CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Bill Gruber has joined Hemedex(TM) Inc. as the company's President. Bill has extensive experience in organizational development and in product development for rapid growth businesses. Prior to joining Hemedex, Bill spent the last five years at Cortek Inc., a spinal products company. As Cortek's V.P. of Sales and Marketing he built sales from $612 thousand to over $10 million. During his last two years he was the Vice President New Business Development and Marketing. In this role he was instrumental in creating Soteira, a Cortek subsidiary, focused on devices for treating vertebral compression fractures. Prior to Cortek, Bill spent ten years at Boston Scientific Corporation. Before leaving Boston Scientific, he held the position of Director of the $172 million Global Atherosclerotic Therapy business.
"We are delighted to have Bill join the Hemedex team," said Fred Bowman, PhD., Hemedex Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO. "His expertise in the areas of Sales, Marketing and Business Development will help drive the company's growth as Hemedex commercializes its outstanding platform of thermal diffusion technology."
"I'm privileged to be working with such a terrific team of highly motivated individuals. They are all expert scientists and engineers and their commitment to the patient and customer is extraordinary," said Bill Gruber, Hemedex President.
Hemedex, Inc. was founded in 2000 to commercialize a proprietary platform technology conceived at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), for the purpose of measuring tissue perfusion (i.e., blood flow at the capillary level). This technology addresses high clinical need situations in complex medical and surgical procedures. These complex procedures often involve compromised vasculature and other serious pathophysiology, which results in high rates of morbidity, delayed recuperation, poor patient outcome and higher overall costs. The Company's patented technology provides clinicians with a powerful tool to generate valuable prognostic data, which can provide an early warning of impending tissue ischemia and help target appropriate therapies rapidly and accurately.
Hemedex's first product, the Bowman Perfusion Monitor(TM), is designed for use in managing patient's suffering from subarachnoid hemorrhagic stroke or traumatic brain injury. The device provides a minimally invasive technique to accurately and continuously measure perfusion in small volumes of tissue. Prior to the Bowman system, the ability to get continuous, real time perfusion measurements in absolute units (ml/100g-min) did not exist. These measurements are a long sought after and important parameter in understanding and managing critical medical situations. Data from the Bowman Perfusion Monitor will help guide physicians in developing and implementing effective treatments quickly, creating the potential to improve patient outcomes and lower costs.
Studies suggest that 8-10 million Americans have brain aneurysms. About 20-30% of people with an aneurysm will have more than one. Each year, about 25,000-30,000 Americans suffer a rupture or break -- a condition known as subarachnoid hemorrhage.
At least 1.4 million people in the U.S. sustain a traumatic brain injury. Of them, approximately 50,000 die, 235,000 are hospitalized, 85,000 sustain permanent disability and the remainder are treated and released at the time of their injury. At least 5.3 million Americans -- 2% of the U.S. population currently live with disabilities resulting from traumatic brain injury. The total annual cost of treatment and care of traumatic brain injury patients is over $56 billion.
The Company's proprietary technology in the clinical application of thermal diffusion can be formulated to develop multiple products addressing unmet needs in many clinical areas such as neurosurgical monitoring, organ transplantation, cardiovascular monitoring, reconstructive surgery, critical care and endothelial function, among others.
Data Sources: emedicinehealth.com; The Center for Disease Control; The Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Data Center
Contact Information: Bill Gruber, President wgruber@hemedex.comhttp://www.hemedex.com
Hemedex, IncCONTACT: Bill Gruber, President of Hemedex, Inc., wgruber@hemedex.com
Web site: http://www.hemedex.com//
