Meet the Leadership at AlderMed™

Managing Principal — Larry Findleton

Larry S. Findleton began his career in the medical field as a Navy Corpsman, attached to the US Marines. He then became one of the country's first Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographers (RDMS) performing clinical non-invasive diagnostic exams using Cardiac, Abdominal, and OB/GYN ultrasound. His first commercial endeavor was a successful mobile Ultrasound service, based in Phoenix, Arizona where he took delivery of one of the first "real-time" scanners, a technology that is now the industry standard. He became the manufacturer's top sales representative and spent the next 25 years managing and training sales teams for Advanced Technology Laboratories, Diasonics/Vingmed, and G.E Medical. He switched careers into Nuclear Medicine and became the VP of Sales for the first mobile PET (Positron Emission Tomography) service where he signed over 35 contracts in the Western United States and was again the company's top producer. His innovation and creativity while focused on the patient helped him to create the first "virtual PET Center" in Portland, Oregon by successfully joining together nine competitive hospitals into a consortium that shared one mobile scanner and still provided daily access for each of them. Remote hospitals also needed service so he created the "techless solution". Adventist Hospital operates eight hospitals that are in a 267 mile route, this required a successful joint venture. Whatever it took to provide the service; he successfully created contracts that were mutually beneficial.

Director of Finance — Carl Fischer

Carl has over 32 years of diverse financial management experience in multiple industries.  His focus for the past 25 years has been working with small, entrepreneurial companies to build stable, productive Finance departments, always instrumental in the company’s growth path.  Carl’s strength and expertise has been in Business Planning, Financial Analysis and Capital Raising (both debt and equity finance) while managing all aspects of the Finance function at these companies. 

He recently worked for SANpulse Technologies (an enterprise level storage migration solutions business in Jersey City, NJ) as CFO helping the early stage company raise money and grow revenue to $7 million in just over two years.

Carl has a finance degree from Seton Hall University and an MBA in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Director of Operations - Rob Schumacher

Rob Schumacher began in the medical field 20 years ago when he got his training at Loma Linda University and University of California at Los Angeles. He has served as a nuclear medicine technologist, PET technologist, Clinical Instructor of Nuclear Medicine and Instructor of Radiation Safety. He also has been the Vice President of Operations, Radiation Safety Officer and Chief Technology Officer for the first provider of mobile positron emission tomography (PET) services. At that company Mr. Schumacher secured accreditation from the Joint Commission on Health Care Organizations (JCAHO), a first for a provider of mobile PET. He also obtained radioactive materials licenses in 27 states and managed operations for more than 40 accounts including 10 mobile units, and a fixed location with a cyclotron. Over the last 5 years he has worked extensively to build fixed imaging centers and focused on the transition from mobile to fixed operations. He has consulted for more than 20 imaging centers in the areas of practice management, protocols and patient flow, compliance, and radiation safety. He has trained more than 50 technologists in nuclear medicine and PET; and continues to lecture to radiologists, oncologists, cardiologists, technologists, and nurses on PET, radiation safety, and compliance with ICANL, ACR, JCAHO, and departments of health for various states. He holds a BS degree in Biology from the University of California at Riverside and professional certificates and registries in nuclear medicine. He is currently Vice President of Advanced Molecular Imaging, LLC.

Director of Sales - Chris Walker

After attending Western Michigan University, Christopher W Walker began his medical industry career with Physio Control where he was a top 5 performer in his first year selling defibrillators and portable vital sign monitors to Southern State’s EMS and hospital markets.  Chris was then recruited by Diasonics, where once again earned top 5 sales honors selling general, OB/GYN and vascular applications into the Southern States.  He was then recruited by Advanced Technologies (ATL) where he was ATL’s top vascular sales specialist selling into the Southern California market.  Chris was then transferred to ATL’s cardiology division where he was again a top rep selling into the Southern and Central Valley California markets until ATL temporarily shut down its cardiology division in 1991.

Choosing severance over transfer to ATL’s radiology division, Mr Walker founded Cardio-Vascular Sales (CVS) in 1992 selling refurbished ultrasound system and parts into the US cardiology office market.  He also distributed a DICOM PACS for which he created its US brand and personally configured its structured reporting templates, menus and phrasings.  With vision, strategy, and $50,000 seed capital, Chris grew CVS to $9M sales with 25 full time employees/contractors.  He managed growth funding, processes development, supply chain, as well as recruiting/hiring.  Chris directed operations, sales, sales training and all aspects of marketing.  He also supervised the developed of CVS’ customized network CRM system which featured relational Quick Books Pro accounting and bar code inventory modules supporting mainframe, parts and service sales that passed ISO gap inspection.

In 2008 Mr Walker sold his DICOM PACS structured reporting asset to Kardia Health Systems.  Chris joined Kardia where he last served as VP of Sales.

Chris is a creative market strategist who excels at identifying, structuring and pitching value propositions. Chris is adept at managing multi-million dollar sale quotas and is charged with the responsibility of developing and managing AlderMed’s distribution channels.

