Dennis McWilliams

Dennis McWilliams is a Venture Partner at Sante Ventures. He has dedicated his career to bringing innovative life science ideas to the market. He is the Founder of SparkMed Advisors, a boutique advisory focusing on bringing creative solutions to medical device commercialization. Prior to that, he was the Founder of Apollo Endosurgery and served as CEO for nine years from the company’s inception until 2014, where he assumed the role of President and Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to Apollo, he co-founded Chrysalis BioTechnology‚ a development stage bio-pharmaceutical company focused on developing novel drug therapies for tissue regeneration‚ including bone‚ cartilage‚ and dermal soft tissue. He started his career at the IC2 Institute, a think-tank based in Austin, Texas focused on applied research in entrepreneurship and commercialization. Dennis received a Bachelor of Science with honors from the University of Texas in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Stanford University. He has served on the Board for the Texas Exes and the University of Texas Men’s Athletics Council. In 2007, he was given the Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award by the University of Texas, in 2016, he was named a Distinguished Engineering Graduate from the University, and in 2019, was named to the Academy of Distinguished Alumni for the Aerospace Engineering school. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on entrepreneurship and innovation in medicine and serves as faculty for the B.E.S.T. Innovations Courses taught at the prestigious IHU Institut de Chirurgie Guidée Par L’Image in Strasbourg France, Taiwan, and Brazil.