About Us

Our mission is to raise awareness and
transform the treatment of severe
aortic regurgitation

Our Executive Team

John Kilcoyne
John Kilcoyne
Chief Executive Officer
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John Kilcoyne
John Kilcoyne
Chief Executive Officer

John joined JenaValve in 2019 bringing 30 years of experience and is a proven leader in the medical device industry in both start-up organizations and publicly traded companies leading IPO and acquisition strategies.

Throughout his career, John has held several medical device leadership roles. He was the CEO of Endonetics, from 1997 until its acquisition by Medtronic in 2002. From 2002 to 2004, John served as the CEO of Solace Therapeutics. From 2004 until 2010, he was President and CEO at Micrus Endovascular Corporation, leading its IPO efforts in 2005, capturing significant market share and acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in 2010. Before joining JenaValve, John served as the President and CEO of ReVision Optics.

John also serves on the Board of Directors at Cerus Endovascular and CerebroTech Medical Systems, both privately held start-up device medical device companies focused on the treatment of hemorrhagic and diagnosis of ischemic stroke, respectively.

He is a named inventor on more than 20 patents. He has broad and applicable experience leading high-tech medical device emerging growth organizations through market approvals, market access, high growth, and successful strategic transactions, including IPOs and M&A activities.

John received his degree from Cornell University.

Peter Spadaro
Peter Spadaro
Chief Commercial Officer
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Peter Spadaro
Peter Spadaro
Chief Commercial Officer

Pete joined the JenaValve team as Chief Commercial Office in October 2020 and brings over 35 years of sales and commercial leadership experience in the cardiovascular space.

Prior to this, he served as President and Chief Commercial Officer of SynCardiaSystems, LLC, a medical device company that manufactures the total artificial heart.

In addition, Pete has held multiple roles at Medtronic, a medical technology and services company, including as Senior Director Cardiac Surgery Sales and Structural Heart National Accounts and as Director of U.S. TAVR Sales and Structural Heart Strategy.

Prior to that, he spent over 28 years with St. Jude Medical, serving in multiple roles, including VP of Commercial Strategy and Customer Engagement, Vice President Global Marketing – Structural Heart, Division Vice President – Cardiac Rhythm Management and Electrophysiology, and Division Vice President of Cardiovascular, Structural Heart, Cardiac Surgery.

Pete earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Fordham University, in New York City.

Duane Pinto
Duane Pinto
Chief Medical Officer
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Duane Pinto
Duane Pinto
Chief Medical Officer

A leader in interventional cardiology, Dr. Pinto joins JenaValve following more than 20 years of performing complex coronary, structural, and peripheral vascular procedures with and without circulatory assistance. Before joining JenaValve, Dr. Pinto was an associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and served as the Chief of the Interventional Cardiology section at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is also a trained proctor for the newest transcatheter valves and invited around the world to advise and perform interventional cardiology procedures.

Through the publication of over 100 original manuscripts, case reports, reviews, editorials, and book chapters, Dr. Pinto has pursued research interests in a wide variety of topics and studies, including outcomes and economic analyses for acute myocardial infarction and unstable angina. He has authored numerous device trials for both coronary and peripheral circulations. In addition, Dr. Pinto serves as a manuscript reviewer for NEJM, JACC, Circulation (AHA), and others and is also on the editorial board of Circulation, CCI, and JACC.

Dr. Pinto earned his AB in Biological Sciences from Dartmouth College, his MD in Medicine from Georgetown University, and his MPH in Clinical Effectiveness and Biostatistics from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Jane Metcalf
Jane Metcalf
VP RA and Quality
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Jane Metcalf
Jane Metcalf
VP RA and Quality

Jane joined the JenaValve team as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality in February of 2021 and brings over 30 years of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance leadership experience in the medical device industry.

Most recently, Jane was the Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at Sonendo Medical, a high-growth company that develops and markets disruptive technology for root canal therapies. Jane has experience in both large, public companies, such as Medtronic, Allergan, ConMed, and emerging, private companies such as 3F Therapeutics, Interventional Spine, and Rebound Therapeutics.

