Dr. John Simpson has revolutionized the field of medicine through innovations that have fundamentally altered how physicians treat cardiovascular disease. He invented and commercialized the first over-the-wire balloon catheter used for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). This single idea created the field of interventional cardiology as we know it today. Dr. Simpson’s unique approach to patient care and the success of less invasive interventional techniques, specifically PTCA, have generated a multi-disciplinary shift in medicine as ophthalmologists, radiologists, cardiologists, neurologists and surgeons alike have adopted this technique.
Dr. Simpson has a unique ability to recognize unmet clinical needs, generate concepts to address these needs, and transform these concepts into clinically and commercially relevant products. Dr. Simpson has started several companies dedicated to providing patients with the most cutting-edge therapies in a variety of different areas, including directional atherectomy (coronary and peripheral), chronic total occlusions (CTOs), ultrasound, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, suture-mediated vascular closure, and local drug delivery. His companies have sold for +$1.7 billion in aggregate, and include Advanced Cardiovascular Systems (sold to Eli Lilly in 1981 for stock on an earnout basis), Devices for Vascular Intervention (acquired by Eli Lilly in 1990), Perclose (purchased by Abbott in 1999), and FoxHollow Technologies (merged with ev3 in 2007).
Dr. Simpson received his PhD in Immunology from the University of Texas and his MD from Duke University. He completed his fellowship in interventional cardiology at Stanford University. Dr. Simpson is a member of the American College of Physicians and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He has published extensively on a wide variety of subjects and lectured throughout the world 01.

Jeff Soinski has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors since December 2014. From its formation in September 2009 until the acquisition of its Unisyn business by GE Healthcare in May 2013, Mr. Soinski served as Chief Executive Officer of Medical Imaging Holdings and its primary operating company Unisyn Medical Technologies, a national provider of technology-enabled products and services to the medical imaging industry. Mr. Soinski remains a Director of Medical Imaging Holdings and its remaining operating company Consensys Imaging Service. From July 2008 to June 2013, Mr. Soinski served periodically as a Special Venture Partner for Galen Partners, a leading healthcare-focused private equity firm, which has Medical Imaging Holdings as one of its portfolio companies.
From 2001 until its acquisition by C.R. Bard in 2008, Mr. Soinski was President and CEO of Specialized Health Products International, a publicly-traded manufacturer and marketer of proprietary 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. In 2008, Mr.
Mr. Soinski has served on the board of directors of Merriman Holdings, parent of Merriman Capital, a San Francisco-based investment banking and brokerage firm, since 2008. He holds a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College.

As SVP, Operations & Quality, Bunty Banerjee brings 18 years of management experience in the life sciences industry, encompassing disposable devices and capital equipment. Before Avinger, Mr. Banerjee was Vice President of Operations & Quality at Evalve, Inc. where he provided operational leadership from clinical stage to product commercialization. Mr. Banerjee, as part of the leadership team, oversaw the acquisition of Evalve, Inc. by Abbott Laboratories in 2009 and lead the post-acquisition integration and business expansion as Head of Operations at Abbott Vascular, Structural Heart. Prior to Evalve, Mr. Banerjee served as Plant Manager at Epicor, Inc. (a St. Jude Medical acquisition), holding general management responsibilities including operations, quality, product development, finance, human resources, and providing leadership in product commercialization and new product introductions. Before Epicor, Mr. Banerjee held several operations leadership positions at several newly-acquired, high-growth business units of Boston Scientific. Earlier in his career, Mr. Banerjee held various engineering positions at Crompton-Greaves, Caterpillar, and Larsen-Toubro. Mr. Banerjee received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University, India and M.S. in Industrial Management from Clemson University, USA.

Matt Ferguson joined Avinger in December 2010 with a successful track record in the management of growth-stage life sciences and technology businesses. Prior to joining Avinger, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Tethys Bioscience, a provider of molecular diagnostic tests for cardiometabolic conditions. Prior to Tethys, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Proteolix, a developer of novel drugs for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Proteolix was acquired in 2009 by Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Before Proteolix, Mr. Ferguson served as Chief Financial Officer at FoxHollow Technologies, where he was responsible for the company's 2004 initial public offering and played a significant role in the company's 2007 merger with ev3 inc. Earlier in his career, he held a variety of financial, corporate development and operational positions at ChannelPoint and Hewlett-Packard. Mr. Ferguson’s educational background includes a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.

As Chief Technology Officer, Himanshu Patel brings over 25 years of design experience developing medical devices, primarily for cardiovascular and peripheral artery disease treatment. He has extensive experience leading R&D and manufacturing operations across several companies, and has served as a named inventor in more than 25 medical device patents. Mr. Patel founded Avinger in 2007, leading the company in the rapid development of new products that address specific unmet clinical needs in the treatment of peripheral artery disease. He spearheaded engineering efforts of the current platform of image-guided (“lumivascular”) interventional devices at Avinger, and has played a central role in the development of products that have generated over $1 billion in shareholder value over the course of his career. Prior to Avinger, Mr. Patel led R&D activities as the Director of Advanced Technologies at FoxHollow, and spearheaded the engineering efforts of a $180 million revenue product. His other experience includes designing and developing shape memory alloy stents and multi-component stent-graft devices at EndoTex Interventional Systems, and improving the manufacturing processes of medical devices at General Surgical Innovations, amongst others. Mr. Patel has a proven track record of developing products that exceed customer expectations, with a focus on cost containment, speed to market, and manufacturability. Mr. Patel holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from M.S. University of Baroda, India, and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida.

As the Vice President of Marketing & Business Operations, Phil Preuss handles general business management, strategic operations and partnerships. Mr. Preuss spent almost five years in New York City working in equity research, eventually becoming an Associate Director at UBS. During this time, he also supplemented his finance, accounting, and analytical skills by becoming a CFA charterholder. Following his MBA and prior to Avinger, he joined Foxhollow Technologies as a Senior Associate in Corporate Development, where he worked on internal strategic priorities and the exploration of external business opportunities. Mr. Preuss holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management and a B.A. from Stanford University.

As Vice President of Sales, Corey leads Avinger’s sales efforts and strategic partnerships. Mr. Gibbs joined Avinger with the launch of Lumivascular in 2013. His medical device career spans 16 Years in Medical Device Sales and Management covering a wide array of technologies with organizations such as Berchtold Corporation (now a division of Stryker), Intuitive Surgical and Karl STORZ Endoscopy. He holds a B.A degree from Louisiana State University along with a 2-year Varsity Letter in Football.