MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J., Sept. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- CytoSorbents Corporation (OTCQB: CTSO), a blood purification company using its CytoSorb® extracorporeal cytokine adsorber to prevent or treat organ failure in life-threatening conditions, announced its U.S. Cardiac Surgery Advisory Board (CSAB) that includes leaders in cardiothoracic surgery, surgical critical care, extracorporeal therapy, and inflammation. The Board will oversee the use of CytoSorb® in cardiac surgery trials in the United States and complement the Company’s advisors abroad.
Dr. Phillip Chan, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of CytoSorbents stated, “We are extremely pleased to have assembled a highly distinguished U.S. Cardiac Surgery Advisory Board that has deep expertise in cardiothoracic surgery and major clinical trials. Their tremendous experience and knowledge will be invaluable in guiding the development of cardiac surgery clinical trials here in the U.S. We are also excited as many of these centers are planning to participate in our domestic clinical trials going forward.”
The esteemed members of the CytoSorbents U.S. CSAB are:
Dr. Joseph Zwischenberger, M.D. (CSAB Chair) is the Johnston-Wright Professor of Surgery, Chairman of the Department of Surgery, and Surgeon-in-Chief of UK HealthCare at the University of Kentucky. He has expertise in cardiothoracic surgery and surgical critical care, and has broad research interests ranging from extracorporeal membrane gas exchange, the physiology of cardiopulmonary bypass, and the use of systemic hyperthermia to treat lung cancer. Dr. Zwischenberger has co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, 65 book chapters and four books, and holds 2 patents. He has enjoyed continuous funding for his research since 1987 with more than 60 funded projects. He serves on several NIH study sections, is former editor of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs Journal, section editor of the International Journal of Artificial Organs, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Chest. Dr. Zwischenberger obtained his medical degree from the University of Kentucky, completed his General Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery residencies at the University of Michigan, and completed a Cardiac Surgery fellowship at the National Institutes of Health and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation/Critical Care training from the University of Michigan. He currently holds joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Robert Bartlett, M.D. is Chief Medical Officer of CytoSorbents and Professor Emeritus of Surgery and Director of the Extracorporeal Circulation Laboratory at the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) at Ann Arbor. Dr. Bartlett is a cardiothoracic surgeon and was Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Chief of the Trauma/Critical Care division, and Director of the Extracorporeal Life Support Program at UMHS. Among Dr. Bartlett’s many distinguished accomplishments, he is best known as the pioneer in the development of the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine (ECMO), used to oxygenate blood in critically-ill patients worldwide. He received his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School, completed his general surgery residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, and was Chief Resident in thoracic surgery. He was also previously faculty at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Bartlett is the recipient of 26 separate research grants, 14 from the National Institutes of Health, including an RO1 grant for the development of a completely artificial lung. He has also received numerous national and international awards for his contributions to critical care medicine.
Dr. Paul Checchia, M.D. is Medical Director of the Pediatric Cardiovascular ICU at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. He is also Professor of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Pediatric Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine. Previously, Dr. Checchia served as Chief of the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Service as well as Medical Co-Director of the Pediatric ICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. His clinical research is focused on further understanding the complex pathophysiology of all forms of cardiac disease and related insults in children, with the ultimate goal of developing useful diagnostic tools, protective strategies, and mechanism driven cardiac therapies. Specifically, he investigates cardiopulmonary bypass related injury in children undergoing cardiac surgery for repair and palliation of complex congenital heart disease. Dr. Checchia graduated from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and performed his pediatric residency and pediatric critical care medicine fellowship at Children’s Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Medical School. He also served as a research fellow in the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute of Northwestern University Medical School. He is a member of numerous societies including the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American College of Cardiology, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Critical Care Medicine. Since 2003, Dr. Checchia has served as vice-president of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society. He serves on numerous committees for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, National Institutes of Health, and the American Heart Association. He has received several teaching awards and has authored several textbook chapters.
Dr. Jonathan William Haft, M.D. is Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Veterans Affairs Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is also Associate Professor of Cardiac Surgery and Anesthesiology, and Medical Director of ECMO at University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor. Dr. Haft’s research interests are in the creation, development, and application of mechanical devices for patients with advanced heart or lung failure, including the development of a novel ventricular assist device and in the joint development of an implantable artificial lung called BioVAD. Dr. Haft received his M.D. from University of Miami School of Medicine and completed residencies in General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery at University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, where he also performed fellowships in ECMO, Surgical Critical Care, and Extracorporeal and Cardiopulmonary Physiology. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, Society of Critical Care Medicine, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons, and the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation. He is also associate editor of ASAIO Journal and is a reviewer for Annals of Thoracic Surgery as well as a number of other publications.
