Who we are
Our team and main executives are: John Nanas (Emeritus Professor of Cardiology at the University of Athens), Jay W. Mason (Professor of Cardiology at the University of Utah) and Chris Mortis (biotechnologist).
Dr. John Nanas
Emeritus Professor of Cardiology
Dr. John Nanas is Emeritus Professor of Cardiology at the University of Athens. With the encouragement of his mentor Professor Spiridon Moulopoulos, he joined the team of Dr. William Kolff at the Department of artificial organs of the University of Utah.
His clinical and experimental work there, gave him great experience in the operation of the artificial heart leading to the development of the PACD (Paraortic Counterpulsation Device), PULVAD’s prototype.
In 1986 he returned in Greece and continued his clinical work at the Therapeutic Clinic of “Alexandra” General Hospital.
In the early 90s he introduced the first transplantation program in Greece while at the same time his work was catalytic in initiating the PTCA (Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty) and in generalizing its application in Greece. He introduced several other innovative clinical practices.
During this period he implanted the PACD in 3 patients. Since then, he’s been working on the development of PULVAD, the first artificial heart made in Greece, a device entirely of his own invention for the treatment of patients with end-stage heart failure. Finally, he holds important teaching and experimental work (>14.000 citations and >300 full articles) in the School of Medicine of the University of Athens teaching a large number of recognized Greek cardiologists.
Dr. Mason
Professor of Medicine (Cardiology)
Dr. Mason is Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the University of Utah, Chief Medical Officer at Spaulding Clinical Research, and an independent consultant in cardiac safety.
He obtained his undergraduate degree at Princeton University and his MD degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Mason trained in Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases at Stanford University where he was a member of the Faculty from 1975 to 1983 and served as Director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service and Co-director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories.
He became Chief of Cardiology at the University of Utah in 1983.
In 1999 he was appointed Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Kentucky.
From 2003 to 2007 he served as Medical Director and Director of R&D at Covance Cardiac Safety Services.
His clinical, teaching and research emphasis is in cardiac arrhythmias, electrocardiography and electrophysiology.
Dr. Mason chaired the American College of Cardiology’s electrocardiography educational committees for over 20 years and currently chairs or serves on several nationally sponsored safety monitoring boards and scientific initiatives.
He has been awarded more than $29M in NIH support during his research career and is author of over 480 research publications.
Chris Mortis
CTO and founding member
As CTO and founding member for KardiaTec, Chris has led the engineering effort for the PULVAD device.
He has over 20 years of experience in medical device product development and commercialization, including multiple startups in the cardiovascular space.
Chris began his career as an engineer with 3M Health Care developing various oxygenators, catheters, and drug delivery devices used during open heart procedures.
He co-founded BeneCor, a successful startup acquired by Abiomed, and played an integral part in the development of the world’s first completely self-contained artificial heart.
He later worked as technical program manager for LVAD Technology, which included working closely with the FDA on the approval of a clinical study for an implantable pump for the treatment of heart failure.
Chris facilitated the spin-out of ViaDerm, a start-up focused on the commercialization of a long-term percutaneous access device.
Chris holds multiple issued and pending patents related to ventricular assist devices and percutaneous access.
Chris has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Michigan.
