OUR TEAM
LEAP Biomed Innovators are made up of industry leaders
OUR HISTORY
EXECUTIVE
Delbert L. White
President
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Del White is the president at LEAP Biomed Innovators after serving more than ten years in various senior management capacities at LC Industries, a manufacturing company located in Durham, NC and the largest employer in the US of people who are blind. Del's background includes management of large global technology infrastructure projects, and leading manufacturing operations of products used in military operations.
In 2012, Del became the Executive Vice President of Business Operations for LC Industries and served in this capacity until his retirement in January 2016. Del holds management degrees in Mathematics and Finance.
Leap Biomed Innovators was founded in 2016 when The LCI Foundation and Dr. Mark Humayun combined their talents to address their shared mission—combatting vision disorders.
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The LCI Foundation together with Leap Biomed Innovators and its key advisors, share the common goal of ending vision loss and blindness. Our pursuits and partnerships seek to transform the lives of those who fear vision loss. Providing the manufacturing facilities and expertise to companies as they engage in clinical trial initiatives brings us closer to our goal.
The LCI Foundation is the charitable arm of LCI. which was founded in 1936. The core of LCI has always been manufacturing, but through the years this non-profit corporation has continued to grow and evolve into a multi-faceted entity. Today, LCI business capabilities range from Manufacturing and Distribution to Retail and E-Commerce. Headquartered in Durham, NC, LCI operates two distribution centers, four e-commerce websites, six manufacturing facilities and 40+ retail stores on military bases across the United States.
ENGINEERING
Juan Gonzalez
Director - R&D, Engineering
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Juan Gonzalez is Director of R&D and Engineering at LEAP Biomed. With over 20 years in engineering, Juan’s vast experience spans from R&D, quality, manufacturing as well as engineering management. Having extensive experience in the implantable medical device field, Juan has taken medical device products from conceptual design, through validation, and regulatory pre-market approval. Since joining LEAP Biomed in 2018, Juan has expanded the company’s engineering capabilities He holds a degree in mechanical engineering and has various patents to his credit.
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ADVISORY
Mark Humayun MD, PhD
Dr. Humayun is the Cornelius J. Pings Chair in Biomedical Sciences, Professor of Ophthalmology, Biomedical Engineering, and Cell and Neurobiology, Director of the Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics, Director of Sensory Sciences Institute, and Co-Director of the USC Eye Institute at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Humayun’s research focuses at the intersection of Engineering and Medicine on the development of biomimetic bioelectronics for medical application. He is a member of the National Academies of Engineering and the National Academies Institute of Medicine. He is also recognized as one of the Best Doctors in the country and in 2011 US News and World report listed him in the top 1% of Ophthalmologists.
Dr. Humayun has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, authored more than 20 book chapters and is listed as an inventor on more than 100 patents/patents applications. His work has led to the formation of multiple start-up companies. He is recognized internationally as the inventor of the artificial retina called Argus II, which was recently approved by FDA as the first bioelectronics retinal implant to restore sight to certain blind patients.
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In 2016, President Obama awarded Dr. Humayan the National Medal for Science,Technology and Innovation
Yu-Chong Tai, PhD
Dr. Yu-Chong Tai is the Anna L. Rosen Professor of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. He is also the Executive Officer and Professor of the newly founded Department of Medical Engineering at California Institute of Technology.
While a graduate student, he developed the first electrically-spun polysilicon micromotor at UC Berkeley. After Berkeley, he joined Caltech and built a research program on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) research specially for MEMS and biomedical applications. He has been working on sensors, lab-on-a-chip diagnostics, retinal implants, spinal cord implants, brain implants, micro drug deliver, etc.
He is the recipient of the IBM Fellowship, Ross Tucker Award, Best Thesis Award (at Berkeley), Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) Award, Packard Award, ALA Achievement Award, Popular Mechanics’ Breakthrough Award, and the 2015 IEEE Robert Bosch MEMS/NEMS Award, etc.
He has more than 600 articles/patents in the field of MEMS. He is an IEEE and IOP Fellow. Chairman of Electrical Engineering and a Professor of Electrical and Bioengineering Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).