Dr. Bridges is a surgeon-scientist, medical device and biologic therapeutic inventor, developer, and investor. He holds an AB in Applied Physics and an MD, both from Harvard along with a SM/Sc.D in Electrical/Chemical Engineering from MIT- Whittaker College of Health Sciences and Technology. He formally served as Chairman of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at Carolinas HealthCare System while also serving as VP of Cardiac Research. He has been Professor of Cardiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and Professor of Surgery at University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Bridges is the recipient of over 10 million dollars in NIH funding and served on the NIH BTSS/NHLBI GTRP Steering Committee. He also served as Global Chief Technology Officer at Actelion Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and was formerly Worldwide Vice President and Cardiovascular Lead for JNJ Medical Devices external investment division, leading medical science & technology diligence on $2 billion in executed investments and acquisitions. He holds several US and international patents and has multiple high-profile publications in Nature, Circulation and Thoracic Surgery Journals.