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Developing applications
to support healthier lives.

We provide solutions for organizations committed to eliminating tobacco-related disease.

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MISSION

Solving  behavior change problems for people who use nicotine.

MACH creates personalized plans that meet individuals where they are and digital tools that combine motivational support, medication support, real-time tracking, and educational resources. Through these approaches, we aim to significantly increase the success rates of nicotine cessation efforts worldwide.

These are the priorities that define our organization:

Motivation

Creating empathic and engaging solutions for organizations and individuals.

Evidence

Combining the experiences of former nicotine users with clinically-validated smoking cessation methods.

Education

Informing organizations and individuals about the realities of nicotine use.

Proven medical and digital expertise.

Our team and board are built on the contributions of medical doctors and technical innovators, who both lend their expertise to create a smoking cessation solution that excels in clinical studies.

Our Team

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Co-Founder

Paul Brunetta, MD

Dr. Paul Brunetta is a co-Founder of MACH, a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician, clinical researcher, and author with a robust background that spans over 14 years in clinical care and 22 years in biotechnology drug development. He is also a former smoker, which informs and drives his desire to help others understand nicotine addiction. Paul joined faculty at UCSF to focus on lung cancer research and tobacco related disease therapies.He is a co-founder of the Fontana Tobacco Treatment Center at UCSF and worked with Suzanne Harris,RN who is a master counselor in smoking cessation and a certified tobacco treatment specialist.Together they conceived of and published Learning to Quit, a resource that includes 2 dozen inspiring interviews with smokers that have successfully ended nicotine addiction along with important medical information useful to cigarette and e-cigarette users. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Johns Hopkins University and an MD from Tufts University School of Medicine, with advanced residency and fellowship training in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care at UCSF.

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Chief Executive Officer

Noreen R. Henig, MD

Dr. Noreen Roth Henig is a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician, clinical researcher, and drug development leader committed to public health. Noreen oversees the strategic and operational development of MACH’s digital health platform, which offers medical guidance, educational content, and motivational coaching for smoking cessation. She focuses on expanding MACH's reach by building partnerships and integrating scientific advancements, aligning with MACH’s mission to provide accessible, evidence-based tools that enhance public health outcomes globally. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in History of Art from Yale University and an MD with Distinction in Immunology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, followed by training in Internal Medicine at UCSF and a fellowship in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Allergy and Immunology at the University of Washington.

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Chief Product Officer

Greg Feldman

Greg Feldman has worked with MACH for 10 years, bringing his 21 years of experience in technology and content development within the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Greg has held roles as Project Manager, Information Architect, and Director of Content Development, blending scientific precision with advanced technology to produce impactful educational content. At McGraw-Hill, he served as editor and project manager for Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, overseeing sections on Infectious Disease and launching Harrison’s Online. At MACH, Greg focuses on technology-driven solutions for smoking cessation, leveraging his expertise to create accessible, engaging tools. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Binghamton University and an MA in Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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Program Manager

Megan Goodman

Megan Goodman is a researcher and passionate about improving health care. Prior to MACH, Megan worked as a Senior Research Associate at Avidity Biosciences where she experienced the complexity of cross-functional biotech projects. This also reinforced her commitment to combine scientific rigor with real-world applications. Megan earned a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Southern California and a Master of Science in Regulatory Science from Johns Hopkins University.

Our Advisory Board

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Advisor

Andrew Sykes

Andrew Sykes, Adjunct Professor of Executive Education at the Kellogg School of Management, is a qualified actuary with over 25 years of experience in health insurance and wellness program design. Andrew’s career includes roles as CEO of NMG Consultants and Actuaries, Chief Wellness Officer at Vitality Health, and Founder of Health at Work and the Behavioral Research Applied Technology Laboratory (BRATLAB). His work centers on designing consumer-directed health plans, measurable wellness programs, and behavior-change strategies, blending scientific principles with practical applications, particularly in habit formation and behavior change. An ex-smoker with a personal commitment to health promotion, Andrew’s work at BRATLAB focuses on innovative approaches to combat tobacco and nicotine addiction. Andrew is a co-author of the book The 11th Habit: Design Your Company Culture To Foster Habits of High Performance.As a professional speaker, he shares his insights on wellness and effective health behaviors with companies and organizations worldwide. He holds a BS in Actuarial Science and Mathematical Statistics from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

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Advisor

Parisa Vatanka, PharmD

Parisa “Risa” Vatanka, PharmD, CTTS is Co-Founder and CEO of Digital.Health and Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy.
Risa has driven nationwide initiatives to integrate digital health into pharmacy practice focusing on healthcare optimization and promoting a tobacco-free world. She implemented smoking cessation services across 1,100+ pharmacy locations, collaborating with 19 state quitlines to enhance support. As a co-investigator with Safeway Pharmacy and UCSF, Risa helped establish a pharmacy-based smoking cessation model. At the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), she secured funding for educational initiatives to make smoking cessation a standard in pharmacy practice. A passionate advocate for tobacco cessation, Risa also volunteers as a certified tobacco treatment specialist at UCSF’s Fontana Tobacco Treatment Center and serves as faculty, training future healthcare professionals in smoking cessation advocacy. She holds a PharmD from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy and completed post-graduate residency training at UCSF and Stanford.

In Memory of our Co-Founder

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Medical Entrepreneur & Co-Founder

Dawn Repola

Throughout her life, Dawn worked beside state and local public health leaders on important public health initiatives in cancer screening and prevention, seat belt use, smoking cessation, and AIDS/HIV awareness. Before co-founding MACH and providing the content design for MO™, she founded Aegis Creative Communications to help leading biopharma companies bring life-changing therapeutics to patients with rare and previously untreated diseases. Dawn passed away peacefully on July 25, 2022, after a battle with pulmonary fibrosis.

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