Dr. Asif Ilyas, MD, MBA, FACS
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Ilyas is a thought-leading Orthopeadic and Hand Surgeon, and is considered a world expert in wide awake hand surgery. Dr. Ilyas completed his surgical training as a Fellow at the Harvard Medical School at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He later secured an MBA from Brown University with dual matriculation at the IE University in Spain. Dr. Ilyas has been a leader in and outside the medical and surgical arena; including serving as a Medical Director, Fellowship Director, Professor, and most recently a medical school Associate Dean. He has performed over 5000 wide awake surgeries and has published many of the leading articles establishing the safety and efficacy of awake hand surgery. Dr. Ilyas is committed to advancing wide awake office based surgery to increase access for patients, increased reimbursement for physicians, and yield more savings for payers.
Dr. James Clarkson, MBBS, MSc, FRCS(Plast), FRCSC
Chief Medical Officer
He was trained as a Plastic and Hand Surgeon in the United Kingdom, followed by a Hand Fellowship at the Christine Kleinert Institute Louisville Kentucky. He is boarded through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons or Canada, where he was born. He was faculty at the Department of Surgery at Michigan State University since 2010 until 2024 when, Inspired by the success that VR and office based surgery brought to his patients he left to create Walant Surgical Solutions with his co-founders. Clarkson has written a book chapter on how to deliver hand surgery in the office environment and looked at the mechanisms that VR appears to work through to reduce patient anxiety. He has also published his comparative infection rates in the main operating room and the office, where he found reduced infection rates when his patients surgical care transitioned to the office environment.
Joseph Gough
Joseph Gough has deep experience in digital health start-ups. After multiple exits and successful fundraising in excess of $500m, Gough began consulting for value-based care organizations in the US and UK. He currently acts as an Executive Director for Aledade, one of the most successful Medicare Shared Savings Program leaders in the country. Before working with accountable care organizations, Gough was the EVP of Innovation for the largest bundled payment convener, Remedy Partners. In addition to success as a healthcare entrepreneur, he has managed and invested early stage venture capital on behalf of Rocket Ventures and Starpower Ventures. Gough has won two Advertising Age Big Idea awards, Xology’s Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year, and multiple digital health innovation honors.
David Wheeler
Creative Director, Game Designer, Writer and Director of Video Games and Film/TV, David is an Honors Graduate of The London Film School in the UK with a multiple award-winning career including writing and directing credits in both video games and film/TV. Senior Creative Director at Electronic Arts (EA), Content Director for Vivendi/Universal. Games under David’s creative leadership have generated more than $2 Billion in revenue. Industry recognition for his creative work includes CLIO (Advertising), ANDY (Art Directors of New York), MI6 (Games), and a WRITER’S GUILD OF AMERICA nomination. Currently CEO and Chief creative officer at Digital Circus Media LLC.