Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX November/December 2005

BUSINESS DRIVERS

Brown

St. Jude Medical Inc. (St. Paul, MN) has elected John W. Brown, chairman of the board at orthopedic medical device manufacturer Stryker Corp. (Kalamazoo, MI), to a newly created position on its board of directors. Brown served as CEO of Stryker from 1977 to January 1, 2005. "John is one of the most well-respected medical device executives in the industry, and his insight and experience will be a terrific addition to the St. Jude Medical Board," said Dan Starks, president and CEO of St. Jude Medical, which manufactures mechanical and tissue heart valves, pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, and electrophysiology catheters. "We welcome John and look forward to his contributions."

Guezuraga

Robert M. Guezuraga, president of Medtronic Diabetes (Northridge, CA), has been elected to the board of directors of California Healthcare Institute (La Jolla, CA), a nonprofit public policy research organization that represents more than 250 California academic institutions, and biotechnology, medical device, and pharmaceutical firms. Guezuraga, appointed president of Medtronic's diabetes business unit in December 2004, has been with Medtronic since 1998, when it acquired Physio-Control Corp., where he had served as president since 1994. He was president and CEO of Positron Corp. (Houston, TX) from 1987 to 1994, and prior to that held management positions within General Electric Corp. (Fairfield, CT), including its medical systems division.

Lucchese

Cynthia L. Lucchese has been named senior vice president and chief financial officer of Thoratec Corp. (Pleasanton, CA), a developer of products that treat cardiovascular disease. For the past three years Lucchese served as corporate vice president and treasurer of Guidant Corp. (Indianapolis). In her new position, she will be responsible for Thoratec's accounting, external reporting, tax, financial planning and budgeting, treasury, and investor relations functions. Prior to her time at Guidant, Lucchese held financial management positions with Eli Lilly & Co. (Indianapolis) for seven years prior to its split-off of Guidant in 1995.

Clinical diagnostics manufacturer Dade Behring (Deerfield, IL) has elected Beverly A. Huss to its board of directors. Formerly president of the endovascular division of Guidant Corp. (Indianapolis), Huss is currently on sabbatical from Guidant, where she has held a variety of executive positions within its medical device divisions since joining the company in 1986. She is currently senior advisor to cell therapy company Pervasis Therapeutics Inc. (Cambridge, MA) and chair of the Silicon Valley American Heart Association.

Z-Medica Corp. (Wallingford, CT), maker of QuikClot hemostatic agent, has named Giacomo P. Basadonna, MD, PhD, to its newly created post of medical director. Dr. Basadonna, professor of surgery and director of the division of organ transplantation in the University of Massachusetts Medical Center's department of surgery, will lead research into new applications for QuikClot, which is currently approved by FDA for external use. "He is a key addition to the company as we prepare to move from the defense base into more-traditional medical device markets," said Raymond Huey, CEO of Z-Medica.

Thompson

C.R. Bard Inc. (Murray Hill, NJ), a provider of vascular, urology, oncology, and surgical specialty products, has elected Tommy G. Thompson, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, to its board of directors. Thompson is currently a partner in the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (Washington, DC), as well as independent chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Care Management and Transformation (Washington, DC) and president of Logistics Health Inc. (La Crosse, WI).

Wiltse

In vitro diagnostics manufacturer Fujirebio Diagnostics (Malvern, PA) has named Monte W. Wiltse as its new vice president of sales and marketing, a position in which he will be responsible for leading the company's marketing and sales efforts, as well as directing its product management and marketing communications. Wiltse, who previously held senior-level marketing management positions with Bayer Healthcare Diagnostics (Tarrytown, NY), has 14 years of experience in the diagnostics industry.

Hacking

Crosse

Radlink Inc. (Torrance, CA), a provider of medical film-to-digital image conversion, storage, and delivery services, has added Thomas T. Hacking and Glenn Crosse to its executive team. Hacking, with 35 years' experience in the field of investments, will serve as chairman and CEO, and Crosse, with 25 years' experience in software and systems development, will serve as vice chairman of technology. They join the company's existing management team of Richard Gerlach, chief scientist and president, and Douglas Gerlach, director of special projects. Both men will retain their same positions.

Wahr

RiverVest Venture Partners (St. Louis), a venture capital firm that invests in emerging medical technology and biopharmaceutical companies, has named Dennis Wahr, MD, as its managing director. Wahr, with more than 25 years' experience in clinical practice and the medical device field, was founder, president, and CEO of cardiovascular and neurovascular device developer Velocimed LLC (Maple Grove, MN) until its recent acquisition by St. Jude Medical Inc. (St. Paul, MN).

Aethlon Medical Inc. (San Diego), a developer of viral filtration devices for drug- and vaccine-resistant pathogens, has appointed James W. Dorst as its chief financial officer. Prior to joining Aethlon, Dorst, who has close to 20 years of senior management experience in finance and business transactions, was vice president of finance and operations at VerdiSoft Corp. (Palo Alto, CA), a mobile software developer recently acquired by Yahoo Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA).

Chuck Franz has returned fulltime to medical device manufacturer Cook Group (Bloomington, IN) as vice president and chief information officer. Franz joined the company more than 20 years ago, and had been splitting his time between coordinating Cook's global information technology integration efforts and serving as president of Cook Urological Inc. In light of Franz's move, Pete Yonkman, chief corporate counsel and vice president of Asian operations for Cook Group, will assume the role of president of Cook Urological while retaining his legal position.

LabNow Inc. (Austin, TX), a provider of point-of-need laboratory testing technology, has appointed former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley (D–NJ) to its board of directors. "LabNow's point-of-care technology will revolutionize the way HIV/AIDS is managed in developing countries and, as a platform technology, has the potential to improve global health and safety," said Bradley, who in 2000 was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.

Martinez

Rita Medical Systems (Fremont, CA), a medical device company focused on cancer therapies, has appointed Mario Martinez as vice president of operations and general manager, positions in which he will be responsible for operating personnel, information technology, manufacturing, customer service, and distribution, as well as overseeing the company's facility in Manchester, GA. Martinez has held senior and executive positions with multiple medical device companies, including EP Technologies, a manufacturer of products to treat cardiac arrhythmia that is now a division of Boston Scientific Corp. (Natick, MA).

Bentley

Solexa Inc. (Hayward, CA), which is developing a first-generation genetic analysis instrument, has appointed David Bentley, DPhil, as its chief scientist. Bentley comes to the company from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Hinxton, UK), where he was a founding member of the management team and head of human genetics. At Solexa, he will spearhead the company's DNA sequencing applications development on its first instrument system, which Solexa hopes to introduce to market by the end of this year.

OmniSonics Medical Technologies Inc. (Wilmington, MA), a device company focused on products treating vascular disease, has made three new executive appointments. Maximillian D. Fiore, formerly vice president of research and development at Smith & Nephew Endoscopy (Andover, MA), has been appointed senior vice president of R&D and operations. Doug A. Hutchison, formerly global marketing director with Medtronic Endovascular Innovations (Minneapolis), has been named vice president of marketing. And Brian G. Connor, formerly director of R&D at HydroCision Inc. (Billerica, MA), has been named vice president of product development.

MLI (formerly Massie Laboratories; Pleasanton, CA), a maker of diagnostic and data-capture systems for eye healthcare, has appointed Keith L. Mullowney, who has more than 20 years of management experience in the medical technology industry, as president, chief executive officer, and board chairman. The company has also changed its name to Clarity Medical Systems Inc.

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