Our Story
Vascular disease isn’t going away. Real people continue to fight the progression and complications that result from PAD. We’ve won many battles but the war goes on and we don’t take our responsibility to create change lightly. As our company ages, many of our ideas have become realities yet we still lie awake at night devising plans to do more. We know many are counting on us to do more. We continue to be an ordinary group of individuals trying to achieve the extraordinary. For this opportunity we remain extremely blessed.
Leadership
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Jeffrey M. Soinski Chief Executive Officer 
Jeffrey M. Soinski
Chief Executive Officer
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. He remained a director of Medical Imaging Holdings and its remaining operating company Consensys Imaging Service until its acquisition in October 2017. Mr. Soinski served periodically as a Special Venture Partner from July 2008 to June 2013 and as a Special Investment Partner since October 2016 for Galen Partners, a leading healthcare-focused private equity firm. 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. Earlier in his career, Mr. Soinski was President and CEO of ViroTex Corporation, a venture-backed pharmaceutical drug delivery company he sold to Atrix Laboratories in 1998. Mr. Soinski served on the board of directors of Merriman Holdings, parent of Merriman Capital, a San Francisco-based investment banking and brokerage firm, from 2008 until March 2016. He holds a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College. -
Himanshu Patel Chief Technology Officer
Himanshu Patel
Chief Technology Officer
Himanshu Patel has served as Chief Technology Officer of Avinger since its founding in 2007. Mr. 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. -
Phil Preuss Chief Commercial Officer
Phil Preuss
Chief Commercial Officer
As Chief Commercial Officer, Phil Preuss oversees the sales team as well as a cross-functional group responsible for product management, marketing communications, strategy, competitive intelligence, and deal desk management. In his 12 years at Avinger, following its merger with Sawtooth Labs in 2009, Phil has been instrumental in developing and scaling key areas of the company, including marketing, finance, HR, legal, and business operations, from pre-commercial stages through multiple product launches and an initial public offering. Phil’s role as CCO focuses on aligning commercial strategies with operational execution, optimizing product positioning, driving market growth, and ensuring cohesive leadership across departments. Prior to Avinger, he worked in corporate development at FoxHollow Technologies (now part of Medtronic), concentrating on strategic initiatives and business development. Before business school, Phil spent five years in equity research and served as Associate Director at UBS. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BA from Stanford University. -
Lawson, PhD Vice President, Clinical & Regulatory Affairs
Lawson, PhD
Vice President, Clinical & Regulatory Affairs
Thom Lawson joined Avinger in October 2016 and serves as our Vice President of Clinical, Regulatory and Medical Affairs. After gaining a PhD in plant pathology from the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Lawson coordinated international preclinical and clinical studies at Cetus Corporation, then the 2nd largest biotech company in the US. Prior to joining Avinger, Dr. Lawson spent 25 years executing the preclinical, clinical and regulatory tasks for 8 different start-up medical device companies, involving over 80 studies in 13 different countries, and authoring over 50 regulatory filings for the commercialization of devices in 27 countries, including over thirty 510(k) submissions. To facilitate device promotion and education, he has provided first-drafts to physicians and researchers of over 140 abstracts and journal articles. An invited lecturer to professional society meetings and medical departments in the USA, Europe and Asia, he is the past editor-in-chief of the Journal of Vascular Access Devices and author of over 40 articles in both scientific and general audience journals in the fields of biology, pathology, and medical science. -
Thomas P. Davis, MD, FACC Chief Medical Officer
Thomas P. Davis, MD, FACC
Chief Medical Officer
Thomas P. Davis, MD, FACC, serves as Avinger’s Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Davis is a practicing interventional cardiologist with over 30 years of experience and is recognized as a key opinion leader in the peripheral vascular space. He is the Director of Cardiovascular Research at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, where he previously held roles as Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab and Peripheral Interventions. Dr. Davis has pioneered the use of several advanced interventional technologies, including Avinger’s image-guided devices for CTO-crossing and atherectomy. In addition to serving on scientific advisory boards, he has been an investigator in multiple clinical trials and has published extensively on the treatment of peripheral vascular disease. Dr. Davis earned his M.D. from St. George’s University in Grenada and completed his residency in cardiology and interventional cardiology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, and Interventional Cardiology. -
Jay Sundaram Vice President, QualityManagement Representative
Jay Sundaram
Vice President, QualityManagement Representative
As Management Representative & Vice President of Quality, Jay Sundaram is responsible for assuring all aspects of Avinger Quality. Mr. Sundaram brings 15 years of Medical Device experience in R&D, Manufacturing & Quality from his time at Boston Scientific, Thoratec PHP & Altura Medical. He is a member of the American Society of Quality and has gained ASQ -CQE, CSSBB, CMQ, CSQE & CBA certifications over the span of his career. Mr. Sundaram is also a member of RAPS and is certified in Regulatory Affairs-Devices. He holds an M.S in Manufacturing & Mechanical Systems Integration from Rochester institute of Technology and Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Bharathidasan University, India. -
Elmar Horn Vice President, International
Elmar Horn
Vice President, International
As Vice President, International Elmar Horn builds Avinger’s business outside the United States. Based in Berlin, he supports our users in Germany and initiates relationships with distribution partners in Europe, the Middle East and markets in Asia Pacific. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Horn has held several positions in the medical devices industry. Prior to joining Avinger, he served as the Director of Marketing and Sales for a Japanese Coronary Stent Start-up, ran the Healthcare segment of a German consulting firm in California and built BIOTRONIK’s stent business in Germany. He holds a biomedical engineering degree from Berlin Technical University and an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. -
Nabeel Subainati Vice President, Finance
Nabeel Subainati
Vice President, Finance
Nabeel Subainati has served in multiple capacities since January 2020. Currently Mr. Subainati is serving as the Company’s Vice President, Finance, formerly Mr. Subainati held the position of Vice President, Corporate Controller. He was appointed to serve as our Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer effective as of July 21, 2022. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Subainati served as Controller at Crossbar, Inc., a semiconductor memory technology provider from July 2018 until January 2020. Mr. Subainati previously served as Corporate Controller of Sigma Designs, Inc. a Nasdaq-listed integrated system-on-chip solutions provider for home and industrial applications, from May 2014 until its acquisition by Silicon Labs, Inc. in June 2018. Earlier in his career Mr. Subainati worked at Ernst & Young and Deloitte. He received a B.S. in business administration with an accounting major from Santa Clara University. He earned and currently holds an active CPA designation.