Director of Marketing — Drew Wilkens

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in marketing from SDSU, Drew spent the first half of his career working with Southern California-based tech firms in the roles of product marketing, technical sales training, channel management, trade show development and marketing communications. Mr. Wilkens traveled the country providing educational support and product demonstration to a variety of Fortune 500 clients including, General Motors, Dow Chemical, Goldman Sachs, U.S. Army, Fermi National Labs, Princeton University, Ford Motor Company, Digital Equipment, Polaroid as well as the "big eight" accounting firms of that era.

Drew's career took him from industrial marketing to consumer marketing as he developed and managed a small chain of specialty retail stores.  As an early adopter in online sales and marketing, Mr. Wilkens saw the small business brick and mortar portion of his retail business shrink and the internet portion quickly out pace all others. His experience was recognized by other as he was drawn to e-commerce consulting, helping other technical and non-technical companies expand their online footprint. Specializing in B2C marketing, SEO analytics, email campaigning and social media, Drew brings his combination of technical marketing experience with a strong understanding of consumer marketing to AlderMed.

Medical Physicist - Steven J. Goetsch, PhD

Education: B.S. Physics, Michigan State University, 1972
M.S. Health Physics, Northwestern University, 1974 M.S. Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, 1980 Ph.D. Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, 1983
Certifications: American College of Medical Physics, Radiation Oncology Physics, 1993. American Board of Radiology equivalency, 2006.
Fellowships: National Cancer Institute, Pre-Doctoral Fellow, 1982-1983.

Steven Goetsch received a Bachelors Degree in Physics (with Honors) from Michigan State University in June, 1972 working with Professor Peter Schroeder and resulting in his first publication in 1973. He enrolled in the Graduate School of Northwestern University in the fall of 1972, receiving a Public Health Service Fellowship. Mr. Goetsch studied with renowned health physicist Dr. Herman Cember and received a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering (Health Physics) in 1974. He became Radiation Safety Officer and Corporate Safety Officer for Amersham/Searle Corporation in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a major radiation source and radiopharmaceutical distribution company. During this time he was active in the Midwest chapters of the Health Physics Society and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, joining both organizations in 1974. He entered the University of Wisconsin Graduate School in Madison, Wisconsin in 1977 as a Research Assistant to Professor Herb Attix, with whom he would work for the next 13 years. His graduate thesis work was conducted at the Gas Target Neutron Source laboratory under the direction of Paul DeLuca, Jr. He was named a National Institute of Health Fellowship recipient in 1980 and received a Masters Degree in Radiological Sciences that same year. Dr. Goetsch’s thesis was on Neutron Gamma Dose Separation by the Multiple Ion Chamber Method. He was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy in 1983.

Dr. Goetsch was named Chief Physicist and later Director of the University of Wisconsin Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratory. His writing during that period included co-authorship with Herb Attix of a manuscript for calibration of iridium-192 high dose rate remote afterloaders which became a de facto national calibration standard and is still in use today. Other writings included calibration of strontium-90 ophthalmic applicators and quality assurance in radiation therapy. He was appointed a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medical Physics in 1984 and promoted to Clinical Associate Professor in 1989. During his residence in Wisconsin he served as President of the North Central Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, and later as Chapter Representative to the Board of Directors. Dr. Goetsch served for years on the AAPM committee which oversees the Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratories and on a number of other committees and task groups. In April, 1990 Dr. Goetsch became a Hospital Physicist and Associate Clinical Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of California

Los Angeles Medical Center - Dr. Goetsch also taught an undergraduate course at California State University Long Beach in 1993 and 1994. During his four years at UCLA medical center, he worked with neurosurgeon Antonio De Salles to develop a linear accelerator based stereotactic radiosurgery program. Dr. De Salles and Dr. Goetsch co-chaired four conferences on stereotactic surgery and radiosurgery, and published both a videotape of one three day meeting and two books on these topics. In September, 1994 he accepted the position of director of medical physics at the new San Diego Gamma Knife Center at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, CA. Dr. Goetsch has been Director of Medical Physics at the Center since 1994 and supervised acceptance of the Model U Gamma Knife in 1994 and the Gamma Knife Model 4C in 2005. During this time he has been a consultant to six other California Gamma Knife Centers and several national corporations. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Medical Physics Publishing Corporation. Dr. Goetsch has taught courses in Physics of Radiation Therapy and Physics of Diagnostic Radiology for Masters Students at San Diego State University Department of Physics from 1994 to the present time. His publications during this period include reports on the physics of radiosurgery systems, clinical reports on the use of the Gamma Knife in radiosurgery and Quality Assurance in radiation therapy. He has served as President, Secretary, Newsletter Editor and Education Chairman of the Southern California Chapter of the AAPM, organizing the Midwinter Workshop from 2000 to the present. He was Local Arrangements Chairman of the national AAPM meeting in 2003. He lives in San Diego with his wife and son.

