President & COO, Aegis Surgical, Inc. & Atrius, Inc.
Francis G Duhay, MD, MBA , is an accomplished clinical surgeon, scientist, medical innovator, and senior business executive, with expertise in general business management, clinical and regulatory affairs, medical affairs, healthcare economics and reimbursement, new business development and corporate strategy.
Double board-certified in general and cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. Duhay served on senior faculty at Duke University School of Medicine. With 32 US and International medical device patents, he has invented and developed devices used in thousands of heart operations annually. His first company, Corvascular, a joint venture with Duke, focused on the nascent field of minimally invasive cardiac surgery and was later acquired by Medtronic.
After completing his MBA, Dr. Duhay joined Edwards Lifesciences (EW; market cap, $20B) as General Manager in Transcatheter Heart Valve Therapy, which currently is a $2B business. Promoted to Chief Medical Director, his role was expanded to include Global Medical Affairs, Clinical Affairs and Operations for Heart Valve Therapy.
Currently, Francis is a Partner at K5 Ventures where he manages the life science portfolio of companies for K5 Ventures, an early stage venture fund that partners with and invests in technology-driven businesses led by visionary founders.
Francis is also the President and Chief Opoerating Officer at Aegis Surgical & Atrius, Inc., where he leads an intermediate stage startup company through product development, regulatory 510(k) clearance and CE mark, manufacture, and commercialization of the Aegis Transit System®, an accessory device designed to facilitate alternative access suprasternal transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Atrius and Aegis are Synecor portfolio companies.