Stimwave Appoints New Chief Commercialization Officer

Stimwave LLC, a medical device manufacturer and independent research institute headquartered in South Florida, announced the appointment of Konstantin Slavin, M.D. to its medical board of advisors and the appointment of industry veteran Jim Surek to the position of chief commercialization officer. The expansion of the team is in direct response to an ever-increasing demand for its Freedom Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS) System and StimQ Peripheral Nerve Stimulator (PNS) System for the treatment of chronic pain.
 
“Every day, increasing numbers of patients are seeking non-opioid solutions to managing chronic pain, and it is essential that we do everything we can to meet that demand and to serve those patients,” said Laura Tyler Perryman, co-founder and CEO of Stimwave. “The addition of Dr. Slavin and Jim Surek strengthens our executive management team to support our high growth and to meet these market needs.”
 
Dr. Slavin currently serves as professor of neurosurgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago and holds several leadership roles in professional societies, including serving as president of the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery and as the director at large for the International Neuromodulation Society. He is a world-renowned expert in neuromodulation, most recently publishing his second edition of “Peripheral Nerve Stimulation” and “Neurostimulation: Principles and Practice.”
 
“This miniature, wireless stimulator minimizes the need for surgery in patients who are already suffering from pain, while allowing on-going care and full-body MRI scan capabilities providing a viable, non-opioid option for long-term pain management,” said Dr. Slavin. “I am pleased to join their prestigious board of experts in the field.”
 
A 25-year industry veteran, Jim Surek joins the Stimwave team as the company’s first chief commercialization officer. Surek received his Master’s in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Beginning his career as a spinal implant sales representative at Medtronic in 1994, Surek rose through the ranks to vice president of sales and development before taking on the role of the first vice president of sales at Advanced Bionics in 2003, which ultimately sold to Boston Scientific. He went on to become the vice president of sales at Entellus Medical Inc., which sold to Stryker earlier this month.
 
“I’m thrilled to return to the field of neuromodulation with Stimwave. It’s an exciting time to be a part of a great neuromodulation team and company setting the vision for the future for all pain patients across the country,” said Surek. “Stimwave’s technology brings the future forward through its miniaturization of the electronics and elimination of a bulky, potentially dangerous implantable battery. Now, physicians have a solution to treat a tremendously larger pain patient population, since more than 80 percent of patients either cannot receive treatment or refuse the surgery option to treat their pain.”
 
Stimwave’s devices use Wireless Pain Relief technology and are 95 percent smaller than any other neuromodulation device on the market and can be anchored through an injectable method. The device delivers small pulses of energy to specific nerves, triggering a reaction that enables the brain to remap pain pathways, thus providing pain relief. Stimwave launched its FDA-cleared devices for the relief of chronic back and leg pain to a limited number of patients throughout 2015. In March 2016, Stimwave was granted FDA 510(k) for the relief of peripheral nervous system (PNS) pain, becoming the only neuromodulation device manufacturer cleared by the FDA to help reduce chronic neuropathic pain at most locations throughout the body, from back and leg pain addressed by spinal cord stimulation to PNS treatment for shoulder pain, wrist and elbow pain, knee pain, hip pain and more.