Medical Device Link.

Originally Published MX March/April 2006

BUSINESS DRIVERS

Rydin

NuVasive Inc. (San Diego), a developer of surgical treatments for spine disorders, has appointed Jeffrey Rydin as its senior vice president of U.S. sales. Rydin, who will also serve as a member of NuVasive's executive management committee, joins the company from DePuy Spine Inc. (Raynham, MA), a Johnson & Johnson company. In his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing strategic sales development, sales administration, divisional sales directors, and sales training.

Gray

Patty Gray has joined Conceptus Inc. (Mountain View, CA), a manufacturer of medical devices in the field of women's health, as its vice president of research and development and operations. Gray, most recently general manager and vice president of operations at Genomic Solutions (Ann Arbor, MI), will be responsible for the development and management of the company's Essure system for permanent birth control.

Guava Technologies Inc. (Hayward, CA), a privately held biotechnology and medical device company that produces cell-analysis systems, has promoted Lawrence F. Bruder to the position of chief executive officer. Bruder, previously Guava's president and chief operating officer, has also been elected to the company's board of directors. Prior to joining Guava in 2004, Bruder held leadership roles within Applied Biosystems (Foster City, CA) and Becton Dickinson (BD; Franklin Lakes, NJ). Guava also announced that Todd P. Christian has joined the company as vice president of commercial operations. Christian also previously held positions at Applied Biosystems and BD Biosciences. Guava has also hired Lalit Dhir as its vice president of corporate development and strategic marketing. Dhir was most recently vice president of business development at BD Biosciences.

Sutura Inc. (Fountain Valley, CA), a medtech company that has developed a line of vascular suturing devices, has named Charles Terrell to its board of directors. Terrell, a former member of the Dallas City Council and long-time public safety advocate, serves as chairman of the board of Unimark Insurance Agencies (Addison, TX) and vice chair of software developer Kiboga Systems Inc. (Dallas).

Mediscience Technology Corp. (Cherry Hill, NJ), a developer of medical devices to detect cancer, announced the addition of three independent directors to its board: Joseph Franchetti; Anil Rastogi, PhD; and Sidney Braginsky. Franchetti has extensive executive experience working with both start-ups and public companies in the medical device industry. Rastogi has experience in varying industries, as well as academia, in managing technology-driven businesses. Braginsky, former president of Olympus America (Melville, NY), also has diverse leadership experience within the technology realm. Prior to the announcement of the board appointments, Mediscience named Frank Benick as its new chief financial officer.

Andante Medical Devices Ltd. (Omer, Israel), which specializes in rehabilitation, physical therapy, and sports medicine products, has added Mark A. Young, MD, to its scientific advisory board. Young is chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Maryland Rehabilitation Center (Baltimore). Previously, he served as attending physician and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of its physical medicine and rehabilitation inpatient consult services.

Clark

Knight

Gentris Corp. (Research Triangle Park, NC) has promoted Scott Clark, PhD, to the position of vice president of research and development. Previously executive director of scientific affairs at the company, Clark will now be responsible for Gentris' scientific strategy and will manage the company's clinical genetics research and development division. Gentris has also recruited Heath Knight, PhD, as its vice president of business development. Knight has more than 13 years' experience and has held management positions at multiple contract research organizations in the biotechnology field. Gentris, a provider of applied clinical pharmacogenomic services and diagnostic product solutions, is developing diagnostic test kits and reference controls designed to make pharmacogenomic profiling accessible to physicians and patients. The company expects to seek FDA clearance for the kits in 2006.

NovoStent (Mountain View, CA), which is developing an anchored helical stent technology for a range of vascular therapies, has appointed G. Ray Martin, PhD, as its president, chief executive officer, and a member of its board of directors. Martin replaces Michael Hogendijk, who will remain with the company as chief technical officer and a member of the board. Martin was most recently vice president of business development for TriVascular Inc. (Santa Rosa, CA), which was acquired by Boston Scientific in April 2005. A stent graft implant inventor himself, Martin has also held executive positions at C. R. Bard (Murray Hill, NJ) and W. L. Gore & Associates Inc. (Flagstaff, AZ).

Compressus Inc. (Chicago), a developer of software in the fields of medical imaging, telemedicine, disaster preparedness, and biosurveillance, has appointed Janine M. Broda as vice president and general manager of its medical imaging solutions business. A 25-year veteran of the healthcare industry, Broda was most recently vice president of professional services and director of sales for Fischer Imaging Corp. (Denver).

Corinna Lathan, PhD, founder and CEO of human-factors engineering firm AnthroTronix Inc. (Silver Spring, MD), has been named a Young Global Leader 2006 by the Forum of Young Global Leaders (Geneva). Lathan, also an associate adjunct professor in the department of aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, is a former juror for the Medical Design Excellence Awards program. The Forum of Young Global Leaders aims to build a collaborative community of leaders under the age of 40 to shape best practices for the future. Each year, the organization selects a new class of about 200 leaders worldwide for a five-year membership, with the goal of ultimately forming a community of 1111 members by 2009. The members work together in developing a positive vision for the world in 2020 and put forward strategies to translate the vision into action.

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