We are HawkCell

HawkCell team members

CEO

Founder, CSO, PhD

COO, General Manager, PhD

Preclinical Study Director

Head of the Image Processing Unit, PhD

Research Engineer, PhD Student

Data Scientist

MRI Coil Development Researcher, PhD Student

MRI Network Director

MRI Application Engineer

MRI Application Engineer

Quality Manager

Administrative and Financial Manager

Junior Marketing Manager

Sales Advisor

CEO
Alexis GIRIN supports Private Equity and Venture Capital firms active in Digital & Deep Tech to accelerate their business overseas and bring their first-hand funded companies to the next level. Passionate about disruptive technologies and their positive impact on industries and people’s lives, his purpose is also to forge partnerships by taking a stake or investing in promising ventures. Before taking the role of CEO of Hawkcell, Alexis has served in different executive positions in IT, e-Commerce, Artificial Intelligence, and Satellite Communication for high-growth technology corporations owned by Private Equities. Used to managing complex multi-million dollar partnerships, Alexis is a visionary and fast-paced leader who defines ambitious accurate go-to-market strategies by leveraging his negotiation expertise gained over the past two decades. Thanks to his strong understanding and respect of various cultural and business customs, he has gained a truly global experience with a successful recognized track record in EMEA, the US, and APAC.
Alexis holds an MBA and an Engineering Degree from L’Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, France. From a multicultural background (French / Japanese), he has lived in APAC for nearly 10 years and is now based in Lyon, France.
He is married with four children and is an accomplished Ironman triathlete with 3 participations in Ironman 70.3 World Championships. His favorite motto is “Anything is Possible with Focus, Determination, and Excellent Talents Harmony”.
Contact : alexis.girin@hawkcell.com

Founder, CSO, PhD
Hugo Dorez is the founder of the HAWKCELL solution and the CSO and COO of the company.
He’s a passionate scientist who’s been working in the imaging field for a decade. As a PhD student in MRI physics at Université de Lyon, France, he carried out translational research between animals and humans, which led him to realize that MRI had the potential to transform preclinical research but required some modifications to fit animal morphology.
He spent 3 years strengthening his expertise and knowledge in MRI around 3 axes:
– MRI coils development for small animals and optical bench for fluorescence imaging on animals
– Post-processing algorithms for quantification of pathologies with T1 and T2 mapping, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, fractal analysis, graph analysis
– Expertise in MRI sequences development, protocol design, and MRI scans on Bruker, Siemens, and GE Healthcare platforms.
In 2018, Hugo partnered up with the Pulsalys incubator in France to develop a technology that would bring the power of MRI to animals, accelerating preclinical research and improving the general welfare of animals. After 2 years of development, HawkCell was born, and with it, the ambition to bring the best of human MRI to animals for veterinarians and preclinical research.
Hugo has published research articles throughout his Phd, among which:
Multimodal endoluminal MRI-optical imaging for in vivo characterisation and staging of colorectal tissue anomalies, 2016
Endoluminal high-resolution MR imaging protocol for colon walls analysis in a mouse model of colitis, 2016
Machine learning-based classification of the health state of mice colon in cancer study from confocal laser endomicroscopy, 2019
Hugo is the father of two little girls and living in Annecy next to the Alps. His motto in life is “don’t look back, you’re not going that way!”, a philosophy that keeps him moving forward, be it as part of the leadership team at HawkCell or in his passion for mountain biking and mountaineering.
Contact : hugo.dorez@hawkcell.com

COO, General Manager, PhD
Stéphane has built a rare professional experience in the field of Deeptech innovation in the digital and health sectors. A solution-oriented creator, entrepreneur, leader recognized by his teams and clients, good communicator and diplomat, Stéphane is known for his ability to unite teams around inspiring projects.
He is able to understand the workings of different digital technologies and their economic value, and to orchestrate the necessary developments to bring them to market. He was one of the first investors in startups now recognized for their technological edge: Alice et Bob, Arskan, Bimedoc, Visual Behavior, Diagnoly.
Stéphane has secured strategic funding, established partnerships and developed new offerings in several of his past experiences, such as:
-The development of a digital service offering for Floralis client laboratories and refinancing of the Carnot Institute for more than 2 M€ bringing significant additional revenue for Floralis
-The development of the investment and technology transfer activity of Pulsalys, which had no licenses or capital investment at his arrival. Today, Pulsalys has a clear business model, it realizes more than 7-8 licenses per year with competitive return on each invested euro (excluding subsidies and CIR) and it has strong capital holdings
-Obtaining a financing of more than 1,5 M€ to launch the start-up studio Eyssor allowing Pulsalys to develop its activity with SMEs
-Setting up strategic partnerships with incubators to develop the sourcing of opportunities at Pulsalys.
Stéphane is a PhD in Engineering Sciences, and an entrepreneur who knows the needs of young growing companies and how to meet them, especially those with a high technological focus.
Father of a 15 years old daughter, sportsman, strategist and movie lover, Stéphane joined Hawkcell driven by the quality of its management team and the potential impact of the project on human and animal health.
Contact : stephane.donnet@hawkcell.com