Sam L. Helgerson directs the research and development activities at Symphony Medical. Sam has 16 years experience in the biotechnology industry. Prior to joining Symphony Medical in July 2007, Sam was a Senior R&D Director with the BioSurgery Group of the Baxter Healthcare’s BioScience Division. Sam directed R&D activities focused on developing bio-therapeutic products for tissue regeneration, especially to promote angiogenesis and revascularization in both wound healing and cardiovascular disease applications. This work included developing patented technology for therapeutic delivery of growth and angiogenic factors using biopolymers as delivery matrices for novel engineering recombinant proteins. Sam joined Baxter in 1991 and has extensive R&D and process development experience with blood plasma-derived protein, monoclonal antibody, and recombinant protein biopharmaceutical products. These products were developed under both FDA and European regulatory guidelines for Biologics, Medical Devices, or Combined Medical Device filings. Before that, Sam held academic research positions as an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Montana State University, an Assistant Research Biophysicist at the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute, and a National Research Council Associate at the NASA Ames Research Center. Sam hold a Ph.D. Degree in Biophysics from Purdue University and a B.S. Degree in Physics from the University of Puget Sound. Sam is a member of numerous professional scientific organizations including the American Heart Association, the American Society for Cell Biology, the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, and the Society for Vascular Medicine and Biology.