About Us: Scientific Advisory Team

	Maurice Buchbinder, M.D., Board Member After graduating medical school from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, Dr. Buchbinder moved to Stanford University where he began his fellowship training in cardiovascular medicine, helping to pioneer the field of interventional cardiology. He has been involved in the development of many devices now used routinely in the practice of interventional medicine. His interest for many years has focused on improving the treatment and outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease. More recently Dr. Buchbinder began a series of innovations in the percutaneous treatment of various valve conditions, looking for effective alternatives to the more invasive open heart surgery. Dr. Buchbinder has been the founder of many successful start-up companies. He has served on the scientific advisory boards of several companies. He brings to MiCardia a unique set of skills and clinical experience along with a deep understanding of the economics in medical start-ups.
	Alexander R. Marmureanu, M.D Dr. Marmureanu is the founding physician of California Heart & Lung Surgery Center. Dr. Marmureanu completed his General Surgery Residency and a Research Fellowship at New York University Medical Center in New York City. He then continued his surgical training at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, where he was actively involved in the field of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery research. His Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship was completed at UCLA, where he subsequently joined the UCLA faculty as Clinical Instructor in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Marmureanu was then appointed Director of Thoracic Surgery at Century City Hospital, where he built a very successful Center for Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Marmureanu has authored numerous research papers and publications and is a member of multiple organizations and committees, both nationally and internationally.
	Francis Shannon, M.D. Dr. Shannon is a cardiovascular surgeon with a private practice in southeastern Michigan. Dr. Shannon graduated from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is a Diplomat of the Boards of General and Thoracic Surgery and an active member of the Society of Thoracic Surgery, American College of Surgeons, American College of Cardiology and the Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons. He is a consultant to industry in the development of new products and techniques for cardiac surgery. He is the author of numerous publications in cardiovascular and general surgery, as well as a clinical reviewer for the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Shannon is the Principal Investigator in clinical research projects, a member of the steering committee for the Michigan Quality Initiative in Cardiac Surgery, and has been actively involved in Medtronic's Peer-to-Peer training program in mitral valve repair and surgical maze techniques since 2002.
	Ottavio Alfieri, M.D. Ottavio Alfieri is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan, Italy. His main area of interest is reconstructive surgery of heart valves. He developed the “edge-to-edge” technique for mitral valve repair and the “clover” technique for treatment of tricuspid regurgitation in selected patients. He has contributed to the design of prosthetic rings created to correct functional mitral regurgitation.
	Patrick McCarthy, M.D. Dr. McCarthy is chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and co-director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern University. Dr. McCarthy has achieved national and international recognition in the field of complex adult cardiac surgery. He has performed several thousand heart operations, averaging 450 per year. A professor of surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Dr. McCarthy has distinguished himself as both a clinician and researcher in the field of cardiac surgery. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 papers and 30 book chapters. Dr. McCarthy developed the Edwards three-dimensional annuloplasty system for the repair of tricuspid regurgitation. He also recently modified this three-dimensional design concept to develop a ring to repair the mitral valve.
	Tasneem Z. Naqvi, M.D. Tasneem Z. Naqvi, MD, is Director of Echocardiography at University of Southern California, as well as a Professor of Clinical Medicine. Dr. Naqvi has published numerous manuscripts, peer-reviewed articles, several invited papers and abstracts in journals such as the American Journal of Cardiology, Circulation, Journal of American Society of Echocardiography and Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Naqvi is a cardiologist and researcher in a number of areas, including highly relevant experience in the guidance of devices for closure of atrial septal defects, for closure of ventricular septal defects and for percutaneous valve repair techniques including percutaneous edge-to-edge repair of the mitral valve. She has performed pioneering work in novel methods of percutaneous mitral valve repair using intra-cardiac echocardiography.
	Robert Gorman, M.D. Robert Gorman, MD, is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of Cardiac Surgical Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gorman received a B.S. in chemical engineering (summa cum laude) from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an M.D. from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr. Gorman completed residencies in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. While a resident, he completed a two-year, National Institutes of Health-funded post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Henry Edmunds, during which he did ground-breaking research to elucidate the mechanism of ischemic/functional mitral regurgitation. Dr. Gorman is board certified in both general and cardiothoracic surgery. His clinical focus is on adult cardiac surgery with a particular emphasis in valvular heart disease, aortic disease, ventricular assist devices, heart and lung transplantation, and heart failure. Dr. Gorman also directs a heart failure and device design laboratory, which is funded by several investigator-initiated awards from the National Institutes of Health, as well as corporate collaborative contracts. His research interests include the pathophysiology and treatment of heart failure, ventricular assist device design, percutaneous valve repair/replacement, cardiac imaging with MRI, CT and real-time 3D echocardiography, mitral valve physiology, ventricular pacing for heart failure, valve calcification, and biocompatibility of synthetic surfaces. Dr. Gorman has served on numerous study sections and advisory committees for both the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. He has recently been recognized with a prestigious Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association. He has published over 130 original articles, chapters and reviews. Dr. Gorman has mentored over 30 post-doctoral fellows, medical students and undergraduates.