Our Story
Forest Devices is a medical device startup located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are the creators of ALPHASTROKE, the first stroke and Large Vessel Occlusion (LVO) detection device that can potentially be used by first responders to triage patients directly to the right hospital.
By re-purposing established technology, our team is developing a novel and objective stroke detection method. It would enable early and fast triage so stroke patients go to the appropriate level of care. The gold-standard of treatments are time-limited and early interventions increase effectiveness. With missed interventions annually due to inadequate stroke detection and triage, we are determined to become the new standard of care.
All of our team members have been impacted by stroke to friends or family members. At Forest Devices, we will change the way the world approaches stroke detection.
The Team
Matt Kesiger
Matt was EMT in Boston, MA for two years where he learned firsthand how hard it can be to diagnose a stroke with just a clinical exam. While attending the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and afterwards, conducted and published research on the difficulties of pre-hospital providers diagnosing stroke. He was part of the team that conducted the largest US study on identification of large vessel occlusive strokes in the pre-hospital environment. His years of work on this problem led him to create ALPHASTROKE. In order to develop and bring it to market, Matt co-founded Forest Devices with Dan and Steve.
Carmelo R. Montalvo
Carmelo has a management background and is COO for Forest Devices.
Dan Willis
Dan received his B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Ohio State University.
Steve Morrow
Steve has spent over half of his 15 years experience in strategy, market analysis, project analysis, and operations in the Life Sciences industry.
Alex Basalyga
Liam Berti
Madeleine Wilcox, Ph.D.
Nick Zak
Andrew Maza
Board of Directors
Ashok Rao
Ashok Rao is a decorated Serial Entrepreneur with five successful high technology start-ups of his own. Currently, he is an Angel Investor, investing in several start-ups, mentoring their founders, and serving on their boards. He has led and contributed to the successful exit of several startups. From 2014-2017, Ashok was the Chairman of Adhesys Medical, Inc. That year, he led the sale and acquisition of Adhesys to Grunenthal in April 2017. He now serves as the Chairman of their Advisory Board. In addition, Rao is the Chairman of BioMed X Innovation Center in Heidelberg, Germany, and Houston, TX and is the Principal Investor & Chairman of SiNode Systems.
David Motley, M.B.A.
Mr. Motley is Co-founder and General Partner at BlueTree Venture Fund, a Pittsburgh-based venture capital firm investing in med-tech and IT companies at the Series B stage. He is also Managing Director at Headwaters SC, a mid-cap investment banking firm that provides sell side and buy side transaction support, advisory services and growth capital to business-owning families. Previously, Mr. Motley held the position of Vice President and General Manager at Covidien, Inc. Surgical Devices, where his principal responsibilities were franchise management, portfolio management and strategy for its $2 billion portfoli of surgical products.
Matt Kesinger
Mr. Kesinger was an EMT in Boston, MA for two years where he learned firsthand how hard it can be to diagnose a stroke with just a clinical exam. Upon attending the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, he conducted and ultimately published research on the difficulties of pre-hospital providers diagnosing stroke. His years of work on this problem led him to create AlphaStroke. In order to develop and bring it to market, Matt co-founded Forest Devices with Dan and Steve. Matt is on a leave of absence from Medical School, where he developed a deep understanding of the neuroscience behind our stroke detection method, and an understanding of urgent/emergency care in both pre-hospital and emergency room environments.
Ian Colrain, Ph.D.
Ian Colrain, PhD is President of SRI Biosciences, one of the largest research organizations in the United States. SRI partners with organizations worldwide to bring new medicines and devices to market through basic research, technology discovery, preclinical development and clinical translation. Ian is an internationally recognized leader in sleep research using EEG and evoked potentials. He has published over 300 articles, chapters, and abstracts, and he is a member of the Medical Advisory Board for Compumedics Pty. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of EEG-based diagnostic equipment. He has led the technical diligence for venture investments in numerous neurology companies.He was the clinical senior research fellow in the Stanford University Sleep Disorders Center and held tenured faculty appointments at Auckland University in New Zealand and The University of Melbourne in Australia where he is currently a professorial fellow. He served as a reserve officer in the Australian Army Psychology Corps and earned the Australian Defence Medal.
