About MVI
With 20 years of experience as an ob-gyn physician assistant (PA), Annie Munoz has spent her career providing best-in-class healthcare to San Diego patients. In witnessing her patients' discomfort, both physical and psychological, in conjunction with her own frustrations as a provider, Annie saw an opportunity for impactful innovation to improve both comfort and care for pelvic exams. In 2012 she had the idea for an improved vaginal speculum as her son was crawling through an expandable, pop-up tunnel. However, due to life as a busy PA, wife and mother, her idea took a backseat. In February 2020 Annie filed the provisional patent for the Rosa Spec™ and during the height of Covid, she founded My Village Innovations (MVI).
Milestones and recognition
From a sketch inspired by a pop-up play tunnel to a patented device, here is how far the Rosa Spec™ has come.
2026 – Featured in Forbes (August 2026)
2026 – Selected for the Springboard Enterprises Women’s Health Accelerator, 2026 cohort
2026 – Winner, SBDC ACE Pitch Competition
2026 – TechCon SoCal Investment Award winner, Emmeline Ventures
2026 – Investment winner, San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC)
2025 – U.S. Patent No. 12,232,708 issued for the Rosa Spec™ (“Vaginal Speculum and Related Methods”); additional U.S. and international applications pending
2025 – Winner, Women’s Venture Summit Pitch Contest
2020 – My Village Innovations founded; provisional patent filed
Team
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Annie Munoz, PA-C
CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Annie has 20 years of physician assistant experience in the field of obstetrics/gynecology, from performing pelvic exams to supporting surgeries. Utilizing her experience, coupled with her natural ingenuity, she is redefining and improving women’s health care.
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Alfonso Munoz
COO & CO-FOUNDER
Alfonso is dedicated to transforming the healthcare landscape through innovative solutions. He offers 17 years of medical sales combined with 5 years of field training expertise.
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Shanna Shapiro, MBA
CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER
Shanna leads commercial strategy and execution for Rosa Spec™, from pilot partnerships through launch and market expansion. She brings over 20 years of experience in healthcare, medtech and women’s health, spanning global product portfolios, positioning, launch planning, clinical partnerships and market development, including roles at Becton Dickinson, Lumenis and CareFusion/Cardinal Health. She holds a Kellogg Executive MBA from Northwestern University.
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Monique Gayap
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Monique supports the leadership team across research, outreach and operations. Her background includes an internship through the San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC) at SDSU, managing social media for College Cubbies, and founding her photography business, niquesflix booking.
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Cor Medical Ventures
STRATEGIC PARTNER
Cor is a leading medical device company that takes projects from napkin sketch to clinical use. They have been utilized by billion dollar medical device companies for product development, have had multiple exits, and several spin-outs to stand alone companies.
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Linda Elkins, MBA
ADVISOR
Linda has 20+ years of experience in business operations, including transformation, corporate innovation and new product development. She designed and established Gore’s first innovation center in Silicon Valley, creating and implementing its mission, vision and six key performance indicators to accelerate revenue generation through strategic partnerships.
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Justin Nahama
ADVISOR
Justin has 15 years of experience leveraging a unique blend of legal, business and investment acumen to help scale the global reach of industry leaders and early stage companies.
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Kelley Nicholas
ADVISOR
Kelley has 20+ years in medtech leading 130+ global teams and scaling to 100M+ in revenue. CCO for Femasys Inc.