Manny Villafana


Manny Villafaña was born in 1940 in New York City to Puerto Rican immigrants and attended Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. He began his medical career in 1964 at medical-device exporter Picker International. In 1967, he was hired away from Picker by Earl Bakken, CEO of Medtronic to become their first international sales administrator.

Business

In 1971 he launched Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. ; a CRM company that revolutionized the pacemaker industry by introducing a long life lithium iodine pacemaker, a technology still utilized by a majority of the market. CPI was ultimately acquired by Eli Lilly & Company, which spun it out as Guidant, which in turn was recently acquired by Boston Scientific, Inc.
In 1976, he founded St. Jude Medical where his team engineered the first bileaflet mechanical heart valve, which reduced the frequency of blood clots in patients. It still dominates the mechanical valve replacement market.
In 1982, Villafana founded GV Medical, which developed a device to open blood vessels open.
In 1987, he founded Helix BioCore, which eventually transformed into ATS Medical, a company that developed a bi-leaflet valve which uses an open-pivot design to reduce clots and improve blood flow.
Then in 2000, he launched CABG Medical to pursue the creation of an artificial graft for coronary bypass surgery. The company closed in 2006.
In 2007, he launched Kips Bay Medical, a medical device company that focuses on proprietary external saphenous vein support technology for use in coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. .

Awards