MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Heru Inc., the developer of wearable AI-powered vision diagnostics and augmentation software, has expanded its executive leadership team with the appointment of several strategic hires. Joining Heru are Mary Durbin, Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer, Bob George as Chief Technology Officer, Corey Nielson as Chief Customer Officer, and John Trefethen, MFA as Chief Marketing Officer.
“These executives bring rich industry experience to the rapidly growing Heru team,” said Heru founder and CEO Mohamed Abou Shousha, M.D., Ph.D. “With their combined talents and expertise, Heru is one step closer to fundamentally transforming the future of eye care and delivering vision augmentation technology and artificial intelligence to help people with vision defects.”
Chief Scientific Officer Mary Durbin Joins Heru from Carl Zeiss Meditec
With more than two decades of experience, Mary Durbin joins Heru as Chief Scientific Officer. Durbin’s expertise includes algorithm development and clinical science for medical devices, including seven years of experience at Philips Healthcare and 14 years at Carl Zeiss Meditec. Durbin’s experience in clinical decision support for diagnostic devices from early feasibility through pivotal clinical testing will be essential as Heru continues to advance its technology platform. With a passion for scientific methods and analytical thinking, Durbin is driven to deliver tools that enable doctors and patients to understand better the data that technology can provide for them.
Chief Technology Officer Bob George Joins Heru from Amazon Studios
Bob George is a global leader in cloud solutions and digital transformation and brings more than two decades of experience leading product and technology teams to deliver global solutions in various industries. Before joining Heru as the Chief Technology Officer, George was the head of engineering for Amazon Studios. He won multiple Microsoft “Partner of the Year” awards in health, education, and media & entertainment. George will oversee the strategic growth of Heru’s technology and innovations while growing Heru’s world-class engineering organization.
Chief Customer Officer Corey Nielson Joins Heru from Topcon Healthcare
Nielson most recently served as Vice President at Topcon Healthcare, an ophthalmic device manufacturer, where he worked for 17 years. He focuses on driving growth in the hyper-competitive healthcare industry through his experience in medical devices, sales, capital equipment, surgical instruments and sales process. Nielson thrives on supporting inter-departmental leaders and elevating the customer experience.
Chief Marketing Officer John Trefethen Joins Heru from Topcon Healthcare
John Trefethen, Heru’s Chief Marketing Officer, also joins from Topcon Healthcare, where he served as the Vice President of Global Marketing and Product Design since 2017. Trefethen brings 25 years of experience building out healthcare companies in technology, education, marketing and design. At Heru, he is now the unifying hub behind Heru’s marketing strategy and execution.
$30M Series A funding and FDA approval
Heru’s newly formed executive team will continue to advance the company’s commitment to improving the quality of life for millions of patients with visual defects. The company recently announced a $30 million Series A funding round, led by global investment firm D1 Capital Partners with participation from SoftBank’s SB Opportunity Fund and existing investors. The funding will be used to advance the development of the company’s FDA approved Heru RE: eye diagnostic and vision correction and augmentation technology platform.
About Heru
Heru Inc. (www.SeeHeru.com) has developed patented autonomous AI-powered vision diagnostics and augmentation software for commercially available AR/VR devices. This technology exceeds traditional standards of care in clinical equivalence, usability, cost, size and portability. Heru is the only cross-platform solution that can autonomously diagnose vision defects and customize individual vision augmentation based on the user’s unique vision defects.
Heru was spun out of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. In December 2020, Heru announced FDA registration and a seed round led by Fred Drasner, Maurice R. Ferre, M.D., Fred H. Moll, M.D., and a consortium of investors with extensive experience developing, launching and scaling cutting-edge medical technologies.
