Columbia, SC – Obsidio, Inc., a pre-clinical stage medical materials developer pioneering a universal embolic hydrogel designed to be delivered minimally invasively through a clinical catheter for blood vessel occlusion, announced the formation of its clinical advisory board.
Columbia, SC (December 2, 2019) – Obsidio, Inc., a pre-clinical stage medical materials developer pioneering a universal embolic hydrogel (GEM) designed to be delivered minimally invasively through a clinical catheter for blood vessel occlusion, announced today the formation of its clinical advisory board (CAB). Inaugural members, Ziv J Haskal, MD and Riad Salem, MD, MBA, bring deep and diverse experience in vascular and interventional radiology. The newly established CAB will support Obsidio as it continues to develop its shear-thinning biomaterial for therapeutic embolization.
“Today’s standard of treatment for transcatheter embolization involves delivering multiple metal coils into a blood vessel, but this approach has numerous limitations as it is not always suitable for patients with impaired coagulation, and can sometimes fail, resulting in persistent bleeding,” said Dr. Rahmi Oklu, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Obsidio. “We are changing the standard of care, and the creation of a Clinical Advisory Board is an important step for our future development. The insight and expertise of our CAB will be critical as we advance our novel embolization treatment.”
Inaugural members of the Clinical Advisory Board:
Dr. Ziv J Haskal is a tenured professor of radiology and medical imaging in a division of Interventional Radiology. Dr. Haskal has given more than 500 invited lectures worldwide and has been awarded numerous honorary fellowships, national, international, and societal awards for leadership, service, and research excellence. He has designed, participated or led more than 40 research trials, and published more than 400 scientific manuscripts, chapters, reviews, and abstracts. He co-founded the world’s largest scientific congress on Embolization (GEST), and led the Society for Interventional Radiology (SIR) Annual Scientific Meeting, and has been the president of two international societies. Dr. Haskal is the Editor in Chief of two peer-reviewed Journals, the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR) and International Journal of Gastrointestinal Intervention (IJGII). He serves in societal leadership and committee positions, among them the SIR Executive Council/Board of Trustees and Research Foundation Board, chaired or served in numerous national committees including within the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and American College of Radiology.
Dr. Riad Salem is a Professor of radiology, medicine, and surgery, and chief of a division of interventional radiology. His expertise includes the use of image-guided techniques for the treatment of liver cancer, including chemoembolization, bland embolization, and radioembolization. Dr. Salem is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, and he completed his radiology residency in Washington, DC, and a fellowship in interventional radiology (University of Pennsylvania), as well as a masters in business administration (Finance). He has delivered over 600 lectures nationally and internationally, has participated in numerous research trials, and has published extensively, with over 330 publications on interventional oncology, culminating in an h-index of 81. He has pioneered the practice of yttrium-90 radioembolization for the treatment of liver cancer, which is now a standard of care for many patients. In recognition of his work, Dr. Salem has received numerous awards, including the SIR Foundation Leaders in Innovation Award.
“Each of these physicians is a major thought leader in their respective disciplines,” stated Ehsan Jabbarzadeh, Ph.D., MBA, Co-Founder and CEO of Obsidio. “We are honored and extremely fortunate to welcome such distinguished clinicians. Their counsel will be invaluable, and I look forward to working with the CAB members to help the company move this promising development forward.”
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About Obsidio Inc.
Obsidio Inc. is a venture capital-funded medical device startup dedicated to the research, development, and commercialization of breakthrough embolotherapy products.
