CVRx Welcomes Three New Members to its Executive Team

CVRx Inc. has added three new executives to its senior leadership team, hiring Philip B. Adamson, M.D., as chief medical officer; Bonnie Handke, R.N., as senior vice president of Patient Access, Reimbursement, and Healthcare Economics; and Jennifer E. Englund as senior vice president of Global Clinical Affairs. All three roles will focus on driving the adoption of CVRx’s Barostim therapy and expanding patient access.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Adamson, Bonnie, and Jennifer to the CVRx leadership team. These three executives will play an important role as we seek to move our Barostim therapy towards standard of care,” CVRx President/CEO Kevin Hykes said. “Dr. Adamson’s deep expertise and relationships within the clinical community will be invaluable as we seek to drive awareness and appropriate adoption among clinicians. Bonnie’s extensive experience in developing and executing market access strategies will be central in our efforts to expand patient access and secure favorable reimbursement. Jennifer’s proven track record in leading successful clinical evidence generation strategies will be instrumental in further validating the efficacy of Barostim and supporting our pursuit of expanded indications.” 

As chief medical officer, Adamson will spearhead efforts to drive awareness and appropriate use of Barostim therapy among clinicians. He will guide comprehensive medical education, outreach and guideline integration initiatives to establish Barostim as the standard of care for patients with heart failure. Adamson joins CVRx from Abbott Laboratories, where he serves as divisional vice president and chief medical officer of the Heart Failure division. A renowned expert in heart failure, he has nearly three decades of experience in academia as a professor and as a practicing cardiologist, during which time he authored more than 150 manuscripts and book chapters. Adamson earned his medical degree with distinction from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and MSc in physiology from the University of Oklahoma. 

As senior vice president of Patient Access, Reimbursement, and Healthcare Economics, Handke will lead CVRx’s efforts to expand access to Barostim therapy. She joins CVRx from Medtronic, where she began working more than 25 years ago as a senior manager in Neuromodulation and steadily progressed through roles of increasing responsibility, most recently serving as vice president of Global Healthcare Economics, Policy and Reimbursement for the Cardiovascular portfolio. Handke has a proven track record of developing and executing market access strategies for numerous novel therapies, successfully navigating complex reimbursement landscapes. Handke earned an MBA from St. Thomas University, a bachelor of arts degree from Concordia University, and an AS in nursing from Normandale Community College. 

As senior vice president of Global Clinical Affairs, Englund is tasked with overseeing the development and execution of CVRx’s clinical evidence generation strategy, including designing and optimizing a pipeline of post-market studies. Englund has more than 25 years of experience in the medical device industry, most recently serving as senior vice president, Scientific Affairs, at Monteris Medical, where she established a strong clinical portfolio that was pivotal in achieving reimbursement and clinical guideline status. She has also held clinical leadership roles at POPS! Diabetes Care, Mardil Medical, and Catheter Robotics. Englund earned a bachelor of science degree in biology and bachelor of arts degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota.

CVRx develops and commercializes the Barostim System, the first medical technology approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that uses neuromodulation to improve heart failure symptoms. Barostim is an implantable device that delivers electrical pulses to baroreceptors located in the wall of the carotid artery. Baroreceptors activate the body’s baroreflex, which in turn triggers an autonomic response to the heart. The therapy is designed to restore balance to the autonomic nervous system and thereby reduce the symptoms of heart failure. Barostim received the FDA Breakthrough Device designation and is approved for use in heart failure patients in the United States. It has also received the CE Mark for heart failure and resistant hypertension in the European economic area.