The Team

The CreatiVasc Innovation Team is comprised of nationally-recognized leaders in vascular access surgery, technology maturation and commercialization, as well as business and financial management.

Dr. David L. Cull

Dr. Cull has over 15 years experience in vascular access surgery and the management of vascular access complications. He is the founder of CreatiVasc and the inventor of the four initial hemoaccess devices. Dr Cull received his M.D. degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas in 1990 and his vascular surgery fellowship at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia in 1992. Between 1992 and 1997 he served as staff vascular and Chief of Vascular Surgery at Wilford Hall Medical Center. Since moving to Greenville, South Carolina in 1997, he has devoted approximately 75% of his surgical practice to vascular access surgery. He is a nationally-recognized expert in the field, who has written several book chapters and journal articles on vascular access. Most recently the History Channel named him as one of the five finalists (out of 4,000 entries) for the Innovation of the Year for 2006. Dr. Cull also serves as:

• Director, Vascular Access Program at the Greenville Hospital System

• Professor of Clinical Surgery at the USC School of Medicine

• Director of Clinical Research and Chief Research Editor for the Academic Department of Surgery of the Greenville Hospital System

Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson has over 20 years experience in technology transfer and commercialization. He headed two successful technology start-up companies and acquired his technology maturation expertise by rising through the ranks of Scott Paper Co. and Dow Chemical, where he was Vice President of New Product Development for one of Dow’s divisions. From 1990-1999, he headed Creative Technologies Inc. which provided technology scouting and maturation consulting to a wide range of Fortune 500 companies. He was formerly Director of Technology Management and Intellectual Property for Concurrent Technologies Corporation (1999-2007). He has worked in medical device and health care technologies with a wide range of organizations including Kimberly-Clark Professional Health Care, Harvard-MIT-Draper Lab Medical Simulation Group, Veridien Corporation, and MaxLife Venture Capital Fund. Johnson was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Private Sector Initiative Award, presented by President Ronald Reagan in 1987; the Deloitte InnoVision award in 1999; and the Marine Corps Commandant Award for Innovation in 2006.

Frank Patterson

Frank Patterson brings a wealth of medical device design expertise, with over 20 years of experience in the medical device engineering business. His direct experience has led to the commercialization of five human implant technologies in the fields of fastening, feeding, cardiac pacing and temperature regulation. Patterson’s knowledge in medical device development comes from his work with research and development, design, process and materials engineering, and program management of the commercialization of diagnostic and therapeutic devices. During and after obtaining an M.S. in Material Science from Rutgers University, he worked with PolyChem Industries, formulating polymers for sustained-release medical and agricultural markets with collaboration from polymer science pioneer Dr Norman Gaylord. He was a staff engineer for New Product Development for CR Bard, a worldwide leader in innovative products and services that focus on vascular disease state management. Later he founded FP Solutions which lead collaborative development of innovative medical concepts into commercial products for nationwide clients including CR Bard, Johnson & Johnson family of companies, and MedSource Technologies. Mr. Patterson has taken physician concepts to human use for start-up companies such as HydroCision (world’s first tissue-discriminating wound debridement system), EVA (world’s first vascular endoluminal staple), and Seacoast Technologies (world’s first implantable subdural cooling system), which has allowed breakthrough understanding of hypothermic neurophysiology in the past 12 months. He holds 13 U.S. patents with 12 pending and has engineered the design and processes to manufacture dozens of polymeric and metallic medical devices.

Ronald A. Young

Ronald Young has extensive experience working with new technology-based start-up and early stage companies. 1989: Created a non-profit corporation for the State of South Carolina for the purpose of developing the entrepreneurial sector of the State’s economy: Enterprise Development of SC. Mr. Young was directly responsible for the creation of the Palmetto Seed Capital Fund, the State’s first seed capital fund. He has significant experience conducting due diligence on investment opportunities and has worked with approximately 100 companies in negotiating and structuring capital investments. For many years, has been involved in coaching entrepreneurs in the development of business plans, evaluating business ideas, assisting entrepreneurs in forming management teams, raising capital and providing ongoing management consulting, particularly in financial and marketing matters. Mr. Young was also former Dean of the College of Business, University of South Carolina Upstate. He also has extensive knowledge and experience in information technology. His undergraduate degree is in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Carolina and he also holds 3 advanced in business, including 2 Ph. D degrees from Georgia State University.

John Krall

John Krall joined CreatVasc Medical as the Director of Operations & Sales. He brings specific experience in medical device training, marketing and sales, having worked for Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson company. Krall started his career in the military as a Naval Aviator. In his tours with the US Navy, he gained combat experience as well as being an Operational Test Director. He was accountable for multi-million dollar test budgets while directing the efforts of a diverse test team. His coordination efforts between the engineering and aviation test communities ensured the successful acquisition of a $40 Billion aircraft platform. In 2004, after his 11 years of active duty, he moved to the US Navy Reserve as an Aviator with VR-46, where he continues to serve our country to this day. Upon leaving the Active Duty Navy, he joined Ethicon Endo Surgery as a Laparoscopic Surgical Specialist. The initial clinical training he received included over 240 hours of didactic and laboratory experience. After time in the field he went back to the Endo-Surgery Institute (ESI), which is a world-renowned educational facility, where he graduated from the Advanced Sales and Training School on emerging technologies and new surgical procedures. Ethicon Endo Surgery then gave him a Full-Line role responsible for all endoscopic, mechanical, and energy devices used in Cardiovascular, Bariatric, Urological, General, Gynecological, Colorectal, and ENT specialties in the upstate of South Carolina. He was also a collegiate athlete and graduate of the United States Naval Academy.

learn more about:

• The Team
• Dr. David L. Cull
• Steve Johnson
• Frank Patterson
• Ronald A. Young
• John Krall