BUSINESS DRIVERS

Biospace med (Paris), developer of the EOS ultra-low-dose 2D-3D x-ray imager, has added Joe Sardano and Peter Cardle to its global sales team in order to increase the company's presence in the international healthcare market and help prepare it for entry into the North American market. Sardano, who serves as senior vice president for the Americas, has experience in sales, marketing, service, and sales management with several major imaging companies, including GE Medical Systems, Siemens, and Toshiba. He also managed the global commercialization and revenue growth of CTI Molecular Imaging from 2002 to 2005, prior to its acquisition by Siemens. Cardle, European sales vice president, has more than 25 years of medical imaging experience within GE Healthcare, as well as Sterling, eRAD, and Fischer. Cardle's roles have ranged from service and sales positions to president within the respective companies.

Afzal

DeBoise

Aculight Corp. (Bothell, WA), a developer of medical laser technologies, has appointed Robert Afzal, PhD, as vice president of research and development. The company has also hired Cheryl DeBoise as chief financial officer. Afzal was formerly Aculight's director of technology development. Prior to Aculight, Afzal was vice president of research and development for Spectra Systems Corp. Previously, he held several positions within NASA, including scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center, director of the Space Lidar Technology Center, and chief scientist for Geoscience Laser Altimeter System laser transmitters. Afzal has been awarded or filed patents on seven optical technologies and methods. DeBoise joins Aculight from Plymouth Housing Group, where she was responsible for finance, human resources, administration, and information technology for the company and 11 related entities. She was previously an auditor for Watson & McDonell PLLC. She has also been CFO and director of finance for Impact Capital, vice president of lending for Ventura County Credit Union, and regional business manager for EDS-TransAlliance.

Cooper Companies Inc. (Lake Forest, CA) has appointed Daniel G. McBride as vice president and general counsel. McBride joined Cooper in February 2005 as senior counsel and in June 2006 was named vice president and senior counsel of Cooper Companies and vice president and general counsel of CooperVision Inc. Prior to joining Cooper Companies, McBride was an attorney with Latham & Watkins LLP from October 1998 to February 2005, during which time he concentrated on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance.

CryoCor Inc. (San Diego), a medical device company focused on the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, has appointed Mark Adams as vice president of sales and marketing. Adams, who brings to CryoCor more than 20 years of cardiac-related medical device sales and marketing experience, will be responsible for leading CryoCor's commercialization efforts for its cardiac cryoablation system, which was approved by FDA in August 2007 for the treatment of right atrial flutter. Adams has served at the management and executive levels with several electrophysiology companies, including EP Technologies, prior to its acquisition by Boston Scientific; Irvine Biomedical, prior to its acquisition by St. Jude Medical; EP Medsystems; and Instromedics. Throughout his career, Adams has been involved in a number of strategic alliances, including relationships with Boston Scientific, Guidant, Medtronic, Phillips, and St. Jude Medical. Prior to joining CryoCor, Adams served as a business consultant providing sales, marketing, operational, and staffing expertise to a range of organizations primarily in the medical device industry.

Blackwood

Liz Blackwood has joined the quality team at GE Healthcare as senior vice president for global quality assurance. Blackwood brings to GE Healthcare nearly 20 years of experience driving product and process quality improvements within the medical device industry. Prior to joining GE Healthcare, Blackwood served as worldwide vice president of quality and compliance for the Ethicon-Endosurgery division of Johnson & Johnson Inc. (New Brunswick, NJ) and, later, as worldwide vice president of quality, regulatory, and medical affairs for Johnson & Johnson's LifeScan division. While at Johnson & Johnson, Blackwood developed and implemented centers of excellence for quality engineering and reliability, achieved ISO 13485 certification for all global sites, and had no FDA regulatory findings, leading to the resolution of three FDA warning letters. Her initiatives also led to significant reductions in customer complaints and field actions. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Blackwood was quality assurance director at Boston Scientific Corp. (Natick, MA).

Valeriani

In November, Johnson & Johnson Inc. (J&J; New Brunswick, NJ) announced plans for a significant company restructuring that includes the formation of a new strategy and growth organization and two new business operating groups. J&J's new strategy and growth office, which will be charged with identifying opportunities for growth that are distinct from those being pursued by the company's existing businesses, will be headed by the company's current worldwide chairman for medical devices and diagnostics, Nicholas J. Valeriani. As part of his new role, Valeriani will assume responsibility for Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., the Corporate Office of Science and Technology, and worldwide operations for the new surgical care and comprehensive care groups. Sherilyn S. McCoy, currently company group chairman for Ethicon, will assume the role of worldwide chairman for the surgical care group, which will include Ethicon, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, and DePuy. Donald M. Casey Jr.—currently company group chairman for J&J's diabetes franchise, which includes LifeScan and Animas—will assume the role of worldwide chairman for the comprehensive care group, which will encompass the diabetes companies, Cordis, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, and Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics.