Karl Schweitzer BIOMODEX, a pioneering digital health company that offers a unique and enhanced 3D printed solution for patient-specific rehearsal and physician training, today announced that Karl Schweitzer has been elected Chair of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. He succeeds Francois Thomas, who has served as Board Chair since 2019 and who will remain a member of the board.
“We are very pleased to appoint Karl Schweitzer as Board Chair,” said Francois Thomas. “His international experience in the medtech space, as well as expertise in two key markets for Biomodex, cardiac and neurovascular, will be a major asset as we grow the company’s exciting portfolio of devices and continue to expand commercial operations.”
Karl Schweitzer has held leadership roles in the medical technology industry for the past 28 years. He is founder of Transform Medical GmbH, which provides advice to VCs and invests in medtech start-ups. He is also co-founder and CEO of Neuromodtronic, a medical device company providing non-invasive optic nerve stimulation for treatment of neurological disorders such as glaucoma and stroke. Prior to his involvement in start-up companies, Karl spent ten years at Medtronic where he was vice president for several business units in the cardiac and neuro fields. Later, as vice president and international general manager, he oversaw the global international business of the corporation’s $2 billion neuromodulation division. He started his career in medical devices with Eli Lilly’s MDD division where he was involved in the spin-off of one business unit followed by an IPO on Nasdaq. He then became vice president at Boston Scientific before joining Medtronic.
“I am excited for the opportunity to take on this new role which allows me to build on my earlier experience with virtual training for interventional procedures. In today’s world of outcome-based healthcare applying state-of-the-art digital technologies to improve quality of treatment and cost has become the number one priority. With its unique technology portfolio Biomodex is leading the way as it provides risk-free yet realistic surgical and endovascular and rehearsal of complex, life-saving procedures,” said Karl Schweitzer. “I look forward to working with the leadership team to establish Biomodex as the standard-of-care in the industry and expand into new markets.”
BIOMODEX opened its North American headquarters in Massachusetts in 2016. Since then, the company has achieved rapid adoption of its Neurovascular (BIOMODEX® EVIAS™) and Structural Heart (BIOMODEX® LAACS™) training and rehearsal solutions across the U.S. and continues to develop new applications.
“Our mission is to redefine patient-specific rehearsal and advanced physician training by augmenting traditional 3D printing with biomechanical properties, imaging characteristics and flow dynamics and offering a high fidelity solution,” Biomodex CEO, Ziad Rouag said. “Working together with medical device and imaging companies as well as pioneering physicians, our vision is to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs through the advancement of precision medicine. We are honored to have been selected to support several implantable First in Man studies as well as several large pivotal trials. Our technology is evolving, as is our future, as we continue to expand our areas of support.”
Most recently, the BIOMODEX® EVIAS™ was used to rehearse the world’s first in-human, robotic-assisted neurovascular intervention in collaboration with Corindus, a Siemens Healthineers Company. The procedure, which was performed by Dr. Vitor Mendes Pereira, a neurosurgeon and neuroradiologist at the Toronto Western Hospital and Krembil Brain Institute in Canada, marked a significant milestone in interventional medicine and was featured in a recent paper published in The Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery (JNIS).