Jamie Hopping has been named president and chief operating officer of Alliance Imaging (Anaheim, California), a provider of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging and other services. He had been president of Columbia/HCA's Western Group.

David West has been named vice president of sales and marketing for American Biosystems (St. Paul, Minnesota), maker of The Vest airway clearance system. He previously was vice president of marketing for St. Jude Medical's Cardiac Rhythm Management Division.

Eric Topol, MD, chairman of the department of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Cleveland, Ohio) and a well-known cardiovascular researcher, has been named to the additional post of chief academic officer, a new position at the institution.

Stephen Keane has been named vice president, corporate development, for Corvas (San Diego, California), a maker of therapeutics for cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer.

Alan Totah has been named vice president, regulatory affairs, at Cyberonics (Houston, Texas), a developer of medical devices for the treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders. He previously was senior regulatory manager for heart failure and low-power leads at Medtronic.

Christopher Owens has been named vice president of marketing for Eclipse Surgical (Sunnyvale, California), maker of percutaneous transmyocardial revascularization systems. Previously, he was director of marketing for the global lamellar surgery business of Bausch & Lomb.

Robert Presutti has been named vice president, professional sales, for Lifestream Technologies (Post Falls, Idaho), maker of the first at-home cholesterol monitor with embedded smart-card technology.

Earl Bakken, co-founder and director emeritus of Medtronic (Minneapolis, Minnesota), was implanted with a Medtronic Kappa 700 pacemaker at North Hawaii Community Hospital in early March. Bakken experienced a fainting episode and, upon examination, was determined to suffer from sinus bradycardia. Bakken co-founded Medtronic in Minneapolis in 1949. He invented the first wearable, transistorized cardiac pacemaker in 1957 and retired as an officer of Medtronic in April 1989.

Andrew Korey, PhD, has been named senior vice president, pharmaceuticals, for MicroHeart (Mountain View, California). He previously was vice president of clinical research at Cellegy Pharmaceuticals. MicroHeart makes surgical, minimally invasive and catheter-based devices for delivering therapeutic agents and cells to the heart, heart vessels and other organs.