Jane earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an MBA from the University of California at Irvine.

Greg Mirigian
Greg Mirigian
VP R&D
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Greg Mirigian
Greg Mirigian
VP R&D

Greg joined JenaValve in 2016, bringing over 25 years of proven leadership experience in the design and development of medical device technologies in neurovascular, peripheral vascular and cardiovascular markets. Greg has been an instrumental leader in the development of JenaValve’s transcatheter heart valve system and future technology pipeline.

Greg has a dedicated career in developing innovative medical technology and brings a breadth of product development experience to the organization. Before joining JenaValve, Greg established a successful R&D consulting firm assisting clients ranging from medical device start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations in the development and commercialization of various novel interventional devices. He was previously Chief Technology Officer for INCUMEDx, an R&D-focused medical device incubator of various neurovascular/cardiovascular devices and surgical implants. Greg also held several leadership roles over 16 years at Boston Scientific Neurovascular and Boston Scientific Japan in R&D and Advanced Technology groups in developing multiple, commercial catheter, guidewire, and embolic coil products.

Greg is an innovator and has over 30 issued patents in various medical device fields. He received his education from San Jose State University and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Business.

Lisa Boyle
Lisa Boyle
VP Clinical and Medical Affairs
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Lisa Boyle
Lisa Boyle
VP Clinical and Medical Affairs

Lisa joined JenaValve in 2023 bringing 20+ years of experience and is a proven leader in the medical device industry.

She has championed evidence generation and dissemination. She connects strategy to execution, integrating innovation to advance Medical and Clinical Affairs and Clinical Operations. Lisa has previously served as VP of Clinical Affairs & Medical Affairs Strategy at Becton Dickinson (BD) and Clinical Operations Sr. Director at Medtronic. She is committed to solving dynamic challenges in healthcare through operational excellence and data-driven technology.

Lisa holds an MSc. Computer Science and is a DBA candidate in Organizational Leadership.

Perry Payne
Perry Payne
VP Global Operations
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Perry Payne
Perry Payne
VP Global Operations

Perry joined JenaValve in October of 2023, as a global leader in the medical device industry for over 30 years, from start ups to the biggest medical device company in the world.

Perry has held global manufacturing, operations, supply chain, quality, regulatory, supply chain, R&D and general management leadership roles at Medtronic, Amgen, & Sunrise Medical, along with start up leadership in Bioness Neuromodulation and other parts of the Alfred Mann portfolio of companies.

In addition, Perry started his career in Ford Motor Company before moving to Military hardware, then Medical Devices.

Perry has lived in 12 countries, speaks 5 languages, and obtained his Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the University of East London, England.

Steve Sloan
Steve Sloan
VP Finance
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Steve Sloan
Steve Sloan
VP Finance
Vivian Khalil
Vivian Khalil
VP Valve Technologies
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Vivian Khalil
Vivian Khalil
VP Valve Technologies

Board of Directors

Jan Keltjens
Jan Keltjens
Chairman of the Board
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Jan Keltjens
Jan Keltjens
Chairman of the Board

Jan Keltjens currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of JenaValve Technologies and Vicentra b.v. Both are late-stage startups focused on Structural Hearth respectively Diabetes Management. Besides those, he holds a number of Board roles at high-tech medical device companies. He is also associated with some venture capital funds. This includes a.o. INKEF (Amsterdam), at which he is a member of the Advisory Board, as well as Brightlands Venture Partners, where he chairs the Board of Directors of several funds.

Prior to this, Jan served as Chairman of the Board at NightBalance (acquired by Philips in 2018). Before that, he was the chief executive officer of Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation (acquired by Medtronic in 2014), chairman and chief executive officer of Endosense SA (acquired by St Jude Medical in 2013), executive chairman of Surpass Medical ltd. (acquired by Stryker Corporation in 2012), as well as president and chief executive officer of AngioDynamics Inc. (NASDAQ; ANGO, 2009 – 2011) and CryoCath Technologies Inc. (TSX; CYT, 2007- until its acquisition by Medtronic in 2009).