Publications:

1. Goetsch, S.J., “Linac and Gamma-Knife based stereotactic radiosurgery: challenges and successes of existing QA guidelines and paradigms”, ”, Int. Journal of Radiation Oncol. Biol. Physics, in press.
2. Perks, J. Gao, M., Smith., V., Skubic, S., Goetsch, S. “Glass rod detectors for small field, stereotactic radiosurgery dosimetric audit”, Medical Physics, Vol. 32 (3), 726-732, March, 2005.
3. Linskey, M.E, Johnstone, P., O’Leary, M., and Goetsch, S. J. “Radiation Exposure of Normal Temporal Bone Structures During Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Vestibular Schwannomas”, Journal of Neurosurgery, Vol. 98, 800-806, April, 2003.
4. Goetsch, S.J. “Risk Analysis of Leksell Gamma Knife Model C with Automatic Positioning System”, Int. Journal of Radiation Oncol. Biol. Physics, Vol. 52, No. 3, 869- 877, March, 2002.
5. Sneed, P.K., Suh, J.H., Goetsch, S.J., Sanghavi, S.N., Chappell, R., Buatti, J.M., Regine, W.F., Weltman, E., King, V.J., Breneman, J.C., Sperduto, P.W. and Mehta, M.P., “A Multi-Institutional Review of Radiosurgery Alone vs. Radiosurgery with Whole Brain Radiotherapy as the Initial Management of Brain Metastases, Int. Journal of Radiation Oncol. Biol. Physics, Vol. 53, No. 3, p.519-526, July, 2002.
6. Bova, F.J., and Goetsch, S.J., “Modern linac stereotactic radiosurgery systems have rendered the Gamma Knife obsolete”, Point/Counterpoint, Medical Physics, Vol. 28, No. 9, September, 2001.
7. Goetsch, S. J., Murphy, B.D., Schmidt, R., Micka, B.S., De Werd, L.A., Chen, Y. and Shockley, S. “Physics of Rotating Gamma Systems for Stereotactic Radiosurgery”, Int. Journal of Radiation Oncol. Biol. Physics, Vol. 43, No. 3, p. 689-696, 1999.
8. De Salles, A.A.F., Solberg, T.D., Mischel, P., Massoud, T. F., Plascencia, A, Goetsch, S., De Souza, E., and Vinuela, F., “Arteriovenous Malformation Animal Model for Radiosurgery: The Rete Mirabile”, American Journal of Neuroradiology, Vol. 17, p. 1451-1458, Sep. 1996.
9. Almond, P.R., Attix, F.H., Goetsch, S.J., Humphries, L.J., Kubo, H., Nath, R. and Rogers, W.O., "The Calibration and Use of Plane-Parallel Ionization Chambers for Dosimetry of Electron Beams", Medical Physics Vol. 21, (8), p. 1251-1260, August, 1994.
10. DeSalles, A.A.F., Hariz, M, Bajada, C.L., Goetsch, S.J., Bergenheim, T., Selch, M.T., Holly, F.E., Solberg, T. and Becker, D.P., "Comparison between Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Fractionated Radiation for the Treatment of Brain Metastases", Acta Neurochirugica, Supplement 58, p.115-118, 1993.
11. Goetsch, S.J., Attix, F.H., DeWerd, L.A. and Thomadsen, B.R., "A New Re-entrant Ionization Chamber for the Calibration of Iridium-192 High Dose Rate Sources", International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, Vol. 24, Number 1, page 167-170, 1992.
12. Goetsch, S., Attix, F., Pearson, D. and Thomadsen, B., "Calibration of 192Ir High-Dose-Rate Afterloading Systems", Med. Phys, Vol. 18, No. 3., p. 462-467, May/June, 1991.
13. Goetsch, S. and Sunderland, S., "Surface dose rate calibration of Sr-90 ophthalmic applicators", Medical Physics, Vol. 18, No. 2, p. 161-167, March/April, 1991.
14. Ranallo, F., Goetsch, S., DeWerd, L., Liss, M., Borras, C., White, C., Barton, J., Mian, T., Malik, S. and Wolff, M., "Calibration and Use of the Wisconsin kVp Test Cassette", Medical Physics, Vol. 15, No. 5., P. 768, Sep/Oct 1988.
15. Attix, F., Pearson, D., DeLuca, P. and Goetsch, S., "Comparison of the Bragg-Gray Theory Corollaries to Fast-Neutron Cavity Measurements at 14.8MeV", Health Physics, Vol. 38, p. 623-633, 1980.

Awards:

National Merit Scholarship, 1968 through 1972
Best Student Paper, Symposium on the Neutron, Great Lakes Chapter, Health Physics Society, Dearborn, MI, April 28, 1983
Named a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, 2007
American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Activities:

• Member since 1974
• Member Midwest Chapter 1974 to 1990
• North Central Chapter 1978 to 1990
• Southern California Chapter 1990 to present
• President North Central Chapter 1986-87
• Chapter Representative to Board of Directors 1987 to 1990
• Member Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratory oversight committee 1985 to 1992
• Member of Annual Meeting Committee 1998 to 2005, Local Arrangements Chairman 2003
• Member of Development
• Current Member of the Dermatologic Radiotherapy Society, Inc.

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