About Us
XN Health is an early-stage medical device startup developing a therapeutic device to prevent and combat the progression of ventilator induced lung injury in mechanically ventilated patients.
Our novel approach provides phrenic nerve stimulation through the respiratory tract to induce diaphragm contractions to improve patient outcomes and ventilator wean times.
Management team
Elizabeth Jaworski, PhD
Co-Founder & CEO
- Serial founder, bootstrap to profit in <1 year
- Prev. Biodesign fellow at TMCi
- PhD in Biochemistry (UTMB)
Ela is a biotech entrepreneur with over 9 years of experience in developing novel laboratory techniques and medical treatments. She is the co-founder and CEO of XN Health, a medical device startup creating innovative therapy for mechanically ventilated patients. Ela has successfully raised investment and won multiple awards for this venture.
Previously, she co-founded ClickSeq Technologies, commercializing a Next-Generation Sequencing library synthesis technology developed during her graduate studies. Ela has participated in NSF I-Corps programs and is an inventor on three patents, including one for XN Health's Phrenic Nerve Pacing Device.
With a strong background in both scientific research and business development, Ela excels at bringing promising new technologies to market.
Lance Black, MD, MBID
Co-Founder & CMO
- Prev. associate director of TMCi
- Experienced medical device board member
- LifeGift: board of directors
- Flight surgeon, US Airforce
- MD (LSU); MA in BioMed Innovation (Georgia Tech)
Dr. Lance Black is a multifaceted professional with expertise as an engineer, physician, and innovator. He holds an MD from LSU Health Sciences Center, a BS in Biological Engineering from LSU, and a Masters in Biomedical Innovation and Development from Georgia Tech.
Dr. Black served in the US Air Force as a Family and Flight Medicine physician, deploying twice in leadership roles. He later worked at GCMI, contributing to 25+ medical devices and 30+ patents. As Associate Director at TMC Innovation Institute, he screened 2000+ healthcare startups, advised 100+ companies that raised over $2.5B, and helped launch 10 startups that raised >$30M.
His mission is to support the development of innovative medical technologies that benefit patients.
Ron Mills, MA
CCO
- Serial medical device startup exec
- Man Dir, Organ Recovery Systems (‘00-’07)
- CEO Tevosol (ACQUIRED ‘21)
- CEO Northernmost
Ron Mills is a seasoned healthcare entrepreneur with 40 years of experience in venture creation, brand strategy, and communications. His career spans from Ernst & Young to Big Pharma launch agencies, and founding Maelstream Startups studio. He's authored 15 books and numerous articles for leading business publishers.
Since 2000, Ron has been a successful entrepreneur in organ transplantation. His achievements include launching a leading kidney transplant medical device, co-developing an organ research platform, turning around a lung device startup, and founding Northernmost to create next-generation organ preservation technology.
Originally from Detroit, Ron studied at the University of Michigan, lived in Chicago, and now resides in Edmonton, Alberta.
Advisors & Collaborators
Our Partners
XN Health Timeline
August, 2020
Ela participates in the Texas Medical Center’s Biodesign program, a one-year fellowship to solve unmet clinical needs by bringing breakthrough technologies to the market. The COVID pandemic exemplified the need to get patients off the ventilator faster.
July, 2021
Ela, Lance, and Mehdi co-found XN Health.
January, 2022
XN Health receives pre-seed capital through HAX/SOSV and moves to its new home in Newark, NJ. HAX is a hands-on venture capital firm for hard tech with over $1B under management.
April, 2022
XN Health participates in the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Northeast Hub Regional Program. Diving deeper into Voice of Customer (VOC) research and completing over 80 physician interviews, further validating the need for improving mechanical ventilation through negative pressure support.
May, 2022
Texas A&M New Ventures Competition held their annual networking and pitch competition. XN Health was awarded the 3rd Place Pitch Prize as well as the Aggie Angel Network Investment Prize, pH Partners Investment Prize, Southwest Pediatric Device Consortium Prize, Paragon Innovations Prize, Schwegman, Lundberg, & Woessner IP Legal Services Prize, Proxima CRO Prize, and the Winners’ Circle Legacy Prize.
August, 2022
XN Health completes a series of animal studies showing that tracheal phrenic nerve stimulation is a viable mechanism for generating negative pressure ventilation.
November, 2022
XN Health is accepted into Creative Destruction Labs. Working with world class expert mentors and advisors, XN Health refines their business strategy.
November, 2023
Ela win’s TiE New Jersey Women’s Pitch competition and subsequently travels to Singapore to represent NJ and compete in the TiE Global Summit Women’s Pitch Competition.
December, 2023
XN Health closes an undisclosed seed round with funding from UCeed, Princeton Alumni Angels, Atlanta Tech Angels, and the Mayo Clinic.