Ashok Gowda

Dr. Gowda is a founder and CEO of the Houston-based medical technology developer and manufacturer, Biotex, Inc. To date, under his direction, the company has raised over $20M in non-dilutive funding, successfully licensed numerous early-stage technologies, spun out three separate companies (Visualase, Inc., Base Pair Biotechnologies, Inc., E-SAFE Medical, Inc.), all of which successfully raised private capital. At Biotex, Dr. Gowda oversees internal development programs as well as partnering activities, where the company works with other entrepreneurs and start-ups to develop and bring novel medical technologies to market. Previously, Dr. Gowda co-founded and served as Chief Operating Officer at Visualase, Inc., which was acquired by Medtronic for up to $105M in late 2014.

Dr. Gowda is an active investor, advisor, and board member for a number of early-stage medical technology companies. Dr. Gowda has served as principal investigator on more than 15 NIH grants, authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and abstracts, and is an inventor on more than 20 issued patents. Dr. Gowda received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Bioengineering from Texas A&M University.