An incubator that owns
its own operating room.
- Founded
- 2007
- People
- 11
- Location
- San Diego
3DT Holdings was created to stimulate the establishment and growth of technology-based start-up companies in cardiovascular and obesity-related disease. That is the charter. In practice it means something narrower and more useful: the company invents devices, proves them in large animals, and builds the ones that survive into separate businesses.
Incubators usually supply desks, mentors and introductions. Those are here. What is unusual is the rest of it. Two surgical suites, two C-arms, an immunopathology core and a simulation group sit on the same corridor as the engineers, so a founder can take an idea to a large-animal answer without leaving the building or signing a vendor contract.
The animal facility itself is registered, accredited and assured to the California Medical Innovations Institute, the non-profit research institute in the same building, with which 3DT shares a founder and an IACUC. Beyond it, sponsored research agreements and collaborations reach Scripps, Salk, UC San Diego, UC Irvine and the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
To improve healthcare through innovations, by partnering with industry, clinicians and entrepreneurs to enhance quality of life for humankind.
Who is in the building
Cumulatively, several centuries of device development. Most of it was spent inside Medtronic, Abbott, Dexcom and the operating theatre, which is why the failure modes get caught early here.
Ghassan KassabPh.D.
01Founder, Managing Member
Bioengineer. Took his BS, MS and PhD at UC San Diego, the doctorate summa cum laude, and held the Thomas J. Linnemeier Guidant Foundation Chair at IUPUI from 2006 as professor of biomedical engineering, of surgery, and of cellular and integrative physiology. Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. More than 300 full-length publications and 250 issued or pending patents across the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems. Founded the California Medical Innovations Institute, where he now chairs the board.
William Combs
02Director of Engineering
Twenty-nine years at Medtronic in systems engineering and product planning leadership, where he worked on the impedance monitoring that reached its pacemakers and defibrillators. Medtronic Technical Fellow, twice named Technical Contributor of the Year. Clinical associate professor at the IUPUI School of Biomedical Engineering. MSEE, Purdue.
Neil Drake
03Senior Engineer
On Class III implantables since 1997: Arterial Vascular Engineering, then Medtronic Vascular, Dexcom, Obalon Therapeutics and Companion Medical. Served as vice-president of research and development at Obalon from 2016. Ten US and international patents.
Greg Kelly
04Senior Engineer
Three decades of device design. The company credits him as an early member of the CoreValve team, working on the development of transcatheter aortic valve implantation. BA in physics, University of Colorado.
Frederic Field
05Director of Development
Twenty-five years developing devices inside start-ups: drug delivery infusion pumps, injection needle safety, minimally invasive surgical instruments. Former vice-president of research and development at Safety Syringes, acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2012. BS in bioengineering and MS in applied mechanics, UC San Diego.
Terry Hubbard
06Senior Engineer, Project Manager
More than thirty years in device design and commercialization across high-volume infusion products, ventricular assist devices, soft tissue prosthesis and artificial organs. Has worked FDA premarket approval submissions and multi-site clinical research.
Mengjun WangM.D., M.S.
07Research Scientist
Two decades of cardiovascular device and pharmaceutical efficacy and safety work, including twelve years at the Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute. MD and MS from Hebei Medical University and Peking University, MS in medical informatics from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Edwin De los Santos
08Engineering Technician
Twenty-five years building devices across electronics, aerospace and mechanical manufacturing. Eight years at Abbott Vascular and six at Medtronic Vascular, then research and development technician roles at Endicor Medical and Sequent Medical. Builds catheters and guidewires.
Ryan Huffman
09Engineering Technician
More than seven years in medical device research and development.
Ismail QaddouraMSIS
10Senior IT Manager
Three decades in information technology, previously running his own San Diego IT company. LAN and WAN architecture, network security, firewall and VPN management. Master's degree in information systems.
Alex Lillo
11Office Manager
Twenty years in banking building client relationships, latterly in senior international private banking. Bilingual in English and Spanish. BS in business administration with a finance concentration, San Diego State.