Rick Ducharme

Rick is the current Scientific Advisor at Egret and Vicora, and former Vice President of Research & Development at the Jacobs Institute. Over the past 20 years, Richard accumulated over 65 patents that yield over $25MM annually in medical device sales and has lead all aspects of product development with a knack for simple creative solutions to complex problems.

Rick was the first engineer at the Jacobs Institute, and successfully lead the implementation of the quality systems, a GLP preclinical facility and development of 25 engineers to perform device design, anatomical modeling, preclinical testing (e.g. needs finding, simulated use, human factors, cadaveric, animal studies) for regulatory submissions. He regularly advised start-ups and strategics on developing preclinical assessment methods to assess competitive product performance, understand basic principles of operation, and efficiently support regulatory submissions. He also developed the infrastructure and lead the Institute’s Idea to Reality Center, or i2R, developing technologies in fields such as robotics, brain machine interface, structural heart, vascular implants, and other endovascular therapies.

Earlier in his career he led multinational teams at Cook Medical and Novasentis. At Cook Medical, he invented, commercialized and lead the first clinical studies of the first granular hemostatic powder for gastrointestinal bleeding which is now the current standard of care (Hemospray). At Silicon Valley startup Novasentis, he led the product commercialization and design integration at companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and General Motors resulting in a Consumer Electronic Show (CES) Innovations Design and Engineering Award.

Rick holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in biological and biomedical engineering from Cornell University. He currently resides in East Aurora, NY with his daughter and wife. Richard enjoys backpacking, triathlons, running, skiing, and beekeeping.