// Fireside Chat

Founder Story Conformal Medical

Thursday, July 23

4:30 – 6:30 PM

Dartmouth Health

Auditorium B · 1 Medical Center Dr, Lebanon NH 03756

A fireside chat with Aaron Kaplan, MD — a founder of Conformal Medical and a serial medtech entrepreneur — on building a Class III medical device company in the Upper Valley. Moderated by Jenny Barba, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Features Capital, the conversation traces the founder's journey from the early idea to building the team, and the lessons along the way for founders, operators, and investors across the region. Limited to 30 seats; request to attend below.

The Conformal Medical CLAAS LAA closure device

JUL 23 · LEBANON, NH

A fireside chat with Conformal Medical founder Aaron Kaplan, MD, moderated by Jenny Barba — hosted at Dartmouth Health.

4:30 – 6:30 PM

Request to attend

// The Conversation

A founder's story, in conversation

Conformal Medical founder Aaron Kaplan, MD sits down with moderator Jenny Barba of Features Capital for a candid look at building a Class III medical device company in the Upper Valley — the idea, the team, and the lessons for founders, operators, and investors across the region.

Founder · In conversation

Aaron Kaplan, MD

Chairman & Chief Medical Officer, Conformal Medical

Aaron Kaplan is an active medical device entrepreneur who has been on the founding team of several venture-backed medical device companies, including Conformal Medical, Tryton Medical, LocalMed, and Perclose (acquired by Abbott). He has consulted with many medical device companies and was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Three Arch Partners. Aaron is a practicing interventional/structural cardiologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and a Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine. In addition, he chairs the Dartmouth Device Development Symposium and is Co-Director of the 3DScholars Program. Prior to joining the Dartmouth Faculty, Dr. Kaplan was Director of Interventional Cardiology at the Palo Alto VA and served on the Faculty at Stanford University. Aaron has over 80 peer-reviewed papers and 65 U.S. Patents and was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors (Class of 2015). He received a B.S. in Engineering Sciences (Cum Laude) from Tufts University, M.D. from Wake Forest University, medical training at Northwestern University and cardiology training at Stanford University.

Moderator

Jenny Barba

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Features Capital

Jenny Barba is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Features Capital. Jenny is a venture investor and board member with over twenty-five years of experience financing the growth of medical device and healthcare technology innovation. Jenny is honored as a Top Ten Emerging Fund Managers to Watch in 2024, by Venture Forward, National Venture Capital Association. Jenny is a Kauffman Fellow and recipient of the Class 26 Leadership Award.

Jenny's contributions extend as Board Member of Laplace Interventional, Board Observer OCON Therapeutics, Trustee of Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital part of Dartmouth Health, Member of PEWIN, Steering Committee Member of the University of Michigan Fast Forward Medical Innovation and Advisor to BioUtah and the Northern New England MedTech Collaborative. Prior to starting Features, Jenny devoted her career as a MedTech venture investor in Boston and an LP investor for a global private insurance company. Jenny has executed over $4 billion in capital advisory transactions private, public and M&A at Piper Sandler, Hambrecht & Quist and Marsh McLennan. Jenny is often invited to speak and provide her thought leadership at industry conferences including, LSI, Women's Venture Capital Summit and Kauffman Fellows.

Jenny received her BA in Neuroscience from Colorado College and an MBA and Masters of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan. Jenny and her active ski family can be found outside on trails in Norwich, Vermont.