“The broad and innovative management, policy and technology perspective Dr. Gillis will bring to the Cormedics board will be a valuable asset as we move toward commercialization of the company’s breakthrough PeriPort™ cardiac access device,” said Cormedics President & CEO Jim Meador.
The device is a minimally-invasive cardiac access instrument that will provide access to the exterior of the heart via the pericardial space. The initial application is to withdraw fluid from the pericardial sac (membrane surrounding the heart) to evaluate the fluid for diagnostic purposes or to remove excess fluid causing compression of the heart. Dr. Gillis joins Meador, the company’s co-founder and co-inventor of its technologies, and Michael P. Macris, M.D., Medical Director, Cardiovascular Services NW, Memorial Hermann Hospital System, on the three-member Cormedics board.
From 1993-2004, Dr. Gillis was President of Rice University, where he is now University Professor and the Ervin Kenneth Zingler Professor of Economics. Previously, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Duke University, after spending more than two decades teaching economics and bringing economic analysis to bear on important issues of public policy in nearly 20 countries. He has published more than 70 journal and book articles, and is author, co-author, and editor of eight books. Dr. Gillis is the founder of the Texas/UK research collaborative on NanoTechnology and BioTechnology, a former member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the former chair of BioHouston, and the former Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Oversight Committee.
For further information: Tom Sommers (713) 222-1600
