Dr Jan Akervall, MD, PhD, graduated from Lund Medical School in 1990, became ENT specialist and PhD in Head and Neck Cancer biology in 1998. He completed a two year fellowship in Head and Neck Oncologic surgery and microvascular reconstructions at University of Michigan 2000-2001, after which he became Associate Professor and Director for Head an Neck Cancer care in southern Sweden. He and his family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2004 when he became Medical Director for The Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer program at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. He then continued on to become the founding Director of the Beaumont Biobank in 2006 and founded Great Lakes Biorepository Research Network in 2012. Dr Akervall became Professor in Otolaryngology/ Head and Neck Surgery at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in 2012 and Medical Director for The Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Program at St. Joseph Mercy in 2013. Dr. Akervall invented the SISU sports mouthpiece and the SOVA Night Guard in 2008 and founded Akervall Technologies Inc. the year after. Dr. Akervall has 5 patents and was the recipient of the prestigious Edison Award in 2018.

Johannes Schwank, Ph.D., co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Akervall Technologies, Inc., holds the James and Judith Street Endowed Chair Professorship in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan. He has served for several years as director of EMAL, the University’s materials characterization facility. He oversees a large research program exploring structure-performance relationships in catalysts, sensors, nanomaterials, and polymers. The results of his research have been published in over 200 peer-reviewed articles.