Dr. Garheng Kong, MD, Ph.D., MBA, Managing Partner of HealthQuest Capital (“HealthQuest”) has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ajax Health.
Ajax is a company focused on developing and accelerating high-growth companies in medtech, healthcare services and healthcare IT that focus on truly innovative approaches to solving major issues in healthcare. HealthQuest, a healthcare-focused growth equity investor, is the longstanding capital partner of Ajax and most recently led the financings of Ajax 2 and Ajax 3, two investment vehicles raised in 2019.
Ajax 2 is currently developing Ablacon, an AI-driven mapping system to guide the treatment of atrial fibrillation; Cortica, a provider of advanced therapies for autism and neurodevelopment; and EP Map, a 3-D mapping system for use in electrophysiology procedures. Ajax 3 is currently developing Protaryx Medical, a company developing a first-in-class cardiac device for transseptal access to the left atrium; Verix Health, a platform of steerable devices enabling minimally invasive delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic tools; and Bronx Medical, a device spinout of Verix that specifically targets interventional pulmonology.
“Garheng Kong and HealthQuest have been invaluable partners to Ajax since our inception and have provided much more than capital alone. Their insight as healthcare investors spans across healthcare modalities, and their understanding of later-stage operation and commercialization greatly enables the Ajax model of laser-focused execution in bringing our companies to exit,” said Duke Rohlen, Founder, CEO and Managing Director of Ajax Health. “We are thrilled to have Garheng’s oversight as Chairman, and believe this is a natural extension of our partnership and in line with how Ajax and HealthQuest have worked together to date.”
A physician, scientist, and engineer by training, Dr. Kong has over two decades of experience investing in innovative healthcare companies with a long list of successes (20+ IPO/M&A exits). He also serves on the boards of LabCorp (LH), Alimera Sciences (ALIM), StrongBridge (SBBP), Be The Match, and the Duke University Medical Center and is an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow and Kauffman Fellows Mentor. Dr. Kong holds an MBA, MD and PhD from Duke University, and two BS degrees from Stanford University.
“We’ve been continually impressed by Duke and his team since partnering with them in 2016 on their development of device company Spirox (and sale to Entellus), and through the evolution of the Ajax Health platform. They are world-class operators with a proven ability to repeatedly identify and accelerate unique high-potential health tech assets,” said Dr. Kong.