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Leonard Pinchuk, Ph.D., D.Sc. |
Co-Founder, President, and CEO |
Len is the Co-founder, President, and CEO of Innovia. As an inventor with a background in Chemistry, Engineering and Medicine, Len initiates and oversees all projects, and also provides substantial product and process development input. In addition, Len secures and manages the necessary funding for the companies and interacts with the biomedical community, including both industry and academia, to achieve Innovia’s goal of producing medical devices previously unattainable with conventional biomaterials.
Len is a world-renowned expert in the field of biomaterials and medical devices with over 80 patents in this area. His accomplishments include the invention of the nylon angioplasty balloon, which has now become the world’s most popular angioplasty balloon, marketed by Cordis Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation (“BSC”), and Guidant Corporation; a flexible coronary stent; the family of polycarbonate urethane biomaterials for implantation applications; and polyurethane-based vascular grafts and stent-grafts, including the first modular bifurcated stent-graft for treating abdominal aortic aneurysms. Although some of these innovations have achieved very significant market acceptance, his most notable achievement has been the development of a novel family of biocompatible elastomeric copolymers that demonstrate superior biostability and compatibility in the vasculature as well as in other organs and tissues of the body. Specific formulations of this polymer have enabled the next generation of coronary stents, namely the Boston Scientific’s Taxus® Stent, where drugs can be released from these devices to inhibit restenosis.
He began his career at Cordis Corporation in 1983 where he became the Manager of their Applied Physics and Chemistry Group. In 1987, Len co-founded Corvita Corporation, with Dr. Norman Weldon, the former CEO of Cordis Corporation, where they pioneered the field of stent-grafts. Corvita completed a successful IPO on the NASDAQ in 1995 and was purchased the following year by Pfizer, Inc. Corvita was merged with Pfizer’s Schneider AG division which was purchased by BSC in 1998. After completing his contractual obligations with Pfizer and BSC, Len became a partner and the Chief Scientist at Syntheon LLC and helped to develop and improve a catheter-based treatment for varicose veins for VeinRx LLC. Len left Syntheon in May 2002, and with John B. Martin, Jr., founded Innovia LLC in October 2002.
Len received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from McGill University and a Ph.D., inter-departmental, in the fields of Chemistry, Engineering and Medicine from the University of Miami. In 2003, he was inducted into the University of Miami Iron Arrow Society (Highest Honors) and, in 2005, he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from McGill.
Len is a member of various Boards, societies, and high level university committees. He has been published numerous times and frequently lectures throughout the world. Len's extensive work in the industry and the community has earned him many prestigious awards, including the 2008 Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Healthcare Heroes Award.
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| Co-Founder, Chief Engineer |
John is the co-founder and Chief Engineer of Innovia. He is responsible for and oversees all mechanical engineering input for product and process development of all projects. He also manages the daily technical operations of Innovia’s staff, including the computer system, machine shop and facilities.
John attended Valparaiso University in Indiana and later served in the US Coast Guard. Upon completion of his military service, John moved to Miami and in 1968, joined the R&D division of Cordis Corporation. As Senior Research Engineer, he contributed to the design and development of numerous medical devices including torque control diagnostic catheters, pacemaker leads, vascular access devices, angioplasty catheters, stents and neural drainage devices. In 1987, John joined Leonard Pinchuk, Ph.D. and Norman Weldon, Ph.D. in founding Corvita Corporation where he participated in the development of the Corvita Artificial Vascular Graft and the Endovascular Aortic Stent Graft. After Corvita was purchased by Boston Scientific in 1998, John joined Syntheon LLC and worked on several projects including implantable radioactive seeds for prostate cancer and the VeinRx LLC catheter-based treatment for varicose veins.
John is a member of the Society for Biomaterials and has several patents and publications.
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Vice President, Clinical, Regulatory, and Quality Assurance |
Bruce is Vice President of Clinical, Regulatory and Quality Assurance for Innovia. He is responsible for establishing and overseeing regulatory and quality assurance requirements for all projects as well as planning and implementing clinical trials. Bruce is also responsible for developing and implementing an effective Product Development process that complies with FDA and international regulations.
Bruce has been in the medical device industry for over thirty years and has served in a variety of clinical, manufacturing, quality and regulatory roles. Major companies with whom he has worked include Cordis, CD Medical, C.R. Bard, Organon Teknika, Schneider, Pfizer, and start-up companies including Bionexus, Corvita Corporation and Syntheon LLC. His product experience includes implantables such as pacemakers, vascular grafts and stents and disposables including hemodialyzers, numerous vascular and urological catheters, gastrointestinal products and in vitro diagnostics.
Bruce graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and obtained his M.B.A. from Nova Southeastern University.
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Yasushi Pedro Kato, Ph.D. |
Vice President, Research and Development |
Yasushi serves as the Vice President of Research and Development for Innovia. In this role, he provides substantial technical input and management expertise for all projects.
For over ten years, Yasushi worked in medical device product design and development in the field of vascular grafts and stent grafts for Corvita Corporation. As a Principal Engineer, he acted as liaison to Japanese managers and engineers collaborating on projects including biological vascular grafts. Later he served as a Project Leader to develop the Corvita Bifurcated Endovascular Stent Graft. After transferring the Corvita technology to Boston Scientific in 1999, he joined Cordis Neurovascular Inc. (J&J) and worked for three years as a Project Leader to commercialize the Trufill® nBCA embolization kit. This work earned him the prestigious Cordis Team Excellence and Sales Contribution Award. As Manager of Advanced Embolic Systems at Cordis, Yasushi began developing the next generation embolics for arterio-venous malformations and brain aneurysms.
Yasushi holds several issued United States patents related to medical devices and has several others pending. He has published academically and professionally, presenting and reviewing various works in the area of Biomaterials. He has been an invited speaker at University of Miami Biomedical Engineering department and the Ontario Center for Materials Research. His work has been published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research and the Journal of Orthopedics Research. Yasushi is a member of the Society for Biomaterials.
Yasushi holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in orthopedic biomaterials and soft tissue mechanics from Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
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