Meet the team

LIQID Medical comprises specialists in their field, who are dedicated to the LIQID Medical vision.

Board of Directors

Keagan Botha, Director

CA(SA)

Keagan is a qualified chartered accountant with a passion for developing strategy with workable models and reporting frameworks.

Keagan has played a fundamental role in building small and large scale organisations through continuous improvement, mentorship, training, and development. This has allowed them to reach their potential to increase profits and exit at maximum value.

Michael Lapere, Director

BBusSci(Actuarial Sciences & Economics) (Hons), MSc(Financial Maths), FIA

Michael is a qualified Actuary, and a Fellow of the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and holds a Masters Degree in Financial Mathematics. He has a background in Business, Mathematics, Economics, Finance & complex business operations.

Michael has extensive experience in senior management of a Top 40 company, balance sheet management, and the pioneering and building of new strategic and operational functions.

Duncan Miller, Director

CA(SA)

Duncan is a qualified Chartered Accountant who completed his articles with KPMG. He is a senior business executive with proven start-up track record with a focus on guiding dynamic companies through significant growth and internal change and in leveraging corporate finance opportunities.

Duncan has had extensive success in the establishment of new technology businesses,
taking them from seed to growth and on to exit. Duncan has exited and IPO’ed a number of his investments over the last 18 years. He has a deep understanding of the operational, scale and personnel challenges in high risk and high growth companies. His approach has been to focus on establishing, developing, managing, and motivating world class teams to break through commercialisation barriers, grow aggressively and deliver financial and operational control.

Dr Nicholas York, Director

MBChB(Wits), DipOphth(SA), MMed(UCT), FCOphth(SA)

Dr York completed his undergraduate medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand, graduating with distinction. He then went on to specialise in Ophthalmology at the University of Cape Town. He was awarded the Justin Van Selm Medal by the College of Ophthalmology as the top-qualifying candidate in South Africa for the fellowship examination. He completed his Master of Medicine degree through the University of Cape Town, with research into Corneal Donations and Transplantation in South Africa.

Dr York is an honorary executive member of the Ophthalmology Society of South Africa, after his nomination as a Young Leader in Ophthalmology in South Africa in 2017. He is also a founding member of the OSSA Young Ophthalmologist Society where he has played a pivotal role in improving the training of young ophthalmologists and promoting local research initiatives. Dr York has presented clinical research at numerous local and international congresses and has received multiple awards and honours for these presentations, including the European Glaucoma Society Award.

Dr York completed a 1 year Corneal and Anterior Segment Surgery Fellowship at the prestigious Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr Daemon McClunan, Founder and CEO
MBChB(Stel), DipOphth(SA), MMed(UCT), FCOphth(SA)

After completing his medical degree at Stellenbosch University with a distinction in ophthalmology in 2009, Dr McClunan moved to the Northern Cape to pursue a community service in ophthalmology. During this time, he undertook a 3-month non-profit expedition, performing rural eye screening clinics in an effort to combat vision loss in rural Southern Africa.

Dr McClunan went on to complete his specialist training at Groote Schuur Hospital where he was the recipient of the Geoff Howes and Ophthalmic society medals awarded to the highest achieving candidate nationwide in the Diploma and Fellowship of Ophthalmologists part 1 examinations respectively. He was later awarded his MMed degree with distinction for research into novel corneal surgery.

While acting as CEO for LIQID Medical, Dr McClunan is completing his PhD in glaucoma device development at the University of Cape Town, serves on the executive committee of the South African Glaucoma Society and is an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town.

Operational Team

Professor Nagib du Toit, GOSSIP Study Principal Investigator

MBChB(UCT) DipOphth(SA) FRCS(Ed) MMed(UCT) FCOphth(SA) PhD(UCT)

Professor Nagib du Toit is the head of the Division of Ophthalmology and the Glaucoma service at Groote Schuur tertiary academic hospital and Red Cross Children’s Hospital. He is also Mauerberger chair of ophthalmology at the University of Cape Town, a member of the executive committee of the South African Glaucoma Society and head of the Wembley Eye Clinic which is a registered PBO and NPO.

Professor du Toit is actively involved in clinical research. He is the editor-in-chief of the South African Ophthalmology Journal and has published widely in both local and international academic journals.

Dr David Steven, GOSSIP study Sub-Investigator
MBChB(NZ), FRANZCO

Dr Steven completed his medical training at the University of Otago in New Zealand, graduating MBChB with distinction. He completed his specialist training in ophthalmology through the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, working with, among others, Professor Tony Molteno, the first pioneer of glaucoma device surgery. He went on to pursue a glaucoma surgery fellowship at St Thomas Hospital in London.

Dr Steven is currently the Head of the department of ophthalmology at Eerste River district hospital and a sessional consultant at the Groote Schuur tertiary academic Hospital Glaucoma unit. He also works with the Ophthalmology Society of South Africa and the Department of Health to plan eye care services for the Cape Town metropol.

