Healthcare Industry Veteran Joins Thermedical’s Board of Directors

Thermedical, a developer of thermal-ablation systems to treat ventricular tachycardia (VT), has appointed Roy T. Tanaka to its board of directors.
 
Tanaka, a healthcare industry veteran who most recently served as the worldwide president of Biosense Webster Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company and market and technology leader in the field of electrophysiology, brings over three decades of medical device expertise to Thermedical.
 
“We are thrilled to have Roy join our board, as his depth of experience in executive leadership and his operational expertise and knowledge in the field of electrophysiology, both in the U.S. and globally, bring an invaluable perspective to Thermedical as we move into our next phase of growth,” said Michael Curley, Ph.D., FHRS, co-founder and CEO of Thermedical.
 
Prior to joining Biosense Webster as its U.S. president in 1997, Tanaka held a variety of executive positions at Sorin Biomedical, including president and CEO, and senior leadership roles at CooperVision Surgical and Shiley, a division of Pfizer.
 
He currently serves on multiple boards of directors for companies such as BioSig Technologies, a company developing a biomedical signal processing platform and VytronUS, a company developing ultrasound technology in the diagnosis and treatment of complex cardiac arrhythmias. He also serves as a board member and strategic advisor for Adventus Ventures LLC. Additionally, Tanaka served as a director of TomoTherapy until its acquisition in June 2011, Volcano Corporation until May 2014, Coherex Medical until its acquisition in Nov. 2015, and Epix Therapeutics until its acquisition in March 2019.
 
Tanaka earned a bachelor of science degree from Purdue University and a master’s degree in business administration from Benedictine College.

“I feel honored to have the opportunity to join Thermedical’s board of directors at this exciting time for the company,” said Tanaka. “Thermedical is uniquely positioned to provide an adjunct or low-cost alternative treatment option to patients who suffer from VT, a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in the U.S. today.”
 
Thermedical is a privately held company founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Hyperthermia Center alumni, Curley, and Patrick S. Hamilton, Ph.D., based in Waltham, Mass. Under a Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Small Business Matching Grant (SBMG) Award, multiple NIH* Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grants, and Series A venture funding; the company has developed thermal-ablation systems to treat VT. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved Early Feasibility Study is the first human use of the Durablate Catheter Ablation System in the United States. Human studies began earlier in Canada and continue at three leading Canadian centers.
 
* Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44HL132746. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.