Shockwave Medical has appointed Keith D Dawkins as its chief medical officer. In a press release from the company, Dawkins states: “Given the challenges associated with treating calcium throughout the cardiovascular system, joining Shockwave and contributing to the development of what will likely become the new standard of care for calcium modification was an attractive opportunity. The Company has made significant progress in the last year in both technology development and the successful application of intravascular lithotripsy to a variety of clinical settings; I believe that the future potential of intravascular lithotripsy has yet to be fully realised.”
The company describes itself as a pioneer in the development and commercialisation of intravascular lithotripsy to treat complex calcified cardiovascular disease.
Before joining Shockwave, Dawkins served as global chief medical officer and executive vice president at Boston Scientific Corporation, as well as being a member of Boston Scientific’s executive committee from 2012 to 2017. Previously, he was chief medical officer of the Cardiology, Rhythm and Vascular Group at Boston Scientific from 2010 to 2012. He joined Boston Scientific in 2008 as senior vice president and associate chief medical officer of the cardiovascular business.
In addition, earlier in his career, Dawkins was a practising interventional cardiologist for more than 20 years in the UK, and has earned a series of clinical, research and academic distinctions, including a post-doctoral research fellowship at Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar. He also served as president of the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS) and held numerous appointments on hospital, regional and national committees, including the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). He has been an author on more than 750 academic publications and presentations on a variety of cardiac topics.
He will serve at Shockwave on a half-time basis as he is also currently chief medical officer at 4TECH Cardio, and a senior adviser to Conformal Medical, in addition to being on the board of directors for several companies including Avicena, JenaValve and InnovHeart.