From 2000 to 2007, he served as Worldwide General Manager of Cordis Neurovascular, a Johnson & Johnson company. He joined Cordis in 1995 as Vice President and Managing Director responsible for international operations, as well as R&D. Within Cordis, he also served in a number of senior leadership positions in European and Global Marketing. Prior to this, Jan led R&D departments at Unilever and was Managing Director of a group of high-tech service providers.

Mr. Keltjens holds a Master’s degree in Applied Physics from Technical University Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Jose (Pepe) Calle Gordo
Jose (Pepe) Calle Gordo
Valiance Asset Management
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Jose (Pepe) Calle Gordo
Jose (Pepe) Calle Gordo
Valiance Asset Management

Mr. Calle Gordo brings 30 years of broad business and management experience in the medical device industry, having served in various executive and managerial roles at Biosensors, Abbott, Guidant, and Eli Lilly.

Up to recently, he was Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Biosensors, where he last served as Executive Director and CEO. During his tenure, based in Singapore, he turned around the company’s operating performance, forged strategic alliances, and worked with the largest shareholder to successfully privatize and delist the company in order to create a 1$Bn value global player in interventional cardiology.

He previously led the global team that developed Xience™, a family of drug-eluting stents and market leader for the treatment of coronary artery disease, while serving as Vice President and General Manager of Drug Eluting Stents, Vascular Intervention at Guidant based in California.

As Vice President of Abbott Vascular, based in Brussels, he later managed the international operations of Abbott Vascular outside of the US and led globally the commercial introduction of MitraClip™, a percutaneous treatment for mitral valve repair.

Mr. Calle Gordo also serves as the Chairman of Highlife Medical and serves on the Boards of Lungpacer, FEops, Laminate Medical, and SMT Medical.

Mr. Calle Gordo graduated from Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain, in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering.

Keith Dawkins, MD
Keith Dawkins, MD
Independent Director
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Keith Dawkins, MD
Keith Dawkins, MD
Independent Director

Keith Dawkins spent nine years at Boston Scientific Corporation, a $60B medical device company, in a variety of leadership roles, including Global Chief Medical Officer & Executive Vice President; Chief Medical Officer & Senior Vice President, Cardiology, Rhythm & Vascular; Associate Chief Medical Officer & Vice President, Medical Sciences.

As Global Chief Medical Officer & Executive Vice President, he was a member of the Boston Scientific Executive Committee, acting as the Voice of the Patient. He oversaw the clinical function for all six Divisions, as well as leading Medical Affairs in Europe and Latin America, Health Economics in Europe, and Pre-Clinical Sciences for the company. He has worked closely with Regulators, including the FDA, PMDA, and European Agencies. He was Chairman of the Clinical Governance Committee, which provides oversight for all clinical trials undertaken within the company, and he also initiated the Investigator Sponsored Research program which is now in widespread use across all the divisions. He was intimately involved in the Boston Scientific Mergers & Acquisition Strategy, as well as the strategic direction of the clinical trials portfolio. Additionally, he worked closely with the Investor Relations group. During his time at BSC, he transformed the clinical function, improving the strategic and managerial alignment between clinical sciences and the divisions, as well as instigating a robust outsourcing and offshoring process for clinical trial implementation.

Since leaving BSC in early 2017, he remains active in the MedTech sector as a Board Member of Avicena LLC, a Board Member of JenaValve Technology Inc, Chairman of the Board of InnovHeart s.r.l, Senior Advisor to Conformal Medical Inc, and Venture Partner of XGEN Venture SGR S.p.A. He was Chief Medical Officer & Senior Advisor to 4Tech Inc (2017-2020).

