Meet the team
Meet the team that turns the impossible into possible
Joe Kiani
Chief Executive Officer
Joe Kiani is committed to transforming yesterday's impossibilities into today’s realities. This is precisely what he accomplished at Masimo® and continues to achieve with Willow Laboratories, which was founded in 1998. Joe Kiani founded Masimo in 1989, a global medical technology company renowned for noninvasive patient monitoring technologies. Under his leadership as Chairman and CEO, Masimo transformed from a “garage start-up” into a publicly traded, multi-billion-dollar enterprise listed on NASDAQ (MASI). To name just one successful invention, Masimo Signal Extraction Technology® (SET) is the primary pulse oximetry that can be found at the top 10 hospitals in the United States and throughout the world. Today, he is leading Willow Laboratories as the team prepares for the commercialization of several new groundbreaking technologies.
Other Experience
Every year, over 200,000 people die from preventable causes in hospitals – the very place a person seeks care and healing. Inspired by this grim reality, Joe Kiani founded the Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) in 2012. Under Joe Kiani’s leadership, the PSMF held the first Patient Safety Science & Technology Summit in January 2013. This inaugural summit featured President Clinton as the keynote speaker. Since then, Joe Kiani has convened and inspired leading healthcare clinicians, hospital and healthcare system CEOs, and medical device CEOs from around the world to pursue an ambitious goal – ZERO preventable patient deaths. Achieving this goal requires full transparency into healthcare data, including precise statistics on preventable deaths. To attain this bold initiative, Joe Kiani launched Project Zero, a collaboration aimed at helping healthcare organizations implement evidence-based practices that enhance patient safety and eliminate preventable patient harm.
As a quintessential American entrepreneur and innovator, Joe Kiani has tirelessly championed healthcare reform for over 30 years. His vision continues to flourish and inspire as he collaborates with legislators in Washington, D.C., to shape public policy, foster innovation, and encourage sound healthcare decisions. In 2021, Joe Kiani was appointed by President Biden to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology where he spearheaded the patient safety report for implementation by the White House. Joe Kiani’s passion lies in sharing knowledge, insights, and his unwavering spirit of true innovation to enhance healthcare for patients worldwide.
Recognition and Awards
Joe Kiani has received numerous awards for his work in technology and patient safety. In 2024, his W1 Medical Watch was named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024. In 2023, he received the Robert Wears Patient Safety Award from University of Florida Health. He has also received the Hubert H. Humphrey ‘Dawn of Life’ Award (2014), which is presented by the Newborn Foundation to individuals who have significantly impacted infant mortality rates. In addition, Joe Kiani was honored with IP Champion Award in December 2018, the Society of Critical Care Medicine Innovation Award in 2000 and Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year: Life Sciences Award in 2012.
Education and Background
Joe Kiani received his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University (SDSU). He also earned his Master’s in Electrical Engineering from SDSU. Joe Kiani has received Honorary Doctorate Awards in Science from SDSU and Chapman University. Joe Kiani holds more than 600 patents related to patient monitoring technology and his technology is used to monitor more than 200 million patients worldwide each year. Joe Kiani remains tirelessly dedicated to improving the lives of patients, their safety, and the healthcare system they interact with.
To learn more about Joe Kiani and to keep up with his latest ventures, follow him on LinkedIn, X, or YouTube.
Gerry Hammarth
Chief Financial Officer
Gerry Hammarth joined the company in 2013 as Chief Financial Officer. Bringing over 30 years of experience from various high growth industries, he is responsible for all financial and administrative operations of the company. Prior to joining, he served as Senior Vice President, Finance for Masimo Corporation, a publicly traded medical device manufacturer. Prior to his time at Masimo, he held finance positions in a variety of industries, including telecommunications hardware, personal computers, and direct marketing. Hammarth holds an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Psychology from Stony Brook University.
Hung Vo
Chief Operating Officer
Hung Vo has over 20 years of experience in the research and development of sensors. After joining the company in 2007, he played a crucial role in the advancement of sensor technology towards the limits of detection medical devices. Since 2020, he has led the hardware team with his versatile expertise in complex optical, mechanical, and electrical systems. As the Chief Operating Officer, he is responsible for guiding the team from project conception through completion. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Saleh Adi
Vice President Medical Affairs
Saleh Adi, a board certified pediatric endocrinologist, joined Willow Laboratories in 2021 as the Vice President of Medical Affairs. Saleh was a founding director of the Madison Clinic for Pediatric Diabetes at University of California, San Francisco, a state-of-the-art center for providing comprehensive, most up-to-date treatments for diabetes including early adoption of technology, dedicated case management by Diabetes Educators and mental health providers. He has dedicated his career to taking care of children with diabetes whom he finds a special connection and empathy with. Dr. Adi earned his M.D. at the University of Aleppo Medical School in Syria and did his pediatric endocrinology fellowship with the University of California, San Francisco.
Greg Olsen
Vice President Product Design
Bringing over 24 years of experience, Greg Olsen is known for his ability to create synergy between physical industrial design and digital UX/UI experiences of products and services by taking an empathic based approach to reduce the burden for those involved in the product’s use. He joined Willow in 2010 and prior to that worked on a range of products such as consumer electronics, surgical equipment, and non-invasive sensors. He is a co-inventor on 30 patents and his contributions have been recognized by winning an iF product design award and three medical device excellence awards. Olsen holds a B.S. in Industrial Design from California State University, Long Beach.
Angela Martin
Vice President Marketing and Business Development
In 2023, Angela Martin joined the team as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. With over 25 years of engineering and marketing experience, Martin has introduced numerous, successful new products into diverse markets including medical device, diagnostics, healthcare, and consumer packaged goods. Prior to joining Willow, she spent time leading marketing teams in the medical device industry and was the Vice President of Marketing for Mayo Clinic Laboratories. Before entering healthcare related industries, Martin spent 10 years in the consumer packaged goods industry, launching new products and leading marketing at PepsiCo, Sara Lee, and Kimberly-Clark. Prior to her marketing career, Martin worked as an engineer at Harley-Davidson and her name can be found on the 100th anniversary motorcycle in the Harley-Davidson museum. She holds an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.S. in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from Marquette University.
Clinical Advisory Board
Meet the Team that leads the Medical decisions.
Mary C. Wright
MSN, RN, CPNP, CDCES
Jeanne Buchanan
MSN, RN, BC-ADM, CDCES
Sabrina Stutz
PhD
Bill Rainusso
T1D Dad
Marinna Basina
MD
Melissa E. Weinberg
MD
Tariq Ahmad
MD
Rashanak Monzavi
MD