Kurt Dasse Ph.D

Kurt Dasse Ph.D General Information

Biography

Dr. Kurt Dasse serves as Board Member at Makana Therapeutics. He serves as the President & Chief Executive Officer at Geno. He became Executive Vice President in December 2011, President in December 2012 and Chief Executive Officer in August 2013. From 2007 to 2011, Dr. Dasse served as a non-employee member of our Board of Managers and has remained a Manager since joining the Company in an executive capacity in 2011. Dr. Dasse has spent nearly three decades conducting research in cardiovascular disorders and developing products to treat heart and renal failure. He has extensive experience in designing, developing and commercializing products and in obtaining the required regulatory approvals. From 2006 to 2011, he served as President and CEO of Levitronix LLC, a developer and manufacturer of a new generation of blood pumps for the medical industry, including the CentriMag, PediMag and PediVAS devices, and ultra-pure fluid handling components for the semiconductor industry. The medical business of Levitronix was sold to Thoratec Corp. in August 2011. From 2000 to 2006, Dr. Dasse served as President of the Medical Division of Levitronix, LLC. From 1997 to 2000, Dr. Dasse was Chief Scientist and Vice-President of Thermo Electron Corporation's Biomedical Group, where he focused on developing products for the respiratory, neurodiagnostic, cardiovascular and imaging markets. He also was one of the founding officers of Thermo Cardiosystems and played a key role in the development and commercialization of the original HeartMate LVAD, the first implantable ventricular assist system for end-stage heart-failure patients. Dr. Dasse has written more than 100 journal articles and multiple book chapters and holds multiple patents. Dr. Dasse has extensive experience in winning 510(k)'s, IDE's, PMA's, CE Marks and international approvals for devices such as blood pumps, ventricular assist systems, drive consoles, peritoneal dialysis catheters, digital mammography equipment and software.