SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 12, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Heart Corporation (WorldHeart) (Nasdaq:WHRT), a developer of mechanical circulatory systems, announced the appointment of Dr. Monica Hope as Vice President of Clinical Affairs reporting to Dr. John Woodard, Sr. VP of Scientific Affairs. Dr. Hope will be responsible for conducting the current and future clinical trials with WorldHeart's products.
Dr. Hope most recently served as Director, Clinical Affairs at Second Sight Medical Products: a U.S.-based privately held company focused on the development of a retinal prosthesis to provide sight to patients blinded from outer retinal degenerations. Prior to that, Dr. Hope has served in various senior management positions in a number of medical device companies including, Micromed Cardiovascular, Ventracor Ltd. and Sirtex Medical.
Dr. Hope's educational accomplishments include a Bachelor of Pharmacy, a Master of Science in Hospital Pharmacy and a Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Pharmacy at the Curtin University of Western Australia.
Dr. John Woodard commented, "We are extremely pleased to welcome such a talented and experienced individual to our clinical team, especially one that has prior VAD clinical experience. We look forward to Monica's leadership in engaging our clinicians and centers, contributing to our efforts to serve patients suffering from advanced heart failure. "
About the Levacor VAD and World Heart Corporation
The Levacor VAD is the only fully magnetically levitated, bearingless, implantable centrifugal pump to move into clinical trial. By using magnetic levitation to fully suspend a spinning rotor, the Levacor VAD's only moving part, the pump is designed to eliminate wear and to provide unobstructed clearances for blood flow across a wide range of operation.
WorldHeart is a developer of mechanical circulatory support systems based in Salt Lake City, Utah with additional facilities in Oakland, California, USA. WorldHeart's registered office is in Delaware, USA.
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Any forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and include all statements relating to WorldHeart's reliance on key executive officers, its BTT clinical study of the Levacor VAD, its clinical development programs and the product pipeline, and the growth of WorldHeart's overall business, as well as other statements that can be identified by the use of forward-looking language, such as "believes," "feels," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "plans," "anticipates," or "intends" or the negative of those terms, or by discussions of strategy or intentions. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, including without limitation: risks involved in the clinical trials of the Levacor VAD; reliance on key executive officers; WorldHeart's need for additional capital in the future; risks in product development, regulatory approvals and market acceptance of and demand for WorldHeart's products; and other risks detailed in WorldHeart's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2010.