Cook Medical appoints new peripheral intervention leaders

Cook Medical has announced a series of management changes centring on its strategically important peripheral intervention (PI) division.

Rob Lyles, the head of the PI business, has been promoted to executive vice-president for the company as a whole, allowing him to play a greater role in invigorating Cook's drive to develop cutting-edge technologies and patient therapies.

Since joining the firm in 2003, he has served in both domestic and international leadership roles within the PI division, which was formerly known as the diagnostic and interventional products unit.

Meanwhile, Mark Breedlove – a 19-year veteran of Cook Medical – is taking over My Lyles' former post as global leader of the business unit, having played an instrumental role in the success of Cook's cardiology division over the last two decades.

He joined the company in 1994 and moved through a number of roles of escalating responsibility, taking charge of the cardiology business's global marketing and product management teams in 2009.

Pete Yonkman, president of Cook Medical, said: "The PI team has been responsible for numerous breakthroughs in patient care, from embolisation coils to vena cava filters to drug-eluting stents."