Cleveland Clinic surgeon joins scientific board of vascular device company

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Dr. A. Marc Gillinov, who leads the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Atrial Fibrillation, has joined the scientific advisory board of the New Jersey device company Endovalve.

Endovalve is developing a minimally invasive replacement system for the mitral valve, a flap in the heart that regulates blood flow into the pumping chambers of the heart and away from chambers that lead back to the lungs. The device would treat the problem of mitral regurgitation, in which blood leaks through that valve.

Gillinov is an authority in mitral valve repair surgery as well as other heart procedures including atrial fibrillation coronary bypass surgery. He receives royalties for his discoveries from Kapp Surgical Instruments, his inventions are the basis of Clear Catheter Solutions, and he a co-founder of Viacor. Also, he’s consulted for Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic and St. Jude Medical — though he’s likely best known as one of the surgeons who worked on comedian Robin Williams.

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Gillinov was named to Endovalve’s seven-member advisory board along with cardiac surgeon Dr. Tirone David of University of Toronto.

Endovalve has completed proof-of-concept prototype which has worked in animal studies. The company is planning a Phase I human clinical trial late next year, with additional animal and human tests in 2011.

“Dr. Gillinov is well known for his pioneering contributions to the scientific development of percutaneous approaches (procedures performed via needle-sized openings) to heart valve disease,” Endovalve CEO Robert Wilkins stated in a release.