Simbionix Welcomes Two New Members to Expand Company’s Medical Education Product Offerings

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Cleveland, OH, USA: Simbionix USA Corporation, the world’s leading provider of medical education and simulation training products for medical professionals and the healthcare industry, is pleased to announce that Marc Schwachter M.D., and Paul DeLuca have joined the Company’s Medical Education Division (MED).

Marc graduated from University of Vermont with a degree in Zoology/Philosophy and has a M.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He did his Residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Illinois Department of OB/GYN. Prior to accepting this position, Marc worked with University Hospitals Department of Surgery in Cleveland, OH to deliver surgical skills training and create a surgical video repository to foster the growth of the department as a leader in surgical teaching. He designed and produced innovative teaching techniques including international webinars, live surgical symposiums and online consulting and conferencing for the surgeons.

“Marc’s passion for medicine, training and technology is contagious”, said Paul Jensen, General Manager of Simbionix Medical Education Division, “I’m confident that Marc will be a tremendous asset to the MED team and Simbionix.”

Paul DeLuca will be responsible for the new product development process to define, build and launch the product platform to support the MED business strategy. Amongst his activities, Paul will conduct market research to specify market requirements, maintain the product roadmap illustrating the vision and key phases of delivery for the platform, and develop and implement the marketing strategy.

Paul brings strong experience in technology product development and innovative new-media marketing. Prior to accepting this position, he was Director of Marketing & Web Services with Centric Technologies where he managed the design, development, hosting, and technical maintenance of dozens of commercial web sites. Following the acquisition of MCI Telecommunications’ internet business by Cable & Wireless Global PLC, he was the Director of Global Web Hosting Product Management, leading a team of product managers in developing 4 web hosting/content management products that generated over $52 million in global web hosting revenue.

“Paul’s strengths and experiences are an excellent match for this position and Simbionix is fortunate to have him on the team”, said Paul Jensen.

Simbionix ANGIO Mentor Plays Role in Physicians Training and Certification

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Cleveland, OH, USA: Simbionix USA Corporation, the world’s leading provider of medical education and simulation training products for medical professionals and the healthcare industry, is proud to report that their ANGIO Mentor virtual reality simulator was used during the 4th International Congress of the Polish Vascular Societies in April 2010 for the training and certification of vascular physicians from medical centers across Poland.

The congress was organized by the Polish Society of Angiology, the Interventional Radiology Section of the Polish Medical Society of Radiology and the Polish Society of Vascular Surgery. The scientific program covered vascular and endovascular issues including patient management during and after the intervention, vascular malformations and children’s vascular surgery. During the congress learners gained hands on practice on the ANGIO Mentor.

The Simbionix ANGIO Mentor is a multidisciplinary simulator that provides a complete and true-to-life simulated environment for hands-on practice of interventional endovascular procedures. During the sessions, which were led by key opinion leaders in the field of endovascular procedures in Poland, the physicians used the Simbionix simulators to train and exhibit proficiency in various procedures. Attendees who completed one full endovascular procedure and demonstrated their knowledge and skills in the case steps received certification from the Polish Vascular Society. Training sessions utilized the various practice opportunities offered by the ANGIO Mentor including: carotid stenting, iliac & SFA interventions, renal arteries interventions, as well as virtual abdominal aortic aneurism repairs.

Ran Bronstein, Simbionix President, commented that “The inclusion of the Simbionix ANGIO Mentor in this recent training and certification are a great example of our simulator’s benefits in providing a hands-on aspect to practicing patient management and procedure understanding, as well as providing an excellent tool to track learners’ records and provide objective assessment. Realistic true to life simulation will be a key factor in the certification of physicians in the future, and we expect such inclusion to become more evident in medical training around the world.”

