John G. Piano
President & CEO
                                         

John is an experienced technology executive, proven manager and successful entrepreneur with more than three years of complete dedication and commitment to Transplant Connect and its industry-shaping technology, its in-house software and product teams and its many clients. Co-founder of Transplant Connect and the visionary of its business model, John has successfully grown and shaped the company’s approach and offerings in direct response to the needs of the organ and tissue transplant field. John has successfully brought together the predominant organ procurement organizations and other transplant field leaders and has successfully rolled out Transplant Connect’s technology across the United States. He has expanded the company’s expert management team and national advisory board consisting of transplant professionals, surgeons and public policy/research scientists. John has researched and co-authored numerous federal clinical and technology research and grant submissions and has developed ongoing working relationships with government and healthcare industry leaders in an effort to improve key processes in the transplant field and increase overall transplantation. John is a member of the American Association of Tissue Banks, Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society and Microsoft Healthcare User Group. Previously, he built the profitable software licensing division as Executive Vice President, Corporate and Business Development at Reelplay (Forbes “Top 200 B2B” Internet company in 2000, 2001). Prior to Reelplay, John founded and successfully built iGO Gear, online sports gear marketing company and earlier, John was a corporate counsel and successful business executive at 20th Century Fox. John studied at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and received his J.D. from Cornell Law School and his B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from SUNY Buffalo, magna cum laude in Economics.

Doug Coulter
Chief Technology Officer

Doug brings more than 20 years of information systems and project management experience to Transplant Connect. His deep expertise extends to developing infrastructure, complex database systems and mobile solutions and integration of diverse healthcare information systems. Doug’s prior healthcare technology successes include (1) providing an Enterprise Application Integration, based on XML, consulting for Cytura Healthcare clients using LDAP, Active Directory, C/C++, MTS, COM/DCOM/COM+/COMTI, and SNA Server, (2) delivering a comprehensive solution for Sentara, rated the #1 Healthcare Integrated Delivery Network and (3) creating Managed Care portals by integrating content and applications from disparate sources personalized for each user, including an Insurance Portal, Physician Portal, Nursing Portal and Patient Portal. Doug’s expert knowledge includes MS SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, IMS DB, XML, and flatfiles. Doug’s prior CTO positions include technology/database companies Reelplay and Netsperanto. M.S., Engineering, Penn State University, B.A., Computer Science, La Salle University.

Matthew Kropp
Vice President, Development

10 years in software development for healthcare and Global 1000 companies. Developed data warehousing software used by HealthSouth used with patient medical record systems. As Managing Partner at USWeb/CKS, managed technology development for Wellpoint and Kaiser Permanente. B.S., UCLA, magna cum laude in Aerospace Engineering.

Michael Diringer, M.D.

Director, Neurosurgery, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Washington University Medical Center., Assoc. Prof., Neurology, Washington University. Lecturer and panel member, HRSA, HHS, Div. Transplantation; Best Practices Collaborative. Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, Preceptorship, Yale University, M.A., Neuropsychopharmacology, University of Louisville, B.A., Psychology, SUNY Stony Brook.

Stephen Colquhoun, M.D.

Director, Center for Liver Diseases and Transplant, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Founder, UC Davis Medical Center Liver Transplant Program. Member, American Society of Transplant Surgeons and American Association for Liver Disease Study. M.D., Loyola University of Chicago, B.S., UC Irvine.

Joseph T. Nitti, M.D.

Board Certified cardiovascular anesthesiologist in private practice.  Has performed anesthesia for numerous heart, liver, lung and kidney transplants at University of Washington in Seattle and Emory University.  B.S., UCLA, MD, UC San Diego.

Raymond Kropp, M.D.

Founding Partner, HealthSouth Surgery Center, San Francisco.  Anesthesiologist with 30 years in successful clinical practice. AAAHC Surveyor, Founded IntelliSense - medical automated transcription software company.  M.D., UC San Francisco.

Michael Bell, M.D.

Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Broward County, FL. Chairman of the National Association of Medical Examiners. Lecturer on organ procurement and published researcher. M.D., Dartmouth Medical School, B.A., Cornell University.

Ronald Pion, M.D.

Healthcare Strategist, The Laurel Company. Chairman/CEO, Medical Telecommunications Associations, Inc. Founder and Vice Chairman, Hospital Satellite Network. Fellow, National Health Foundation, Member, American Medical Association. M.D., University of Washington.

Theresa Haley, RN, MSN

Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator, UCLA Medical Center. 15 years in intensive care nursing. Frequent lecturer. Expertise in medical information systems and bedside monitoring equipment. M.S., Nursing, St. Louis University, B.S., Nursing, University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Richard Singerman

Previously was Director of Innovation Advancement for Ascension Health, the nation’s largest nonprofit healthcare system with over $8 billion in revenue, where he deployed an enterprise-wide online Innovation & Knowledge Sharing Exchange. National Research Council postdoctoral associate in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health and has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the MIT Enterprise Forum. B.S., Physics, MIT, B.S., Mathematics, Cambridge University, England (Marshall Scholar), Ph.D., Physics, Cornell University.

Nasreen Dhanani, Ph.D

RAND Resident Consultant and Research Manager at the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development. Specializes in the organization and delivery of healthcare systems and management and analyses of large scale databases as well as Medicare issues.

Katherine Johnson

Grant research and writing consultant with broad experience in policy, research and healthcare evaluation design and program implementation.  Previous research and management positions include New York University and City University of New York.  B.A., University of South Carolina, M.P.A., New York University.

Tod Mijanovich

Research Scientist, New York University's Center for Health and Public Service Research, where he is heavily published in health policy matters.  B.A., Reed College, A.B.D., SUNY Stony Brook, M.P.P., Columbia University.

Michael FitzGerald

Manager of Finishing at the Broad Institute at MIT, involved in the Human Genome Program.  Extensive prior medical and biological research background at the National Institutes of Health.  B.S., Biology, SUNY Buffalo.

Eric Shell, CPA

Nationally-recognized Hospital Management Consultant, with focus on rural hospitals. Frequent speaker and expert panel member. M.B.A., Simon School at the University of Rochester, B.A., in Accounting, Penn State University.

John P. Godwin

Information technology & telecommunications consultant with 25+ years in systems engineering R&D management, project implementation, technical sales support, enterprise startup and operations management.  Primary architect of DirecTV startup team.  Four issued patents and five patents pending.  B.A. Physics, De Pauw University, M.S.E. Aerospace Engineering, M.S.E. Computer Engineering, University of Michigan.

Wayne Nitti

Lawyer and businessman in Los Angeles, previously, Associate, Goldman, Sachs & Co. mergers and strategic advisory division, Associate Attorney, Latham & Watkins, and President and CEO of privately-held legal technology company.  B.A. Economics-Business, UCLA, JD, Harvard School of Law, MBA, Wharton School of Business, Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. 

Carl Bressler

President, Bressler Adventures and Strategic Endeavors. Renowned advisor to technology visionaries and a frequent speaker over the last decade at emerging technology/new media conferences around the world.

Susanna Murphy

Previously Legal Counsel, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and in private practice for Paul Hastings and Foley & Lardner, Expertise in HIPAA, privacy, corporate compliance, JCAHO accreditation & Medicare. B.A., Management, Boston University, M.A., Nursing, Johns Hopkins, J.D., U.S.C.

Brian Buroker

Partner, in the Washington, D.C. office of Hunton & Williams (International law firm with over 850 attorneys).  Expertise in software, wireless communications and data communications.  Previously, a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  J.D., magna cum laude, Georgetown University Law School, B.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, cum laude, North Carolina State University.

Jon Neiditz

Attorney with the Atlanta, GA office of Hunton & Williams.  Expertise in privacy and information management, HIPAA compliance, healthcare, insurance and government, among other areas.  J.D., Yale Law School, B.A., magna cum laude, with high distinction, Dartmouth College.