Ivan T. Tzvetanov , MS

Fellow

Stanford Biodesign Program
Stanford, CA

2012-13 St. Jude Fellow
Ivan Tzvetanov was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, his family immigrated to the United States where he graduated from high school in Ocala, Florida. Ivan attended Stanford University where he received his BS in Biological Sciences with an Honors concentration in Neurobiology. He worked in Professor Robert Sapolsky's lab where his research focused on using gene therapy to modulate the effects of stress on memory formation.

Ivan continued his studies at Stanford as a Masters student in Bioengineering with a focus in Medical Devices. He worked on a project to develop the world's smallest microfluidic valves in Professor Quake's lab and was a teaching assistant for Professor Deisseroth's class on systems biology and tissue engineering. After graduation, Ivan worked at Nellix Endovascular where he designed a balloon expandable, stent-like component with unprecedented expansion ration & foreshortening characteristics.

Ivan left Nellix in order to dedicate himself full time to Hourglass Technologies, a startup that he co-founded as part of the Biodesign Innovation Course. There, he served as the system architect for a single insertion, transoral obesity treatment device. He took the project from the concept phase through a preliminary first-in-man trial where he provided the sole engineering support. Currently, he works as a freelance medical device R&D consultant. Outside of work, Ivan enjoys a wide variety of outdoor sports including snowboarding, windsurfing and rock climbing. He also builds and races rally cars and placed first-in-class in this year’s Western States National Challenge RallyCross.