Simbionix Welcomes Mr. Glen Mayfield and Mr. Raanan Cohen to its Board of Directors

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Cleveland, OH –Simbionix USA Corporation, a global leader in medical education and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) simulator products, announces the appointment of Mr. Glen Mayfield and Mr. Raanan Cohen to the Simbionix Board of Directors in place of Mr. Murray Wilson and Mr. Didi Paz.

Mr. Glen Mayfield possesses more than 42 years of private equity, corporate finance and commercial banking experience. In 1978 he founded Mayfield & Robinson, Inc., and in 1994 led to the formation of River Cities Capital Fund I. Previous to his corporate finance and venture capital career, Mr. Mayfield was a Vice President of The First National Bank of Cincinnati. He had earlier served in a marketing and sales capacity with Armstrong World Industries. He holds a B.A. from DePauw University, and has served on the Boards of Directors of over twenty public and private companies.

Mr. Raanan Cohen was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Koor in July 2006. Previously, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Scailex Corporation Ltd. from 2004 to July 2006, and since 2001 he also serves as Vice President of Discount Investments Corporation Ltd. (DIC), Koor’s controlling shareholder. Prior to joining DIC, Mr. Cohen was an associate with McKinsey & Company, Inc. Mr. Cohen is a member of the Board of Directors of a number of companies in the IDB group, and holds Bachelor’s degrees in law and in economics from Tel Aviv University and a Masters degree in management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Mr. Avshalom Horan, Simbionix Chairman of the Board, welcomes the newly appointed board members: “River Cities Capital Funds has demonstrated a strong trust in Simbionix by completing its investment at the height of the financial crisis in October 2008. We are now looking forward to Mr. Glen Mayfield joining our Board of Directors, and bringing on board his rich experience with growth companies, as well as his understanding and ties in the US healthcare industry. Koor Industries Ltd. has been a long time investor in Simbionix, and having Mr. Raanan Cohen, Koor’s CEO, join our Board of Directors, reassures us of the interest and trust Koor has in Simbionix and brings to the table his rich business experience .”

Mr. Gary Zamler, Simbionix’s CEO is also very pleased to welcome the new board members and says that, “Glen Mayfield brings a wealth of experience and, in particular, wisdom which will be very beneficial especially as we expand the Company’s activities into the Medical Education Training markets. Raanan Cohen’s vast knowledge of global markets will provide exceptional value and insight as Simbionix continues its reach further into the global International markets.”

Simbionix Introduces their First Mobile App for Surgical Education

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Cleveland, OH –Simbionix USA Corporation, a global leader in medical education and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) simulator products, announces the release of a revolutionary, interactive mobile application for training medical professionals. The fully interactive surgical procedure course, created for a leading medical device manufacturer, is now available from the Apple® App Store® for use with the iPhone®, iPod®, and iPad™.

According to data from the healthcare market research company, Manhattan Research, 81% of physicians will be using smart-phones by 2012 as their primary means of access to obtain information and data related to their professional activities. “Smart-phones are rapidly becoming an indispensible tool for physicians,” says Paul Jensen, General Manager of Simbionix Medical Education Division “The addition of mobile-based training gives medical device manufacturers an efficient way to communicate the safe and effective use of surgical devices.” This new surgical training app combines high-fidelity 3D animations, surgical interactions, and a variety of assessments to educate medical professionals and meaure their understanding. Versions compatible with other mobile platforms are also under development by Simbionix.

Simbionix will be releasing a library of mobile apps to address a variety of medical topics and procedures. Ben Kinsella, Sr. Production Manager for Simbionix Medical Education Division sees the addition of mobile apps to Simbionix’s offerings as an important step in the company’s evolution. “Simbionix has always led the medical training market in creating rich-media online learning products. We’re excited to extend our lead by publishing our courseware to such a dynamic new platform.”

The new mobile app will be displayed on the iPad at the Simbionix exhibit booth #430 at the 12th World Congress of Endoscopic Surgery, jointly hosted by SAGES and CAGS, April 14-17, 2010 in National Harbor, Maryland.

