&D department at KCI (San Antonio, Texas) with resulting patents. In addition to his clinical training, Dr. Kaufmann has research and industry experience in biomaterials, medical devices, drug delivery, and tissue engineering.

Dr. Marlan Hansen is a co-founder and co-inventor of the company’s technology, and is a key opinion leader in cochlear implants based on his extensive clinical experience, publications and industry relationships. Dr. Hansen is an expert clinician-scientist trained in neurotology/skull base surgery and cell and molecular neurobiology. He is the Marvin and Rose Lee Pomerantz Professor of Otolaryngology and Neurosurgery at the University of Iowa. He completed a neurotology surgical fellowship training at the House Ear Clinic. Currently, his clinical practice focuses on both cochlear implants and surgery of the inner ear and skull base. He is active in research and publications, currently serving as the PI for a clinical trial funded by the Dept. of Defense to use hearing preservation electrodes to treat veterans with noise-induced hearing loss; and is co-investigator on the ongoing clinical trials at the University of Iowa that determine the outcomes achieved with hearing preservation cochlear implant surgery.

Dr. Allan Henslee is an experienced biomedical engineer with a diverse technical background including doctoral training under Dr. Antonios Mikos at Rice University, and experience as a Product Engineer at Alcon. Dr. Henslee has in the past served as CEO of Cellula Enterprises, a medical device startup. He brings years of biomedical research experience ranging from biomaterials development to product design and testing. Dr. Henslee was both a graduate and post-doctoral research associate at Rice University and the Institute of Orthopedic Research and Education.

Adam Hahn has over 20 years experience in medical device research and product development. Over his career he has worked for various medical device and robotics companies including Medrad, Philips, and McKesson, where he has taken dozens of new products from initial concept to full market release. Most recently, he ran the Mechanical Engineering department at Blue Belt Technologies, a medical robotics company acquired in 2016. Adam holds bachelors and masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and he is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Pennsylvania.

Parker Reineke graduated with a Biomedical Engineering degree from the University of Iowa in 2017. He previously worked for the innovative medical device start-up, Iowa MADE, under the University of Iowa as the Quality System Manager, bringing 510(k) exempt medical devices to market.

Caitlin Kelly is a University of Iowa graduate with a bachelors degree in Political Science, a minor in Human Relations, and a certificate in Entrepreneurial Management from the Tippie College of Business. Caitlin has experience assisting with both administrative and managerial tasks. She enjoys working in a startup environment, having served as a Communications Intern for Open Primaries, a political nonprofit organization in New York City.