Steve Fleck, M.B.A.
Steve Fleck is Chief Operating Officer of ConnectiveRx, the nation’s leading provider of technology-enabled pharmaceutical commercialization solutions for specialty and branded medications. Steve leads the company’s enterprise operations, product management, and data analytics organizations. Steve was Founder & CEO of Careform, a leader in technology-enabled pharmaceutical Hub services, prior to its acquisition by ConnectiveRx in November 2017.
Prior to Careform, Steve was the co-founder and served as CEO and CTO of ClearCount Medical Solutions from its inception to acquisition by Stryker. Steve led the development of ClearCount’s innovative surgical device technology focused on patient safety and operating room efficiency.
Steve holds nineteen U.S. patents in the medical device field and serves as a Director of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. He earned his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and a BS in applied and engineering physics from Cornell University.
Clinical Advisors
W. Frank Peacock, MD, FACEP, FACC
W. Frank Peacock IV, MD, FACEP, FACC is a Professor of Emergency Medicine, Associate Chair, and Research Director for the department of Emergency Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, Texas. He serves as a member of the Accreditation Management Board for the American College of Cardiology, as well as on the NCDR Action Registry-Get With The Guidelines Research and Publications Subcommittee. With over 500 peer reviewed publications, predominantly on heart failure and acute coronary syndromes, Dr. Peacock is also the co-editor of the textbooks Cardiac Emergencies, Short Stay Management of Heart Failure, Short Stay Management of Chest Pain, and Short Stay Management of Atrial Fibrillation.
Mark Wholey, M.D.
Dr. Wholey is Director of the Center for Vascular and Neurovascular Interventions and Allegheny Health Network. He specializes in peripheral vascular procedures and is considered a pioneer in his field, having founded medical technology companies, developed popular medical devices and treated thousands of patients. He is a co-founder of EndoTex and Embolic Protection, both acquired by Boston Scientific Corp., and of Medrad. He is also the inventor of many medical devices, including the Wholey Wire.
Lawrence Wechsler, M.D.
Dr. Wechsler is a professor of neurology and neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is the founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Stroke Institute and has been very active in the treatment of stroke and its debilitating effects. Dr. Wechsler has served as local principal investigator for national and international clinical trials testing new treatments for acute stroke.
Our Business Advisors
Denis Olsen
Disciplined, high performance orientated Senior Executive with experience in varied functional disciplines including Production Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Quality, Commercialization Processes and Service. Background also includes International organic start-up business projects, identification of acquisition targets, working with Private Equity partners, in-depth financial analysis, and leading due diligence processes required to support acquisition projects for business growth targets WW.
Penn Krause, FACHE
Penn Krause is a healthcare operations and business development leader with management experience in hospitals and startups. As a member of the Community Health Systems' (CHS) senior team, Penn helped lead CHS through rapid growth and IPO. He became a champion of IT while CEO at Mercy Health System, which earned recognition as one of the “Top 100 Most Wired.” Mr. Krause possess an entrepreneurial knowledge of the healthcare industry and delivering new technologies, having developed and grown health IT startups which serve some of the nation's premier health systems.
John Tedeschi
John is a proven marketing and sales executive with a distinguished career of delivering consistent, progressive results. He has demonstrated success in customer focused marketing and sales, distributor sales, corporate accounts, and building start-up sales organizations in Europe and Japan. Managing sales and marketing departments, John has delivered brand growth and functional excellence with North American and International sales and marketing teams growing sales from $17 million to more than $600 million in annual revenue over his career.
Peter Cleber
Peter is CEO & Founder of IdeogeniQ, a business based in the Netherlands which supports medical device companies accessing European healthcare markets with selection and management of distributors and distribution channels in order to achieve structural and sustainable growth. IdeogeniQ accompanies companies through all stages of their business development efforts, including product registration, distributor selection, manufacturer representation, sales & marketing strategies, warehousing & supply chain infrastructures and the management of direct and indirect sales & marketing operations in Europe.
Our Partners