Simbionix USA Corporation’s Innovative Development Division Releases Two New Breakthrough Technologies

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Sep. 21st 2009, Cleveland, OH, USA: Simbionix USA Corporation, the world’s leading developer of medical simulation systems, just released two new products: a new Laparoscopic Essential Tasks Module for its LAP Mentor™ and a breakthrough technology for patient-specific simulation based on actual patient data – the PROcedure Rehearsal Studio™.

The new Laparoscopic Essential Tasks Module is an addition to the LAP Mentor’s ever-expanding library of modules. This new module takes hands-on skill training another step forward, enabling the trainee to practice three essential tasks, similar to the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery Program (FLS) developed by SAGES.

“The module is a breakthrough technology that provides an efficient and exciting virtual reality environment”, explains Simbionix President Ran Bronstein.

During the same week, Simbionix released a new, enhanced version of the PROcedure Rehearsal Studio™ marking another important advance in its innovative simulation technology.
This unique product, previously introduced by Simbionix last year, is the world’s first medical simulator to enable clinicians to create practice scenarios based on their patient’s unique anatomy as reconstructed from CT data.

Inbal Mazor, Simbionix Vice President of Corporate Marketing, adds:” This week’s release of the PROcedure Rehearsal Studio with the PACS-enabled capability allows for a wide range of scans and enables the sharing of training cases for educational use. With this new version, the system is now more efficient, easier to use and extremely reliable. “We are extremely proud of this new product which will undoubtedly benefit both patient and clinicians”.

Simbionix will present these new releases at upcoming US medical tradeshows this fall: The PROcedure Rehearsal Studio on September 23rd at TCT 2009 in San Francisco, and the new Laparoscopic Essential Tasks on Oct 12th at the ACS 2009 annual meeting.

Simbionix Signs Agreement with the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery

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Prague Convention Center, Czech Republic: Simbionix and the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) have signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of training materials and assessment tools for a new Laparoscopic Skills Curriculum.

Since its founding in 1990, the EAES has played a leading role in the promotion and dissemination of endoscopic surgery and allied interventional techniques throughout Europe. Its programs include research, training, and publication of original articles, reviews, consensus conferences and guidelines. In recent years, the EAES has acknowledged the necessity of developing a curriculum and objective assessment tools for standardizing training in laparoscopic surgery. To address this need, the EAES has developed a multi-year plan to build a European Laparoscopic Skills Curriculum (LSS), which will comprise both didactic and skills development components, including eLearning and simulation-based assessment elements.

According to the agreement signed last week, the sophisticated LAP Mentor™ simulator from Simbionix will become the exclusive assessment tool for the new curriculum. Simbionix is also providing its new learning management system, MentorLearn™, which will provide a universal access point to data from the simulator, didactic, and assessment components.

Ran Bronstein, president of Simbionix, expressed excitement about the agreement: “As a leading provider of medical simulators and online medical education, Simbionix understands the importance of providing access to standardized training. This collaboration, by leveraging the clinical knowledge and experience of the EAES and the innovative technologies of Simbionix, will set a new standard for laparoscopic skills training in Europe.”

Professor Fingerhut, the new president of the EAES, adds that this agreement is a landmark in the cooperation between industry and professional societies. Together, they can address the need for modern teaching and assessment tools particular to the visual transmission of surgical techniques used in laparoscopic and endoscopic interventions. This agreement also highlights the prominent role played by the EAES, as the leading European laparoscopic and endoscopic professional society, in the field of education. The development of a training curriculum that can be easily adopted by every country and professional organization in the European Community looks forward to the time when the LSS curriculum becomes the standard for teaching and evaluating interventional skills, not only throughout the ECC, but also in any other countries working with the EAES.

About the EAES
The European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) was founded in 1990 and since then has become a growing and dynamic organization that will continue to play a leading role in the future of Endoscopic Surgery and Allied Interventional Techniques.