Dan Dearen
Dan Dearen
Independent Director
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Dan Dearen
Dan Dearen
Independent Director

Mr. Dearen is President and Chief Financial Officer of Axonics Modulation Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AXNX), a publicly traded medical technology company that manufactures and markets implantable devices to treat overactive bladder (OAB) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI), with sales in 2021 of over $180 million. Mr. Dearen is co-founder of Axonics and has served in his current role for over eight years, during which time the company developed, obtained FDA approval, launched its sacral neuromodulation system to treat OAB, acquired Bulkamid to treat SUI, and completed its IPO in 2018 and four subsequent equity offerings.

Before co-founding Axonics, Mr. Dearen was COO & CFO of Vessix Vascular, a medical device company treating hypertension that was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2012 for $425 million. Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Miraval Holding, Q3DM (acquired by Beckman Coulter), Medication Delivery Devices (acquired by Baxter Healthcare) and was a Principal at Ventana Growth Funds, an international venture capital firm with a portfolio of 53 companies in medical devices, life sciences and healthcare.

Mr. Dearen started his career as a CPA (inactive) in the healthcare group at Ernst & Young in Dallas, Texas. He holds a BBA. in Accounting & Business from Southern Methodist University and an MBA from Boston College and completed the Accredited Public Company Director Certification program at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

Mr. Dearen also serves as an Independent Director and Chair of the Audit Committee on the board of Endotronix, Inc. a privately held digital health and medical technology company dedicated to advancing the treatment of heart failure.

Andrew Hack, MD, PhD
Andrew Hack, MD, PhD
Bain Capital Life Sciences
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Andrew Hack, MD, PhD
Andrew Hack, MD, PhD
Bain Capital Life Sciences

Dr. Andrew Hack has served as Managing Director at Bain Capital Life Sciences since 2019. Andrew currently serves on our Board of Directors and is a member of our Compensation Committee and chairman of our Audit Committee.

Dr. Hack previously served for as Chief Financial Officer of Editas Medicine (Nasdaq: EDIT) and as a healthcare portfolio manager at Millennium Management. Prior to that, he was a securities analyst at a number of healthcare-focused hedge funds and investment banks.

Dr. Hack received an MD and a PhD in molecular genetics and cell biology from the University of Chicago.

John Kilcoyne
John Kilcoyne
Chief Executive Officer
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John Kilcoyne
John Kilcoyne
Chief Executive Officer

John joined JenaValve in 2019 bringing 30 years of experience and is a proven leader in the medical device industry in both start-up organizations and publicly traded companies leading IPO and acquisition strategies.

Throughout his career, John has held several medical device leadership roles. He was the CEO of Endonetics, from 1997 until its acquisition by Medtronic in 2002. From 2002 to 2004, John served as the CEO of Solace Therapeutics. From 2004 until 2010, he was President and CEO at Micrus Endovascular Corporation, leading its IPO efforts in 2005, capturing significant market share and acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in 2010. Before joining JenaValve, John served as the President and CEO of ReVision Optics.

John also serves on the Board of Directors at Cerus Endovascular and CerebroTech Medical Systems, both privately held start-up device medical device companies focused on the treatment of hemorrhagic and diagnosis of ischemic stroke, respectively.

He is a named inventor on more than 20 patents. He has broad and applicable experience leading high-tech medical device emerging growth organizations through market approvals, market access, high growth, and successful strategic transactions, including IPOs and M&A activities.

John received his degree from Cornell University.

Olivier Litzka, PhD
Olivier Litzka, PhD
Andera Partners
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Olivier Litzka, PhD
Olivier Litzka, PhD
Andera Partners

Dr. Olivier Litzka has been a partner at Andera Partners, formerly Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (EdRIP), since 2006. He has over 15 years’ experience in private equity investments focused on life sciences. Dr. Litzka currently serves on our Board of Directors and is a member of our Compensation Committee.

