Thomas M. Engels

CardioKinetix, Inc. develops ventricular partitioning device for heart failure disease. It develops transcatheter implant called the Parachute Ventricular Partitioning Device, which intends to treat heart failure resulting from a heart attack in patients by improving overall cardiac function. The company was founded by Alexander Khairkhahan, Serjan D. Nikolic and Hugh R. Sharkey in 2002 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.

Guidant Corp. manufactures cardiovascular therapeutic devices. The company also provides cardiac and peripheral vascular repair surgical systems. It operates in Europe and Japan. Guidant was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in St. Paul, MN.

Part of Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Vascular Devices develops and manufactures cardiovascular devices for people with cardiovascular disease. The company is based in Redwood City, CA.

PAREXEL International Corp. provides biopharmaceutical services. It offers clinical research and logistics, medical communications, consulting, commercialization and advanced technology products and services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Newton, MA.

Pennington Biomedical Research Center is a medical research center affiliated with Louisiana State University. The center is located in state-of-the-art research facilities on a 222-acre campus. The non-profit company is based in Baton Rouge, LA. The center conducts basic, clinical, and population research to understand the triggers of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia. With over 500 employees, the research enterprise includes a network of 40 clinics, research laboratories, and 13 highly specialized core service facilities.