William T. Abraham, M.D., in an interview with DAIC Editor Dave Fornell at TCT 2016.
March 12, 2019 — V-Wave Ltd. announced that renowned heart failure cardiologist William T. Abraham, M.D., is joining V-Wave as chief medical officer. Abraham makes this move to V-Wave after more than 16 years as director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Ohio State University.
V-Wave is an early stage medtech company developing an implantable interatrial shunt device for treating advanced heart failure (HF) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
Abraham has vast clinical trial experience with drugs and devices for heart failure. He has participated as a site principal investigator (PI) in more than 100 multicenter clinical drug and device trials, serving as national or international PI and/or on the executive or steering committees of more than 50 multicenter trials. He was the lead author on the landmark MIRACLE clinical trial for cardiac resynchronization therapy published in 2002, a lead PI for the CHAMPION implantable hemodynamic monitoring trial published in 2011, and one of the lead PIs for the recently published COAPT trial studying percutaneous mitral valve repair. He has participated in all regulatory phases of new device development from pre-clinical assessment through U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pre-market approval (PMA) submission and approval. He has authored more than 1,000 original research manuscripts and other papers, and has been published in high impact journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Watch the VIDEO: MitraClip to Treat Heart Failure - Results of the COAPT Trial, an interview with Abraham at TCT 2018
V-Wave CEO Neal Eigler, M.D., said that among Abraham’s duties will be supporting the recently launched 500-patient RELIEVE-HF pivotal study.
"I loved my leadership roles at Ohio State," noted Abraham. "Given the enormous potential impact of the V-Wave product, I am delighted that the next stage of my career will be focused on bringing the interatrial shunt to millions of patients worldwide. Advanced HF is a major public health problem in the U.S. and around the world, with more than 6 million Americans suffering from the condition. For decades, we have been managing severe heart failure, both preserved and reduced ejection fraction, using diuretics to modify total blood volume in order to control cardiac pressures. Interatrial shunting could supplement current therapies by providing a novel therapeutic approach that specifically regulates cardiac pressures and volumes. The V-Wave approach is physiologically validated and self-regulating, meaning that as left atrial pressure rises, the amount of shunting increases and this shift of volume from left to right atrium then lowers left atrial pressure, with the intent of improving patient symptoms and clinical outcomes."
Abraham earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowships in cardiology and heart failure/cardiac transplantation at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Previously at The Ohio State University, Abraham also served as deputy director of Ohio State's Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, associate dean for clinical research, and medical director of the Clinical Trials Management Office at the Medical Center. While stepping down from his division director and other leadership positions, Abraham will maintain his academic title as professor of internal medicine, physiology and cell biology, so he may continue to participate in patient care and scholarly activities at the university.
Watch the VIDEO: Technologies to Reduce Heart Failure Readmissions, an interview with Abraham at TCT 2016.
For more information: www.vwavemedical.com
Related Heart Failure Content
December 20, 2023 