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James G. Cullen Chairman
James G. Cullen
Chairman
James G. Cullen has served as a member of our board of directors since December 2014, as our Lead Independent Director since January 2015 and as our Non-Executive Chairman since December 2017. During the last five years, Mr. Cullen has held board and committee positions with various companies. Mr. Cullen is currently a director of Keysight Technologies, which was spun out of Agilent Technologies, where he was previously a director. Mr. Cullen previously served as a director and chairman of the audit committee of Johnson & Johnson and as a director and member of the investment and finance committees of Prudential Financial. From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Cullen was President, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Bell Atlantic Corporation (now Verizon). From 1989 to 1993, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Bell Atlantic-New Jersey. Mr. Cullen holds a B.A. in Economics from Rutgers University and an M.S. in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. -
Jeffrey M. Soinski Chief Executive Officer & Director
Jeffrey M. Soinski
Chief Executive Officer & Director
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. -
James B. McElwee Director
James B. McElwee
Director
James B. McElwee currently operates as an independent venture capitalist in Northern California with more than 30 years of experience in institutional venture capital and private equity. Mr. McElwee joined Weston Presidio as its third General Partner in 1992 serving until 2010. He was reponsible for Weston Presidio's private investments in Digital Theater Systems (NASDAQ: DTSI), RedEnvelope (NASDAQ: REDE), Vitria Technology (NASDAQ: VITR), Wild Oats Markets (NASDAQ: OATS), IC Works (acquired by Cypress Semiconductor), and Sassaby (Jane) (acquired by Estee Lauder). Mr. McElwee opened the firm's Menlo Park Office in 2000. Prior to Weston Presidio, Mr. McElwee was Senior Vice President of the Security Pacific Venture Capital Group and the founding Managing Director of its Menlo Park office. During his 13 years with the Security Pacific Venture Capital Group, Mr. McElwee was responsible for early investments in Costco, Universal Health Services, Cypress Semiconductor, Aspect Telecommunications, Xilinx, MIPS Computer Systems, Harmonic, Microchip, Vitesse and many others. Prior to entering the venture capital industry in 1979, Mr. McElwee was a Senior Consultant with Accenture working on a variety of clients in the retailing, healthcare and technology industries. In addition to Avinger, Mr. McElwee currently serves on the Board of Directors of Silego Technology, a semiconductor company headquartered in Santa Clara. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of SFJAZZ, the non-profit organization responsible for the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Mr. McElwee earned his B.A. from Claremont McKenna College where he serves on the Board of Trustees and is Chairman of the Financial Economics Institute. He earned his M.B.A. from the Wharton Graduate School of Business where he serves on the Wharton Entrepreneurial Advisory Board. -
Tamara Elias, M.D. Director
Tamara Elias, M.D.
Director
Tamara N. Elias, M.D., was appointed to our board of directors in December 2019. Dr. Elias currently serves as VP, Head of Global Partnerships at Merck. Previously she served as Vice President of Clinical Product Development at Aetna from February 2018 to December 2019. From 2015 to 2017, Dr. Elias was Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development for the $8 billion medical segment at Becton Dickinson. From 2007-2015, Dr. Elias was a Partner with Essex Woodlands Healthcare Partners, a healthcare only growth equity firm founded in 1985. Earlier in her career, Dr. Elias was a management consultant at McKinsey, advising pharmaceutical, diagnostic and device companies in R&D, product commercialization and M&A. She currently serves on the board of REVA Medical and has also previously served on the boards of several private companies, including Millennium Pharmacy Systems (sold to PharMerica), BreatheAmerica and Influence Health (sold to Healthgrades) as well on the public company board of ATS Medical (sold to Medtronic). Dr. Elias holds degrees in Biology and Anthropology from Yale University, and an M.D. from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She trained as a general surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Careers
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