NovaScan CEO Craig Davis, pictured above, and NovaScan founder William Gregory were recognized as Innovators of Year at a special banquet at the WiSys SPARK Symposium. Former NovaScan CEO Larry Wells accepted the award on behalf of Gregory. (Photo: Sashi Popke, UW-La Crosse)
LA CROSSE—WiSys named NovaScan CEO Craig Davis and founder Dr. William Gregory as Carl E. Gulbrandsen Innovators of the Year at the nonprofit’s WiSys SPARK Symposium on Aug. 1.
The award is bestowed upon UW System faculty, staff, students or community members who make exemplary contributions as a WiSys innovator. The award is named for the former managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation who supported WiSys throughout his tenure.
NovaScan—an emerging oncology company based in Chicago that is pioneering a new low cost point of care platform for cancer detection and treatment—completed a $8 Million Series B financing late last year. WiSys holds several patents around scientific discoveries made by Gregory that form the basis for NovaScan’s technologies.
“It’s thrilling to see the original work of Dr. William Gregory—born on the UW-Milwaukee campus—developed into a medical product under the leadership of NovaScan CEO Craig Davis. Their work has the potential to improve cancer diagnosis around the world,” said WiSys President Arjun Sanga. “William and Craig are true innovators and we applaud their passion and commitment to making a difference.”
For more than thirty years, Gregory researched the electrical properties of materials and has been involved in other startup companies, as well as holding various academic positions. He holds numerous patents and is widely published. He is an emeritus professor at UW-Milwaukee, where he was formerly the Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Davis has been active in the early stage medtech community for many years, as a partner at a leading family office, as a medtech investment banker, and as a growth strategy consultant.
Prior to NovaScan, Davis was a partner in the two person family office LaSalle Investments. Among others, LaSalle co-founded Merge Healthcare (IPO and sold to IBM for $1Billion) and OrthoScan (acquired by ATON GmbH). Craig was a senior member of a team that was backed by private equity firm GTCR to roll up companies in the urologic device space.
He is also an ex-partner at Healthios, a boutique healthcare focused investment bank founded by former Baxter CEO Vern Loucks.
The awards were presented at a special Innovation Awards Banquet during the WiSys SPARK Symposium, the organization’s annual celebration of the best and brightest researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs working in or with the UW System’s 11 regional universities.
WiSys is a nonprofit organization that works with faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the UW System to facilitate cutting-edge research programs, develop and commercialize discoveries, and foster a spirit of innovative and entrepreneurial thinking across the state.