• Samuel Straface, PhD, was named president/CEO of Cardiorobotics (Pittsburgh). Straface began working with Cardiorobotics as an executive-in-residence at the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse. Cardiorobotics makes robotic technologies.

• Gary Werman has been named to the newly created position of director of strategic accounts at Dale Medical Products (Plainville, Massachusetts), a manufacturer of medical devices that facilitate positive post-surgical patient outcomes. Werman is a 20 year veteran of the medical device industry, most recently with Tytex as director of new business development. The new position was established by Dale Medical for the purpose of servicing national accounts and integrated delivery networks.

• Susan DeVore has been named president/CEO of the Premier (San Diego) healthcare alliance. DeVore previously was COO of the company. Premier maintains a repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and operates a major healthcare purchasing network.

• Terumo Heart (Ann Arbor, Michigan) has named David Seth Feldman, MD, PhD, to be the co-principal investigator for its Bridge-to-Transplant trial in the U.S., studying the DuraHeart Left Ventricular Assist System. Feldman is director of heart failure and cardiac transplantation and director of the heart failure and transplant fellowship program at Ohio State University Medical Center. Terumo Heart's focus is the innovation and introduction of products to improve the quality of healthcare for heart failure patients.