Bloomington, Ind. – Charles McIntosh, M.D., a distinguished physician with broad experience in both the practice of medicine and the regulatory approval process for new medical technologies, has joined Cook Incorporated as Chief Medical Science and Technology Officer.

“Dr. McIntosh will provide strategic leadership to Cook on issues pertaining to bringing our best new technologies to the market in a timely manner,” explained Kem Hawkins, president and CEO of Cook Incorporated. “By improving communication and interaction between our company, the medical community and the FDA, Dr. McIntosh will help us anticipate emerging trends in minimally invasive medical device technology and provide senior management with the knowledge needed to capitalize on potential opportunities. We’re thrilled to have a physician of his stature and experience joining us.”

In his new role, Dr. McIntosh will act as an external representative for Cook with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory bodies, evaluate emerging medical technologies and help develop clinical testing and product development strategies aimed at bringing high-priority medical and combination devices to market without unnecessary delays.

“I actually worked for Cook 15 years ago on the Bird’s Nest Filter and GRBS Coronary Stent. I also ran the clinical trial for Oxilan, and I always respected Cook as an innovative organization dedicated to patient care. So taking this new position and working with the individuals I worked with then is like coming home for me,” Dr. McIntosh said of his new job. “I look forward to assisting Cook’s efforts to successfully negotiate the sometimes challenging regulatory approval process and making the company’s new products available to patients in the U.S. and abroad.”

Dr. McIntosh, who was graduated by the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1966, has held numerous positions at the University of Illinois medical center and the Champaign/Urbana campus, and the National Institutes of Health Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He also has served as a panel member, consultant and chairman to the FDA’s Public Advisory Circulatory System Devices Panel. He and his wife Deborah, a practicing cardiologist, reside in Silver Spring, Maryland. In his new job, Dr. McIntosh will divide his time between Bloomington and the Washington, D.C. area.

With international headquarters in Bloomington, Ind., privately held COOK® (www.cookgroup.com) is a leading designer, manufacturer and global distributor of minimally invasive medical device technology for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Since its founding in 1963, Cook has created innovative technologies for stents and stent-grafts, catheters, wire guides, introducer needles and sheaths, embolization coils, medical biomaterials, vena cava filters, implanted cardiac lead extraction equipment and other minimally invasive medical devices.