Our Team

The People Behind the Mission

Vascular Perfusion Solutions brings together a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and industry advisors dedicated to solving one of transplantation’s most persistent problems: how to preserve donor hearts longer, safer, and more affordably.

With over 100 preclinical heart perfusions completed, VP.S ENCORE® is being developed under FDA Breakthrough Device Designation to extend graft viability up to 8 hours—without requiring donor blood or complex infrastructure.

We collaborate closely with transplant surgeons, OPOs, and medical institutions to ensure that our technology meets the realities of clinical use.

Our team is united by one goal: to make more organs transplantable and improve outcomes for patients in need.

Leadership

Rafael Veraza, PhD, MPh

Chief Executive Officer

Kristina Andrijauskaite, PhD, MS, MEd

Chief Scientific & Technology Officer

Toni Hänninen

Interim CFO

George Lamberson

Principal Mechanical Engineer

Core Team

Zachary Maxwell

Operations Manager

Chelbee Méndez

Senior Specialist, Scientific Programs & Quality Systems

Riley Lopez

Quality Engineer

Exal Cisneros

Research Engineer

Maria Basurto

Electrical Engineer

Board

Dr. Tom Mayes, MD

Interim Chairman of the Board

Rafael Veraza, PhD, MPh

CEO / Board Member

Leonid Bunegin

Co-Founder / Board Member

Celia Jairala

Board Member

Scientific & Clinical Advisory Board

Donald E. Ingber, MD, PhD

Founding Director, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University

Cristiano Amarelli, MD​

Cardiothoracic, Surgeon, Naples Italy​

Chair of Gordon Conference ​in Cardiac Preservation​

Board of Directors for ESOT

Co-Chair

Alexis E. Shafii, MD

Cardiothoracic, Surgeon, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center

Surgical director of the heart transplant program at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center

Co-Chair

Thomas C. Mayes, MD, MBA​

Former President and CEO of ​UT Medicine SA

Medical Director of the Pediatric ICU's at University Hospital and CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children's Hospital

Maj Gen Byron Hepburn, MD

Associate VP and Inaugural Director of the Military Health Institute at UT Health San Antonio

William (Billy) Cohn, MD

Cardiothoracic Surgeon

Executive Director at the Center for Device

Innovation at Texas Medical Center in Houston

William Bauta, PhD

Senior Vice President of Research and Development, Therapeutics BioAffinity Technologies