Founders & Innovation Team
Nance Dicciani
Co-Founder, CEO
Dr. Nance Katherine Dicciani is currently the Founder and CEO of RTM Vital Signs, LLC. From 2001 until 2008, Dr. Dicciani was the President & CEO of $5B+ Honeywell Specialty Materials. She joined Honeywell from Rohm & Haas where she held the position of Business Group Executive and Director, European Region, Middle East and Africa. Prior to Rohm and Haas, Dicciani held various research, business development, and business management positions at Air Products and Chemicals. Innovation and commercialization of new products and applications have been central to the revenue growth, profitability increases and business expansion which have been the hallmarks of Nance’s career.
Nance has served on the corporate Boards of Directors of Halliburton, LyondellBasell, Linde PLC, and AgroFresh Solutions, Rockwood Inc and PP&L. In 2006, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. She has also served as Advisory Board Chair of the Gupta Governance Institute of Drexel University, is a former Trustee of Villanova University and has held numerous leadership positions in professional and industry organizations. Nance holds a BS from Villanova, an MS from the University of Virginia, and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, all in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from the Wharton School. She was twice named to the Forbes list of “The World’s Most Powerful Women” and is an instrument rated pilot. Dicciani resides in Lower Gwynedd, PA.
Denise Devine
Co-Founder, CAO, CFO
Denise L. Devine, CPA, MBA, MST, is Co-Founder, CAO, and CFO of RTM Vital Signs, LLC. She has over twenty-five years of leadership experience in general management, operations, and finance. She has particular expertise in developing technology platforms with resulting commercialized product applications, intellectual property and IP strategy, acquisitions, licensing, joint ventures, and other strategic alliances. Her experience spans from entrepreneurial start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations, international consulting firms, manufacturing operations, and software companies. Ms. Devine is founder of three companies and one not-for-profit organization. As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nutripharm, Inc., Ms. Devine led the development of a technology platform that generated a portfolio of composition and process patents to create innovative natural food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical products that facilitate optimal nutrition and lifelong health. Ms. Devine has executed strategic alliances and licenses with pharmaceutical and food companies and completed a CRADA with USDA.
Ms. Devine’s prior business experience includes executive positions at Campbell Soup Company, where she was responsible for executing close to a billion in financings, investment strategy, and structuring and negotiating various capital markets transactions, acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures in the food industry; CFO of Energy Solutions International, a global software company serving the oil and gas industry; and Arthur Andersen & Co., where she served as a member of the firm’s closely-held national business team.
Ms. Devine serves in a leadership role as either an Officer or Committee Chair on the following boards: Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ), Villanova University Board of Trustees, Lourdes Health System, American Red Cross-SEPA, and The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Ms. Devine is also a passionate children’s nutrition and health advocate. She is Chair of The Advisory Board of the MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Nutrition Education at Villanova University Nursing School and the Advisory Board of the Center for Marketing and Consumer Insight at Villanova School of Business. Ms. Devine was invited to the regional White House Community Leaders Summit and convened a session on coordinating public/private initiatives to combat childhood obesity. Her company is also a Corporate Partner of The Alliance for a Healthier Generation which, in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association, is supporting healthier foods in schools.
Ms. Devine has received numerous honors and awards, including the “Best 50 Business Women in Pennsylvania” Governor’s Award, the Philadelphia Business Journal’s “Women of Distinction” Award, the St. Thomas of Villanova Gold Medal Alumnae Award from Villanova University, the Take the Lead Award from the Girl Scouts, and the American Red Cross (SEPA) Chairman’s Award. Ms. Devine has also held numerous professional leadership positions. She served on the American Institute of CPAs Board of Directors, President of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs, and was appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania to serve on The State Board of Accountancy, the ethics and licensing board for the 25,000 CPA’s in Pennsylvania; she served for several years as Chair. She was also appointed by the Governor to serve on the Pennsylvania Blue Ribbon Business Tax Policy Reform Commission. Ms. Devine, a co-inventor on nineteen U.S. and international patents, is also Co-Founder of The Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) and has served as an “Entrepreneur in Residence” at The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.
Ms. Devine, a CPA, received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an MS in Taxation from Villanova University and a BS in Accounting from Villanova University, where she graduated summa cum laude and first in her class.
Dr. Jeff Joseph
Co-Founder
Chairman of Scientific/Clinical Advisory Boards
Dr. Jeffrey I. Joseph, D.O., is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Scientific/Clinical Advisory Boards of RTM Vital Signs, LLC. Dr. Joseph has over thirty years of experience as a clinical anesthesiologist, researcher, and innovator of medical device technology. Dr. Joseph is Professor of Anesthesiology and Vice-Chairman of and Director of Research for the Department of Anesthesiology at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Joseph is also Director of the Jefferson Artificial Pancreas Center and Associate Director of the Anesthesiology Program for Translational Research. In addition, Dr. Joseph is an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University.
Dr. Joseph is both an inventor and experienced entrepreneur. He is a named inventor on numerous patents related to implantable medical devices, biomaterials, vital sign monitoring, and drug delivery systems. Dr. Joseph is a Co-Founder of Animas Corporation, a medical device company that developed a long-term implantable glucose monitoring system and insulin pump leading to a closed-loop artificial pancreas system to help patients manage their diabetes. Animas had a successful Initial Public Offering in 2004 (Nasdaq: PUMP) and was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2005. Dr. Joseph is also a Co-Founder and Chairman of the Scientific/Clinical Advisory Boards of Capillary Biomedical, Inc.
Dr. Joseph has received numerous honors and awards, including the Arthur Tarrow Award for Research Excellence and the Becton Dickinson Career Achievement Award for Medical Device Innovation. He has also served on the Scientific/Medical Advisory Boards of Medtronic Diabetes, Edwards Lifesciences, Becton Dickinson, Echo Therapeutics, and Thermalin Diabetes. Dr. Joseph is a member of numerous professional and scientific societies, including the Society for Critical Care Medicine, the Society of Physician Inventors, the Diabetes Technology Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Meigs Society. In addition, Dr. Joseph served as a Board Member and Vice-Chairman of Research for the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).
Dr. Joseph has served on numerous scientific committees, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Examples of Dr. Joseph’s influential leadership in the areas of medical device innovation include the Oversight Committee of the Philadelphia Pediatric Medical Device Consortium (sponsored by the FDA) and Chairman of the NIH-NIDDK Special Emphasis Panel to Develop New Therapeutics and Monitoring Technologies for Type 1 Diabetes – Towards an Artificial Pancreas. Dr. Joseph has published more than thirty-five research papers in peer reviewed journals related to medical device innovation, including the American Heart Journal, Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology, Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics, International Journal Pharmaceutics, International Journal of Clinical Practice, the Journal of Arthroplasty, and the Annals of Applied Statistics. In addition, Dr. Joseph has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics, Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology, and Medical Device Research Report. Dr. Joseph is routinely invited to lecture both nationally and internationally on medical device innovation, implantation biology, sensors, algorithms, and drug delivery.
Dr. Jeffrey I Joseph has worked at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital for more than thirty years. He received a BS in Biology from Dickinson College (1979) and a DO from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (1983). Dr. Joseph completed an internship and year of general surgery residency at the Metropolitan Hospital in Philadelphia then completed a residency and fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology and research at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (1988).