lehigh-university
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Faris Ghawi
Faris Ghawi is the co-founder and CEO of Vytalize Health, a Hoboken-based value-based care company that partners with primary care physicians to manage Medicare patients through data, analytics, and financial incentives. A Lehigh-trained civil engineer who moved into healthcare consulting at EY and then earned an MBA at Columbia, Ghawi launched Vytalize in 2014 with college friends. Under his leadership the company grew to serve hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries across dozens of states, raised a $100M Series C in 2023, and topped Inc. Magazine's 2024 list as America's fastest-growing private company.
Mike Carusi
Mike Carusi is a General Partner at Lightstone Ventures, a leading life sciences venture capital firm based in Portola Valley, California, with $847 million in assets under management. With a career spanning over three decades in healthcare investing, Carusi has built a reputation as one of the most active early-stage investors in biotech and medical devices, appearing on the Forbes Midas List for top technology and life science investors. He co-founded Lightstone Ventures in 2014 after years at Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV), and has overseen landmark exits including Plexxikon (acquired by Daiichi Sankyo for ~$1 billion), Ardian (acquired by Medtronic for $800 million), Ra Medical Systems (acquired by UCB for $2.3 billion), and dozens more. He teaches healthcare venture capital at Dartmouth Tuck and is a faculty member of the Stanford Biodesign Emerging Entrepreneurs Forum.