Leadership Team
Amir Abolfathi, CEO
Amir founded Sonitus Medical, Inc. in 2006, leveraging 20 years of experience in founding, building, and managing medical device companies. Prior to Sonitus, Amir served for six years as an Officer, Vice President of R&D at Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN), creators of a unique, invisible orthodontic product. Previously, Amir was the first member of the senior management team at Embolic Protection Inc., where he was a consulting VP of Operations. EPI was successfully acquired by Boston Scientific in 2001. In early 1995, Amir co-founded EndoTex Interventional Systems, developers of minimally invasive solutions for treatment of carotid artery disease, which was also acquired by Boston Scientific in 2006. Amir has also held various management and engineering positions at Pfizer, Guidant, and Baxter-Edwards. As a seasoned entrepreneur, Amir has over 60 issued and pending patent applications, including 11 publications in peer review journals. Amir received his M.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Southern California and a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from UC San Diego.
Kurt Carlson, VP of Corporate and IP Strategy
Kurt joined the company as Vice-President of Corporate and IP Strategy. Prior to joining Sonitus, Kurt was an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati representing several biopharmaceutical, diagnostic and medical device companies in the areas of technology transactions and strategic IP counseling. Prior to joining WSGR, Kurt worked for several biotechnology firms in the fields of intellectual property law and business development. His most recent position was as Vice-President, Intellectual Property and Corporate Development, for KineMed, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company. In addition to his civilian experience, Kurt served in the U.S. Navy Reserve for 21 years, retiring with the rank of Commander.
Robert Chin, Ph.D., VP Regulatory Affairs
Dr. Chin has over 30 years experience in the medical device industry in R&D, Regulatory and Clinical Affairs and Quality Assurance. Since 1997, he has been a regulatory affairs consultant focused on start-up medical device companies in Northern California. Prior to establishing his consulting service, he served as Vice President, Regulatory and Clinical Affairs and Quality Assurance at Heartport, Inc. Prior to Heartport, he held senior management positions with Imagyn Medical, Baxter Healthcare's Cardiovascular Group (now Edwards Lifesciences) and Pacesetter Systems. Dr. Chin earned a B.S. in Engineering, a M.S. in Chemical Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Electrochemical Engineering, all from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Reza Kassayan, M.D., EE, Chief Technical Officer
Dr. Reza Kassayan leads the Systems Engineering at Sonitus Medical, Inc. He has a dual degree in Internal Medicine and Electrical Engineering. During the past 9 years, he has focused on utilizing his exceptional electronics design ability on embedded computing, including medical devices and aerospace applications. Before Sonitus Medical, Inc., he was the systems architect for ultra miniaturized embedded electronics at various Silicon Valley companies. As lead designer at Kontron America he successfully designed several large-scale projects including their largest, the BAIP's project ($85M). As chief designer for PowerFile Inc. and Diamond Systems Corporation, he successfully brought several projects from concept to full production. Systems that he has designed are installed in several real-world applications including central computer of QuakeSat, the smallest commercial satellite ever built, the customized Hercules board for the International Space Station, the Athena board for heart and lung machines and many other medical devices and embedded applications. He holds a USMLE Certified MD degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and a BSEE from KNT University.
Sam Mostafavi, VP of Quality
Over 25 years of experience in medical device and pharmaceutical industry, with emphasis in Quality System and Automation Engineering. Sam joined Sonitus Medical Inc. in October 2008. Previously he worked as a consultant providing quality management and engineering services to various pharmaceutical and medical device companies including Boston Scientific, Elan, Johnson and Johnson, Novartis, Genentech, Isis, Ortho McNeil, and AXM Pharma in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Sam earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, an M.S. in Computer Engineering, and an MBA from Old Dominion University.
Jason Shelton, Vice President, Marketing
With over 12 years experience in medical devices and consumer healthcare, Jason joined Sonitus Medical in October 2008. Previously he served as Vice President of Marketing for BioForm Medical, Inc. from 2005 to 2008 through several key milestones including BioForm's FDA clearance and launch of Radiesse® dermal filler in December 2006, and the company's IPO in November 2007. From early 2000 through late 2005, he was with Align Technology, Inc., a medical device company that makes Invisalign® invisible braces. As Senior Director of Marketing, Jason was part of the team that helped build the company from a venture-backed start-up into a profitable public company with annual revenue in excess of $200 million at his departure. A classically trained marketer, Jason was previously with SmithKline Beecham, Inc. (now GlaxoSmithKline) working on the brand management teams of national consumer healthcare brands including NicoDerm CQ® and Aquafresh® toothpaste. Jason received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.
Richard Vicenti, Chief Financial Officer
Richard has more than 25 years of CFO experience in life science, technology, and high growth companies. For the last six years he has been serving early stage life sciences companies in addition to technology ventures. He has been associated with Sonitus Medical since July 2006. He has also worked with Sound ID, an audio company specializing in solutions for the cell phone market, Coapt Systems, a medical device company providing solutions for cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, and Actis Biologics, an early stage therapeutics company in India. He is currently CFO at Euphonix, which provides audio equipment and solutions to broadcast and post-production customers. Additional assignments have included spinal and botanical drug companies. From 1992-2001, Richard was a founding employee and CFO of WhiteLight Systems, a leading analytical applications software company, which completed venture rounds of $45 million. From 1978-1987, Rich was at Inmac Corp, a direct response computer supplies company where he took the company public as CFO and served as general manager for the $20mil Accessories Division. Richard has a MBA from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
To learn more about the company or the SoundBite hearing system, contact Sonitus Medical online.
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