REALHEART - Key Persons
Born: 1961
Education: PhD in Technology, associate professor in mechatronics and professor of computer technology
Christer Norström has extensive experience from the academic world, large-scale industry and startups, including as CEO of the world-leading research institute RISE SICS and as a co-founder of two startup companies. He is currently CEO of ABB Industrial High School and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus
- Specialist and Professor
Prof. Ahn is a specialist and professor in thoracic surgery. He has extensive clinical experience of heart pumps as a thoracic surgeon at Östergötland University Hospital and long academic research experience in the field from Linköping University. He was the doctoral supervisor for Dr. Urban Lönn, who was Medical Director at Abbott SH- the largest international manufacturer of heart pumps.
Prof. Ahn led Realheart's animal studies on pigs, developed the surgical implant method and has also been engaged in the sheep animal studies.
Prof. Ahn's good understanding of the customer perspective, his great industrial network and knowledge of the clinical profile for different patient target groups are tremendous assets for Realheart and will be of great help in the preclinical and clinical aspects of the research work.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Management Team
Throughout her professional career, Ina Laura Perkins has worked with medical innovations. Before joining Realheart 2017, she held the position as Head of Research at Calon Cardio-Technology. Ina Laura Perkins started her academic career in stem cell research and did her doctorate at Swansea University Medical School and has an Executive MBA from Stockholm School of Economics.
Jonas Caspari Bark has solid experience from leading positions within both national and international groups and companies. He has held roles such as CEO, Business Controller, Audit Manager, Supply Change Manager and Internal Controls Analyst. The companies he has represented include ABB AB, Cassandra Oil AB, PricewaterhouseCoopers AB and Bombardier Transportation in Sweden, Belgium and Germany. In his most recent role, as CEO and purchasing manager for Ecokraft Sverige AB, Jonas has, among other things, been responsible for developing the finance and purchasing function. Jonas joined Realheart on August 5, 2022.
Born: 1973
Education: Biomedical engineer and certified clinical engineer. Executive MBA in Entrepreneurship and Leadership
Prof. Bart Meyns is a Belgian cardiac surgeon who is known for his pioneering work in heart transplantation and ventricular assist devices (VADs). He is currently head of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the University Hospital UZ Leuven and a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at KU Leuven. Bart Meyns has been President of both the European Society of Artificial Organs, ESAO, and the International Society of Mechanical Circulatory Support, ISMCS, of which Realheart's CEO, Dr Ina Laura Perkins, is a board member. He has also published more than 350 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals.
Prof. Meyns has been involved in the development of VADs since the early 1990s and has conducted numerous studies on their effectiveness in treating heart failure patients. He has also performed over 500 heart transplants and has conducted research on improving the outcomes of this procedure. He has studied the use of donor hearts from older patients and from patients who died from non-heart-related causes.
Prof. Meyns has been involved in numerous clinical trials related to cardiac surgery. He has served as the principal investigator for several clinical trials, including a study on the use of a VAD in patients with advanced heart failure. Professor Bart Meyns is part of the surgical team performing the implantations in Realheart's ongoing animal study, paving the way for clinical trials scheduled to begin in 2024.
Prof. Meyns is one of the most skilled and experienced cardiac surgeons available for heart pump implantations, and his knowledge will be a very valuable addition to the competent medical board.
Prof. Robert D. Dowling is a thoracic surgeon and an established name in the community of surgeons who work with total artificial hearts. His current position is as Surgical Director of Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Christ Hospital and Lindner Research and Education Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was previously a professor of surgery and Director of research in Surgery Research, Applied Biomedical Engineering Research, and Research in Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in the United States. Penn State is one of the largest TAH centers in the world with extensive experience in end-stage heart failure surgical options. Prior to that, Prof. Dowling was director of the Heart Transplant and Cardiac Assistance Program at the University of Louisville and Jewish Hospital in Louisville, USA.
Prof. Dowling has been involved in over 100 published research results with regards to, among other things, heart failure and thoracic surgery and is a co-author of several articles concerning artificial hearts.
Prof. Dowling, with his expertise and decades of experience in the industry, is an invaluable addition to the Realheart scientific advisory board.
Here you can read more about Prof. Dowling's work and publications:
https://hmc.pennstatehealth.org/display-provider/-/provider/6116/robert-d-dowling-md
https://pennstate.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/robert-dowling
Born: 1944
Education:MSc in Financing Psychology and BSc in Business Administration in Economics and has studied distribution.
Thomas Finocchiaro holds a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Aachen. He has worked for more than ten years at the University Hospital of Aachen, including as manager of a Total Artificial Hearts programme. Before joining Realheart he was employed at Reinheart TAH GmbH, most recently as Chief Scientific Officer.
Oliver has 25 years of experience in the field of artificial hearts and mechanical circulation support. He started at the German Heart Institute Berlin as a VAD engineer and worked with the original developer of the Berlin Heart VAD / TAH system. He then switched to the industry to introduce and secure clinical support for the world's first non-pulsating long-term LVAD developed jointly by NASA and Dr. DeBakey (Houston). After completing his MBA, Oliver has worked as Managing Director in Europe for SynCardia (TAH) to successfully lead the international expansion and build the TAH market from two to 26 countries in the EU and the Middle East. He continues to work as Managing Director for Evaheart (LVAD) within the EU and in Asia.
Born: 1950
Education: Licensed nurse and teacher degree in healthcare
Member of the board since 2021
Ulf Grape has more than 20 years of experience in medical devices. Among other things, as clinical trial leader in the pacemaker division at Siemens-Elema and many years as Managing Director for St Jude Medical Sweden AB and Area Director for Scandinavia. He also has extensive experience of board work in the disability movement and has participated in reference and steering groups for the National Board of Health and Welfare and the National Institute of Public Health.
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer
- Specialist and Surgeon
Dr Kjellman has over 35 years of experience in cardiac and thoracic surgery. He has authored numerous scientific articles focusing on cardiovascular diseases. His experience extends to the field of MCS, both LVAD/RVADs with single ventricle support and TAH. Kjellman was one of the first to implant both HeartMate 2 and HeartMate 3, after CE marking. (left ventricular assist devices developed by Abbott) and also the cardiac surgeon who performed the first implantation of the SynCardia artificial heart in Sweden and Scandinavia in 2008.
Dr. Kjellman is a specialist and surgeon in cardiothoracic surgery with over 35 years of experience. He was the surgeon who performed the first implantation in Scandinavia in 2008.
Dr. Kjellman has been deeply involved in initiating and developing the heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) program at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Uppsala University Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, King Faisal Specialist Hospital Riyadh Saudi Arabia and National Guard Hospital Riyadh Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Kjellman has authored numerous scientific papers in the field of cardiovascular disease and transplantation and his experience extends to the field of MCS, both LVAD/RVADs with single ventricle support and TAH.
Dr. Kjellman's expertise, broad experience and vast network of contacts will be of great importance for the company's further development work.
Prof. Szabó has extensive clinical experience in thoracic anesthesia as a professor of anesthesiology at the Östergötland Region and extensive research experience in side effects of heart pumps from Linköping university. He also has specialist expertise in anesthesia protocols for large animals.
Prof. Szabó has been involved in developing the implementation of Realheart's animal studies in pigs and participated in the sheep animal studies.
Prof. Szabó understands the development point of view and his expertise will be very important in the preclinical and clinical phase.