We comprise a group of
healthcare professionals.
Led by experts in the field.
Management Team
Sophia E. Shanko, PhD, is the founder of ShanX Medtech BV and has been serving as the Chief Executive Officer, bringing a unique blend of technical expertise and entrepreneurial acumen to the role.
Sophia holds a PhD in “Magnetic Micromixing for Point-of-Care Diagnostics” from Eindhoven University of Technology (Mechanical Engineering). During her studies, she developed a microfluidic device to study biosensor-antibody interactions and improved assay kinetics through micromixing. She also holds an EU-financed MSc in Semiconductors (Electrical Engineering) from Heriot-Watt University (HW, UK), Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge (USN, NO), Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME, HU), and Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH, CH), where she developed a microfluidic device for Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing. Additionally, she has a BSc in Control Systems (Electrical Engineering) from the University of Applied Sciences of Piraeus (GR). During her undergraduate studies, she invented and developed a Wireless Medical Emergency Gear for post-operative patient monitoring as early as 2012.
Sophia founded SXM with the vision to create a new standard of care supported by evidence-based antibiotic decision-making, a need derived from her family’s experience with a mismanaged bacterial infection.
Dr. Sophia E. Shanko
Chief Executive Officer
Ardjan van der Linden, PhD, has been serving as the Chief Scientific Officer at ShanX Medtech BV since 2021. He holds a PhD in Synthetic & Chemical Biology from the Eindhoven University of Technology. Herein, he studied cell-free genetic networks. Ardjan further holds an MSc and a BSc in Biomedical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology and has co-authored 10 scientific publications.
Ardjan’s combination of diverse scientific and engineering skills obtained from the Eindhoven University of Technology enables him to design innovative assays that address critical healthcare needs, driving innovation and shaping the future of diagnostic medicine.
Dr. ir. Ardjan van der Linden
Chief Scientific Officer
Henk Stapert, PhD, is a serial entrepreneur and an all-round healthcare innovation executive, focusing on high-impact innovations. He has brought 3 innovative medical devices/diagnostic devices to market, the latest being viQtor, a remote patient monitoring platform solution. He pioneered a molecular diagnostic platform, which resulted in the successful Idylla molecular diagnostics platform of Biocartis, and another innovation, Onvision, an ultrasound guidance and tracking platform, co-branded and marketed by both Philips and B. Braun.
He is a member of the management at ShanX Medtech BV and CTO at smartQare. Previously he held several senior positions at Philips in program- and R&D-management, in global innovation portfolio management and innovation strategy. He has 20+ years of experience in building new healthcare businesses both via corporate venturing as well as via VC-backed startups and he is a (co)inventor of over 25 granted patent applications..
Henk Stapert holds a master degree (1993) in Chemical Technology from the University of Twente and a PhD (1998) in Biomedical Engineering from the same university. After an award winning 2 years fellowship on smart drug delivery systems and photodynamic therapy at the University of Tokyo (1999), he joined Philips in 2000 and has seen several R&D and business positions.
In his spare time, he likes to play the guitar, is an active investment member of the Raspberry Syndicate (Green Tech and AI) and is a volleyball player and trainer.
Dr. ir. Henk Stapert
Chief Technology Officer
Professor Alex van Belkum, PhD PhD, is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in the field of clinical microbiology and in vitro diagnostics (IVD). Under his leadership in various positions, he has seen a plethora of new technologies, their differentiation in the space and their clinical utility.
Alex is the former Chief Scientific Officer of Baseclear (NL), following an >10-year career at bioMerieux (FR) as VP Global R&D and scientific director at the Microbiology Department. Here he was involved in the development of internally and externally designed novel diagnostic technologies including culture-based and genomic antibiotic susceptibility tests and several methods based on mass spectrometry. Furthermore, Alex holds an emeritus professorship in molecular microbiology at the Erasmus Medical Center (NL). He published five books and is one of the editors of “Molecular Microbiology: diagnostic principles and practice” published by ASM Press, American Society of Microbiology, Washington, a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and an author of over 600 PubMed-cited papers with an H-index of over 110.
Currently Alex is active on the role of IVD Strategy Lead leveraging new partnerships and collaborations with third parties and together with Ardjan van der Linden ensures scientific integrity in the conduct of (clinical) studies.
Alex is a father of three daughters and a grandfather of five.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Alex van Belkum
IVD Strategy Lead
Advisors
Marcel van Kasteel has over 30 years of experience in the Diagnostics Market. He held senior management positions, advisory and business development roles in the Diagnostic Market. He is founder and owner of Van Kasteel Business Accelerator B.V. to support start-up and large IVD companies in growing businesses in Europe and USA. He was Vice- President Europe Middle East & Africa at Beckman Coulter , based in Switzerland and CEO of Philips Handheld Diagnostics in Eindhoven and responsible for the development and launch of the POCT MiniCare system in Europe.
Marcel van Kasteel
Rogier Hopstaken (MD PhD) is a general practitioner and former innovation specialist at Star-Shl diagnostic centers, a cooperation delivering diagnostic services to over 2000 general practitioners in the Netherlands. His special interests are point-of-care testing (POCT), respiratory tract infections and antibiotic stewardship.
His studies on the added value of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) POCT in lower respiratory tract infections, and his ongoing activities to bridge the gap between science and patient care, have resulted in the successful implementation of quality-assured CRP POCT in routine general practice and beyond. He is still involved in research and implementation initiatives in this field, in collaboration with various research institutes.
Dr Hopstaken is a member of several working groups in the Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG), co-authoring guidelines on acute cough and rational laboratory testing. He is the principal author of the Dutch, multidisciplinary guideline on POCT in general practice. He is also chairing the Special Interest Group POCT for the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA).
Dr. Rogier Hopstaken
Carmen van Vilsteren is Director Strategic Area Health of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), and Chair of the Dutch Life Sciences & Health Top Sector, a high-profile body established by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Economic Affairs.
In the past she chaired the EIT Health Belgium / Netherlands Supervisory Board and she has been active in both startups and multinationals (Philips) in MedTech and later on as a cofounder and CEO of microsurgical robots. Carmen has a passion for innovation in Healthcare, and on generating impact on the health of people.
Carmen van Vilsteren
Rafael Cantón is Head of the Clinical Microbiology Department at the University Hospital Ramón y Cajal in Madrid (Spain) and Associate Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Complutense University in Madrid. His research activity is developed within the Spanish Network CIBER in Infectious Diseases and Institute Ramón y Cajal for Health (IRYCIS) in which he coordinates the Microbiology, Immunology and Infection Area. This activity is focused on antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, including extended-spectrum beta-lactamases and carbapenemases, antimicrobial susceptibility testing with new rapid technology, respiratory tract infections (mainly in bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis), and interplay of clonal epidemiology and resistance.
He is currently the clinical data coordinator of the European Committee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) (former president 2012 – 2016). He has been President of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) (2015-2017). Since 2018 he is in the Advisory Board of the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR).