Meet the team
Liqid Medical comprises like-minded professionals and specialists in their field, who are dedicated to the Liqid Medical vision.
Board of Directors
Dr Daemon McClunan, Executive Director & Company Founder
MBChB, DipOphth, MMed, FcOphth
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Dr McClunan completed his medical degree at Stellenbosch University with a distinction in ophthalmology. He completed his specialist training at Groote Schuur Hospital where he was the recipient of the Geoff Howes and Ophthalmic society medals which are awarded to the highest achieving candidate in the Diploma and Fellowship of Ophthalmologists part 1 examinations respectively.
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Dr McClunan has a keen interest in clinical research. He has presented at numerous local and international congresses where he received multiple awards and honours. He was awarded his MMed degree for research into novel surgical techniques with distinction and is currently completing his PhD in glaucoma management and biotechnology at the University of Cape Town.
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Dr McClunan serves on the executive committee of the South African Glaucoma Society, acts as an expert mentor to the Technology and Innovation Agency and holds a senior lecturer position at Groote Schuur Hospital. He is the founder of Liqid Medical and has created 2 grant winning ophthalmic implants.
Duncan Miller, Director
CA (SA)
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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.
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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 commercialization barriers, grow aggressively and deliver financial and operational control.
Keagan Botha, Director
CA (SA)
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Keagan is a qualified chartered accountant with a passion for developing strategy with workable models and reporting frameworks.
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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
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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.
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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.
Dr Nicholas York, Director
MBChB, DipOphth, MMed, FcOphth
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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.
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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.
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Dr York is currently pursuing a 1 year Corneal and Anterior Segment Surgery Fellowship at the prestigious Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.
Core Team
Joshua Fischer, Biomedical Engineer
BEng (Mechatronics). MEng (Biomedical)
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Joshua has a distinction for MEng research into novel eye movement. He has won multiple entrepreneurial, innovative, and academics awards and achieved a PhD in geometric eye models from the University of Stellenbosch.
Klara McClunan, Clinical Trial Coordinator
BSc Dietetics, MSc Nutrition
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Klara graduated with her BSc.Dietetics degree in 2014 and completed her Masters Degree, with distinction, in 2018 from the Stellenbosch University. Between 2018-2020, Klara conducted research at the Division of Human Nutrition, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital. This research included protocol development, manuscript development and publication, trial management, data collection and analysis, building data capturing databases and MOOC conceptualisation, planning and execution. Klara has a keen interest in research and evidence-based information. 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-ordiator for LIQID Medical.
Advisory Board
Brian Goemans
MSc Biomedical engineering, BSc Electrical engineering
Brian Goemans has been developing medical devices for over 20 years. Currently consulting to Emergo customers worldwide and South African companies on all aspects of medical device regulations, with a bias towards technical issues. Brian compiles Technical Files for CE marking, writes Clinical Evaluation Reports (CER), and compiles FDA 510(k) submissions.
Brian thrives on innovation and leading teams to develop great products - especially in the medical field. With deep experience in a variety of technologies, Brian enjoys driving projects to success with a hands-on approach and currently consults to various companies on project management, medical regulatory requirements, and medical product development.
There is huge potential in the South African medical device industry - Brian is actively working to nurture this potential and bring South African products to the market.
Heidi Wilson
BSc Eng (Mechatronics)
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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.
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
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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.
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.
Associates
Intellectual property - Adams and Adams attorneys
Engineering - BMEC, Albright Silicone, Wagner microengineering
Funding - Technology Innovation Agency, Craft and Design Institute, Venture capitalists
Funding - SAB Foundation, Social Innovation Awards
Research - University of Cape town department of anatomy, University of Cape Town Electron microscopy unit, Groote Schuur hospital department of ophthalmology