Klara Strydom, Clinical Trial Coordinator
BSc(Dietetics), MSc(Nutrition)

Klara completed her BSc Dietetics degree and Master’s Degree in Nutrition with distinction from the University of Stellenbosh. Klara then worked in clinical research under Professor Blaauw at the Division of Human Nutrition, Tygerberg Hospital for 3 years before moving to her position as the GOSSIP trial co-ordinator.

Klara has a keen interest in evidence-based research. She has presented at many national and international congresses and has received multiple research awards and grants. She has also published in various internationally certified journals. Currently she is pursuing her PhD at the Division of Human Nutrition, Stellenbosch University while acting as the clinical trial co-ordinator for LIQID Medical.

Joshua Fischer, Biomedical Engineer
BEng(Mechatronics), MEng(Biomedical)

During his training at the renowned Stellenbosch University department of Biomedical Engineering, Joshua received multiple entrepreneurial, innovation, and academic awards.

His master’s thesis into innovative eye movement technology was awarded with distinction and has followed on to a PhD in geometric eye models. His research culminated in the development of a novel concussion assessment device awarded by the South African Technology and Innovation Agency.

Marna van Deventer, Finance officer
BComHons(Accounting), CA(SA)

Marna is a qualified Chartered Accountant that is passionate about business. She brings boundless energy to a team environment and enjoys solving problems and working with others. Her interest lies in understanding how a business works and how it can be better, not only as a standalone entity, but as part of its community and the wider economy.

With keen analytical ability and good strategic thinking, Marna has the expertise to model this understanding to establish financial viability. Her local and international experience working at PWC, Deutsche bank, Nando’s and Vula mobile, combined with her commercial
intuition allows her to identify what drives success in a business and enables her to excel in measuring and reporting these indicators.

Advisory Board

Dr Junaid Zondi, Clinical advisor

FC Ophth(SA), Mmed Ophth(UCT), MBBCh(Wits), Dip Ophth(SA), DMH(SA)

Dr Zondi is a specialist ophthalmologist who currently consults in private practice while also working as an academic sessional consultant at Johannesburg General Hospital in Pretoria. He is a member of the Ophthalmic Society of South Africa and the South African Glaucoma Society.

Dr Zondi is passionate about the clinical and socio-economic benefits that the LIQID Medical device portfolio has to offer patients both locally and globally. He has been involved in the development of LIQID Medical’s devices since 2017. In 2018 he became a shareholder and in 2020 joined the scientific advisory panel.

Anton Ressel, Business Growth Specialist

BA(Hons)Psych

Anton Ressel is an experienced business development professional, mentor and SME growth specialist. He is MD of ARC Consulting, the Senior Mentor at ED and CSI specialist agency Fetola, a mentor for the SAB Social Innovation Awards and Edge Growth, and a published author across multiple publications including Business Day, Finweek, Mail & Guardian and others. His passion is helping small businesses become bigger ones.

Heidi Wilson
BSc Eng(Mechatronics)

Heidi is co-founder and director of BMEC Technologies Pty Ltd. She has over 9 years of experience in project management and product development with particular expertise in multi-disciplinary medical device design and development, including management of clinical trials and regulatory compliance.

Siraaj Adams

BPharm, MPH, MBA

Siraaj is CEO of Digital Health, and he is on the National Department of Health Task Team of HIV Screening. Siraaj’s accolades include being labelled as the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year September 2015 and he notably won the HIV GEMS disease management contract in 2016, recognised as the largest HIV contract in SA.

In July 2016 Siraaj launched the TB app with the Minister of Health and in August 2017 he launched PREP App for DOH. In 2014, he developed the DOH/MH and USAID public private partnership, promoting surgical training of GP’s to increase provision of medical male circumcision with a $5million grant. In the same year, his HIV Clinical Guideline mobile app was voted most Innovative App at MTN App of the Year and New Generation Social and Digital Media Awards. He is currently appointed to the HIV Clinicians Society Board.

Ken Park

MSc(Biomedical Engineering), BSc Eng(Mechanical Engineering)

Ken is currently the COO of DISA Medinotec. He has over 18 years of experience in medical device research, design and development. He has worked for two medical device start-ups and has helped grow DISA from its early growth phase. Ken has taken several high-risk medical devices through their life cycles, including design, prototyping, bench testing, preclinical testing, clinical trials, European regulatory approval, sales and post-market surveillance. He has set up manufacturing facilities for medical implants and other surgical and minimally-invasive devices. Ken has expertise in product development, quality assurance and regulations, IP protection, research publication and the commercialisation of medical devices.

Raphael Smith

MSc (Med) Biomedical Engineering, BSc (Eng) Aeronautical Engineering

Raphael is co-founder and director of BMEC Technologies Pty. His expertise include mechanical, software and mechatronic design with a passion for system integration and creating protectable IP.

Associates

Intellectual Property - Adams and Adams Attorneys
Device Engineering - BMEC, Albright Silicone, Wagner Technologies
Funding Support - Technology Innovation Agency, Craft and Design Institute, SAB Foundation

Clinical Research - University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Tertiary Academic Hospital