The CardioInsight Leadership Team
Dr. Charu Ramanathan, VP Scientific Affairs
Dr. Ramanathan is a co-founder of the company and a co-inventor of the ECM technology. She has over 13 years of experience in the development of the ECM technology. Dr. Ramanathan is well published in the field, with her work showcasing the first application of ECM in humans published in Nature Medicine in 2004. Dr. Ramanathan received her PhD and MS in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, and a Bachelor of Technology from the Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India.
Dr. Harold Wodlinger, VP Product Development
Dr. Wodlinger has 30 years of experience in developing and commercializing Medical Devices. Most of this experience is in Cardiac Electrophysiology, where he holds eight patents and is a recognized expert in multi-channel amplifier design and signal processing. Prior to his work at CardioInsight, Harold managed a Biomedical Engineering Department at a major teaching hospital, and then served as Chief Engineer at Madsen Electronics, a manufacturer of audiology equipment. In 1982, Harold co-founded Biomedical Instrumentation Inc., a company that has become a leading worldwide supplier of amplifiers, recording systems and mapping systems in cardiac electrophysiology. Biomedical Instrumentation was later acquired by the Quinton Instrument Company. Dr. Wodlinger served as President of the division, renamed Quinton Electrophysiology Corp. Harold holds a doctorate in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Christina Vacca, VP Quality, Regulatory Affairs & Operations
Miss Vacca has a demonstrated track record of strategic business improvement and technology development and has been the CEO of a start-up company, and has held executive positions in multibillion dollar corporations. She has 30 years of experience working in medical device companies ranging in size from multinational companies—such as Ciba Corning, Chiron and Bayer Diagnostics—to small start-up medical device companies commercializing novel technologies. Ms. Vacca has provided planning, development and implementation of strategies for regulatory affairs and quality systems. Her focus has been in the areas of regulatory compliance, quality management systems, operations, supply chain/supplier management, product development, verification, validation, and manufacturing. Most recently, she began focusing on the development and submission of premarket approvals (510(k)) for a broad range of medical devices. She is adjunct faculty at both Lorain County Community College and Lakeland Community College where she teaches and develops curriculum in the following specialty areas: Lean Methodologies, Operations/Plant Logistics Practices, Six Sigma Principles and Practices, and FDA/Bioscience Regulatory Compliance. Ms. Vacca holds a BA in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace.
Mr. Kevin Mendelsohn, VP, Finance & Corporate Development
Mr. Mendelsohn comes to CardioInsight from Jumpstart Ventures, a northeast Ohio-based venture development seed fund where he worked as part of the fund’s investment team, and more recently as Venture Partner. As Venture Partner, he provided guidance and assistance to early stage healthcare companies, including product development, clinical development, business development and fundraising strategies. Prior to JumpStart, Mr. Mendelsohn held business development, product development and corporate development positions at Athersys, Inc., a publicly held biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Mendelsohn received his MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship from the Weatherhead School of Management, and his BA in zoology and economics from Miami University.
Sylvain Fanier, European Sales Director
Mr. Fanier has over 22 years of experience in the medical device industry. Most of his experience is in cardiac electrophysiology. His EP experience started with Cordis and the acquisition of the Webster Laboratories in 1994, where he contributed to the successful launch of the first RF ablation catheters and the Carto 3D Electroanatomical system with Cordis-Webster. Most notably, Mr. Fanier played a major role in the product and commercial development of the Lasso and irrigated tip ablation catheters with Biosense-Webster. Mr Fanier also managed the product development and commercial launch of the CathPax XRay protection cabin of LemerPax. During the last decade, Mr. Fanier gained significant international sales and marketing experience at Bard Electrophysiology , a worldwide leader in EP recording systems and cardiac signal analysis, where he most recently served as Global Marketing Director. Mr Fanier received his M.S in Physiology from Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France and holds a MBA from Essec Business School, Paris, France.