Baltimore Innovation Week 2017

Babila Lima is the Director of the Business Process Improvement Office for the Department of General Services. Since 2007, Babila has worked in City government in a number of different agencies and capacities including the City Council President’s Office, Mayor’s Office and as a consultant on cross agency process challenges. Prior to the current role, his City projects included an overhaul of the City’s special event permitting process, and the establishment of a regulatory, licensing and management system to support the growth of food trucks and mobile vendors in the City of Baltimore. He also developed and managed a yearlong initiative in Mongolia to improve garbage and recycling collection through a business social responsibility program funded by USAID.

Ronan Perry is a sophomore at the Johns Hopkins University, double majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Applied Math, and originally from Ithaca, NY.

Sarah is Editor and writer for the Baltimore ravens. She is also the Host and creator of the Man in the Crowd podcast which takes an in-depth look at the Harbaugh family and their fascinating and often controversial ultra-competitive “fighter” approach to life. With over 25 interviews with family members, friends, co-workers and reporters conducted over the course of a year and woven into a story told over nine episodes, fans get a glimpse at what makes this family tick.

Dr. Miriam Boer is the founder of Sonify Biosciences, an ultrasound-based hyperthermia device company based in the Alexandria LaunchLabs incubator in New York City. Dr. Boer founded Sonify Biosciences in 2012 after receiving her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Maryland College Park, where she studied mechanosensation in bacterial cell membranes. Prior to that, Dr. Boer studied chemistry at New York University and worked as a color and flavor chemist in international research and development at PepsiCo.

Brad Hennessie is the CEO of NextStep Robotic Inc., a company whose portable robotic ankle exoskeleton is being developed as the first ever treatment option to reverse foot drop in stroke victims. Foot drop, which occurs in a wide range of neurological and orthopedic conditions, is recognized as the inability to lift the toe during normal walking. He has been working with the inventors of this technology for 8 years, managing multiple grants with Drs. Macko, Roy, and Forrester. He started with the team as a single study coordinator and quickly grew into a leadership role over the past few years, helping manage the day-to-day tasks and long term goals for the Maryland Exercise and Robotics Center of Excellence (MERCE). MERCE is a ~$7M/year research organization originally founded by Dr. Richard Macko that is part of the Baltimore VA Medical Center and the Department of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Brad’s conception of the business model and commercialization plan led to the team’s successful TEDCO MII Phase I/II submission and attracting their first external investor.

Since transitioning out of the robotics lab and starting full time with NextStep Robotics, he has directed an engineering team with Dr. Gil Blankenship at the Maryland Development Center to create the first prototype of the portable ankle robot.

Brad’s early development as a leader was shaped by his 8 years in the Maryland Army National Guard where he learned the importance of having confidence in the quality of a product by being a parachute rigger.

Olivia is a Information Security Engineer at Mapbox, She works on securing their cloud infrastructure, ensuring it performs well under high demand, and keeping everyone at Mapbox safe and secure. She also is active in the Baltimore-Washington tech scene and organizes CharmCityJS events in Baltimore, MD. She is a First Lieutenant in the Pennsylvania National Guard, working as their Automation Officer where she plans and supports network and radio communications for 500+ users. Prior to joining Mapbox, Olivia worked with various other companies to improve their security posture through automation, testing, and implementation of security best practices. Olivia can often be found playing video games, cuddling her family of pets, or sharing her love of emojis and gifs to the team. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a focus in cognitive science.

Tim is the Director of Emerging Technologies at Mind Over Machines where he helps clients build for the future with practical innovation. Prior to working at Mind Over Machines Tim has been a technology leader at companies ranging in size from global enterprises to local startups in the Baltimore/Washington area. Tim is a frequent guest speaker on technology topics, has a passion for helping others build their careers and is a contributor to local, national & global publications including MSDN Magazine.

Jung Min Lee is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University, where she is currently studying Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science. She first became interested in Biomedical Engineering when she was introduced to a 'lab-on-a-chip' while working in a lab during high school. Her interests have expanded since then to include point of care devices and personalized health care. Jung Min is currently leading a team that is working to develop a microfluidic chip that can serve as a platform for monitoring therapeutic drug levels.