Our Team

  • A man with dark hair, glasses, and a gray beard wearing a blue t-shirt, standing outdoors with green foliage in the background.

    Steve Van Wormer

    President & CEO

    Steve also serves as the Executive Producer | Creator of “I’m Aware That I’m Rare: the phaware® podcast,” devoted to raising global pulmonary hypertension awareness with over 600 dynamic episodes to date from patients, caregivers, and medical professionals from around the world.

    Steve became a patient advocate in 2006 after his son, Lucas, was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension at age 4. Lucas lost his battle with PH in 2021. Steve continues to turn Lucas's life and creativity into something that connects, inspires and advocates for others though the #Hearts4Lucas living legacy project. www.hearts4lucas.com

  • A middle-aged man with short brown hair, wearing a light purple button-down shirt, smiling at the camera, against a plain light-colored background.

    John Hess

    Co-Founder & Board Chair

    John is phaware’s Chief Technology Officer. He develops and deploys solutions to enhance outcomes in medical patients with continuous mobile healthcare monitoring. Through iOS and Android applications, phaware collects sensor data that includes movement (actigraphy), heart rate and oxygen saturation. The applications also collect qualitative data entered by the patient. All of this information is made available through a HIPPA compliant infrastructure to medical researchers.

  • A man in a white UCLA Health lab coat sitting against a blue background.

    Juan C. Alejos, MD

    Medical Advisor & Board Member

    Juan C. Alejos, MD, currently serves as the Medical Director of the Pediatric Heart Transplant/Cardiomyopathy Program. He started and is the Director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension program. He is a Clinical Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Pediatric Cardiology.

    Dr. Alejos is also the president and founder of Hearts with Hope Foundation. Hearts with Hope is a non-profit foundation founded in 2005 that sends medical teams to underserved countries to provide medical and humanitarian support to children with congenital heart disease. The medical teams train the country's physicians on procedures and surgeries that can vastly improve a child's quality of life. All medical equipment and services are provided at no cost to the child's family.

  • Close-up of a smiling middle-aged man with short dark hair, a beard, and mustache, wearing a collared shirt.

    John Basso

    Lead Architect

    John oversees product development, design, and the Heart Works product roadmap. With a focus on creating scalable, user-friendly solutions, John leads the technical strategy and architecture, ensuring that the products align with both customer needs and company goals. He collaborates closely with cross-functional teams, managing the end-to-end development lifecycle from concept to deployment, while continuously enhancing features to support innovation and future growth.

  • A woman with long, wavy brown hair and a slight smile.

    Erica Huntzinger

    Communications Specialist & Associate Producer

    Erica participates in planning and delivering on projects including our podcast series and PSA videos. Identifies interviewees (medical experts, patients and caregivers) and preps them for their podcasts. She monitors comments and discussions as it pertains to patient questions, concerns and interests. She survey patient groups to determine topics of interest for future podcasts and webinars.

  • A smiling man with glasses, a beard, and a suit, posing indoors with a blurred background.

    Vinicio A. de Jesus Perez, MD FAHA ATSF FCCP

    Dr. de Jesus Perez serves as one of phaware’s Medical Advisors.

    Associate Dean of MD Admissions, Professor of Medicine (PACCM), Immediate Past Chair, ATS Pulmonary Circulation Assembly, Chair, PVRI LATAM Task Force, Stanford School of Medicine