Our Team
Cutting edge scientists led by world class management
BENJAMIN FRY
Chief Executive Officer
Benjamin is the founder of Khiron House and Televagal. Both are innovative companies in the UK working in mental and behavioural health. He studied Physics and Philosophy at Oxford, has an EMBA from Oxford Said Business School and a MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling. He is also a published author and experienced television presenter. He has had a rich and varied career, combining his interests in psychology, the media and business. In his twenties he founded two small businesses before starting a family, training as a psychotherapist and writing his first book which led to presenting a television series for the BBC.
Stephen Porges
Chief Scientific Advisor
Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D. is the co-inventor of the PhysioCam and a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published approximately 400 peer reviewed scientific papers across several disciplines including anesthesiology, biomedical engineering, critical care medicine, ergonomics, exercise physiology, gerontology, neurology, neuroscience, obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, psychometrics, space medicine, and substance abuse. His research has been cited in more than 40,000 peer review publications. He holds several patents involved in monitoring and regulating autonomic state and originated the Polyvagal Theory, which emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral, mental, and health problems related to traumatic experiences. He is the creator of a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol ™ and the author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation, The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe, and Polyvagal Safety, as well as co-editor of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies.
Greg Lewis
Chief Academic Advisor
Gregory is the co-inventor of the PhysioCam and a biomedical engineer with extensive training in applied mental health research. His academic work focuses on leveraging cutting-edge advances in signal processing, both developing new sensors and extracting new information from existing sensors, in order to increase access to biomedical research to new populations. He has pioneered new methods in noncontact sensing of physiological signals and led empirical studies to validate these new methods. He regularly supports a diverse set of research projects that use wearable or noncontact sensors to investigate cognitive processing, medical intervention impacts, human performance, and developmental trajectories. He received his PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was mentored by Dr. Stephen W. Porges, and his bachelors in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
AIDAN WHELAN
Chief Technical Officer
Aidan is a software engineer with a background in applied artificial intelligence for physiological and psychophysiological systems. He has published work in deep learning analysis for human EEG data and contributes to projects merging brain-computer interface technologies with kinetic, living sculpture. Whelan has experience in computer vision as a research assistant in the Indiana University Computer Vision Lab and previously served as Project Coordinator in the Indiana University Socioneural Physiology Lab, where he led a team of researchers using contact (wearable) and non-contact (imaging) sensors to examine trust in artificial intelligence. Whelan holds a B.S. and M.S. in Intelligent Systems Engineering from Indiana University, where he was mentored by Dr. Gregory Lewis.
Romana Akram
Chief Operating Officer
Romana Akram is the Managing Director of Khiron Clinics. Prior to joining the Khiron House team she worked in a residential setting, caring for the elderly, and then she joined a publishing firm as a business systems coordinator. Romana has a special interest in implementing new procedures to maximise efficiency. She has an MBA from Oxford Brookes University.
IRYNA FEDORTSOVA
Chief Financial Officer
Iryna has over 11 years of experience in finance and operations, including 5+ years of managerial experience. Iryna started her career in Baker Tilly in 2006. Then she worked as Senior auditor in Ernst and Young, as Financial Director of 1+1 Production (production of TV content) and as General Director of TET Channel. She has an EMBA from Oxford Said Business School and she is ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) affiliate.
