Pete Grevelding was appointed Vice President, Clinical Operations in October 2018. He is responsible for the oversight of Gaylord Specialty Heathcare’s clinical areas, including leadership of the Admissions, Inpatient and Outpatient Therapy, Respiratory, and Care Management departments. His responsibilities include facilitating hospital-wide growth and volume targets as well as driving key business initiatives that enhance Gaylord Specialty Healthcare’s market share and profitability. Grevelding has a lead role in maximizing patient satisfaction and recovery by evaluating, coordinating, and implementing institutional programs, policies and strategy. He is responsible for implementing strategies that promote Gaylord’s core values and culture to maximize performance and service while increasing overall achievements.

Grevelding has spearheaded the growth of Gaylord’s existing research program as an opportunity to share Gaylord’s experience and expertise. He has championed several partnerships and currently oversees corporate research partnerships between Gaylord and ZeroG, a robotic bodyweight support system that enables dynamic gait and balance training, and Connecticut-based Hyperfine, the manufacturer of portable, low-dose radiation MRI. In 2020, Grevelding was named Executive Director of the Milne Institute for Healthcare Innovation.

A graduate of the University of Connecticut with a Master’s of Science degree in Physical Therapy, Grevelding is a board certified Neurologic Clinical Specialist and a member of the American Physical Therapy Association and Neurologic Section of the APTA. His career with Gaylord began in March 2004 as a staff physical therapist. He has since held various positions of leadership at Gaylord such as the Director of Therapy Services & Business Development and the Manager of Therapy Services. Pete also has experience working in rehabilitation hospitals and outpatient settings. His professional interests include traumatic brain injury, stroke, research, and progressive clinical growth.

Henry “Hank” Hrdlicka, PhD, was hired as the Research Coordinator for Gaylord Specialty Healthcare’s Milne Institute for Healthcare Innovation in September 2020. As the Institute’s Research Coordinator, he is responsible for supporting the interdisciplinary institutional research conducted at Gaylord. He does this by aiding and guiding project development and planning; supporting IRB application creation and submission; assisting with data collection, aggregation, analysis, and interpretation; coordinating conference abstract preparation and submission; and leading manuscript preparation and submission for peer review.

Through his efforts, Dr. Hrdlicka has supported the growth and capacity of Gaylord’s research department, increasing the number of studies being completed and considered by more than three-fold in the past two years. As a result of these efforts, the Milne Institute has been able to support the submission and publication of 4 peer-review manuscripts, and the submission and presentation of over 12 posters at national and or international conferences. With this growth, Dr. Hrdlicka is also leading an internal research education campaign and video series to ensure that the research being completed at Gaylord maintains the highest level of quality. This series is providing new and early-career Gaylord clinician-researchers with an understanding of research skills they may not have been exposed to otherwise.

Prior to Gaylord Specialty Healthcare, in July 2020, Dr. Hrdlicka completed his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Connecticut at UCONN Health in Farmington, CT. Supported in part by a competitive T90 training grant [NIDCR T90DE21989], Dr. Hrdlicka completed his PhD research under the mentorship of Dr. Anne Delany, where he investigated the role of the microRNA-29 family in osteoclast and osteoblast biology. Dr. Hrdlicka also completed his BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, NE in 2014. During this time, he completed 4 years of undergraduate research, supported in part by the Nebraska Institutional Developmental Award Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (NE-INBRE), a competitive and prestigious undergraduate research program sponsored by the University of Nebraska Medical Center. A summary of Dr. Hrdlicka’s past research is available at ORCiD 0000-0002-7014-7919.

Sonja LaBarbera was appointed Chief Executive Officer and President of Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in January 2019. She is the first woman and speech-language pathologist to hold the position in the organization’s 120-year history.

With more than 25 years in the healthcare industry, LaBarbera is a patient-focused leader who is experienced in clinical operations, strategic planning, business development, leadership development and philanthropy. She works with healthcare systems, academic and research institutions to foster collaborative efforts to support superior patient outcomes.

Under her leadership, Gaylord launched The Milne Institute for Healthcare Innovation. a hub for accelerating world-class rehabilitative research, technology development and innovation. Her vision has also fostered the launch of the Gaylord Center for Education which promotes development and learning for healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers. The Center for Education includes Connecticut’s first and only residency program in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and a Certified Nursing Assistant Academy that offers participants a robust in-person active learning experience.

LaBarbera earned her Master of Science in Organizational Leadership from Quinnipiac University and her Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from State University of New York at Fredonia. She serves on the Board of Directors of Gaylord Hospital/Gaylord Farm Association Inc., which oversees all services offered by the organization’s care continuum. She is an active member of the International Women’s Forum of Connecticut, American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). LaBarbera was the 2019 Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year.

She was named to the Hartford Business Journal list of Power 25 in Healthcare in both 2020 and 2021. She is the 2020 recipient of the New Haven Biz Women Who Mean Business award and was named to the publication’s 2019 Power 50 list and to its 2021 and 2022 Power 25 in Healthcare lists. In 2021, she was identified as the Top Leader in the Large Employee Category by Hearst Media Connecticut. Under her leadership, Gaylord Specialty Healthcare was named a “Top Workplace” in 2021 and 2022 by Hearst Media Connecticut and was ranked among the nation’s “Top 150 Places to Work in Healthcare, 2022” by Becker’s Healthcare.

With oversight of venture development activities for UConn startups and the Technology Incubation Program (TIP), Mostafa supports the launch and growth of UConn companies. He also works closely with partners throughout UConn and UConn Health to support entrepreneurship and innovation programs. He also collaborates with organizations and institutions around Connecticut to support economic development efforts in the state.

