Arthur Combs, CEO and Chairman

Arthur Combs is a physician executive with a lifelong experience in the medical products industry. First, as a customer and expert end-user during more than 20 years in academic medicine in the device and technology-intensive specialty of Critical Care Medicine, and second, as an executive, corporate officer and consultant across the medical products industry.

In 1997, Dr. Combs became the first Medical Director for Mallinckrodt Inc.’s respiratory care business that included Nellcor, Puritan-Bennett, Shiley and Mallinckrodt’s own products. From that position he then became Executive VP, R&D. On his watch, Nellcor’s 4th generation oximetry platform, the PMA fetal pulse oximeter, and the flagship PB 840 ventilator were cleared and launched. Mallinckrodt was purchased by Tyco International (now Covidien) in 2000.

Dr. Combs has been a retained consultant for HP Medical, Agilent Technologies, Philips Medical Systems, Edwards Life Sciences and many others. His projects have included automated ventilation management, continuous arterial blood gas monitoring, proteomics, molecular diagnostics, noninvasive cardiac output technologies, and tight glycemic control. He has also consulted for numerous Venture Capital firms with a life sciences focus.

As an entrepreneur, Dr. Combs has previously been an officer of 3 start-up medical device companies. Everest Biomedical Instruments, where he was VP, R&D and CMO, sold its first noninvasive product to Viasys Corporation, spun out its second device as BrainScope, Inc. and sold its third noninvasive product and the company to Stryker International in 2005. BMEYE BV of Amsterdam, Netherlands, maker of noninvasive continuous cardiac output technology, hired Dr. Combs as CMO and GM, North America. After BMEYE obtained both CE Mark and US FDA clearance for their Nexfin products, Dr. Combs left to become CEO of Grove Instruments.

In addition to contributing to the technical and clinical development of more than half a dozen innovative noninvasive medical devices currently on the market, Combs has raised tens of millions of dollars in equity capital, grants, and awards. He is an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame, New York Medical College and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Combs is co-inventor on 2 issued US patents. He holds honorary fellowships in the American College of Chest Physicians and the American College of Critical Care Medicine.

Richard F. Burtt, Director

As Managing Director of Value Added Strategies, LLC (VAS), Mr. Burtt advises senior management of life science businesses in the commercialization stage on partnerships, financings, organizational development, business development, and marketing strategies for sustained growth and shareholder value. Mr. Burtt has raised over $39 million in angel and venture capital in both management and Director roles.

Mr. Burtt is the former Chief Executive Officer and President of Nomir Medical Technologies a company focused on optical solutions to bacterial and fungal diseases in podiatry and dermatology. Earlier in his career, Mr. Burtt was Executive Vice President of Andover Medical Industries a private cardiovascular technology company acquired by Medtronic. Following the acquisition, Mr. Burtt developed expertise in corporate development, acquisitions, and international marketing as a Vice President for Medtronic . Prior to creating VAS, he co-founded or led five businesses (Andover Medical, NEMF, IDVehicle, DTAC, Origin Data) to acquisition exits. Mr. Burtt launched his career in marketing for IBM Corporation and holds a MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and the Professional Director Certification for Public Companies from the American College of Corporate Directors.

Mark W. Fuller, Director

Mr. Fuller is a local Worcester business man with 30 years experience as a Director on numerous for-profit and not for profit Boards. He is the current Chairman & Treasurer of the George F. & Sybil H. Fuller Foundation and Vice President of Benefit Development Group, a group benefits broker firm in Worcester. Mr. Fuller himself is a Type 1 diabetic and thus has a personal interest in the development of a non-invasive blood glucose meter. Much of his recent Board work has been steeped in the diabetes community where he is Director and former Chairman of the Board of the Barton Center for Diabetes Education. Mr. Fuller received his BS in Ceramic Science from the Pennsylvania State University.

Robert A. Peura, PhD, Founder and Director

Dr. Peura is a Co-Founder and current CTO at Grove . Dr. Peura founded the Biomedical Engineering Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and retired as professor and Chairman after 40 years of service.

Grove’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Hannu Harjunmaa and Dr. Peura, on two different continents, independently identified the seminal concept for the Optical Bridge approach to noninvasive glucose determination. Dr. Peura has a personal passion for the endeavor because two of his children have Type 1 diabetes and lance their fingers to test their blood sugar 10 to 12 times daily.

Dr. Peura received his BS in Electrical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and his PhD in both Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Iowa State University. He is formerly Professor and Chairman of Biomedical Engineering at WPI and an Associate Dean. Dr. Peura is a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical Engineers and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He served as a Medical Device PMA panel reviewer for the FDA and is co-inventor of 6 US medical device patents including 4 seminal Grove patents.

J. Paul Lock, MD, Director

Dr. Lock has been a clinical endocrinologist for 30 years and is experienced in all aspects of diabetes care for adults and children with diabetes. He is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine and Senior Physician in adult diabetes at The Diabetes Center of Excellence at University Hospital in Worcester.

Dr. Lock received his BA at Assumption College in Worcester, his MD degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine and completed his fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver.

Dr. Lock's clinical research interest and his numerous medical publications focus on improving diabetes care through medical device innovation. He continueshis active clinical research in diabetes technology and is committed to the oversight of clinical research here at Grove Instruments where he serves as Principal Investigator and Medical Director for Grove’s on-site clinical laboratory.

Craig C. Mello, Ph D, Scientific Advisor

Dr. Mello is an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is also Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine and Co-director, RNA Therapeutics Institute at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

Dr. Mello received his B.Sc. degree in Biochemistry from Brown University in 1982, and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1990. From 1990 to 1994, he conducted postdoctoral research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA. Dr. Mello’s pioneering research on RNA inhibition (RNAi), in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Fire, has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards culminating with the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Dr. Mello, along with his colleague, Dr. Andrew Fire, discovered the process by which a particular form of RNA, the cellular material responsible for the transmission of genetic information, can silence targeted genes. This RNA inhibition process offers astounding potential for understanding and manipulating the cellular basis of human disease. RNAi is now the state-of-the-art method by which scientists can “knock out” the expression of specific genes to thus define the biological functions of those genes. Just as important, RNAi is a normal natural process for genetic regulation during development, opening a new window on developmental gene regulation.

Dr. Mello has been a Grove Advisor since 2009.