– USA, CA – Avinger, Inc., a producer of image-guided catheter-based systems used by physicians to treat peripheral arterial disease and pioneer of the lumivascular approach to treating vascular disease, announced today that Jeff Soinski has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, effective December 29, 2014. Soinski was also elected to the Company’s Board of Directors. He will be succeeding Avinger’s founder and current CEO John B. Simpson, PhD, MD, who will continue with the Company as Executive Chairman and remain directly involved in the Company’s clinical initiatives and research and development activities.
“Jeff has decades of experience as a growth-oriented CEO, with an over twenty-year track record of building successful operating companies in diverse sectors of the healthcare industry. Speaking for everyone at Avinger with whom Jeff has met, I am completely convinced we are fortunate to have found him,” said Dr. Simpson. “Jeff’s experience leading innovative medical companies and history with public companies in the healthcare space makes him the ideal choice to lead Avinger through the next stage of our growth. His insights and expertise will be instrumental during this pivotal time for Avinger while we dramatically improve the treatment of vascular disease through the introduction of products based on our lumivascular platform.”
“I am delighted to be joining Avinger and the outstanding team of professionals assembled at the Company,” said Jeff Soinski. “Dr. Simpson is a visionary clinician and scientist, who has pioneered the atherectomy market and profoundly impacted the treatment of vascular disease through multiple successful companies. I believe there is tremendous potential in Avinger’s lumivascular product portfolio and am excited to partner with Dr. Simpson and the Avinger team to build upon the strong foundation that has already been established.”
Soinski was the Chief Executive Officer of Medical Imaging Holdings, Inc. and its primary operating company, Unisyn Medical Technologies, Inc., a national provider of technology-enabled products and services to the medical imaging industry, from its formation in 2009 until the acquisition of its Unisyn business by GE Healthcare in 2013. Prior to joining Unisyn, he served as a Special Venture Partner to Galen Partners, a leading healthcare private-equity firm, to complete the acquisition and merger of the three independent diagnostic imaging service and technology companies that formed Unisyn.
From 2001 until its acquisition by C.R. Bard in 2008, Soinski was the President and CEO of Specialized Health Products International, Inc., a publicly-traded manufacturer and marketer of safety medical products. During his tenure, Specialized Health Products ranked three consecutive years in the top half of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in North America, and was twice named one of the fastest-growing companies in Utah on the MountainWest Capital Network Utah 100 list. In 2008, Soinski was named “Utah CEO of the Year” for small public companies by Utah Business magazine. Prior to Specialized Health Products, Soinski served as President and CEO of ViroTex Corporation, a venture-backed pharmaceutical drug-delivery company that was acquired by Atrix Laboratories, Inc. in 1998.
Soinski received a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College. He is currently a Director of Medical Imaging Holdings, Inc. and its remaining operating company, Consensys Imaging Service, Inc. He also serves on the board of directors of Merriman Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: MERR), parent of Merriman Capital, a San Francisco-based investment banking and brokerage firm focused on high-growth companies and their institutional investors.
About Avinger
Avinger, Inc. is a commercial-stage medical device company that designs, manufactures and sells image-guided, catheter-based systems used by physicians to treat patients with peripheral arterial disease. PAD is characterized by a build-up of plaque in the arteries that supply blood to the arms and legs. The Company’s mission is to dramatically improve the treatment of vascular disease through the introduction of products based on its lumivascular platform, the only intravascular image-guided system available in this market. Avinger’s current products include Lightbox imaging console, as well as Wildcat, Kittycat, and the Ocelot family of catheters, which are designed to penetrate total arterial blockages, known as chronic total occlusions, or CTOs. The Company is also developing Pantheris, an image-guided atherectomy device, designed to precisely remove arterial plaque in PAD patients. Pantheris is currently undergoing a U.S. clinical trial intended to support a 510(k) submission to the FDA in the second half of 2015.
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