Board of Directors
STEFAN LEMPERLE, MD PhD MBA
CHAIRMAN & SECRETARY
Dr. Stefan Lemperle founded AscentX Medical, Inc. in April 2008 and has since served as the Company's President and CEO. From January 2007 to April 2009, Dr. Lemperle was the President and CEO of Clinicon Corporation, a privately held medical technology company that develops, manufactures and markets fractional CO2 lasers and diamond laser scalpels. In April 1999, Dr. Lemperle co-founded Artes Medical Inc., a NASDAQ-listed medical technology company, which developed and secured FDA approval for the first and only permanent injectable wrinkle filler (ArteFill®) (acquired by Suneva Medical, Inc. in 2009). He served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and President & Chief Executive Officer of Artes Medical Inc. from April 1999 to December 2006. In 1996, Dr. Lemperle co-founded MacroPore Inc. (now Cytori Therapeutics Inc., NASDAQ: CYTX), a medical technology company focused on the design, manufacture and distribution of bio-degradable bone fixation and regeneration devices for craniofacial and spine surgery. He served as Vice-Chairman of MacroPore, Inc.'s Board of Directors, Executive Vice President R&D, and Chief Scientific Officer between 1996-2000.
In August 2014, Dr. Lemperle graduated from Pepperdine University's President & Key Executive (PKE) MBA Program at the Graziadio School of Business and Management. From July 1994 to October 1996, Dr. Lemperle was a post-doctorate research fellow at the University of California, San Diego, Division of Plastic Surgery, sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (German Research Society). In 1992, Dr. Lemperle received both his M.D. and Dr. med. (PhD equivalent) degrees from the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, Germany where he also trained in general surgery between 1992-1994.
Between 1985-1997, Dr. Lemperle was a regular team member of INTERPLAST Germany, where he participated in yearly reconstructive surgery missions to third world countries throughout the world.
Dr. Lemperle is author/co-author of various scientific publications in the fields of Liver Transplantation, Bone Regeneration, Aesthetic Surgery, GERD and SUI. Dr. Lemperle holds various patents in medical technology. In 2005, Dr. Lemperle was a San Diego finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Awards.
JOHN C. STISKA, JD
DIRECTOR
John Stiska has over thirty years of experience in corporate law, securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and senior management of both publicly and privately held companies. Recently he served as CEO of PepperBall Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:PBal), and prior to that was the interim CEO of JNI Corp. (NASDAQ:JNIC) and then Chairman until it was merged into Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (NASDAQ:AMCC). From 2000 to 2009, John was an active partner in Commercial Bridge Capital, LLC, a venture lending fund based in San Diego.
From February 1996 to February 1998, he served as Corporate Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Technology Applications Division of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), a leading developer and manufacturer of telecommunications technology.
Prior to Qualcomm, John was CEO of Triton Group, Ltd (ASE:TGL) a public holding company which he took through a successful Ch 11 reorganization of the former Intermark, Inc. (ASE:IMI). Companies owned or controlled by IMI and TGL included Pier 1 Imports, Simplicity Pattern Co., Continental Graphics, National Arimotive Corp, Western Sizzlin, Liquor Barn, Sunbelt Nursery Group and a number of other companies.
Before joining Intermark, Inc. and Triton Group, Ltd. in 1990, he was a practicing lawyer for 20 years: Partner in the San Diego office of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison from 1987 to 1990; partner and founder of the corporate department of Aylward, Kintz, Stiska, Wassenaar and Shannahan from 1981 to 1987; and, associate and partner at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps from 1970 to 1981.
Mr. Stiska has served on numerous public and privately held company Boards of Directors.
He has served on the Boards of Directors of Triton Group, Ltd. (NYSE:TGL [1987]); (ASE:TGL [1993]) and Intermark, Inc. (ASE:IMI), BioSafety Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:BSSI), IVHS Technologies, Inc., Eaton Vorad, Inc., Jaycor, Inc., PepperBall Technologies, Inc, Laser Power Corp. (NASDAQ:LPWR), Mission West Properties (ASE:MWP), Rehabilitation Technologies, Inc., Ridgewood Properties, Inc. (OTC:RWPI), Sciteq Electronics, Inc., Simplicity Holdings, Inc., Computer Economics, Inc., Stellar Access, Inc., Principia Lightworks, Inc., Midpoint Productions, the Advisory Board of Barney & Barney, LLC and AVAAK, Inc,, the San Diego Corporate Directors Forum, the San Diego County YMCA, Verado Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDO), Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN), Romer, Inc., JNI Corporation(NASDAQ:JNIC), Cobalt Medical, Inc., AP Labs, Inc., MicroVision Optical, Inc., DR Technologies, Inc., Verras Medical, Inc., Optics Masters, Corp., Venture Holdings and several of its European subsidiaries and Surge Global Energy, Inc. (OTCBB:SRGG), and Armor Designs, Inc.
