About us
Executive
Dr Tim Craft
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Prof Tim Craft has been a hospital doctor for over 35 years and has practised in the UK and USA. He is a Consultant Anaesthetist in practice at hospitals in the West of England. He had previously been the executive Medical Director on the Board of an acute hospital Trust (7 years) and Director of Research and Innovation at the same Trust (2 years).
Tim is an author of several textbooks and co-created the Key Topics series, many of which have been translated into other languages. Twenty years ago, Tim co-founded Anaesthetic Medical Systems Ltd (AMS) an ISO13485 accredited company that designs and manufactures CE marked single use intravenous connector systems widely held to be the safest way of connecting pumped drug infusions to patients.
AMS products are in regular use across both public and private hospitals in the UK where Vygon (UK) have for many years been the distributor. Tim leads the global support for international distributors of AMS products.
Co-Founder of Anaesthetic Medical Systems Ltd
Dr Mark O’Connell
Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer
Dr Mark O’Connell has more than 35 years’ experience in drug monitoring in patients and clinical research.
Starting as an Analyst at the Poison’s Unit, Guy’s Hospital, he went on to run a Therapeutic Drug Monitoring unit for the National Hospital at Queen Square, London. He subsequently pioneered the technique of clinical microdialysis initially at the Institute of Neurology London, where he obtained his PhD, before moving to the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
His knowledge and know-how helped Cambridge establish an international reputation as leaders in this field. Co-founded with Denis Lonergan, Probe Scientific Limited in 1998, an ISO13485 accredited medical device company marketing a Class IIa device and IVD. The former is non-exclusively licenced to Italy’s largest pharmaceutical and device corporation, The Menarini Group.
Mark won the Business Launch Award at the Cambridge Enterprise Conference, 2003, is an international speaker, and author of over 50 scientific and medical papers, and many patents.
Denis Lonergan
Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer
Denis Lonergan is a serial angel investor and experienced finance director with extensive experience of start-up companies, particularly in the life sciences sector.
Denis originally established his practice after seeing the need for a non-compliance-based accountancy firm offering added value services not easily affordable to small and medium sized start-up businesses. Denis went on to represent a number of biotech and medical device companies, both private and listed.
These days he usually acts as an investor director for the investee companies of his small portfolio of high-net-worth clients, often investing alongside those clients. He remains a director of Europe’s largest privately owned Contract Research Organisations which he has seen grow from 2 to 800 employees in 24 European Countries, providing support to Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Biotechnology industry clients.
Somnus is unique in that he is also one of the founders as he has significant experience in companies that have developed associated technology.
Advisory Board
Professor John Sear
Professor of Anaesthetics Emeritus, University of Oxford, UK
An ex-clinical anaesthetist with a scientific interest in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intravenous drugs, especially anaesthetic agents
Senior Editor of the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia
Professor Carol Peden
Academic anesthesiologist involved in health systems research and innovation
Adjunct Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and at the University of Pennsylvania and Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Perioperative Brain Heath Initiative.
Expertise in designing and leading improvement and innovation projects around the world. Named Public Health Innovator of the year in 2016 by Harvard School of Public Health for her work to improve outcomes in high-risk surgical patients.
Professor Jerry Nolan
Hospital consultant working equally between anaesthesia and intensive care
Professor Mark Tooley FREng
Formally, Head of Medical Physics and Director of R&D at an acute hospital
Immediate Past-President of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine
Honorary Professor, University of Bath and a Visiting Professor with the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
Healthcare technology consultant with expertise in biological signal processing and novel patient monitoring solutions
Professor Mike Parr
Director of Intensive Care and Executive Clinical Director at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney,
Conjoint Professor University of New South Wales, and Director of Macquarie University Hospital Intensive Care, Sydney, Australia.
An editor of Resuscitation and Deputy Chair of the Australian Resuscitation Council.
Patrick Finnemore
Commercial development
35 year’s experience of developing and building medical technology businesses including disruptive diagnostic technology start-ups
Malcolm Stewart
Business development
Seasoned marketer with experience in large American medical devices businesses as well as smaller start-ups. Specialist knowledge in acute care, anaesthesia, infusion therapy, diagnostics and monitoring
Academic Partners
Professor Janice Kiely
Co-founder and Director of the Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology (IBST)
Professor of Bio-sensing Technology with expertise in biosensing instrumentation.
Together with Richard Luxton, awarded £5.6 M from European and Regional Growth Funds to establish 900 m2 of laboratory facilities focusing on biosensor system development for health application
Professor Richard Luxton
Co-founder and Director of Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology (IBST)
Professor of Biosensors with particular expertise in rapid detection technologies
Editor-in-Chief for the journal Sensor and Biosensor Research
Launched Medilink South West, an arm of the UK’s leading MedTech trade organisation
Health Tech Hub at University of the West of England
David Ferrier
Research Fellow specialising in biosensing and healthcare technology
David Ferrier is a Research Fellow specialising in biosensing and healthcare technology. He has a Ph.D. in engineering and works with the Health Tech Hub at the University of the West of England on the Somnus project.
Ibidapo Williams
Research Fellow in the Health Tech Hub at UWE
Ibidapo Williams is a Research Fellow in the Health Tech Hub at UWE, working with the Somnus team. He has a Ph.D. in molecular biology and toxicology and is an expert in drug safety and efficacy and bio-sensor development.
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