Siemens taps Harvard prof to replace interim health care CEO | Personnel Moves

Here are the latest personnel changes from medical device, diagnostics and life science companies around the nation. For more recent hirings and firings, check out MassDevice’s compilation of the latest personnel moves.

• Siemens taps Harvard prof to replace interim health care CEO
  Siemens AG’s (NYSE:SI) healthcare division tapped neuro-radiologist Dr. Gregory Sorenson to replace Randy Hall as CEO of Siemens Healthcare in the U.S. and Canada. Hall has acted as interim CEO since April 2010, when former CEO Michael Reitermann moved to a new role in the company’s diagnostics division. Sorenson, 49, is the co-director of the A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Mass. General Hospital. The appointment is effective June 1.
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• Comparative effectiveness institute names first director
  The controversial Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute named healthcare researcher Joe Selby as its first executive director. Selby is a health services researcher who has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles. He oversees a staff of more than 550 as director of division research at Kaiser Permanente. As a family physician, clinical epidemiologist, and health services researcher, Selby said he’d like to use his position at the institute to "make a difference in the lives of patients."

  Selby will identify opportunities and issues, and implement programs under the authority of PCORI’s board of governors. A key component of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, the institute is an independent non-profit organization focused on comparative effectiveness research, which examines health outcomes and effectiveness of various medical treatments. The effort has met with much criticism from those who argue that comparative effectiveness research negatively affects patient options by giving preference to one-size-fits-all treatments that fail to consider unique patient circumstances.
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• Foundation Medicine names new CEO
  Cambridge-based cancer diagnostics startup Foundation Medicine Inc. appointed former GE Healthcare head Michael Pellini as president and CEO. He replaces founding CEO Alexis Borisy, who will take the role of chairman of the board of directors.
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• Welch Allyn president & CEO to join U.S. Commerce Innovation Advisory Board
  U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke named Julie Shimer, president and CEO of Welch Allyn and a member of the Advanced Medical Technology Assn.’s board, to an Innovation Advisory Board assigned to develop a study of America’s innovative capacity and global economic competitiveness. Over the weekend Shimer was also tapped by New York governor Andrew Cuomo to chair the Empire State Development Corp.
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• University of the Sciences board of trustees elects two new members
  The USciences Board of Trustees elected Marvin Samson, CEO of Samson Medical Technologies, as chairman and Richard Howard, CEO of Advanced Pharmacy Services, as vice chairman. The election follows the recent retirement announcement of chairman Dr. Delbert Payne, who was subsequently elected emeritus trustee.
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• Stem cell startup iPierian axes top execs
  San Francisco-based stem cell startup iPierian, with high-profile backers including GlaxoSmithKline, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Ventures and Biogen Idec, terminated several members of the excutive team over the last month. The departures have not been publically announced, but roles have been updated on the company’s website.
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• Abiomed board member steps down
  Desmond O’Connell Jr., an Abiomed (NSDQ:ABMD) board member since 1995, announced that he will not stand for reelection at the company’s 2011 stockholders’ meeting.
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• Echo Therapeutics appoints new CFO
  Christopher Schnittker joined Echo Therapeutics Inc. (OTC:ECTE) as CFO, taking over from COO Harry Mitchell.
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• Angeion announces new CFO and VP of engineering
  Angeion Corp. (NSDQ:ANGN) named Rob Wolf as CFO and Mark Gryzwa as vice president of engineering, effective today. Wolf and Gryzwa report to Angeion president and CEO Phil Smith.
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