An all Hawaii connected team will design and manufacture the ventilators. Every engineer on the project is keiki o ka aina and deeply concerned about ventilator shortages. The team includes world class medical and engineering experts who have created products used broadly across the world. In addition to the following core team members, additional volunteer doctors, makers, and engineers are on board to assist with testing, assembly, sterilization, delivery, training, documentation, and maintenance.
Jeffrey Hayashida
Jeff leads core teams of Google’s hardware division including system architecture for mobile and laptops. He led core development in pioneering technologies such as USB Type-C and development of class leading hardware like the Pixel Chromebook and the Pixel 2 XL. He was a past lead for Apple’s mobile accessories group including pioneering products around earPods and docks. In his spare time, Jeff also works on a robot featured on the Discovery Channel’s Battlebots. Jeff is from Maui and earned a Bachelor’s degree studying mechanical engineering at MIT.
Peter How
Peter has been working as a mechanical engineer in Silicon Valley for nearly 20 years. He is currently in the autonomous vehicle space working on sensors, computing systems, and delivery robotics. He is a former Tesla battery engineer who led the design of both versions of the Powerwall, a residential battery storage system, along with several other vehicle batteries and charging projects. He has many years of experience in product design consulting, quickly taking products from concept to production and anywhere in between. Peter holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and grew up on Oahu.
Olin Kealoha Lagon
Olin is a native Hawaiian serial social entrepreneur and software engineer. He has volunteered and worked in the nonprofit sector for half of his life including serving in the military and Peace Corps. The other half he has started technology companies, several which scaled to have international operations with Fortune 500 clients, including the world’s first commercial crowdfunding company. Olin authored ten patents and his designs have been adopted by companies worldwide such as Disney and institutions like MIT’s Digital Media Lab. Olin was raised in public housing on Oahu and is a co-founder of the Purple Mai‘a Foundation.
Kai Matthes, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Matthes is a Harvard-trained pediatric anesthesiologist, entrepreneur and scientist. At Harvard Medical School he published over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and edited several textbooks in the field of anesthesia. He is the Founder & Owner of the company Endosim, LLC which provides simulation training for physicians, nurses and medical device companies. He was an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School before he came to Maui, Hawaii in 2015. Dr. Matthes’ research background is in anesthesiology, gastrointestinal endoscopy and minimally-invasive surgery which involved multidisciplinary translational research projects facilitating the collaboration of anesthesiologists, surgeons and gastroenterologists. He obtained a summa cum laude degree Ph.D. in gastroenterology in the field of medical simulation and training. His current research foci include anesthesiology airway management, natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), simulator team training in interventional endoscopy and laparoscopy, and regional anesthesia. He holds several US patents for novel airway techniques and devices.
Blair Stultz / Bear Machinery, Manufacturing & Assembling
Blair founded Bear Machinery in 1976 as a precision machine shop located in Hawaii. Bear Machinery has experience in manufacturing medical devices including x-ray scanners for the wrist and heel, prototype bone plates, and microarray scanners. They also support instrumentation requirements in astronomy and oceanography based primarily in Hawaii. They are certified ISO 9001:2015 and have held that certificate for the past six years. Clients and projects completed for organizations and companies including Boeing, Teledyne Imaging Sensors, NASA, General Dynamics, US Navy, and UH at Manoa.
Ryan Kawailani Ozawa
Ryan Ozawa is a civic tech advocate and community organizer with experience in journalism, public relations, startups, and place- and culture-based innovation initiatives. He is the Communications Director for Hawaii tech firm Hawaii Information Service, a technology commentator for local media, and a columnist for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. He is also the co-founder of Hawaii-based precision agriculture startup Smart Yields, the nonprofit Hawaii Open Data, and the Hawaii Association of Podcasters.