AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–DiFUSION Technologies, Inc. announced today the company has reached another major milestone with the addition of talented industry veterans to its management team roster.
“In order to take these first two product lines successfully to market, we needed to bring together the most experienced and the best minds in the industry”
DiFUSION Technologies is a medical device company focused on the development and commercialization of its proprietary CleanFUZE™ anti-microbial technology for orthopedic implants and its new Xiphos™ line of Posterior Interbody products.
“In order to take these first two product lines successfully to market, we needed to bring together the most experienced and the best minds in the industry,” said Derrick Johns, CEO of DiFUSION. “Our funding is in place so we needed to immediately reach out and acquire top-tier talent so we could move forward quickly in the execution of our overall business plan,” Johns concluded.
The new management team will be responsible for leading the scientific endeavors, product development, commercial operations, and in directing DiFUSION’s continued growth in the orthopedic medical industry. New members include:
John Kaelblein, President – Mr. Kaelblein has been in the medical device sales and marketing arena for his entire business career of over 45 years. Prior to joining DiFUSION, John was the CEO and Founder of Nutek Orthopaedics, Inc., a trauma company involved with using space age materials to treat patients with fractures around the major joints of the body and have them immediately self-rehabilitate. Prior to this, John was also a Founder and Executive Vice President of Small Bone Innovations (SBI), an orthopedic company with one of the first focuses on the small joints of the upper and lower extremities, where he completed a “roll-up” strategy bringing together 3 multi-national organizations into a common operating unit for the purposes of marketing small scale devices worldwide. Additionally, before his stint with SBI, John was considered a Founder and the first CEO of Z-Kat, Inc. which today is the parent and holding company of Mako Surgical, an image guidance and robotic delivery orthopedic surgery company. This company is among the first pioneers in the arena of surgical navigation, which is the science of precisely delivering surgical instrumentation to the spine and the brain to implant therapeutic devices.
Mr. Kaelblein’s particular strength is to incisively look at emerging technologies and to help organize and manage a marketing effort, which brings together the best and brightest staffers and clinical collaborators with a shared goal of bringing such programs to the medical arena. He is a graduate of Seton Hall University with a BS in Marketing and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with an MBA in International Marketing. John also is a veteran of the Vietnam conflict where he served as an officer in the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division.
Chris DeNicola, Senior Vice President of Sales – Mr. DeNicola brings to DiFUSION over twenty-two years of marketing and sales experience and leadership in the orthopedic medical device industry. Prior to joining the company he most recently served as Vice President of Sales for Scient’x USA, where he led the efforts to re-structure the field sales distribution group, and reorganize its commercial business operation. Chris has also held the positions of Sr. Vice President of Sales for Small Bone Innovations Inc., and enjoyed a highly challenging and rewarding career path with EBI LP, a BIOMET company. Starting with EBI as a professional sales representative, he went on to hold the positions of Manager of Sales Training/Administration, Director of Sales Operations, Director of Sales and Vice President Sales U.S. Throughout his career he has demonstrated strong communication, organizational and leadership skills, and has demonstrated a passion for the recruitment, training, and support of experienced, successful, and ethical sales organizations, and individuals. Mr. DeNicola is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University with a BS in Management.
Jami Hafiz, PhD, Vice President of Product Development – Dr. Hafiz was formerly a Senior Staff Scientist at Chameleon Scientific. Jami has 10 years of experience in the study of scientific coatings and surface modifications. Most recently he led the Combination Technology Group at Minneapolis-based Chameleon Scientific. Here, Jami led complex product development efforts focused on silver antimicrobial coatings for implantable devices. His responsibilities included technical feasibility assessment, design of effective technology roadmaps, cost analysis, project scheduling, resource allocation and personnel management. He was involved in the creation of Device Master Records for FDA 510(k) submission and managed studies characterizing the cell and tissue response of implantable devices modified with proprietary technologies. Jami has served as a visiting research fellow at CNRS-Orleans in France and the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany. As a Post Doctoral Researcher he collaborated with Nitto Denko Technical Corporation to design and scale-up a reaction chamber for synthesizing novel nanocrystalline material. He has written or presented more than 20 scientific papers and conference proceedings and has three patents awaiting approval. Dr. Hafiz received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and PhD from the University of Minnesota, all in Mechanical Engineering. He received an NSF fellowship for his doctoral dissertation project on the synthesis, characterization and application of nanostructured coatings.
Joseph Crudden, PhD, Vice President of Research and Development – Dr. Crudden is a world leading PhD Physical Chemist. He holds 13 patents in surface chemistry technologies with 8 additional patents pending. He is widely regarded as the leading expert in surface chemistry. As an R&D chemist at AW Chesterton, Groveland, MA, Joseph worked on the development of thermo set polymer composite systems for industrial maintenance and repair. As a technical service and applications development chemist at WR Grace, Hampshire Chemical and Dow Chemical, he was responsible for developing technical information and applications expertise to support the use of the company’s existing surfactants as well as developing a pipeline of new and innovative surfactant products, some of which were shown to be orders of magnitude safer than existing products. Numerous articles were published globally, and several patents were issued both in the US and worldwide. At Agion Technology Corp., Wakefield MA, Joseph, working as a senior scientist, focused on the controlled release of antimicrobial metal ions from thermo set plastic systems for applications such as self sterilizing flooring systems. He was also responsible for the development of antimicrobial metal/acid/surfactant systems with broad applications in disinfection, sterilization and agricultural pesticides for which several patents have been filed. Dr. Crudden received his PhD from UCD, (National University of Ireland), where he carried out research on the structure of electrolyte solutions and on the solubilization/dissolution kinetics of oils by surfactant solutions. He holds an MBA from Suffolk University, Boston.
About DiFUSION Technologies
Founded in 2008 in Austin, Texas, DiFUSION Technologies, Inc. is a medical device company focused on reducing the rising incidence of surgical site infections in orthopedic and spine surgery through the development of a suite of patented antimicrobial orthobiologic polymeric implants. Initially focusing on the multi-billion dollar spinal implant market, the company has developed a technology with applicability across a variety of orthopedic segments using well characterized implants with benefits for the patient, surgeon, hospital and payer. For more information about DiFUSION Technologies, visit www.DiFUSIONtech.com
