Meet Our Magicians

At Magic Lifescience, we are devoted to providing our customers with easily accessible means of obtaining fast and accurate results without having to encounter conventional barriers. We aim to bridge the gap between medicine and the general population so that everyone can take an active stance and commitment to their own health, effortlessly.

Co-Founder

Bryce Yao, PhD

Chief Executive Officer & Chief Technology Officer

Bio

Dr. Bryce Yao earned his Master’s and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. His research focused on developing portable diagnostic tools that utilize magnetic biosensors to detect protein and nucleic acid biomarkers. His expertise is in designing electrical systems for biosensors and medical electronics, as well as experience in quality management and regulatory affairs for medical devices. Bryce was a co-winner of the Bold Epic Innovator award in the global Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE competition in 2017 and the Johns Hopkins CBID COVID-19 Design Challenge in 2020. In addition, he is a formal member of the Forbes Tech Councils and a senior member of IEEE.

Co-Founder

Elaine Ng, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Bio

Dr. Elaine Ng received her PhD in Bioengineering at Stanford University in 2019. Her career interests are creating value for the everyday patient and generating translational impact in the medical diagnostic space. She has ten years of experience working with GMR biosensors and developing bioassays for detecting various disease indications. With Dr. Bryce Yao, she has also spent much effort and focus on bringing GMR sensing technology into the POC setting, resulting in several accolades, including the XPRIZE Innovator Award, publications, and patents.

Co-Founder

Tianhao Zhu, MS

Chief Financial Officer

Bio

Tianhao received his Bachelor’s in applied mathematics and sociology from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in applied statistics and psychometrics from Boston College. He gained two years of experience working as a biostatistician, research assistant, and lab technician doing endocrinology research at Harvard Medical School. While at GP Capital, he was involved in several deals with tens of millions USD in check size, focusing on deep tech companies within the semiconductor, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence industries. In addition, he gained extensive expertise in fundraising from an institutional investor’s perspective.

Co-Founder

Avril Jiao, MS

Chief Operating Officer

Bio

Avril earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Chemical Engineering from the Imperial College London and MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Before attending Stanford’s MBA program, Avril worked for seven years in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Investment Industries. Avril was also the co-founder of Calumeo Inc, a US medical device company that provides safe and clean personal protective equipment to healthcare professionals. Winner of the Johns Hopkins CBID COVID-19 Design Challenge in 2020.

Jessica Barrett

Chief Commercial Officer

Bio

Over the past 30 years, Jessica created the strategic vision and led its execution resulting in the successful commercialization of well-recognized brands of disruptive molecular diagnostic platforms and medical devices. These industry-leading brands include the bioMériux BioFire FilmArray, DJO I-Bresis, Avanos Medical Ambit Infusion Pumps, and Bard Per-Q-Cath PICC Lines. The success of these companies resulted in a healthy exit for investors. Jessica started her career working for the Department of Anesthesia at the University of Michigan Medical Center. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology as a pre-med student from the University of Oregon.

Jared Nesvet, PhD

Senior Scientist

Bio

Dr. Jared Nesvet earned his PhD at Stanford University in the lab of Professor Shan X. Wang, along with co-founders Drs. Elaine Ng and Bryce Yao. During his PhD, Jared developed GMR nanosensor assays for detecting lung cancer mutations for treatment selection and therapy monitoring. During his post-doctoral research at Stanford, Jared developed expertise in other point-of-care diagnostics such as LAMP and CRISPR assays in microfluidic platforms.

Ben Campion

Engineer

Bio

Ben received his Electrical Engineering degree from UCSD and is passionate about engineering solutions to fill the many gaps in our healthcare system. He has worked with small businesses for over five years to design and build medical devices. His experience with project management and analog circuit design has given him insight into supply chain modularity and resiliency. Ben has worked on many military-grade medical devices, from developing an FDA 510(k) and OEM roadmap to applying his knowledge of wireless communications and millimeter wave radar. Some of Ben’s favorite projects included novel EEG, ECG, PPG, and heart rate monitoring.

Susana Xu

PR Speicialist

Bio

Susana received her BA in Business Economics from UCLA. She has gained extensive experience in event planning and social media management as the UCLA CSSA Activity Committee Chair. After graduation, she worked at Tiffany & Co. as an operation professional, where she coordinated exclusive events for VIP customers. Susana actively seeks investment opportunities as an angel investor in deep tech, consumer, real estate, and other sectors. Her passion resides in helping entrepreneurs achieve their vision and mission, making the world better little by little.

Board of Advisors

Co-Founder

Dr. Shan X. Wang

PhD, Scientific Advisor

Dr. Paul Yock

PhD, MD, Business Development, Technology, and Medical Affairs Advisor

Dr. Barbara Van Der Pol

PhD, MPH, Medicine and Infectious Disease Advisor

Dr. Todd Basche

PhD, Business and Technology Advisor