Innovation: Pantheris’s laser-guided catheter could be “a game changer for patient care”

Form and function

The Pantheris catheter’s laser camera lets surgeons see inside blood vessels as its cutting instrument is removing fatty deposits, making it much safer than conventional methods of treating peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Innovator John Simpson

Age 72

Medical doctor and chairman of Avinger, a 200-employee medical-device company in Redwood City, Calif.