Team

Ahad Behboodi, Msc, PhD (CEO). Ahad has BS and MS degree in Biomedical Engineering, PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Science, and currently is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Horn Entrepreneurship program at University of Delaware. Since 2013, Ahad has been working on a number of NIH and Shriners Hospital for Children funded projects on application of functional electrical stimulation to enhance muscle strength, fitness and function on children with CP, and designing exoskeletons powered by artificial muscle technology for pediatric populations. His main expertise is in rehabilitation engineering. Ahad served as the PI and the Entrepreneurial Lead for the DE-AFO’s NSF I-Corps project; and has recently been awarded a Proof of Concept Post-doctorate funding through University of Delaware Horn and University City Science Center’s QED programs to prototype this device.

Henry Wright. Henry is a Research Physical Therapist in the Physical Therapy Department at the University of Delaware. He received both his undergraduate degree in biomechanics and his doctorate in physical therapy at UD. He has been a part of many research projects including children with cerebral palsy, stroke survivors, and people with knee osteoarthritis. His work includes gait training with functional electrical stimulation, motion analysis and electromyography capture, metabolic testing, and more recently high intensity interval training. His passion is helping patients to achieve their goals using cutting-edge technology.

Stuart Binder-Macleod. Stuart is the fo Associate Vice-President for Clinical and Translational Research and the Edward L. Ratledge Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Delaware. He is also the past chair of the Department of Physical Therapy and currently serves as the Principal Investigator and Program Director of the DE-CTR ACCEL Program. He is a physical therapist and neurophysiologist with over 25 years of experience in developing rehabilitation interventions for improving function in patients with CNS dysfunction, including spinal cord injuries and stroke. Stuart recent research involved an intervention program for individuals with stroke that incorporates FES-assistance to hemiparetic ankle muscles while training on a treadmill at fast speeds (Fast-FES stroke study). Dr. Binder- Macleod is an expert in the application and optimization of nuroprosthetics. Elasthetics leverage Stuart experience in optimizing the outcome of our design. Stuart serves as a scientific advisor.

Derek Lehane is a Medical Diagnostics Senior Executive with a track record of delivering strong business results and commercialization of innovative products. He has Ph.D. in Biochemistry. Derek worked at THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC in several positions, including Director of Technology Development, Project Director, Director of Customer and Technical Services, and General Manager. Derek has served as Industry Mentor for several projects funded by the NSF ICorps program, including the DE-AFO in the 2019 Spring cohort. He has been involved in the project, as the industrial mentor, since the summer of 2018 and his commitment and effort helped us secure the $185k QED and our $50k NSF I-Corps awards.

Usha Gopalratnam, M.S., Executive MBA. Usha focus is creating value in new horizons using practical approaches and solutions. As our business coach, she is helping us shorten the time to commercialization and drive profitable growth by commercializing the DE-AFO offerings into new applications and markets using a value-based approach while improving the quality of life for the organization and our customers.

Federico Carpi is a pioneer in transducers and artificial muscles based on electroactive polymers. He is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Florence. His publications include some 70 articles in international journals, 2 edited books and several contributions to books and conferences. Dr. Carpi has been collaborating with us since 2015. He is providing consultant in further development and optimizing the artificial muscle for the DE-AFO.