Meet the Co-founders
Dr. Noel Moya, PhD
Co-founder, CEO & Chief Science and Technology Officer
Born in Cuba to a family of medical doctors, Noel enrolled in medical school at the age of 17 and attended for 5 out of the required 6 years of the medical curriculum. Due to the political situation in Cuba, Noel and his family sought to escape communism and were forced to immigrate to Miami, Florida. Once in the US, he had to restart his higher education and went to pursue a degree in Biology at the State University of New York in Buffalo, where he fell in love with genetics. He then moved to San Diego, California to work in stem cell research (Salk Institute, University of California San Diego, Scripps), and later pursued a PhD at the Ludwig Maximilian University - Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich, Germany, where he completed 6yrs of doctorate research in stem cell differentiation towards pancreatic islets to treat diabetic patients. He obtained a PhD with honors (magna cum laude- degree earned with notable distinction), due to his contribution in the work with gastrine and CCK in early pancreatic islet formation. He’s also published author and co-author in major scientific journals (Cell, Stem Cell Report, The CRISPR Journal) covering his work in stem cell differentiation and gene editing research topics.
When Noel’s father was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer, he realized that there is a great disconnect between the scientific research and medical field. Unfortunately, his father passed away, which was incredibly painful but also a wake up moment for him and an inspiration to build delphistem.
Upon his return to the US, he joined a research team at Emory University in Atlanta, where he worked in differentiating human stem cells towards the heart aiming to generate a biological pacemaker.
However, his passion about making innovative biomedical technologies accessible to everyone led him to co-creating delphistem.
Noel is heading the vision, science and technology part of the business, as CEO, Chief Science & Technology Officer.
He can be reached at @DrNoelMoya or via email
Danae [Vassilopoulou] Moya, MBA
Co-founder, Chief Operations Officer
Born in Greece to a family of financial & accounting consultants, Danae came to the US when she was 16yrs. After graduating from high school she went to Central Michigan University to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising and then to the UK to pursue a Master’s degree at City University of London in Media Communications. After graduate school, she stayed in London and worked in international media agencies, where she developed global media strategy plans for a variety of clients. She then relocated to Dubai, UAE, where she spent almost 10yrs mostly in marketing strategy leadership roles within luxury consumer retail organizations. During that time she pursued an Executive MBA at London Business School, which included a course on consumer-centric innovation at Columbia Business School in New York and a strategy assignment in partnership with IAE Universidad Austral in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also, certified by the Chartered Institute in Marketing and Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
A professional opportunity brought her to Munich Germany in 2018, where she met Noel. His biomedical vision resonated with her after experiencing almost losing her mother to cancer, and in 2021 she fully transitioned into co-creating delphistem.
She is passionate about employee wellbeing in the workplace, equal access to innovative medical technologies and contributing to the pursuit of longevity for both present and future generations.
Danae is heading the operations management, sales and marketing side of the business, as Chief Operations Officer.
She can be reached at @danaemoy_a or via email
