Who we are
At Invincikids, we are a team of innovators working to evolve the delivery of pediatric care so that all children thrive. We advise and partner with public and private institutions, businesses, researchers, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing healthcare challenges.
How it all started
Invincikids was born when a team of Stanford pediatric anesthesiologists noticed that technology, particularly video, VR, and immersive technology [1], was incredibly effective in distracting and soothing children before they would undergo anesthesia for surgeries [2] and other procedures [3].
One of the first technologies was “BERT” - Bedside Entertainment and Relaxation Theater - a basic video projection unit mounted on a child’s gurney [4]. Yet, it provided safer pain reduction and, in some cases, even decreased the need for general anesthesia in patients.
Soon thereafter, the physicians quickly became successful at developing and delivering a range of clinical immersive technology experiences for pediatric patients. Fueled by grants and philanthropy, the physicians began developing software [5] and customized hardware which soon spread across the U.S. and internationally, with the founding team of doctors helping to initiate clinical immersive technology programs in nearly 20 hospitals and counting.
Meet our team
Tom Caruso, MD, MEd
Invincikids Co-Founder and Board Member
Dr. Caruso is a clinical professor of pediatric anesthesiology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. He also leads the hospital's perioperative quality improvement team and has multiple roles related to medical education.
Sam Rodriguez, MD
Invincikids Co-Founder and Board Member
Dr. Rodriguez is a pediatric anesthesiologist at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. His research focuses on creating and studying the effects of new technologies on pediatric stress and pain.
Ellen Wang, MD
Invincikids Co-Founder and Board Member
Dr. Wang is a clinical associate professor of pediatric anesthesiology and medical director of clinical informatics for perioperative services at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford.
Maria Menendez, MD
Invincikids Team Member
Dr. Menendez is a program manager for virtual reality solutions at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. She also previously worked as a pediatric and neurosurgery anesthesiologist in Spain.
Kenny Roy
Invincikids Team Member
Kenny is an award-winning game designer and passionate technologist, a regular speaker at conferences globally, and a published author of five books on the topic of digital film-making.
Andre' Bollaert
Invincikids Executive Director
Andre' is a dynamic visionary nonprofit leader with a track record of organizing resources and cultivating strong relationships with all stakeholders including donors, constituents, partners, staff, and board members to drive organizational growth.
Our Founding Board
Kyle Evans
Invincikids Founding Board Member
Kyle serves as chief operating officer for SouthCoast Commercial, a real estate investment, and asset management firm. He also serves on several professional and community nonprofit boards, including Invincikids.
Singari Seshadri
Invincikids Founding Board Member
Singari is the head of Portfolio at Nike Valiant Labs. Prior to Nike, Singari was head of Stanford Venture Studio and associate director at the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Singari has worked in venture capital investing, with founding roles at several startups.
Karin Forssell
Invincikids Founding Board Member
Karin directs the Learning, Design and Technology (LDT) master's program at the Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE), where she teaches courses in learning experience design and also directs the GSE Makery. She has served as an advisor for several education technology companies.
Nora Wu
Invincikids Founding Board Member
Nora is the former vice chair-woman and global human capital leader for PwC, and continues as a senior advisor to PwC Hong Kong and China firm. She also serves as a trustee member for the University of San Francisco and an independent board member for Invincikids and Meditrina.
Scott McKinney
Invincikids Founding Board Member
Scott is a Partner in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s technology transactions group, advising companies across emerging industries, including AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, machine learning, and other new technologies. Scott is also a professor at Georgetown Law where he teaches a class on technology transactions, intellectual property, AI, and negotiation