Reza Amin, PhD, founded Bastion Health in 2018 with a vision to provide private, simple, accessible, and comprehensive at-home support for men’s care to bring men’s health to 21-century experience. Reza has more than ten years of experience in Medical Devices and Health Technologies. He has published several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has founded two medical device companies. Bastion is the first specialty digital clinic for men’s reproductive and prostate health – helping men take control of their health from the comfort of their homes. Bastion Health offers programmatic personalized at-home testing, assessment, treatment and care navigation in CA, TX, FL, and CT.

Lisa Delfini has served as our Chief Financial Officer since August 2021. Ms. Delfini joins Trevi with 30 years of experience in the financial sector. Her background includes helping public and private companies with finance transformation and preparing for and executing capital raising activities, acquisitions, and other complex financial and accounting matters. As a Financial Accounting and Advisory Services Partner at Marcum LLP, Ms. Delfini led a team of professionals who provided advisory services on financial activities to companies. In this role, she served as interim CFO, CAO or controller for companies in multiple sectors, including pharmaceuticals. Previously, Ms. Delfini worked at General Electric where she was the Global Controller for the GE Corporate Technical Center of Excellence (TCOE) and then became the Global Controller for GE Industrial Solutions. Ms. Delfini began her career at Deloitte & Touche LLP where she worked for 16 years and completed her time there as a Client Service Partner. She holds a B.S. in Accounting from Lehigh University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Connecticut.

Cyndi Green has been a venture investor at Connecticut Innovations since retiring from Pfizer in late 2019.  At Pfizer she was head of Business Development Search and Evaluation for anti-infectives and vaccines in NYC where her technical leadership led to the formation of ViiV Healthcare and acquisitions of an anti-infective franchise from AZ and vaccine portfolios from Baxter and GSK. Prior to big pharma, she held various scientific and business positions at biotech company, CuraGen. Cyndi is on the board of directors of multiple CI portfolio companies and BioCT. In addition to support of the CI portfolio, Cyndi mentors and provides consultant expertise for a variety of organizations, including ABCT, eLabNYC, Springboard Enterprises and Endless Frontier Labs. Cyndi has a doctorate in molecular biology from SUNY Buffalo, did her postdoctoral work at Yale University and received an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Mary Howard is a serial entrepreneur and creator of a suite of first-time founder-focused life sciences accelerator programs including: Accelerator for Biosciences in CT (ABCT), Entrepreneurship Lab NYC (ELabNYC), Next Milestone and the Westchester County Biosciences Accelerator (WCBA). The free, competitive-entry ABCT program, initiated by CTNext and supported by Marcum and other CT community members, is now recruiting for its sixth cohort. ABCT currently has 45 alum ventures who have collectively raised over $69M, hired over 115 people, and are continuing to build ventures in therapeutics, bioinformatics, diagnostics, medical device and digital health.

A Partner in the firm’s Corporate Department, Co-chair of its Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Practice Group, and member of Wiggin’s Executive Committee, Evan is dedicated to helping growth-stage companies, publicly held middle-market companies, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, private equity firms, and other clients achieve their business goals.

Evan focuses on corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing, securities law, licensing arrangements, and general corporate matters, across a broad range of industries that includes software/information technology, life sciences, digital media, financial services, manufacturing, educational technology, consumer products, and food and beverages. He is known for his ability to quickly grasp complex situations, deliver business-minded legal advice, and help clients surmount obstacles. Over the past few years, Evan has been involved in hundreds of venture capital and M&A transactions with billions of dollars in value.

In addition to handling specific transactions, Evan regularly serves as outside general counsel for privately held companies at various stages of development, ensuring that they are appropriately structured, scalable, and positioned for growth.

An active member of the business and investment community in the heart of the corridor connecting Boston and New York, Evan cultivates a network that includes organizations such as Connecticut Technology Council, BioCT, MIT Enterprise Forum, Angel Investor Forum, ELabNYC, the Entrepreneurship Foundation, ABCT, the Refinery, Angel Capital Association, and the Association for Corporate Growth, as well as academic institutions such as Columbia University, New York University, University of Connecticut, and Yale University.

Evan received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a senior editor at the Journal of International Economic Law. He received his B.A. in international relations and political science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Scott Phillips is CFO of Halda Therapeutics, a discovery stage biotech headquartered at Science Park in New Haven, and Normunity, a startup biotech with operations at Biolabs at Yale West campus.  He has led several venture-backed and clinical-stage biotechs in senior leadership and CFO roles, preparing these companies from startup financing through becoming public. Prior to his work with venture-backed companies, Scott spent much of his biotech career at Alexion Pharmaceuticals where he served over 10 years in senior financial leadership roles as the company expanded from a pre-commercial business to a global commercial organization.  

After spending twenty years of his career in the Life Sciences market, Tom noticed that many service providers, while technically proficient, were still having trouble reaching their customers. In October 2017, Tom decided to give those organizations a voice and founded NavigatorBIO – a Contract Development Organization for the Life Sciences community.

As a leader in the field, Tom brings decades of experience across the Pharma / BioTech / MedTech industries. With a range of practice stretching from “Fortune 500” companies to “start ups”, he offers an unprecedented scope of knowledge and understanding to his clients.

Further augmenting the NavigatorBIO menu of services, Tom has tapped into his extensive list of industry-specific relationships further bolstering business-to-business opportunities. He has secured leaders in the field, all bringing different skill sets, to serve as Strategic Advisors putting into practice his own business philosophy – “The right people at the right time is the right way toward success.”