Our Team

Covidien Ventures is comprised of a team of people with a wealth of experience in both operating and investment-oriented roles in the healthcare sector. We look to partner with entrepreneurial managers to commercialize new technologies and create significant shareholder value.

Dan Sheehan manages the activities of Covidien Ventures. Dan is passionate about working with the managers of entrepreneurial companies and understands the complexity of commercializing new medical technologies. His background includes both venture capital investing and operating company management roles in the healthcare sector. Most recently, Dan was a General Partner with Affinity Capital Management, a healthcare oriented venture capital firm in Minneapolis. He has also managed the business development and strategic marketing efforts for Steris Corporation, a provider of infection prevention and surgical support products for the healthcare and life sciences sectors. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of many portfolio companies. He is a graduate of Fordham University and Columbia Business School.

Dave Neustaedter has nearly 20 years of experience contributing to innovation in the life sciences industry as a venture capital and business development professional, a commercial strategist, and a scientific researcher. Prior to joining Covidien Ventures, Dave was Director of Commercial Strategy & Advanced Technologies at Stryker Development, LLC, where he was responsible for licensing, acquisition and venture investing in early stage medical technologies. He also led the division’s commercial strategy and financial reporting functions. Earlier in his career, as a strategy consultant at Leerink Swann and Fletcher Spaght, he helped operating companies and venture investors with numerous key decisions on internal investments and acquisition opportunities across the medical device, diagnostic and biopharmaceutical industries. Dave has an MBA from Yale and a PhD in molecular biology from the University of British Columbia. He completed post-doctoral work in bone development and neurodegenerative disease at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is a co-inventor on two medical device patent applications.

Amy Belt brings 15 years of venture capital, medical device operations and healthcare provider consulting experience to the team. Prior to joining Covidien, Amy was a Vice President with Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV), a venture capital firm in Palo Alto, CA. She focused on investments in the medical device sector working with new technologies spanning vascular, neurology, gastroenterology, gynecology, obesity and diabetes. Prior to ATV, Amy was at Guidant Corporation (later Abbott Vascular) where she led the international launch of several key new products. Amy has launched and managed products in the U.S., Europe and Asia working collaboratively across multiple functions and geographies. She began her career as a Management Consultant for APM/CSC Healthcare, where she optimized the clinical guidelines, operations and strategy at approximately 40 hospitals across the U.S. and Canada. Amy holds an MBA from the Walter Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and a BA in Economics from Yale University. She is also a Kauffman Venture Fellow.

Joseph Graham has held a range of positions in corporate R&D, academic research, and most recently, in strategic marketing for Covidien’s Patient Care and Safety Products business. In this role, he helped to identify and assess new product and market opportunities. Prior to Covidien, he was part of the Technology Development team at the Whitehead Institute’s DNA Sequencing Lab. As Bio-Automation Manager, he participated in the development and installation of advanced DNA sequencing automation which enabled the Whitehead Institute to be the leading contributor of data to the Human Genome Project. The success of this project ultimately led to the formation of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard where Joseph continued to work with a number of labs addressing a variety of topics including cancer biology, population and medical genetics, and small molecule synthesis and screening. Joseph holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a Masters in Engineering and Management awarded jointly by MIT’s Sloan School of Management and School of Engineering.