About us
Kitea Health is a medical technology company based in Auckland, New Zealand, building the next generation of micro-implantable devices for managing chronic health conditions.
Leadership Team
Simon Malpas
Director, Chief Executive Officer
Simon is a distinguished scientist and entrepreneur. Simon has previously co-founded three successful medical device/life science companies from research. He has also worked as Chief Scientist for a US based medical device manufacturer.
Simon has a PhD in Physiology and holds an additional position as Professor of Physiology and Bioengineering at the University of Auckland.
In 2018 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has obtained in excess of $23M in grant funding for his research and produced over 150 scientific articles.
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His work has been internationally recognised by awards from the American Physiological Society and within NZ by the Royal Society.
Natalia Lopez
Director, Chief Operations Officer
Natalia’s career started off in the heavily regulated automotive industry as a systems engineer. This complemented her shift into the life science and medical device industry 10 years ago where she designed and implemented quality management systems.
She has worked with multiple medical device spinouts to develop their quality systems and to ensure regulatory compliant product development.
She was previously the Chief Operating Officer for Kaha Sciences, a wireless telemetry solutions company. She now focuses on market entry strategy for the Kitea System. Natalia holds a Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Quality Systems Design from Massey University.
Bryon Wright
PhD, Chief Technical Officer
Bryon is a bioengineer with over 20 years of experience working on academic and commercial development of microscale technologies.
Prior to moving to New Zealand he obtained his BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Arizona State University while also working in the semiconductor industry, then a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Utah.
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Bryon then moved to New Zealand to found and direct the Auckland Microfab, a multidisciplinary microfabrication facility at the University of Auckland. An interest in translational research lead to working on applications of microfabrication and nanotechnology in commercial products, including medical devices and sensors. Bryon is passionately devoted to delivering the Kitea System to improve health outcomes for patients worldwide.
Clinical Advisory Group
Michael Muhonen
Clinical Advisor at Kitea Health
Dr. Michael Muhonen is a paediatric neurosurgeon who practices at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. He is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California Irvine, College of Medicine, with ongoing research in hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, cerebral spinal fluid access, intrathecal gene and anti-sense oligonucleotide intrathecal therapy, and cerebral blood flow.
Dr. Muhonen is board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons, and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He currently oversees a hydrocephalus/cerebral spinal fluid research laboratory. He has led multiple clinical trials at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. He serves on the Board of the Hydrocephalus Association and previously served on the Boards of the Hydrocephalus Foundation, and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County Foundation. He has been a medical/scientific advisor to Medtronic, Alcyone, Anuncia, Codman, Biogen and Integra Sciences.
David Bauer
Clinical Advisor at Kitea Health
Dr. David Bauer is a paediatric neurosurgeon who practices at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston Texas. He is an Associate Professor with Tenure at Baylor College of Medicine, with ongoing research in hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, scoliosis, and craniosynostosis.
Dr. Bauer is board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons and the American Board of Paediatric Neurological Surgeons. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Paediatrics, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and American College of Surgeons. He is active in practice guideline development, and he is chair of the AANS/CNS Pediatric Neurosurgery Guideline Committee, where he has led the production of guidelines in the treatment of hydrocephalus, plagiocephaly, spina bifida, Chiari malformation, and tethered spinal cord. He leads multiple clinical trials at Texas Children’s Hospital and serves on the Board of the Bobby Jones Chiari and Syringomyelia Foundation.
Peter Heppner
Clinical Advisor at Kitea Health
Dr. Peter Heppner is a Consultant Neurosurgeon working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Children's Hospital, and Ascot Hospital.
Peter completed Neurosurgical training in New Zealand and Australia before undertaking subspecialist Fellowships in Complex Spine Surgery and Paediatric Neurosurgery. He has been Head of Paediatric Neurosurgery in Auckland since 2015. Outside clinical practice, Peter has active research projects with the Auckland University Centre for Brain Research and the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. He has been an elected member of the Board of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia since 2015 and is the current Vice President.
Board of Directors
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Ron Tenenbaum
Chair, Board of Directors
Ron is the founder and CEO of The Clinician, a global health company at the forefront of advancing value-driven healthcare. With a mission to pioneer a transformative era in healthcare, Ron places a paramount focus on the prioritisation of prevention and early intervention and enjoys developing others to offer their best potential for meaningful contributions to the field.
Ron is trained in Neurosurgery with a particular interest in neurodegenerative diseases and a seasoned information technologist with over two decades of expertise in clinical and healthcare innovation.
Ron serves on multiple healthcare boards and chairs Kitea Health.
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Kieran Jina
Investor Director
Kieran is a Partner at Pacific Channel, having joined in 2015. In this role, he manages the investment process and post-investment support functions. Kieran has held various operational, management, and governance roles across medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutics, and agritech. He is currently seconded part-time as CEO of Upstream Medical Technologies, which is developing novel biomarkers to increase the efficiency of chest pain triage within emergency departments. In addition to several directorships, he sits on the Executive Council for BiotechNZ and is an investment committee member for Return on Science Medtech & Surgery.
Kieran commenced his career at the now ASX-listed device company, Aroa Biosurgery. Subsequently, he became chief operating officer of Engender Technologies, which was developing a novel cytometry system for sorting bull semen by sex chromosome content. He led its product development planning and drove the process for the company to be strategically acquired.
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Kieran holds degrees in Master of Science (Hons) and Master of Bioscience Enterprise (Hons)
Natalia Lopez
Executive Director
Natalia is Chief Operations Officer for Kitea Health.
Natalia’s career started off in the heavily regulated automotive industry as a systems engineer. This complemented her shift into the life science and medical device industry 10 years ago where she designed and implemented quality management systems.
She has worked with multiple medical device spinouts to develop their quality systems and to ensure regulatory compliant product development.
She was previously the Chief Operating Officer for Kaha Sciences, a wireless telemetry solutions company. She now focuses on market entry strategy for the Kitea System. Natalia holds a Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Quality Systems Design from Massey University.
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Simon Malpas
Executive Director
Simon is CEO of Kitea Health.
Simon is a distinguished scientist and entrepreneur. Simon has previously co-founded three successful medical device/life science companies from research. He has also worked as Chief Scientist for a US based medical device manufacturer.
Simon has a PhD in Physiology and holds an additional position as Professor of Physiology and Bioengineering at the University of Auckland.
In 2018 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has obtained in excess of $23M in grant funding for his research and produced over 150 scientific articles.
His work has been internationally recognised by awards from the American Physiological Society and within NZ by the Royal Society.