Aside from organizing annual Top Level European Congresses in different European countries, EAES activities in the research, development, training and publication are effected through its various Committees: Educational (training), Research (multicentre studies and clinical trials), Technological (R&D in instrumentation, ancillary equipment, telerobotics and telecommunication), publication (publication of original articles, state of the art reviews, consensus conferences and soon an operative manual), Membership and Public Relations Committees. The Educational Committee runs EAES training Courses and also endorses training courses in member institutions and hospitals if these meet the criteria set up by the Committee

Simbionix Signs Agreement with the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery

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20 June 2009, Prague Convention Center, Czech Republic. Simbionix and the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) have signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of training materials and assessment tools for a new Laparoscopic Skills Curriculum.

20 June 2009, Prague Convention Center, Czech Republic.

Simbionix and the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) have signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of training materials and assessment tools for a new Laparoscopic Skills Curriculum.

Since its founding in 1990, the EAES has played a leading role in the promotion and dissemination of endoscopic surgery and allied interventional techniques throughout Europe. Its programs include research, training, and publication of original articles, reviews, consensus conferences and guidelines. In recent years, the EAES has acknowledged the necessity of developing a curriculum and objective assessment tools for standardizing training in laparoscopic surgery. To address this need, the EAES has developed a multi-year plan to build a European Laparoscopic Skills Curriculum (LSS), which will comprise both didactic and skills development components, including eLearning and simulation-based assessment elements.

According to the agreement signed last week, the sophisticated LAP Mentor™ simulator from Simbionix will become the exclusive assessment tool for the new curriculum. Simbionix is also providing its new learning management system, MentorLearn™, which will provide a universal access point to data from the simulator, didactic, and assessment components.

Ran Bronstein, president of Simbionix, expressed excitement about the agreement: “As a leading provider of medical simulators and online medical education, Simbionix understands the importance of providing access to standardized training. This collaboration, by leveraging the clinical knowledge and experience of the EAES and the innovative technologies of Simbionix, will set a new standard for laparoscopic skills training in Europe.”

Professor Fingerhut, the new president of the EAES, adds that this agreement is a landmark in the cooperation between industry and professional societies. Together, they can address the need for modern teaching and assessment tools particular to the visual transmission of surgical techniques used in laparoscopic and endoscopic interventions. This agreement also highlights the prominent role played by the EAES, as the leading European laparoscopic and endoscopic professional society, in the field of education. The development of a training curriculum that can be easily adopted by every country and professional organization in the European Community looks forward to the time when the LSS curriculum becomes the standard for teaching and evaluating interventional skills, not only throughout the ECC, but also in any other countries working with the EAES.

About the EAES
The European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) was founded in 1990 and since then has become a growing and dynamic organization that will continue to play a leading role in the future of Endoscopic Surgery and Allied Interventional Techniques.

Aside from organizing annual Top Level European Congresses in different European countries, EAES activities in the research, development, training and publication are effected through its various Committees: Educational (training), Research (multicentre studies and clinical trials), Technological (R&D in instrumentation, ancillary equipment, telerobotics and telecommunication), publication (publication of original articles, state of the art reviews, consensus conferences and soon an operative manual), Membership and Public Relations Committees. The Educational Committee runs EAES training Courses and also endorses training courses in member institutions and hospitals if these meet the criteria set up by the Committee.

Simbionix USA and B-Line Medical Announce Multi-Level Agreement

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Simulation technology leader and the leading developer of simulation-based healthcare training platforms form cooperative agreement. Cleveland OH, and Washington DC – Simbionix USA Corporation and B-Line Medical, LLC, today announced a strategic agreement enabling the data integration of Simbionix Mentor™ simulation systems with B-Line Medical’s SimCapture® product.

The collaboration will combine Simbionix’ unique data collected during a simulation session with video streams into the SimCapture system for debriefing, assessing and centralizing multiple types of simulated encounters.