Dr. Litzka is currently a board member at Allecra Therapeutics GmbH, Autonomic Technologies, Inc., NOXXON Pharma AG, and Supersonic Imagine and was previously a board member at Arvelle Therapeutics, Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation GmbH, Probiodrug AG, Small Bone Innovations, Inc., and Novexel SA up until their respective acquisition/IPO.

Prior to Andera Partners, Dr. Litzka was a partner at 3i Group PLC where, over his six-year term, he served on the boards of several portfolio companies and made a range of international investments. He started his career as a management consultant with Mercer Management Consulting GmbH.

Dr. Litzka holds a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the Institut für Mikrobiologie at the University of Munich and completed his scientific research in Munich and Oxford.

Kenneth MacLeod, Ph.D.
Kenneth MacLeod, Ph.D.
Rosetta Capital
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Kenneth MacLeod, Ph.D.
Kenneth MacLeod, Ph.D.
Rosetta Capital

Dr. MacLeod has over 35 years of experience in the life sciences and medical devices industries and is currently a partner at Rosetta Capital, a venture capital firm focused on life sciences and medical devices.

Previously, he held senior operating roles in healthcare companies such as Abbott Laboratories and Serono SA. He has held life science fund management roles at SV Health Investors, Paul Capital, and Visium Healthcare Partners. Dr. MacLeod also serves on the board of Oxular Limited and has held previous board roles at Pharming Group N.V. and On-X Life Technologies, Inc., a mechanical heart valve company acquired by Cryogenics Inc.

Dr. MacLeod earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Manchester, and his Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of York.

Shlomi Nachman
Shlomi Nachman
Independent Director
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Shlomi Nachman
Shlomi Nachman
Independent Director

Mr. Nachman has over 25 years of experience in the medical device industry and is currently on the board of several medical device companies, as well as the Arnold and Mable Beckman Foundation, a foundation focused on supporting research in chemistry and life sciences. Previously, he held senior operating roles at Johnson & Johnson, where he was the Company Group Chairman of Cardiovascular and Specialty Solutions and Vision Groups within Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Devices sector. He was a member of the Medical Devices Group Operating Committee and led a diverse portfolio of 6 medical device businesses including Electrophysiology, Neurovascular Intervention, Ear, Nose & Throat, Breast Aesthetics, Optometry and Ophthalmology. Prior to that, Mr. Nachman had various roles with increased scope and responsibilities including Worldwide President of Biosense Webster and Cordis.

Mr. Nachman earned his Bachelor of Science in Management & Economics from the Israel Institute of Technology and a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Amal Technical School.

Our commitment

JenaValve is committed to
reducing its carbon footprint

Please contact us to request a copy of the UK Carbon Reduction Plan.

Contact Us

1995 - Present

A 29-year-long road of
development for the first
TAVR device addressing
AS and AR

1995 - Present

A 29-year-long road of
development for the first
TAVR device addressing
AS and AR

  • Original design concept developed by Professors Hans Figulla, MD and Markus Ferrari, MD of the Friedrich Schiller University

  • Patented our first percutaneous self-expanding aortic stent

1995
  • Completed our initial stent design

  • Performed our first in-vitro implants

1999
  • Patented our aortic valve replacement with early locator technology

2003
  • Completed the initial design of our transapical catheter

2004
  • Successfully completed our first animal study

2005
  • JenaValve officially established to develop an innovative new transcatheter valve to treat AR

2006
  • Received CE mark for aortic stenosis (AS) with the Porcine Root TA system

2011
  • Received CE mark for AR with the Porcine Root TA System

2013
  • Began performing transfemoral procedures using the Porcine Root valve in clinical trials

2014
  • Established UK Operations

2015
  • Started the ALIGN-AR Pivotal Trial in the US for PMA for AR with the Transfemoral, Porcine Pericardial Valve

2018
  • Received our CE mark for AR and AS treatments with our TF, Porcine Pericardial system

2021
  • Established US Operations

  • Completed enrollment in the US ALIGN-AR Trial

2022

We operate in the
US and Europe

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individuals dedicated to transforming
the future of AR treatment

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