Ava Hires Globally Recognized Women's Health Leader Maureen Cronin M.D, PhD, as Chief Medical Officer
Former Bayer Schering Medical Affairs head brings more than 20 years of strategic leadership experience in women's sexual and reproductive health
ZURICH and SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ava, a medical technology company focused on innovations in women's reproductive health, has named Maureen Cronin M.D., Ph.D., to the newly created position of Chief Medical Officer.
A global expert and advocate for women's reproductive health who previously served as Head of Women´s Medical Affairs at Bayer Schering Pharma (leader of contraception products including Mirena and Yasmin/Yaz), Cronin will fill a newly created role for Ava, which is best known for its popular cycle-tracking sensor bracelet.
Reporting directly to Ava Co-Founder Peter Stein, Cronin is responsible for ensuring the medical safety and efficacy of Ava's existing and future products currently in development. She will also work to educate and expand relations between Ava and the global medical community – from key opinion leader physicians to top tier healthcare and pharma industry executives and influencers.
"We are thrilled to be a part of the trend of established executives leaving big pharma to actively advance young digital health companies because, like us, they believe in the progressive future of women's health technologies. Dr. Cronin's proven track record and renowned reputation among the gynecology world and medical industry worldwide will be invaluable to Ava as we continue to grow and expand into new and exciting applications of our cycle-tracking technology for other areas of women's health," said Ava Co-Founder Lea von Bidder.
Ava's first product, the fertility-tracking bracelet, has experienced incredible consumer success, but the company's current goal is to further communicate the vision and share the research they are doing with key opinion leaders in the medical community and healthcare industry at large.
Cronin brings more than 20+ years experience in medical affairs, product development, and life cycle management to the Swiss startup. She led several negotiation teams resulting in numerous successful healthcare product approvals worldwide, including intravenous and oral iron replacement products; oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapies; as well as therapeutic intrauterine devices, gels and patches. Cronin has been an invited speaker and/or member of a scientific committee at European Society of Cardiology, Women Deliver, Population Council, USAID, FIGO, ISPE and numerous international women´s health scientific congresses. Until December 2016, she was responsible for Global Medical Affairs at Vifor Pharma, and most recently, she led a private pharmaceutical consulting business.
"Joining Ava gives me an incredible opportunity to continue my passion for and advocacy for innovation in women's reproductive and sexual health with a company that I truly believe in," explained Cronin. "What Ava is doing with data, AI and sensor technology truly has the ability to empower women in so many ways, starting with helping them get pregnant and down the line for many other applications including contraception and beyond. We will continue to provide credible evidence on the benefit/risk profiles of our growing portfolio with several large interventional studies over the next several years."
About Ava
Founded in Switzerland in 2014 by Pascal Koenig, Philipp Tholen, Peter Stein and Lea von Bidder, Ava is a medical technology company dedicated to bringing innovation to women's reproductive health. The Ava bracelet, which received The Bump's "Best of Baby Tech CES 2017" award for fertility and pregnancy, is the company's first consumer product. It uses sensor technology combined with clinically tested data science to precisely detect a woman's entire fertile window in real time. The company is also conducting clinical studies to adapt and expand its algorithms for use in pregnancy monitoring, and future use as a non-hormonal contraceptive device. Backed by $12.3M in seed and Series A funding, Ava has operations in Zurich and San Francisco.
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SOURCE Ava
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