Avinger Appoints Chief Medical Officer

Avinger Inc., a developer of treatments for peripheral artery disease (PAD), has appointed Jaafer Golzar, M.D., as chief medical officer. Golzar provides Avinger with an extensive history of clinical leadership within the endovascular field. 
 
Golzar is a practicing interventional cardiologist with Advocate Medical Group in Chicago. He is the director of Limb Salvage and Endovascular Intervention at Advocate Trinity Hospital. Golzar is also a leading educator on interventional techniques and technologies and is the founder and previous director of the Chicago Endovascular Conference (CVC), an international-scale annual conference designed to address the educational needs of physicians and other healthcare professionals treating patients with peripheral arterial and venous diseases.
 
“Having worked with all the major tools used to treat peripheral disease, there is no technology I’m more excited about than Avinger’s Lumivascular platform,” Golzar said. “I am particularly impressed with the recent advances in the next-generation Pantheris, and I look forward to spreading the word about its benefits with my fellow interventionists, as well as working with the Avinger team to develop additional products that leverage the unique benefits of real-time intravascular visualization provided by the Lumivascular platform. Being a part of such groundbreaking technologies that improve safety and outcomes for patients is what continues to drive my passion for the cardiac and endovascular medical field.”
 
Prior to joining Avinger, Golzar was also medical director, Interventional Vascular for BTG International. He has participated in multiple clinical research trials, including studies of PAD treatment with atherectomy, drug-eluting balloons and stents and has authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals. As a recognized leader in the endovascular community, Golzar has received multiple accolades including the Pioneers in Performance – North America Award in 2014. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. Golzar maintains a part-time clinical practice while serving as Avinger’s chief medical officer.
 
“We are extremely pleased that Dr. Golzar has joined our executive leadership team and are confident he will provide valuable clinical and strategic perspective to our company,” said Jeff Soinski, president and CEO of Avinger. “His feedback on earlier versions of Avinger’s Lumivascular technology led to many of the enhancements designed into our recently-launched next-generation Pantheris, and we anticipate his clinical acumen will contribute substantially to Avinger’s future product development and clinical study initiatives. Furthermore, Dr. Golzar’s relationships and respect within the PAD treatment community and among potential strategic partners will meaningfully and positively impact the adoption of Lumivascular and the value of our company.”
 
Avinger is a commercial-stage medical device company that designs and develops the first-ever image-guided, catheter-based system that diagnoses and treats patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Avinger is dedicated to changing the way vascular disease is treated through its Lumivascular platform, which currently consists of the Lightbox imaging console, the Ocelot family of chronic total occlusion (CTO) catheters, and the Pantheris family of atherectomy devices. Avinger is based in Redwood City, Calif.