Dr. Nicholas Smedira, M.D. is a cardiothoracic surgeon, Professor of Surgery, and Chairman of the Professional Conduct Committee at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is also former Director of Quality for the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute. Dr. Smedira specializes in heart and heart-lung transplantation, ventricular assist devices, ECMO, heart failure surgery, valve repair and replacement, aortic replacement, and others. He has performed more than 5,000 heart operations since 1995, and is a pioneer in many transplant procedures. He earned his medical degree at University of Rochester, completed his residency in general surgery, and completed multiple fellowships in cardiothoracic surgery, critical care medicine, and research, at University of California, San Francisco and another fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center. He is the recipient of many awards including the Polly and W. Neil Rossborough Term Chair in Cardiac Transplantation Research, has been a principal or co-investigator in more than 100 clinical trials and studies, has authored or co-authored hundreds of published studies and abstracts, and has been on the editorial boards of a number of Journals, including the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
Dr. Craig Smith, M.D. is Chair of the Department of Surgery, the Johnson & Johnson Distinguished Professor, and the Valentine Mott Professor of Surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is also Surgeon-in-Chief at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and the Seymour Milstein Family Heart Hospital. Dr. Smith is a cardiothoracic surgeon, formerly Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Columbia, specializing in conventional and percutaneous valve repair and replacement, coronary bypass procedures, and operations involving the thoracic aorta. Dr. Smith received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University, and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. He performed his general surgery residency with a fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Rochester. He also completed his residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia Presbyterian. Dr. Smith helped build the Columbia Presbyterian Heart Transplant Program into the most active program in the United States, and later inaugurated a successful program in heart-lung and lung transplantation that remains the major program in the region. Dr. Smith is Past President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and has received numerous awards including the “Heart of New York Award for Achievement in Cardiovascular Science & Medicine” from the American Heart Association.
Dr. Peter Wearden, M.D., Ph.D. is a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon, Surgical Director of Pediatric Heart and Lung Transplantation, Director of Pediatric Mechanical Cardiopulmonary Support program, and Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Dr. Wearden currently is spearheading two National Institutes of Health-funded projects to develop an internal and external ventricular assist device (VAD) for young children to help keep their blood pumping during life support or as a bridge to heart-lung transplant. Dr. Wearden completed medical school and surgical residency, and earned a doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology from West Virginia University. He completed his cardiothoracic surgery residency at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and was Chief Clinician Fellow in pediatric cardiac surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. Dr. Wearden was also director of surgery for preclinical testing at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
About CytoSorbents Corporation
CytoSorbents Corporation is a critical care focused immunotherapy company using blood purification to modulate inflammation -- with the goal of preventing or treating multiple organ failure in life-threatening illnesses. Organ failure is the cause of nearly half of all deaths in the intensive care unit, with little to improve clinical outcome. CytoSorb®, the Company’s flagship product, is approved in the European Union as a safe and effective extracorporeal cytokine adsorber, designed to reduce the “cytokine storm” that could otherwise cause massive inflammation, organ failure and death in common critical illnesses such as sepsis, burn injury, trauma, lung injury, and pancreatitis. These are conditions where the risk of death is extremely high, yet no effective treatments exist. CytoSorb® is also being used during and after cardiac surgery to try to remove inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines and free hemoglobin, which can lead to post-operative complications, including multiple organ failure.
CytoSorbents’ purification technologies are based on biocompatible, highly porous polymer beads that can actively remove toxic substances from blood and other bodily fluids by pore capture and surface adsorption. CytoSorbents has numerous products under development based upon this unique blood purification technology, protected by 32 issued U.S. patents and multiple applications pending, including HemoDefend, ContrastSorb, DrugSorb, and others. Additional information is available for download on the Company’s website: http://www.cytosorbents.com/
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release are not promises or guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. We caution you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein. Risk factors are detailed in the Company’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 31, 2014, which is available at http://www.sec.gov.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140408/MM00899LOGO
SOURCE CytoSorbents Corporation
Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.
