Management Team

Paul A. LaViolette is the CEO and Co-chairman of Pulse Biosciences, a novel bioelectric medicine company developing multiple clinical applications using pulsed field ablation technology. Mr. LaViolette brings forty-five years of experience in global medical technology, operating leadership and investing. He is also Managing Partner of SV Health Investors LLC, a specialist healthcare fund management company. Previously, Mr. LaViolette held various positions during his fifteen years with Boston Scientific Corporation ("BSC"), including Chief Operating Officer, President, Cardiology, Group President, Endosurgery and President, international. While at BSC, he integrated dozens of acquisitions and led extensive product development, operations, and worldwide commercial organizations. Before BSC, he held marketing and general management positions at C.R. Bard Inc. and various marketing roles at Kendall, Inc. Mr. LaViolette currently serves on the board of directors of Edwards Lifesciences, and he has served as the chairman or director of six public and over 15 private boards of early and growth stage medical companies. Additionally, Mr. LaViolette serves on the board and was the chairman of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association and is Chairman of the Innovation Advisory board of the Massachusetts General Brigham health system. Mr. LaViolette received his bachelor's degree in Psychology from Fairfield University and earned his MBA from Boston College.

Darrin R. Uecker was appointed Pulse Biosciences Chief Technology Officer in September 2022, having previously served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer & President since September 2015. Mr. Uecker has over 30 years of experience in the medical device field and is a named inventor on over 70 patents. Prior to Pulse Biosciences Mr. Uecker was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Progyny, Inc., Menlo Park, California, a company that developed Eeva™, the world’s first automated time-lapse system for embryo selection during in-vitro fertilization. Prior to that Mr. Uecker was the Chief Executive Officer and President and a Director of Gynesonics, Inc., Redwood City, California, a company that developed a novel medical device for the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids using ultrasound guided radiofrequency ablation. Mr. Uecker has served in a variety of executive level roles at CyberHeart, Inc., Conceptus, Inc., RITA Medical Systems, Inc., and Computer Motion, Inc. Mr. Uecker attended the University of California at Santa Barbara where he received a B.S. and M.S. in electrical and computer engineering.

David Danitz joined Pulse Biosciences in November 2015 as VP of Engineering. Mr. Danitz has over 25 years of medical device development experience and is the named inventor on over 75 US patents. Prior to Pulse Biosciences he held the position of Vice President, R&D - Custom Products at Earlens, where he led the development of a light-driven transducer that directly engaged the ear drum to generate sound. Before that, Mr. Danitz held the position of Vice President R&D for Gynesonics, where he led the development of the world’s first intrauterine ultrasound system with integrated RF ablation for an incisionless treatment of uterine fibroids. Mr. Danitz also served at Novare Surgical as Vice President of R&D where for 10 years his team brought medical devices to the market in the areas of cardiac, vascular, general, urologic and gynecologic surgery. Mr. Danitz has received several Medical Design Excellence Award’s. Mr. Danitz earned a BSME degree with high honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and a SMME degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

William Knape joined Pulse Biosciences in May 2018 as Vice President, Regulatory, Clinical, and Quality Affairs. Mr. Knape is an expert in regulatory affairs, clinical and quality assurance specializing in FDA and CE submissions with over 25 years working directly with the FDA in the life sciences industry, for both Rx and OTC products. His experience includes multiple regulatory submissions of 510(k)s, PMAs, IDEs, Pre-IDEs and Q-Sub meetings and international registration filings for a wide variety of innovative and novel medical device and IVD companies. Mr. Knape has managed numerous worldwide multicenter, clinical studies from first-in-man to Phase IV clinical programs. Prior to joining Pulse, Mr. Knape served in senior roles as Senior Director and Vice-President, where he helped develop key financial opportunities with strategic partners in multiple therapeutic areas including dermatology, oncology, aesthetics, diabetes, regenerative medicine, neurology, cardiology, and gastroenterology. Mr. Knape earned his B.Sc. in Psychology and B.Sc. in Medical Technology with an emphasis in bioengineering from the University of Wyoming and serves on the College of Health Sciences Advisory Board.

Edison Manuel joined Pulse Biosciences in April 2017 as VP of Operations. Mr. Manuel has over 30 years of experience and held several senior level positions with the last 22 years focused on medical devices ranging from robotics, RF ablation systems, motion hand-held laparoscopic instruments and time-lapse imaging system. Mr. Manuel brings extensive experience in operations from start-up manufacturing into full commercial release, program management, factory integration and consolidation, strategic outsourcing and supply chain management. Prior to joining Pulse, he held similar positions at Progyny, Stellartech Research Corp and Novare Surgical Systems. Mr. Manuel also held senior level positions RITA Medical Systems and Computer Motion, Inc. Mr. Manuel earned a B.S. degree in Management and Industrial Engineering at Mapua Institute of Technology, Manila, Philippines.

Patty Perla joined Pulse Biosciences in March 2020 as Vice President of Human Resources.  Ms. Perla brings over 15 years of experience in human resources building diverse, high performing organizations in the life science industry.  Her expertise extends across the spectrum of human resources, including talent development, culture initiatives and innovative total rewards strategies.  Prior to joining Pulse, Ms. Perla has held various leadership roles with small and mid-size companies including Ceterix Orthopaedics (acquired by Smith and Nephew), Revance Therapeutics, Ventus Medical and FoxHollow Technologies (acquired by EV3).  Ms. Perla earned a B.S. degree in Management from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

Ken Stratton, J.D., joined Pulse Biosciences in May 2021 as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Stratton brings more than 25 years of wide-ranging legal experience, including having led legal affairs at multiple publicly-traded life science companies. Prior to joining Pulse Biosciences, Mr. Stratton was General Counsel of StemCells, Inc., Deputy General Counsel of Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Senior Legal Counsel at Medtronic’s Vascular Business Unit. As the senior most legal counsel, he has handled all aspects of life science law including compliance, IP licensing and commercial partnering. Prior to working in-house, Mr. Stratton was a corporate transactional attorney at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, a leading global law firm, and an employment litigator at Littler Mendelson, the largest labor and employment law firm. Most recently, he was a Partner at Rogoway Law Group, a specialty life science firm. Mr. Stratton earned his undergraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, his M.B.A. in Finance from the Stern School of Business at N.Y.U., and his J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

Jon Skinner was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Pulse Biosciences in February 2025. Mr. Skinner is an accomplished financial leader with extensive experience in the healthcare sector, having held leadership positions at both emerging and publicly traded medical technology companies. Prior to joining Pulse Biosciences, Mr. Skinner served as Vice President, FP&A and Investor Relations at Copeland, a private equity backed industrial company. Before that, he was Vice President, Finance and Corporate Development at Imperative Care, a venture-backed medical technology company, where he also served as the interim CFO of Kandu Health during its spin-out and fundraising process. Previously, Mr. Skinner held a series of progressive roles at Teleflex, including Vice President, Finance, Interventional Urology, where he was responsible for accounting, FP&A, customer service, and sales operations. He also served as Senior Director, Corporate Development, during which time he helped close 25 M&A transactions. Earlier in his career, Mr. Skinner worked at Axalta Coating Systems on its carve-out and IPO, and in the Valuation Advisory Group at Duff & Phelps (now Kroll). Mr. Skinner holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration from The Ohio State University.