Charles Simonton

Dr. Charles Simonton joined Abiomed in June 2020 as vice president and chief medical officer. He is renowned for his leadership in product development and large-scale clinical trials. Prior to Abiomed, he was at Abbott Vascular where he served as chief medical officer and divisional vice president of global medical affairs since 2008. At Abbott Vascular, he led the programs that resulted in the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of carotid stents, MitraClip™ and Absorb BVS, in addition to the EXCEL and COAPT trials. Prior to Abbott, Dr. Simonton spent almost 30 years as an interventional cardiologist working with complex cardiac and vascular patients. He started at Duke University Medical Center then moved to the Sanger Clinic in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he created his own research team to study patient outcomes following the use of new cardiac technologies. Dr. Simonton founded the Carolinas Cardiovascular Research Foundation at the Carolinas Heart Institute, which is now part of Atrium Health. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and did his internship, residency and chief residency in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and his cardiology fellowship at Duke University.