He is also active in the San Diego Corporate Directors Forum and the San Diego County YMCA.
Mr. Stiska received the Award of Director of the Year for Companies in Transition from the Corporate Directors Forum of San Diego.
He received his BBA in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin, and after serving as an officer in the Army returned to get his JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He is licensed to practice law in California.
JUERGEN SIEMONSMEIER
MD PhD DDS
After attending dental and medical schools at Bonn (Germany), Basel (Switzerland), University of California, San Diego (USA), and Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA), Juergen received his dental medical degree in 1983 (DDS), and his medical degree in 1986 (MD).
One year of Anesthesiology and ICU at the Central Military Hospital in Koblenz, Germany, was followed by two years in their Maxillofacial Surgery Department. From 1990 until the end of 1993, Juergen spent his internship in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Ulm, Germany, where he was board-certified in ‘Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery’ in 1991 and in ‘Plastic Operations’ in 1993. Juergen received two doctorate degrees- one in dentistry in 1983 and one in Medicine in 1987.
In 1993, Juergen moved back to Bonn, Germany, to join the new startup model ‘Zahnklinik Medeco’- a private dental clinic model, which is now copied all over Europe and where he has served as Medical Director since.
Over several years, Juergen did intensive research with dental stem-cells, including the development of various patents in partnership with ‘CAESAR’, a research institution in connection with the Max-Planck-Society.
Juergen Siemonsmeier is an avid private investor in early-stage companies and has been a member of different boards of directors and advisors.
YIBO WANG
DIRECTOR
Yibo Wang has been a healthcare- and energy sector-focused early-stage investor since 2008. From 2008-2009, he served as the investor relations representative of China Industrial Waste Management Inc. (OTCBB: CIWT), a company for which he and his team successfully raised U.S. venture capital. In 2009, Yibo left CIWT and co-founded Nord Energy Saving Co., a contract energy management company based in China. From 2010 to 2014, Yibo served as the president of NORD before it was acquired by a publicly-listed Chinese company. In 2015, he co-founded China-based YIDU Investment Inc. and has since been actively searching for unique, early-stage investment opportunities exclusively in the U.S. and Canada. Having worked on both ends of the corporate financing spectrum, Yibo brings broad business experience to AscentX. He graduated with a bachelor degree in Commerce from the University of Toronto, Canada, and joined the AscentX team in 2015.
PROF. GLEN LEHMAN, MD
DIRECTOR
Since 1987 Professor Glen Lehman has served as a Professor of Medicine & Radiology, Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana. Professor Lehman served or has served as a consultant to various healthcare companies including Glaxo Smith Kline, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Hoffman LaRoche, Enteric Medical, Wilson-Cook, Bioform, Endonetics, Olympus America, Boston Scientific.
From 1969 to 1972, Professor Lehman performed his residency and fellowship (Gastroenterology) at the Indiana University Medical Center. From 1968 to 1969 he performed an internship at Duke University. Professor Lehman received his M.D. from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1968.
In 1996 Professor Lehman was the recipient of the Rudolf Schindler Award presented by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
PROF. GOTTFRIED LEMPERLE, MD PhD
DIRECTOR
Prof. Lemperle was a Voluntary Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery from 1998 to 2010. In April, 1999, Professor Lemperle co-founded Artes Medical Inc., a publicly held medical technology company based on his invention of the PMMA microsphere platform technology leading to the first and only FDA approved permanent injectable wrinkle filler (ArteFill®) in 2006. He served as Chief Scientific Officer of Artes Medical Inc. from August 1999 to May 2006. Prior to Artes Medical, Professor Lemperle spent over 30 years as Professor & Head of the Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
Professor Lemperle was awarded MD and PhD degrees in Immunology and General and Plastic Surgery from Frankfurt University. He has authored more than 270 original publications in the fields of Plastic Surgery, GERD and SUI.
In 1997 Prof. Lemperle received the Cross of Merit 1st Class (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse) from the President of the Republic of Germany for his achievements as founder of INTERPLAST Germany, a non-profit organization providing reconstructive surgery services in third world countries around the world. In 2010 Prof. Lemperle received the Dieffenbach-Medal as a German Lifetime Award for his contributions to the field of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery.
