Located Globally

Dr. Chomas received his Bachelor’s of Science in Engineering from Duke University and completed doctoral training at the University of Virginia, investigating the use of ultrasound in breast cancer characterization. He has 12 years experience in developing devices from initial concept through pre-clinical trials and clinical trials, and he has authored 17 patents in medical devices. In five years with Siemens Ultrasound as Senior Engineering Manager, Dr. Chomas led a team of engineers and released six product features. Most recently, Dr. Chomas was the Director of Research at Cabochon, where he led the engineering team in the research, development and pre-clinical testing, which ultimately culminated in a 35-patient clinical trial.

Dr. Arepally has extensive expertise with both the clinical and research aspect of embolotherapy. Having 10 years of experience in clinical interventional radiology, he has performed more than 500 embolotherapy cases while on faculty at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes. In addition, Dr. Arepally has led a research lab at JHU focused on the development of embolic beads for targeted delivery, and is currently in clinical practice at Piedmont Hospital. Dr. Arepally provides a critical link for the clinical and technical needs and demands of a microcatheter.

Dr. Arepally obtained his mathematics degree from Mercer University. He went on to obtain his MD at Emory University School of Medicine and continued residency and chief residency in Radiology at Emory University Hospital. He went to Johns Hopkins for additional training in Interventional Radiology and joined the faculty in 2000. From 2007 to 2009, Aravind was the Clinical Director for the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design, with a research focus on the development of targeted drug and cellular delivery to treat diabetes and obesity. He has authored more than 150 papers, books, and abstracts, and has been a principal investigator or co-investigator on more than 15 grants (5 NIH). Dr. Arepally is the recipient of numerous national awards and grants for his research in the field of MRI and device development.

Robert Holburn, Jr. has more than 35 years in senior financial management positions in private and public technology companies. For the last 10 years he held the position of Vice President and CFO of Medivance, Inc., a medical device manufacturer. Prior to joining the Surefire Medical team, Mr. Holburn also served as President, Chief Operating Officer of IPSeal, a venture capital backed telecommunications company; Vice President, CFO of Solant, Inc.; Vice President, CFO of Rogue Wave Software. He has extensive tenures with Advanced Power Technology and Texas Instruments. Mr. Holburn holds an MBA from The College of William and Mary and a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Rhode Island and was a commissioned officer in the United States Army.

Mr. Cambridge brings 25 years of experience in sales, training, recruiting, management and marketing in the pharmaceutical and medical device markets for both large and start-up companies. Mr. Cambridge has deep medical device sales experience with winning organizations such as Cordis Corporation, DVI, Inc., Cook, Inc., AVE, Inc., and AtriCure, Inc. As Director of Sales for AtriCure, Inc., Mr. Cambridge built a 20-person sales team who achieved $20 million in revenue in the company’s first two years. Two years later, as Vice President of Sales for AtriCure, Inc., Mr. Cambridge led a team of 40 sales representatives to achieve yearly revenue sales of $39 million. Mr. Cambridge has been a member of three successful start-up companies that were either acquired or went public. Possessing a passion for teamwork, he is highly experienced in building a dedicated, motivated, and results-driven sales force.

Ms. Santamaria has experience bringing multiple products to market from concept through commercialization including initial prototyping, pre-clinical testing and design validation. She began her career at Cordis Neurovascular, part of Johnson and Johnson. During her tenure there she held positions in research and development, production and marketing. She led the development of microcatheters for both the neurovascular and peripheral markets. She subsequently managed the global product launch, including training the sales force in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia. Most recently she was the Director of Product Development for OrbusNeich Medical, Inc., where she was responsible for the commercialization of a combination stent platform which required a 180 patient randomized clinical trial. There Ms. Santamaria also led the development and transfer of manufacturing process to plants outside the U.S. Ms. Santamaria received her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and is currently pursuing her MBA with a specialization in Health Sector Management and Policy from the University of Miami.

