About us

Greg Ogrodnick CEO

Greg was the co-founder and President of Conceptis Technologies Incorporated. Based in Montreal, Conceptis was a leading medical media and education company whose main asset was the web portal www.theheart.org. After co-founding the company in 1996, Greg helped lead the company through significant growth before selling the business to WebMD in 2005. Prior to founding Conceptis, Greg worked at leading healthcare and biotech companies including Baxter International and Genentech in various sales and management positions. A graduate of the University of Alberta and currently an Executive in Residence for University Technologies International, Greg brings extensive experience in health care, information technology and biotech to his role as CEO.

Matthias Friedrich, MD CSO

Matthias Friedrich is Staff Cardiologist of the Division of Cardiology and Director of the Stephenson Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Centre at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta. He is appointed Full Professor for Medicine with the Department of Cardiac Sciences and Radiology at the University of Calgary. Matthias is internationally recognized as one of the most experienced CMR researchers in imaging acute and chronic heart disease. He has pioneered many clinical applications of CMR such as in myocarditis and acute myocardial infarction and has authored more than 100 articles, book chapters and other publications. He is reviewer for several grant agencies, numerous specialty journals, and member of several editorial boards and professional societies. In 2005, he founded the Canadian Society for Cardiovascular MR. The list of his previous responsibilities also includes the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the Society for Cardiovascular MR, and membership in the AHA/ACC writing group on Consensus Recommendations for CMR. In the Society for Cardiovascular MR, Matthias currently also chairs the Clinical Trials Committee.

Philipp Barckow, MD CTO

Philipp is a physician and software developer that currently resides in Berlin, Germany. He is a professional associate with Dr. Friedrich since 1996. Philipp spent four years studying medical computer science at the University of Applied Science Berlin, to which his Thesis was "Rule based analysis of multimodal MRI". He received his MD and cardiologist training from the Free University in Berlin.

Kelly Cherniwchan COO

With an undergraduate degree in Human Physiology and an MBA in Finance, Kelly combines valuable economic insight and expertise to Circle's management. Kelly has held past positions in both technology and risk management and has experience as a board member in both private and non-profit organizations.

Shirantha Samarappuli, PhD VP Regulatory and Quality Assurance

Shirantha has 17 years experience in the medical device industry as a quality/regulatory professional and he is a certified lead auditor for ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 quality programs. His experience in global regulatory affairs and quality systems created a solid foundation for Circle's level of compliance and quality system. Dr. Samarappuli is a recipient of the Alberta Ingenuity Industrial Associates award for commercialization.

Pierre Couture VP Sales

Pierre has over 25 years experience in the healthcare industry, and has spent the majority of that in the medical imaging area. He has held senior management positions at Tyco Healthcare, Mallinckrodt Imaging, and Advanced Research Technologies Inc. Pierre is also Vice-Chairman of the Canadian Association of Radiologists Industry Liaison Committee. His experience in worldwide sales, marketing, and distribution will be extremely valuable to Circle.

Mercedes Pereyra Director of Sales and Clinical Applications

Mercedes brings over 20 years of experience in the Medical Imaging field. She had served as Technologist Chair at the SCMR Board of Directors until 2009 and she is presently a Policy Board Member for the ISMRT. Her involvement with research and technical work history has made possible her role as a qualified Application Specialist in the Cardiac Magnetic Imaging Modality.

The mixture of a Bachelor of Sciences from University of Cordoba plus a degree on Radiological Sciences from University of Florida and the undergraduate MBA from TWU have arranged to her broad customer approach.

Alexandra Hochmuth VP Europe

Alexandra has more than 20 years of experience in the field of Medical Imaging. After a career as a certified MRI Technologist she has been product manager in the cardiac imaging industry for 7 years. To Circle she brings the experience and knowledge that is necessary for the business development in Europe.