“We are pleased to integrate Simbionix simulators with our SimCapture product offering ,” said Lucas Huang, CEO of B-Line Medical. “Our rapid growth has been fueled by understanding and addressing the needs of our customers, which include over eighty top hospitals, medical schools and nursing programs globally.”

SimCapture records multiple video feeds in digital format, handles annotation and debriefing, and integrates with multiple simulator types. SimCapture also manages users, provides tools for scenario and checklist creation, and generates multiple types of usage, session, and aggregate reports, all from a 100% web-based software interface.

“Facilitating access to our metrics has always been a part of our mission, as dozens of academic validation studies on our systems demonstrate,” stated Gary Zamler, Simbionix’ CEO. “With this agreement with B-Line Medical, our joint customers will have an even more powerful view of our leading metrics.“

Simbionix combines innovative R&D, solid technology and manufacturing, strong clinical relationships, professional sales and marketing and dedicated customer support. Simbionix simulators cover procedures in the clinical areas of cardiology, vascular interventions, urology, laparoscopic surgery, gynecology, and endoscopic interventions. Additional simulation platforms are under development.

About B-Line Medical

B-Line Medical is a digital solutions firm focused on the capture, debriefing and assessment of simulation-based medical training. B-Line Medical specializes in the delivery of robust, yet easy to use web-based solutions that have helped over eighty top hospitals, medical schools and nursing programs in the U.S., Canada and Europe, operate and manage their clinical skills and simulations centers more effectively.

For more information visit www.blinemedical.com.

Simbionix Releases Two New Simulation Modules

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Cleveland, OH USA: Simbionix, the world’s leading developer of medical simulation systems, has released two new endovascular training modules, Cerebral Intervention and Cardiac Rhythm Management.These new ANGIO Mentor modules demonstrate Simbionix’s commitment to enriching the content of its training systems and maximizing their value for customers.

The Cardiac Rhythm Management module enables virtual placement of pacemakers and defibrillators. Any change in the patient’s heart rate during the simulation sounds an alarm so trainees can learn to provide immediate treatment. For the first time, trainees have the ability to train on canulating the coronary sinus, placing a lead and perform electrical measurements in a virtual and safe environment.

The Cerebral Intervention module features complete neurovasculature and a biplane x-ray system, making it the perfect platform for learning how to deliver intracranial coils and stents. Simbionix’s CEO, Gary Zamler, explains; “This module gives neuro-interventionists the opportunity to handle complications, such as a perforated aneurysm, in our unique simulation environment, rather than in the OR.”

Mr. Zamler continues: “We at Simbionix are proud of these two new modules and their potential contribution to the quality of medical practice.”

Dr Thomas Masaryk is also excited about the new module: “Historically one might say that I’ve been a “simulator skeptic.” But, I was utterly amazed with what Simbionix has accomplished: a thoroughly impressive recreation of complex aneurysm coiling…, I have no doubt that the cerebral intervention module will change the way we teach intracranial procedures. In the future I foresee a significant impact on case planning and decision making. Now trainees can gain experience with difficult cases before encountering these critical challenges in real life.”

Glen C. Williams Joins eLearning Sales Team for Simbionix, Heading Up Chicago Office

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Denver, CO: eTrinsic, a division of Simbionix USA Corporation (Simbionix), a developer of online medical education products and technology for training medical sales people and professionals, today announced that Glen C. Williams joined the company as Sales Executive for the Midwest and Eastern Region.

Glen will work out of a new office located in Grayslake, Illinois.Glen brings strong experience in both eLearning technologies and medical procedures. His prior professional experience included selling customized and catalog eLearning programs, assessment tools and Learning Management Systems for manufacturers in the building materials industry. His medical background was gained while a medic in the United Sates Navy.

Jacques Devaud, eTrinsic President stated, “We are pleased to have someone of Glen’s caliber join our expanding US Sales organization to increase the coverage of the US Market.”