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Endoscopic Technologies Inc. (Estech) in San Ramon, Calif., has appointed Andrew Wechsler, M.D., as medical director.

Wechsler will chair the Estech Medical Advisory Board, which provides guidance on the company’s clinical research, medical education and product development efforts. Estech develops minimally invasive medical devices and disposables.

Wechsler also will support the company’s clinical awareness and advocacy initiatives. The appointment will not affect his role as Stanley K. Brockman professor and chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa.

Wechsler received his medical degree at State University of New York Downstate and completed his cardiac surgery residency at Duke University. He has served as a council member of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. From 1999 to 2007, he was editor of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, where he now serves as editor emeritus.

“We are honored to appoint a medical director of Dr. Wechsler’s caliber,” said John Pavlidis, Estech president and CEO. “With his professional stature and his accomplishments as a clinical investigator, Dr. Wechsler will serve as a significant resource for advances in the field of minimally invasive cardiac surgery. His experience as a clinician, educator and journal editor will enable him to enhance Estech’s ability to address the challenges that cardiac surgeons face every day.”

EnteroMedics Taps Cohen as Senior VP

Dan Cohen has joined EnteroMedics Inc. as senior vice president for government relations and health policy.

Cohen will direct part of EnteroMedics’ pre-market approval process for the Maestro System in federal and private reimbursement efforts, and coordinate the company’s government relations activities both nationally and in Washington, D.C.

“We welcome Dan’s experience and perspective in the public policy aspects of medical device approval and reimbursement as we move toward the next stage of development for the Maestro System,” said Mark B. Knudson, Ph.D., EnteroMedics president and CEO. The St. Paul, Minn.-based firm develops medical devices using neuroblocking technology.

Cohen has most recently been a consultant on reimbursement policy issues and drug/device approvals. For the last three years, he has served as senior vice president of government relations and public policy for U.S. Oncology, a cancer care firm in The Woodlands, Texas. Cohen also has held various roles with Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Inamed Corporation, the manufacturer of the LAP-BAND Adjustable Gastric Banding System for the treatment of severe obesity. Cohen served as vice president of global government affairs and investor relations for the company.

Boston Scientific Co-Founder Named to Nanobiosym Global Advisory Board

Nanobiosym has named John Abele, co-founder of Boston Scientific Corp., to its global advisory board.

Abele has been a director of Boston Scientific since 1979. He served as treasurer from 1979 to 1992, co-chairman from 1979 to 1995 and vice chairman and founder, office of the chairman from February 1995 to March 1996.

“I am honored to welcome Mr. Abele to our Global Advisory Board,” said Anita Goel, M.D., Ph.D., Nanobiosym’s chairman and CEO. “I am inspired by his legacy, which provides us with a practical roadmap for bringing disruptive technologies to market and creating entirely new ecosystems to drive cultural change in our healthcare system.”

Nanobiosym has developed Gene-RADAR, a portable nanotechnology platform that can rapidly and accurately detect genetic fingerprints from any biological organism. The company is based in Medford, Mass.

“Nanobiosym’s technology platform is truly game-changing and has the potential to radically redefine the rules of medical diagnosis,” Abele said. “Dr. Goel’s approach to medicine through the lens of physics and nanotechnology could bring about fundamental paradigm shifts in modern medicine, possibly even quantum leaps in how we diagnose and heal diseases. At Boston Scientific, we fostered a culture of exploration and discovery, and I see that same drive and passion at Nanobiosym.”

SafeStitch Medical Appoints Director

SafeStitch Medical Inc. has appointed Chao C. Chen, Ph.D., to fill a vacant seat on its Miami, Fla.-based firm’s board of directors.

Since May, Chen has served as chief operating officer of UniMed VM, a Taiwanese investment company focused on medical technologies. From September 2008 to May 2009, Chen was vice president of TaiMed Inc., another Taiwanese investment company.

From 1983 to 2008, Chen held jobs with Cordis Corporation and Ethicon Inc., medical device subsidiaries of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson, where he managed strategic planning, business integration, product commercialization and new technology research and development.

“SafeStitch has made significant progress in the development of the AMID Stapler and the intraluminal gastroplasty device for GERD and obesity. Dr. Chen’s experience in medical device development and commercialization will be helpful in guiding SafeStitch’s strategic launch of these products once we receive regulatory approvals to market them in the U.S. and abroad,” said Jane Hsiao, Ph.D., SafeStitch chairman. The company manufactures endoscopic and minimally invasive surgical devices.

Vivakor Names Former GE Healthcare Executive as Director

John Gryga has joined the board of directors of Vivakor Inc. in Coralville, Iowa.

Gryga was a former executive with General Electric’s Healthcare division in Waukesha, Wis., and a former director of operations at RadNet Inc., a national diagnostic image service provider headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. At RadNet, Gryga helped grow annual revenues from $20 million to more than $150 million.

At Vivakor, a biotechnology company that researches, develops and acquires products in molecular medicine, electro-optics, biological handling and compounds, Gryga will guide the commercialization of
several Electro-Optic devices. These include the company’s VivaSlices MRI image improvement software and iVivaSight vision-screening digital photo-refractor product, as well as other medical devices under development.

“John brings a tremendous wealth of experience, contacts and specific commercialization initiatives to the table,” said Matt Nicosia, Vivakor chairman.

Secant Medical Hires Pair of Business Development Specialists

Secant Medical LLC has expanded its national sales team by hiring two business development specialists with medical device expertise.

The company has added Kyle Mullens as director of business development for orthopedics and Tim McGinnis as director of business development for cardiovascular as part of a recent initiative to bolster its marketing and sales efforts for fiscal 2010, which began Sept. 1.

Mullens’ experience includes sales and product management work for K2M Inc., a spinal device firm based in Leesburg, Va. Mullens created product commercialization programs to spur sales growth and help surgeons adopt its products. Mullens previously managed business development responsibilities for A. Schulman Inc. in Akron, Ohio, a supplier of polymer resin to the medical, packaging and automotive industries. At Secant Medical, he will work to grow sales of orthopedics products.

Before joining Secant Medical, McGinnis served as global sales manager for Dyneema Purity at the Biomedical Materials Division of Netherlands-based DSM Biomedical. There, he drove sales growth by creating and managing multi-disciplinary business development programs for medical device decision-makers involved in the selection of biomaterials.

Previously, McGinnis was a clinical sales representative for Somerville, N.J.-based Ethicon Products Inc., a provider of medical devices for the cardiovascular, orthopedic, neurovascular and general surgery markets. In his new role at Secant Medical, McGinnis will work to increase sales in the cardiovascular market segment.

“Secant Medical has taken aggressive steps to solidify our position as a provider and innovator in biomedical textile structures for the medical device industry. Last year, our company was acquired by Fenner PLC, a large, international company with expertise in a wide variety of industries, said Karen West, Secant’s general manager. Their support helps ensure Secant Medical is able to capitalize on its capabilities in engineering, operations, and other key areas to continue providing textile-based solutions for use in the device industry’s latest innovations.”