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Index / Our Team

Our Team.

The team building Ground Effect across neurotechnology and medicine.

General Partners

Trusted Advisors

Adventure Partners

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John Propst

John Propst

PhD, MBA

General Partner & Co-Founder

John is a General Partner and Co-Founder of Ground Effect Ventures and a neurotech investor who has led product development from concept through mass production across medical devices, software as a medical device, and consumer electronics. A founding member of the Nexus NeuroTech Ventures team, he built and led its seed fund and incubator program and served as Board Director or Observer for NeuraWorx, Ampa Health, Modulight.Bio, Somnair, Skip Innovations, and Willo. At Verily (Alphabet's healthcare company) he led Health Platforms operations and large-scale national initiatives including COVID-19 testing services, and earlier spent five years at Apple helping bring Apple Watch from prototype to production. John holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and an MBA from the University of South Carolina and a BS in Chemistry with Honors from Erskine College.

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Edward Ruppel III

Edward Ruppel III

MSE

General Partner & Co-Founder

Edward is a General Partner and Co-Founder of Ground Effect Ventures. Previously part of the Nexus NeuroTech Ventures team, focused on core fund strategy and Series A through growth-stage investments. Before Nexus, Edward led engineering at Deerfield Catalyst and Coridea, where he co-founded and developed devices for 15+ portfolio companies spanning neurological, cardiac, pulmonary, renal, orthopedic, and hepatic indications — most recently advancing first-in-class neuromodulation therapies for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, addiction, and obstructive sleep apnea. He holds an MSE in Bioengineering from Johns Hopkins, a BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Rochester, and 35+ granted worldwide patents across 15+ patent families.

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Hank Plain

Hank Plain

Trusted Advisor

Hank is a veteran life sciences executive and venture capitalist, and a General Partner at Lightstone Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures. Based in Menlo Park, California, he has co-founded eight medical device companies and serves on the boards of multiple biotech and medtech companies.
Jordi Parramon

Jordi Parramon

PhD

Trusted Advisor

Jordi was the General Partner and Co-Founder of Nexus NeuroTech Ventures. Prior to that role, Jordi served as President, Medical Devices at Verily Life Sciences (Alphabet's healthcare company, formerly Google Life Sciences), where he was responsible for leading Verily's Medical Devices business — combining hardware, software, and AI/ML to create differentiated and clinically validated solutions for Verily's clinical research products, healthcare products, and external partnerships and joint ventures. Before joining Verily, Jordi spent twelve years at Boston Scientific, ultimately serving as Director of R&D, Neuromodulation, bringing to market multiple generations of implantable products for Chronic Pain (Spinal Cord Stimulator) and Movement Disorders / Parkinson's Disease (Deep Brain Stimulator) franchises. Jordi started his career at Advanced Bionics as a key contributor to advanced neuromodulation technology. He holds 200+ worldwide patents across 60+ distinct patent families, and earned a PhD, MS, and BS in Electrical Engineering and a BS in Physics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

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William J. Marks, Jr.

William J. Marks, Jr.

MD, MS-HCM

Trusted Advisor

Bill was the General Partner and Co-Founder of Nexus NeuroTech Ventures. Prior to that role, Bill served as Head of Clinical Science and Head of Neurology at Verily Life Sciences (Alphabet's healthcare company, formerly Google Life Sciences), responsible for the team of physicians, clinicians, and scientists who provide clinical and scientific expertise across the company. For neurology, Bill led Verily's efforts to advance the understanding of neurological disorders and improve patient outcomes — including extensive work focused on Parkinson's disease. Previously, Bill had a distinguished academic career at UCSF, where he was Professor of Neurology and his research and clinical work emphasized technology-based solutions such as neuromodulation. He is now Adjunct Clinical Professor of Neurology & Neurological Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Bill received an Honors BS in Biology from Marquette University and his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his neurology residency and fellowship at UCSF, and holds an MS in Healthcare Management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

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Sandi Lam

Sandi Lam

MD, MBA

Trusted Advisor

Sandi is a pediatric neurosurgeon and Division Head of Neurosurgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, where she holds the Yeager Professorship in Pediatric Neurosurgery, and a Professor of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her clinical practice spans pediatric cerebrovascular, epilepsy, and craniofacial surgery, with an emphasis on minimally invasive and endoscopic techniques. She has published 150+ peer-reviewed articles on clinical outcomes, socioeconomic factors, and healthcare policy in neurosurgical care, serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, and has more than a decade of experience advancing pediatric neurosurgery in developing countries. Sandi earned her MD from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and completed neurosurgery training at UCLA and a pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Branden Rosenhan

Branden Rosenhan

MD

Trusted Advisor

Branden is the Founding and Managing Partner of MedMountain Ventures. A board-certified ICU physician, serial medtech founder, and healthcare executive, Branden has spent the past decade building deep relationships across the venture community and is a frequent guest lecturer on medical technology. Based in Salt Lake City.

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Marc Cohen

Marc Cohen

Trusted Advisor

Marc is Partner and CFO of MedMountain Ventures. He brings over 25 years of experience as CEO of high-growth companies in venture- and private-equity-backed healthcare and other regulated industries. For the past several years, Marc has also been active as an angel investor, fund LP, and advisor across the medtech ecosystem. Based in Salt Lake City.
Ivanny Gorski Franklin

Ivanny Gorski Franklin

Adventure Partner

Molecular biologist and investor focused on MedTech companies, Series A–C. Background in clinical strategy, regulatory pathways, reimbursement, and commercialization. Former Global Clinical Strategy Director at NAMSA; currently Managing Partner at MedSight Capital.

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Martin Omid Akhavan

Martin Omid Akhavan

Adventure Partner

Managing Director & Founder of Anthro Ventures. Previously a Strategic Advisor at McGeever Family Office. Studied at The Johns Hopkins University.

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Amir Soltanianzadeh

Amir Soltanianzadeh

Adventure Partner

Amir is an experienced MedTech executive and investor. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Spine Align — a prior exit — and the founder of Solardis Health Ventures, where he focuses on breakthrough technologies in cardiovascular and digital health.