Rebecca (Donzanti) Offner has been in the medical device industry for 27 years. She has worked in clinical services, sales, clinical personnel management, product development, product clinical validation and clinical research monitoring. Ms. Offner has excelled in bringing innovative technology from the bench to active clinical use. She most recently came from Medivance/Bard where she worked closely with engineering during product development and successfully introduced new technology to national and international clinical experts. Her market development skills led to tremendous growth in both the domestic and international markets. She graduated from Widener University and received her Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Mennone has spent more than 30 years in the international medical device industry building international sales and marketing organizations. His contacts and relationships with hundreds of physicians, business partners and international distributors give Surefire Medical an advantage in rapidly establishing an international presence. Mr. Mennone built highly successful sales and marketing organizations using the direct sales model in as many as 17 markets and the distributor channel in another 80.

Ms. Aronson has 25 years of experience in the medical device industry, focusing on domestic and international regulatory affairs, quality assurance and clinical research in temperature management, interventional cardiology, hemodialysis and orthopedics. For the past 11 years, Ms. Aronson was the Director of RA/QA at Medivance, Inc. (C.R. Bard). Additionally, she has held positions at Global Therapeutics (Cook), COBE Renal Care (Gambro), Acufex Microsurgical (Smith & Nephew), Medical Device Consultants, Inc., and Duke University Medical Center. Ms. Aronson received a Bachelor’s of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.

Ms. Cassidy began her career in a start-up at Johnson & Johnson, the Dermatological Division. She spent six years at Xerox, initially as Sales Operation Planning Manager for the U.S., then running worldwide operations for this function, followed by a two-year stint in the field as a Sales Manager. After this operating background, Ms. Cassidy joined Oak Investment Partners for seven years and subsequently co-managed Aetna’s Venture Capital Fund. Ms. Cassidy then returned to the operating side in 1991, assuming the CEO role at ImplaMed and VP Business Development roles at Symbiosis and Corvita, which were sold within a seven-year period. As Managing Director at Partisan Management, Ms. Cassidy has recruited and mentored the management team for each company and applied her sales, marketing, and business development expertise to the building of the company. Ms. Cassidy also manages the liquidity events for the Partisan Management companies.

Dr. Arepally has extensive expertise with both the clinical and research aspect of embolotherapy. Having 10 years of experience in clinical interventional radiology, he has performed more than 500 embolotherapy cases while on faculty at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes. In addition, Dr. Arepally has led a research lab at JHU focused on the development of embolic beads for targeted delivery, and is currently in clinical practice at Piedmont Hospital. Dr. Arepally provides a critical link for the clinical and technical needs and demands of a microcatheter.

Dr. Arepally obtained his mathematics degree from Mercer University. He went on to obtain his MD at Emory University School of Medicine and continued residency and chief residency in Radiology at Emory University Hospital. He went to Johns Hopkins for additional training in Interventional Radiology and joined the faculty in 2000. From 2007 to 2009, Aravind was the Clinical Director for the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design, with a research focus on the development of targeted drug and cellular delivery to treat diabetes and obesity. He has authored more than 150 papers, books, and abstracts, and has been a principal investigator or co-investigator on more than 15 grants (5 NIH). Dr. Arepally is the recipient of numerous national awards and grants for his research in the field of MRI and device development.

Dr. Benenati joined Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute in 1990 and is currently the Medical Director of the Peripheral Vascular Laboratory. He is Clinical Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and Program Director of the ACGME-accredited fellowship program in interventional radiology at the Institute.  He serves as a clinical professor of biomedical engineering at Florida International University, and he is the Medical Director a technologist sonography program at Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Benenati received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Notre Dame and his Medical Degree from the University of South Florida College of Medicine. He completed a residency in diagnostic radiology at Indiana University Medical Center and a fellowship in cardiovascular and interventional radiology at Johns Hopkins Medical School.

Dr. Benenati is a Fellow of the Society of Cardiovascular & Interventional Radiology, a Fellow of the American Heart Association and a member of the Radiological Society of North America. He is the current President and a member of the Executive Council of the Society of Interventional Radiology.  Dr. Benenati is also the President of the Intersociety Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories (ICAVL). He formerly served as the annual meeting chairman for the Society of Interventional Radiology.

Dr. Lewandowski completed his undergraduate education at the University of Michigan, earning a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering. He received his M.D. from Michigan State University and went on to complete a surgical internship at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. After completing his residency in Diagnostic Radiology at William Beaumont Hospital, he received his fellowship training in Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Northwestern University in Chicago. He has been on staff at Northwestern since 2006.

