Shannon Eubanks has joined the Aortica as vice president of operations. Eubanks brings 20 years of engineering experience in the medical device industry to the company and will be primarily responsible for leading the development of the company’s AortaFit system and its Starnes Patient Match Technology.
“Shannon brings tremendous engineering skills to Aortica, but what truly sets her apart is her focus on understanding our customers and the clinical needs they face,” said Aortica president and chief executive officer Tom Douthitt. “Throughout her career, Shannon has established a strong track record for transforming her understanding of customer requirements into effective medical devices. It is this customer focus that will enable Aortica to provide physicians with high quality, easy to use tools that will assist them in managing complex abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) procedures. At the same time, her breadth of experience in both manufacturing and quality assurance gives us the operational expertise to strengthen the framework of our company. I could not be more pleased to have Shannon join the Aortica team.”
Eubanks joins Aortica from Magnolia Medical Technologies where she was responsible for new product development, quality systems, and product manufacturing. Previously Eubanks directed engineering for Pathway Medical from the early “start-up” years through its successful acquisition by Bayer Interventional. Prior to joining Pathway Medical, Eubanks managed product development engineering at Sonosite, a manufacturer of handheld ultrasound systems.
“I was drawn to Aortica by its efforts to treat every patient as an ‘individual’ rather than developing a ‘one size fits all’ approach,” said Eubanks. “We are designing the AortaFit system to provide a treatment option that is personalised to each patient with AAA disease, while minimising the burden of up-front planning and expense borne by the physician and the institution.” She added, “AortaFit will be powered by a predictive software we are developing called the Starnes Patient Match Technology, based on the work of Benjamin Starnes, who is renowned for his expertise in this area. Development of these technologies provides both an exciting personal challenge, and an opportunity to deliver a revolutionary medical therapy.”
