Charlottesville, Virginia, Oct. 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Focused Ultrasound Foundation is pleased to announce that Narendra (Naren) Sanghvi, PhD, has joined the team in the newly created role of Resident Focused Ultrasound Guru.
Sanghvi has built a legendary career in focused ultrasound over more than 45 years. He began working with focused ultrasound in the Fry brothers' laboratory at Indiana University School of Medicine. Following several years of work on a system to treat brain disorders, he began the pursuit of treating the prostate with focused ultrasound and formed a company, Focus Surgery Inc. That entity is now a part of SonaCare Medical, where Sanghvi has been the Chief Scientific Officer.
Sanghvi will be available to support all members of the Foundation's team by lending his opinion and advice. He will also contribute to the formulation of the Foundation's overall strategy and serve as an organization spokesperson.
"Naren has unexcelled experience and expertise in virtually every aspect of the field, from design and construction of equipment to preclinical laboratory studies, clinical trials, and navigating the regulatory and reimbursement landscape," said Foundation Chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD. "His unique commercial perspective is also invaluable as the Foundation is dedicating resources to ensuring companies are successful in this space."
Last year, Sanghvi was the recipient of the Foundation's 2018 Visionary Award, presented at the Foundation's biennial Symposium. He has also guest authored a blog post and given a webinar on "High Intensity Focused Ultrasound: Past and Present."
"It is an honor to join the Focused Ultrasound Foundation because of the work it has done over the past 13 years to advance the field of therapeutic ultrasound," said Sanghvi. "The Foundation has been integral in aligning the scientific, medical, and commercial entities in this field, with the noble mission of bettering the lives of countless patients."
"SonaCare Medical would like to congratulate Naren on this great honor and opportunity," said Mark Carol, MD, Chief Executive Officer of SonaCare. "Naren is one of the most respected members of the focused ultrasound community. His contributions to the field in general, and to SonaCare specifically, are unquantifiable. I am delighted to be able to call Naren my personal focused ultrasound mentor and, most importantly, a dear friend, and am glad that he will have this chance to bring his charm and knowledge to a new generation of focused ultrasound devotees."
Sanghvi is a member of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the Acoustical Society of America, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU). In 2018, he received ISTU's William and Francis Fry Honorary Fellowship for Contributions to Therapeutic Ultrasound.
About Focused Ultrasound
Focused ultrasound uses ultrasound energy guided by real-time imaging to treat tissue deep in the body without incisions or radiation. The fundamental principle is analogous to using a magnifying glass to focus beams of sunlight on a single point to burn a hole in a leaf. Where each individual beam passes through the tissue, there is no effect. But, at the focal point, the convergence of the multiple beams of focused ultrasound energy results in many important biological effects, creating the possibility of treating a variety of medical disorders. Focused ultrasound is approved in the United States to treat essential tremor, uterine fibroids, pain from bone metastases, and the prostate. Additional indications are approved outside of the US. The technology is in various stages of research and development for more than 100 diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, hypertension, and tumors of the brain, liver, breast, and pancreas.
About the Focused Ultrasound Foundation
The Focused Ultrasound Foundation was created to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide by accelerating the development of this noninvasive technology. The Foundation works to clear the path to global adoption by coordinating and funding research, fostering collaboration, and building awareness among patients and professionals. The Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that focused ultrasound finds its place as a mainstream therapy for a range of conditions within years, not decades. Since its establishment in 2006, the Foundation has become the largest nongovernmental source of funding for focused ultrasound research. More information can be found at www.fusfoundation.org.
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