Meet the team

Steve Deitsch

Chief Executive Officer

Stephen M. Deitsch (Steve) is Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Caristo Diagnostics, a University of Oxford spinout developing AI-powered technologies for cardiovascular disease.

Steve brings more than 25 years of global leadership experience across medtech and healthcare, with a proven record of accelerating growth, scaling operations, and creating shareholder value. Most recently, he served as Chief Financial Officer of OrganOx, where he led the company’s 2025 sale to Terumo Corporation at an industry-leading valuation of $1.5 billion—the largest exit in the University of Oxford’s history.

From 2020 to 2024, Steve served as CFO of NYSE-listed Paragon 28, where he led the company’s 2021 initial public offering at a valuation of more than $1 billion. Earlier, he was CFO of NASDAQ-listed BioScrip from 2017 to 2019, playing a central role in the company’s turnaround and merger with Option Care Health at an exit value exceeding $1 billion. He also spent more than a decade with Zimmer Biomet and several acquired companies, including Lanx, where he served as CFO from 2009 to 2013. A CPA, Steve began his career with more than seven years at Big Four accounting firms.

David Vort

Chief Commercial Officer

David Vort (Dave) is Chief Commercial Officer of Caristo Diagnostics, a University of Oxford spinout developing AI-powered technologies for cardiovascular disease.

Vort brings extensive experience leading commercial organizations for high-growth medtech companies. Most recently, he served as Chief Commercial Officer of Cytovale, where he led commercialization of the company’s FDA-cleared sepsis diagnostic. Before that, he spent a decade as Chief Commercial Officer of iRhythm Technologies, leading the company from start-up to several hundred million dollars in revenue and guiding it through its 2016 IPO. Earlier in his career, Vort held commercial leadership positions at Intuitive Surgical, InTouch Health, and Stryker.

Chris Louk

Chief Financial Officer

Chris Louk is Chief Financial Officer of Caristo Diagnostics, a University of Oxford Spin-out developing AI-powered technologies for cardiovascular disease.

Louk has a proven track record in strategic planning, medtech mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets. Most recently, Louk served as Vice President of Healthcare Investment Banking at Piper Sandler. He worked on some of the most significant and successful recent transactions in medtech, including advising University of Oxford spinout OrganOx on its $160 million equity financing and subsequent $1.5 billion sale to Terumo Corporation.

Prof. Charalambos Antoniades

Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer

MD PhD FESC Pioneered the research on the relationship between adipose tissue and the cardiovascular system, with specific interest in non-invasive imaging of inflammation. This knowledge has been applied in a variety of diseases, ranging from cardiovascular disease to COVID-19. Deputy Head of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford, and Chair of the British Atherosclerosis Society.

Prof. Keith Channon

Co-founder & Chief Medical Officer

Clinical interventional cardiologist and highly experienced research leader in cardiometabolic disease and risk. Professor at the University of Oxford, with expertise in healthcare innovations in the NHS through NIHR and Director of Academic Health Science Centre.

Prof. Stefan Neubauer

Co-founder & Chief Translational Officer

MD FRCP FACC FMedSci FSCMR Devoted his work to the development and application of novel imaging techniques in MRI and spectroscopy, and most recently in coronary CT. Head of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Director of the Oxford Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research (OCMR) at the University of Oxford and Past President of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR).

Dr. Cheerag Shirodaria

Co-founder and Chief Development Officer

MBBS MD MBA FRCP Has been involved in cardiovascular research for more than 25 years. Was General Manager for Medical Devices & Diagnostics and Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area Head at Covance. Is an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Pete Tomlins, Ph.D

Head of Innovation & Research

PhD, CPhys Chartered Physicist with over 20 years’ research experience in National Labs, academia, and university spin-out. Pete has led technology research programmes, run a data science consultancy, and built prototype medical imaging systems from the ground up. He is passionate about improving health outcomes with data and AI.

Matt Kelly, Ph.D

Head of Clinical and Operations

Ph.D with a passion for delivering innovative technology to improve clinical outcomes. Experienced leader with over 20 years’ experience across the full product lifecycle, translating inspiration into regulatory-cleared medical devices and generating the clinical evidence and IP protection necessary for commercial success.

Sumangala Verma

Director of Marketing and Commercialisation

Sumangala Verma is a marketing and communications specialist focused on medical technologies. With more than 12 years of experience, she has led brand strategy, product positioning, and digital marketing for growth‑stage startups across Health Tech and e‑commerce.

She began her career in public relations at Edelman and has since driven communications for leading consumer technology and FMCG brands, including Unilever, LinkedIn, and Audible.

Sumangala holds an MBA from Imperial College London and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign.

Neil Stevenson

Head of Engineering

Tamsin Crane

General Counsel

Corporate and commercial solicitor with extensive experience advising emerging and established companies on commercial contracts, protection of intellectual property rights, regulatory and corporate governance matters, strategic relationships and financings

James Davis

Head of Quality and Regulatory

Over 20 years experience working with medical devices at large multinational companies as well as startup and SMEs. Responsible for regulatory compliance and quality management, has set up a combined management system compliant to ISO 9001, 13485 and 27001 requirements.

Nigar Syed

Head of Image Analysis

BSc (Hons) Diagnostic Radiography. In excess of 10 years of experience as a Radiographer across multiple imaging modalities including PET-CT, Nuclear Medicine, and CT. Substantial experience in managing and co-ordinating multiple imaging trials at the cutting edge of healthcare innovations at the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Yogesh Sohan

Head of Data Operations and IT

BE, MBA with over 17 years of experience in Project Management, Operation Management and Information Technology. Has experience in the healthcare sector on embedded technology, medical imaging and software only devices at start-ups as well as multinational organisations.