Hyperfine Names Paykel, Teisseyre to Executive Leadership Roles

Hyperfine Inc., creators of the world’s first portable magnetic resonance imaging device, has named Neela Paykel as general counsel and Tom Teisseyre as chief product officer, continuing its build-out of Hyperfine’s executive leadership team.
 
Paykel, a licensed attorney with more than 25 years of experience in healthcare, life sciences law, and team leadership most recently served as deputy general counsel at Waymo, the Google spin-off under Alphabet focused on pioneering the autonomous vehicle market. While there, Paykel oversaw privacy issues, product counseling and all regulatory matters. She also served as vice president and head of Legal Affairs and Compliance at medical device and analytics company Proteus Digital Health Inc. and as assistant general counsel and Practice Group leader, Healthcare Law Group at Genentech. She also has held leadership roles at Blue Shield of California and CVS Caremark.
 
At Hyperfine, Paykel serves as the company’s legal representative, managing all legal and compliance matters. She handles contracting, intellectual property, corporate governance, and regulatory matters.
 
“Neela is a highly skilled and experienced healthcare legal expert, and we are delighted to have her join our executive leadership team,” said Dave Scott, president and CEO of Hyperfine. “She will be working closely with all functions across Hyperfine, including sales, marketing, and the clinical science teams.”
 
Paykel earned a bachelor of arts degree in international business administration from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill., and a juris doctorate from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. She is licensed to practice law in California, Virginia, and Washington, DC.
 
Teisseyre, a product and organizational leader in surgical technology, medical devices and imaging, was previously head of Surgical and Implantable Devices and a founding member of Verily Life Sciences, Alphabet’s venture focused on collecting, organizing, and activating health information. He has also held senior positions at Google, Abbott Medical Optics, Proximie, and OptiMedica.
 
“We are very pleased to have Tom join our executive leadership team as chief product officer,” said Scott. “In one package, he embodies tremendous insight and experience in leading product teams and how best to unite the capabilities of those teams with the real-world needs of healthcare practitioners.”
 
Teisseyre earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco and a bachelor of science degree in biomedical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Teisseyre has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and holds patents in medical imaging, magnetic resonance, medical image processing, intraoperative imaging, surgical technology, and surgical workflow optimization.
 
Paykel and Teisseyre will work closely with Scott and the rest of Hyperfine’s leadership team to build the company into a leading ecosystem for neuroimaging and other future applications. Their work will further drive the rapidly expanding commercialization of the Swoop system, the world’s first portable MR imaging system (FDA cleared for commercial launch in August 2020), and prepare Hyperfine for future growth and readiness for a possible public market offering.
 
“All of Hyperfine is excited to work closely with Neela and Tom as we serve larger and larger patient audiences around the world with Hyperfine’s amazing technology,” Scott said.
 
Hyperfine’s mission is to make MRI accessible to every patient, regardless of income or resources. Anytime. Anywhere. Hyperfine designed the Swoop Portable MR Imaging System to overcome patient transport and dedicated room requirements associated with fixed conventional MRI systems. The Swoop system plugs into a standard electrical outlet, uses an Apple iPad for control, and produces images at a patient’s bedside within minutes, allowing care teams to gain clinical information quickly. Hyperfine is part of 4Catalyzer, a portfolio of health technology companies with facilities in Connecticut, New York City, Palo Alto, Calif., and Taiwan.