Dr. Chris Folk
January 20, 2020
CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ra Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: RMED), a medical device company focusing on commercializing excimer laser systems to treat vascular and dermatological diseases, announces the appointment of Chris Folk, PhD, as Vice President of Engineering, effective January 13, 2020. With more than 20 years of engineering experience primarily in medtech, Dr. Folk has led the design, development and engineering of novel medical devices with highly specific design requirements, leading to commercial success. In this newly created position, Dr. Folk will report to Andrew Jackson, Ra Medical Systems Interim CEO and CFO.
“Chris is an experienced leader, engineer and inventor who brings to Ra Medical highly relevant expertise in engineering transformational products and bringing game-changing medical devices to market,” said Mr. Jackson. “He has managed teams responsible for more than 20 device development programs at firms ranging from startups to multinationals. Notably, Chris has significant experience with catheters from his years at Covidien Neurovascular/ev3, where he led the commercial launch of three 510(k) catheters. We view his appointment as a significant step in improving the design and manufacturing of the DABRA catheter to enhance its consistency and extend its shelf life.”
“I have a particular passion for innovative medical devices, whether being developed from scratch or improving an existing design, and I see the clear advantages of photoablation over competing technologies for the treatment of peripheral artery disease,” said Dr. Folk. “This is an exciting opportunity for my colleagues and me to identify design and manufacturing solutions that enhance the existing products while concurrently developing new and next generation product offerings. I’m delighted to join the Ra Medical team at this critical juncture as we work toward a successful future with a differentiated product line.”
Dr. Folk served for the past four years at ViaCyte, a privately held regenerative medicine company, most recently as Engineering and Device Manufacturing Director. He was responsible for product development including the redesign of its lead product candidate PEC-Direct, a novel biologic-device replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes. Prior to ViaCyte, Dr. Folk spent three years as Device Strategy Principal Engineer at Amgen, where he evaluated and determined unmet drug delivery needs across the company’s entire portfolio and led internal device R&D programs to enable new routes and methods of drug delivery. Before that, Dr. Folk served for three years as Research & Development Manager for Covidien Neurovascular (formerly ev3) with responsibility for overseeing cross-functional teams that successfully launched three FDA 510(k)-cleared catheters to treat ischemic stroke and aneurysms. During his tenure, he managed the R&D team that created the first hypotube-based catheter for neurovascular access, allowing unprecedented torque and transmission of force.
Earlier in his career he was Senior Design and Applications Engineer-Medical Devices for Microfabrica Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of micromachine devices, where he was the technical manager for NIH-funded minimally invasive heart surgery research and co-invented the device published as the first all-micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) medical devices surgical tool. He began his career in the Technical Leadership Program at General Electric, a world leader in the design and manufacture of commercial and military jet engines, leading a team developing the high-pressure engine core for an advanced military prototype.
Dr. Folk holds 10 issued patents with more than a dozen pending. He has coauthored articles published in the peer-reviewed journals Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, International Journal of Robotics Research, Rapid Prototyping Journal and Journal of American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Folk holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an MS in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Cincinnati and a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.
About Ra Medical Systems
Ra Medical Systems commercializes excimer lasers and catheters for the treatment of vascular and dermatological diseases. In May 2017, the DABRA laser system and single-use DABRA catheter received FDA 510(k) clearance in the U.S. as a device for crossing chronic total occlusions, or CTOs, in patients with symptomatic infrainguinal lower extremity vascular disease with an intended use for ablating a channel in occlusive peripheral vascular disease. Pharos excimer laser system is FDA-cleared and is used as a tool in the treatment of psoriasis, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis, and leukoderma. DABRA and Pharos are both based on Ra Medical’s core excimer laser technology platform and deploy similar mechanisms of action. Ra Medical manufactures DABRA and Pharos excimer lasers and catheters in a 32,000-square-foot facility located in Carlsbad, Calif. The vertically integrated facility is ISO 13485 certified and is licensed by the state of California to manufacture sterile, single-use catheters in controlled environments.
“Chris is an experienced leader, engineer and inventor who brings to Ra Medical highly relevant expertise in engineering transformational products and bringing game-changing medical devices to market,” said Mr. Jackson. “He has managed teams responsible for more than 20 device development programs at firms ranging from startups to multinationals. Notably, Chris has significant experience with catheters from his years at Covidien Neurovascular/ev3, where he led the commercial launch of three 510(k) catheters. We view his appointment as a significant step in improving the design and manufacturing of the DABRA catheter to enhance its consistency and extend its shelf life.”
“I have a particular passion for innovative medical devices, whether being developed from scratch or improving an existing design, and I see the clear advantages of photoablation over competing technologies for the treatment of peripheral artery disease,” said Dr. Folk. “This is an exciting opportunity for my colleagues and me to identify design and manufacturing solutions that enhance the existing products while concurrently developing new and next generation product offerings. I’m delighted to join the Ra Medical team at this critical juncture as we work toward a successful future with a differentiated product line.”
Dr. Folk served for the past four years at ViaCyte, a privately held regenerative medicine company, most recently as Engineering and Device Manufacturing Director. He was responsible for product development including the redesign of its lead product candidate PEC-Direct, a novel biologic-device replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes. Prior to ViaCyte, Dr. Folk spent three years as Device Strategy Principal Engineer at Amgen, where he evaluated and determined unmet drug delivery needs across the company’s entire portfolio and led internal device R&D programs to enable new routes and methods of drug delivery. Before that, Dr. Folk served for three years as Research & Development Manager for Covidien Neurovascular (formerly ev3) with responsibility for overseeing cross-functional teams that successfully launched three FDA 510(k)-cleared catheters to treat ischemic stroke and aneurysms. During his tenure, he managed the R&D team that created the first hypotube-based catheter for neurovascular access, allowing unprecedented torque and transmission of force.
Earlier in his career he was Senior Design and Applications Engineer-Medical Devices for Microfabrica Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of micromachine devices, where he was the technical manager for NIH-funded minimally invasive heart surgery research and co-invented the device published as the first all-micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) medical devices surgical tool. He began his career in the Technical Leadership Program at General Electric, a world leader in the design and manufacture of commercial and military jet engines, leading a team developing the high-pressure engine core for an advanced military prototype.
Dr. Folk holds 10 issued patents with more than a dozen pending. He has coauthored articles published in the peer-reviewed journals Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, International Journal of Robotics Research, Rapid Prototyping Journal and Journal of American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Folk holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an MS in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Cincinnati and a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.
About Ra Medical Systems
Ra Medical Systems commercializes excimer lasers and catheters for the treatment of vascular and dermatological diseases. In May 2017, the DABRA laser system and single-use DABRA catheter received FDA 510(k) clearance in the U.S. as a device for crossing chronic total occlusions, or CTOs, in patients with symptomatic infrainguinal lower extremity vascular disease with an intended use for ablating a channel in occlusive peripheral vascular disease. Pharos excimer laser system is FDA-cleared and is used as a tool in the treatment of psoriasis, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis, and leukoderma. DABRA and Pharos are both based on Ra Medical’s core excimer laser technology platform and deploy similar mechanisms of action. Ra Medical manufactures DABRA and Pharos excimer lasers and catheters in a 32,000-square-foot facility located in Carlsbad, Calif. The vertically integrated facility is ISO 13485 certified and is licensed by the state of California to manufacture sterile, single-use catheters in controlled environments.