Clinically, Dr. Lewandowski specializes in Interventional Oncology, and has become one of the most experienced practitioners of radioembolization, having treated more than 500 patients over the past three years. He has published numerous manuscripts on transcatheter intra-arterial therapies, including chemoembolization and radioembolization. His clinical research interests include developing novel targeted therapies to treat pancreatic cancer. This research has been funded by a Pilot Grant from the Society of Interventional Radiology. In addition, Dr. Lewandowski functions as a section editor in Interventional Oncology for the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.

Dr. Nutting completed his undergraduate education at Loyola University of Chicago and a D.O. from Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. He went on to complete his residency at Olympia Fields Hospital in Diagnostic Radiology, followed by a fellowship in Interventional Radiology at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Nutting served as the Chief of Interventional Radiology at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center and is currently the Chief of Interventional Radiology at Radiology Imaging Associates, and he performs procedures at Sky Ridge Medical Center and Swedish Medical Center in Colorado. Dr. Nutting has been a leading practitioner and clinical researcher in radioembolization, and through his leadership, Sky Ridge is a SirTex Center of Excellence for radioembolization procedures. Dr. Nutting is an active member of the Society of Interventional Radiologists, chairs the practice development subcommittee and is a proctor for SirTex radioembolization procedures throughout the U.S.

Dr. Pinchuk is the Co-founder, President, and CEO of Innovia. As an inventor with a background in Chemistry, Engineering and Medicine, he initiates and oversees all projects, and also provides substantial product and process development input.

Dr. Pinchuk is a world-renowned expert in the field of biomaterials and medical devices with more than 80 patents in this area. His accomplishments include the invention of the nylon angioplasty balloon, which has now become the world’s most popular angioplasty balloon, marketed by Cordis Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation (“BSC”), and Guidant Corporation; a flexible coronary stent; the family of polycarbonate urethane biomaterials for implantation applications; and polyurethane-based vascular grafts and stent-grafts, including the first modular bifurcated stent-graft for treating abdominal aortic aneurysms. Dr. Pinchuk’s most notable achievement has been the development of a novel family of biocompatible elastomeric copolymers. Specific formulations of this polymer have enabled the next generation of coronary stents, namely the Boston Scientific Taxus® Stent, where drugs can be released from these devices to inhibit restenosis.

Dr. Sze completed his undergraduate education at Harvard double majoring in biochemistry and studio arts. After a brief stint as a graphic designer and medical illustrator, he went on to complete an MD and PhD in Biophysics at Stanford, internship at California Pacific Medical Center, and residency and chief residency in Radiology at UCSF. He returned to Stanford for additional training in Interventional Radiology and joined the faculty in 1997. His clinical and research interests include treatment of cancers using oncolytic viruses, radioembolization, chemoembolization, ablation, and other minimally-invasive methods. Other clinical research interests include treatment of aortic dissections and aneurysms, management of portal hypertension and cirrhosis, venous reconstruction and pulmonary embolism, organ transplant-related complications, and magnetic resonance-guided interventions. He received the Young Investigator Award from the Society of Interventional Radiology in 2002. He has authored more than 200 papers, books, and abstracts, and has been a principal investigator or co-investigator in more than 30 clinical trials.

Dr. Majoria pursued a chemistry degree at the University of New Orleans in 1984 for his undergraduate education where he received academic and track and field scholarships, as well as the Rene and Glorain Scholarship for Cancer Research in 1986. He was accepted early into Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans during his third year of college in 1987, and decided to forego his college degree to pursue his medical career. After receiving his medical degree in 1991, Majoria completed his internship in Internal Medicine at the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation in New Orleans in 1992 and pursued his diagnostic and interventional radiology residency at the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile, Alabama. He received his Board Certification in 1996.

Dr. Majoria then began his private practice career in Baton Rouge, Louisiana performing mostly interventional radiology at the largest non-charity hospital in the state at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. In early 2000, he became Chief of Interventional Radiology and Interventional Oncology. With his early acceptance of newer minimally invasive techniques, such as arterial embolization and radiofrequency ablation, the interventional radiology practice grew exponentially.