VALENCIA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 27, 2018 / The Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research, ''AMF'', an independent non-profit medical device incubator committed to developing and commercializing innovative solutions for significant unmet or poorly met medical conditions, today announced the appointment of Robert Greenberg, MD, PhD to the role of Executive Chairman. ''I have enjoyed interacting with Dr. Greenberg on the Board of Directors and look forward to working more closely with him to further our founder's vision,'' said John Petrovich, Chief Executive Officer of AMF, who will continue to lead AMF's operations and continue reporting directly to the Board of Directors.
Dr. Greenberg has been non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of AMF since December 2004 and is now engaging in a full-time executive role with the organization. He brings extensive industry, clinical and technical knowledge and a proven track record commercializing medical technology to the newly created role. ''I have spent my career solving unmet medical needs and look forward to continuing that mission at the Alfred Mann Foundation, an organization committed to the same goals'' said Dr. Greenberg. In his new role, Dr. Greenberg will initially focus on developing new partnerships and projects, while also lending his experience to existing AMF projects.
Dr. Greenberg was previously CEO and Chairman of Second Sight Medical Products (EYES), a company he led as CEO from its inception in 1998 through 2015. Under Dr. Greenberg's leadership, Second Sight, which Dr. Greenberg co-founded while working at the Alfred E. Mann Foundation, successfully developed and marketed an implantable retinal prosthesis, the Argus II, the world's most advanced implantable neural stimulator, which restores useful vision to patients blinded by Retinitis Pigmentosa, allowing them to achieve greater independence. He oversaw the FDA approval, unprecedented outpatient Medicare reimbursement of approximately $150k, with sales rising to a $10M annualized run-rate, and a successful IPO on NASDAQ, with a $550M market cap at the end of his CEO tenure. More recently, while Chairman at Second Sight, Dr. Greenberg oversaw the successful development and human implantation of a wireless cortical visual prosthesis, the Orion, which has the potential to eliminate nearly all forms of blindness.
Dr. Greenberg was also an Independent Director at Pulse Biosciences (PLSE), a company developing therapies based on nanosecond pulsed electric field technologies for oncology and dermatology applications. He was a Medical Reviewer at the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Device Evaluation. Dr. Greenberg is also currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Southern California Biomedical Council, a nonprofit trade association supporting the healthcare industry in the Greater Los Angeles region.
Dr. Greenberg is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Edison Gold - Science/Medicine Category, the World Technology Award for Health and Medicine, the Foundation Fighting Blindness Visionary Award, and the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit Award. He has over 260 issued US patents and over 100 international patents. He received MD and PhD degrees from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, Dr. Greenberg has published over 60 peer-reviewed publications. He has been a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and a Senior Member of IEEE.
Dr. Greenberg can be reached at: [email protected]
About the Alfred E. Mann Foundation - Since its founding in 1985, by Alfred Mann, the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research (AMF) has developed a record of success in developing and commercializing technology for unmet or poorly met medical conditions. In 1993, Advanced Bionics was formed to commercialize a cochlear implant developed by AMF. In a series of transactions during 2004-2009, Advanced Bionics was sold to Boston Scientific and Sanova for $2.2B. From 1993-1996, Minimed and MRG were formed to commercialize a number of diabetes products developed by AMF and were sold to Medtronic in 2001 for $3.7B. In 1998, Second Sight was created to commercialize a retinal prosthesis then under development at AMF. In 2014, Second Sight listed its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange in a successful IPO with a market cap of $723M on its first day of trading.
More information can be found at: www.aemf.org
SOURCE: Alfred E. Mann Foundation