Lishan Aklog, MD

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Lishan Aklog, M.D. has served as PAVmed’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since he co-founded the company in 2014, based on a portfolio of his and his co-founders’ inventions. He also serves as Executive Chairman of PAVmed’s major subsidiaries—medical diagnostics company, Lucid Diagnostics Inc., and digital health company, Veris Health Inc. Dr. Aklog has been active in the life sciences for several decades, including as an executive, entrepreneur, public company director, technological innovator, corporate advisor, and, previously, as an innovator in cardiac surgery at leading academic medical centers, including Harvard Medical School and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He is a medical technology industry leader who serves on the Board of Directors of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), the world’s leading medical technology trade association, and was recognized as one the Top Healthcare Technology CEOs of 2021 by Healthcare Technology Report.

Dr. Aklog began his career as a medical technology entrepreneur and executive in 2007, as co-founding Partner of both Pavilion Holdings Group (PHG), a medical device holding company, and Pavilion Medical Innovations (PMI), its venture-backed medical device incubator. He co-founded Vortex Medical Inc., a PHG portfolio company which developed and commercialized the revolutionary AngioVac® system, and served as its Chairman and Chief Technology Officer from its inception in 2008 until its acquisition by AngioDynamics Inc. (Nasdaq: ANGO) in October 2012. Dr. Aklog is an inventor on 35 issued patents and dozens of patent applications, including the patents of the AngioVac system and the majority of the PAVmed’s products.  His patents have been honored by the Boston Museum of Science and the Boston Patent Lawyers Association

Dr. Aklog has served in various other capacities across the life sciences industry including on the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee of Contrafect Inc. (Nasdaq: CFRX), a biopharmaceutical company, since June 2020 and on the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Audit Committee of Viveon Health Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: VHAQ), a healthcare special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) from September 2020 to April 2021. Over his career, Dr. Aklog has served as a consultant to numerous medical technology companies including Biomet Inc., now Zimmer Biomet (NYSE: ZBH), AngioDynamics, Edward Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), On-X Life Technologies Inc., now CryoLife Inc. (NYSE: CRY), and Atricure Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRC). He also previously served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of numerous leading medical device companies, including Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT), St. Jude Medical Inc., now Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Guidant Cardiac Surgery, now, Getinge AB, and Cardiovations, then, a division of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), as well as numerous early-stage medical technology companies.

Prior to transitioning to a full-time career as an entrepreneur and life sciences executive in 2012, Dr. Aklog had a distinguished academic and clinical career as a technological innovator in cardiac surgery.  serving as Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Cardiac Surgery Research Laboratory and an attending cardiac surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston from 1999 to 2002; Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Associate Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Director of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Surgical Director of the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit, and Associate Director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency Program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, from 2006 to 2012; and Associate Professor of Surgery, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery and Chair of The Cardiovascular Center at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center’s Heart and Lung Institute in Phoenix, Arizona from 2006 to 2012.

Dr. Aklog received his clinical training in general and cardiothoracic surgery at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, during which he spent two years as the Medtronic Research Fellow at the medical school’s Cardiac Surgery Research Laboratory. He was awarded the American Association of Thoracic Surgery Traveling Fellowship pursuant to which he received advanced training in heart valve surgery under renowned cardiac surgeons Sir Magdi Yacoub at Harefield Hospital in London and Professor Alain Carpentier at L’Hopital Broussais in Paris.  Dr. Aklog is a co-author on 38 peer-reviewed articles and 10 book chapters and has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery since 2006. He is a member of numerous professional societies and was elected to the American Association of Thoracic Surgery in 2011. He served on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery from 2006 to 2009 and as President of the 21st Century Cardiothoracic Surgery Society in 2011. During his clinical career he was a perennial honoree as one of America’s Top Doctors in the Castle Connolly Guide from 2002 to 2013.

Dr. Aklog received his A.B. degree, magna cum laude, in Physics from Harvard University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and his M.D. degree, cum laude with a dissertation in the field of molecular genetics, from Harvard Medical School. He has been active in philanthropic organizations, including currently serving on the International Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch.