Electronic Design and Acoustics Consulting for the Ultrasound Industry

Prototype Development, Construction, and Testing
for Corporate and Academic Researchers

Custom Electronics and Firmware Development
for Artists, Installations, Exhibitions, and Museums

Chris Vecchio, PhD
804 South 12th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
+01 267 991 4204



Medical Electronics
Implantable Sensors
Product Design
Analog/RF Circuit Design
Medical and Industrial Ultrasonics
Altera FPGA
Ablation Modalities
Embedded Systems
Physical Computing
Firmware Development
Project Management
Bioelectronic Medicine
PIC Microcontrollers
Exhibition Design
Due Diligence/Tech Venture Analysis


ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS:

Temple University, Adjunct Faculty, Department of Film and Media Arts, Jan 2008 - Jun 2014
Drexel University, Research Affiliate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Jun 2009 - Jun 2014

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

W.L. GORE AND ASSOCIATES, Elkton, MD - Flagstaff, AZ

Translational Research Team - Medical Electronics Lead (2018 – Present)
Drove multiple early-stage research, technology assessment, and new product development efforts. Supported the evolution of Gore’s digital health strategy as a subject matter expert on medical electronics and imaging. Provided expertise in electrochemistry, test method development, nanomaterials, wearable technology, active/smart materials, interventional therapies, and neurostimulation as a new business developer, inventor, and innovator.

New Concept Development Group - Bioelectronics Lead Engineer (2013 – 2018)
Drove multiple early-stage research, technology assessment, and new product development efforts. Supported the evolution of Gore’s digital health strategy as a subject matter expert on medical electronics and imaging. Provided expertise in electrochemistry, test method development, nanomaterials, wearable technology, active/smart materials, interventional therapies, and neurostimulation as a new business developer, inventor, and innovator.

Cardiovascular Imaging Team - Principle Engineer (2012 – 2013)
Targeted hire for development of a disposable cardiovascular ultrasound imaging catheter. Responsible for analog RF design and ultrasound modelling, optimization of image quality, noise immunity, electrical safety, minimization of cross talk, and interfacing to partner imaging platforms.

INDEPENDENT DESIGNER CONSULTANT, Philadelphia, PA

Medical and Industrial Ultrasound (1997 – Present)
Systems designer specializing in medical and industrial ultrasound including therapeutic and diagnostic ultrasound, NDT/NDE, and ultrasound measurement and control applications. Provide technical advice, analysis, and design support to academic researchers and the ultrasound industry. Experienced in physical acoustics, RF/analog circuit design, digital hardware design, custom prototype construction, embedded software applications, and technology venture evaluation.

Interactive Exhibition Design (2001– Present)
Interactive exhibition designer, installation artist, and adjunct professor of Physical Computing at Temple University. Have created custom hardware and software for clients including The Please Touch Museum, Madrid Abierto, The Independence Seaport Museum, The Gulf Coast Exploreum, and The Franklin Institute.

QUANTASON LLC, Philadelphia, PA

VP, System Development and Integration (2009 – 2012)
Headed a team developing a next generation diagnostic ultrasound breast screening technology. Patented algorithms for detection and localization and developed approaches for practical implementation. Managed a group of 7 engineers and physicists. Designed and prototyped specialized skin contact acoustic sensors. Directed basic research into optimization and coordinated the integration of the technology into a major medical partner's imaging platform.

SPECTRASONICS IMAGING INC., Wayne, PA

Director of Research and Development (November 1997 – June 2007)
Founding member of a team which developed several high-powered therapeutic ultrasound systems. Investigated the use of ultrasound therapy in cardiac applications. Designed hardware to acquire digitized RF data from a commercial medical imaging engine. Wrote and administered phase I and II SBIR grants to develop an ultrasonic prostate cancer detection/biopsy guidance system. Detection algorithm ran on a SHARC processor network embedded in a PC platform, DSP code was written in C++, and user interface was created using Visual C++/MFC. System was interfaced with a commercial ultrasonic imager and entered clinical trials in October 2000. Applied for 2 patents related to this technology.

ULTRAFAST INC. Malvern, PA

Senior Staff Scientist (March 1993 - November 1997)
Senior Staff Scientist in charge of ultrasonic research and analog circuit development. Designed the thin film piezoelectric transducer and HF analog front-end electronics used in an ultrasonic load-measurement system. Wrote firmware and user interface software in Borland C++. Modeled the ultrasonic transducer using PIEZOCAD and developed a model of acoustic propagation within a fastener for use in house. Applied for 4 PATENTS related to enhancement of the technology. The detection and excitation electronics were designed to interface with automated tightening equipment and were miniaturized and optimized for low power operation.

DREXEL UNIVERSITY Philadelphia, PA

Research Assistant (Oct. 1987 - Oct. 1992)
Ph.D candidate working in the field of Biomedical Ultrasound. Developed and tested a model of ultrasonic wave propagation in biological tissue-like media. Project was funded by a two year NSF award. Ph.D. dissertation focused on including the effects of nonlinear acoustic phenomena into the propagation model.


PATENTS:

Apparatus, Systems, and Methods for Percutaneous Delivery of Neurostimulation Arrays
WO2022/225789, Broyles, Stuart; Duncan, Jeff; Friedman, Nathan; Vecchio, Christopher
14 April 2022.

Transcutaneous Sound Sensor
WO2021/226504, Xu, Minghua; Vecchio, Chris; Squeri, John,
7 May 2021.

Implantable Cardiac Sensor
US Application 20200196876, Minor, David; Vecchio, Chris; Trapp Benjamin.
23 December 2019.

Medical Treatment System Using Measurement Data from Multiple Sensors
US #11,540,731 Minor, David; Vecchio, Chris; Trapp, Benjamin,
3 January 2023.

Implantable Medical Device with Adjustable Bloodflow
US Application 20200197178, Vecchio, Christopher J.
23 December 2019.

Implantable Devices Capable of Selective Degradation
US Publication 20170196673, Vecchio, Chris; Cully, Edward
11 January 2017.

Method for locating the position of a microcalcification in a human breast
US #8,622,909 O'Ruanaidh, Joseph; Vecchio, Christopher J;. Rambod, Edmond
7 January 2014.

Method for detecting and locating a target using phase information
US #8,372,006 O'Ruanaidh, Joseph; Vecchio, Christopher J;. Rambod, Edmond
12 February 2013.

Use of Coded Excitation Schemes in the Detection and Location of a Target in a Human Body
US #8,109,878 O’Ruanaidh, Graff, Vecchio, Rambod and Snukal
7 February 2012.

Non-Invasive Ultrasound Cardiac Pacemaker and Defibrillator
US Application 20100094149 Kohut, Andrew; Kumik, Peter; Lewin, Peter; Vecchio, Chris
11 September 2009.

Apparatus and method for locating therapeutic seeds implanted in a human body
US #6,387,036 Bernardi, Richard; Vecchio, Christopher J.,
10 Sept 2002.

Minimizing the effect of bending on ultrasonic measurements in a load-bearing member
US #6,009,759, Vecchio, Christopher J., Kibblewhite, Ian E.;
4 Jan 2000.

Technique for eliminating ambiguity when making pulse-echo timing measurements
US #6,009,380 Vecchio, Christopher J., Kotas, Donald E.,
28 Dec 1999.


SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

"The Potential of Ultrasound in Cardiac Pacing and Rhythm Modulation", Andrew R. Kohut, Christopher Vecchio, Dan Adam, & Peter A. Lewin, Expert Review of Medical Devices, August 2016, doi:10.1080/17434440.2016.1217772

"Ultrasound-induced Modulation of Cardiac Rhythm in Neonatal Rat Ventricular Cardiomyocytes”, Andrew Fleischman, Andrew R. Kohut, Christopher Vecchio, Youhan Sunny, Christopher R. Bawiec, Peter A. Lewin, Yasha Kresh, J Appl Physiol (April 9, 2015) doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00980.2014

“Determination of Vibrating Structure patterns using Acoustic Waves,” P.A. Lewin, W.A. Berger,
C.J. Vecchio, M.E. Schafer, 9th ASME Engineering Systems Design and Analysis Conference
ESDA 2008, July 7-9, 2008, Haifa, Israel.

“Excitation Enhanced Imaging for breast cancer detection: in vitro and in vivo results.“ F. Forsberg, R. J. Ro, W. T. Shi, M. K. Knauer, K. Sarkar, A. L. Hall, C. Vecchio, R. Bernardi. Proc Era of Hope, DoD Breast Cancer Research Meet, pp. 60, 2008

“Real-time excitation-enhanced ultrasound contrast imaging.”
Flemming Forsberg, William T Shi, Michael K Knauer, Anne L Hall, Chris Vecchio, Richard Bernardi, Ultrason Imaging. 2005 Apr ;27 (2): p. 65-74

“A System Integrating HIFU Exposure Capabilities with Multiple Modes of Synchronous Ultrasonic Monitoring.” Muratore, Robert; Lizzi, Frederic L.; Ketterling, Jeffrey A.; Kalisz, Andrew; Bernardi, Richard B.; Vecchio, Christopher J.; Muratore, Robert., AIP Conference Proceedings (0094-243X)
03/28/2005. Vol.754, p.33-35

“A system integrating HIFU exposure capabilities with multiple modes of synchronous ultrasonic monitoring.” Muratore R, Lizzi FL, Ketterling JA, Andrew K, Bernardi RB, Vecchio CJ. In: ter Haar GR, Rivens I, editors. 4th International Symposium on Therapeutic Ultrasound; Kyoto, Japan; 2004 September 18-20. Melville: American Institute of Physics; 2005. p. 33-35.

“Image enhancement by acoustic conditioning of ultrasound contrast agents.”
William T Shi, Flemming Forsberg, Ronald Bautista, Chris Vecchio, Richard Bernardi, Barry B Goldberg, Ultrasound Med Biol. 2004 Feb ;30 (2): p.191-198

“HIFU2: Integrated therapeutic diagnostic ultrasound system,” R. Muratore, J. Ketterling, C. Vecchio, R. Bernardi, M. Knauer, Proc. 3rd Int. Symp. on Therapeutic Ultrasound, pp. 393-398, 2003

“Effect of nonlinearity on lesion formation for high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) exposures,” Lee, Paul; Lizzi, Frederic L.; Ketterling, Jeffrey A.; Vecchio, Christopher J., Acoustical Society of America Journal, Volume 115, Issue 5, pp. 2449-2449 (2001).

Shi WT, Bautista R, Forsberg F, Vecchio C, Bernardi R, Goldberg BB:
”Evaluation of excitation-enhanced ultrasound contrast imaging.” J Ultrasound
Med 2001; 20: S12.

”Effects of beam asymmetry on ultrasonic thermal lesions. “ Lizzi FL, Deng CX, Coleman DJ, Silverman RH, Bernardi RB, Vecchio CJ. In: Schneider SC, Levy M, McAvoy BR, editors. Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium. New York: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; 2000. p. 1423-1426.

Shi WT, Forsberg F, Bautista R, Vecchio C, Bernardi R, Goldberg BB:
”Active enhancement of ultrasound contrast imaging”, Proceedings of IEEE
International Ultrasonics Symposium, 1893-1896 (2000).

Forsberg F, Bautista R, Shi WT, Vecchio C, Bernardi R, Goldberg BB:
”Excitation enhanced ultrasound contrast imaging.” Ultrasound Med Biol 2000;
26(S2): A61.

Vecchio, C.J., "Creation of an Intelligent Fastener using Piezoelectric Thin Film Techniques," Submitted to IEEE Journal of Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control (1996).

Vecchio, C.J. and Lewin, P.A., "Finite amplitude acoustic propagation modeling using the extended angular spectrum method," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, JASA 95 (5), pp. 2399-2408, 1994.

Vecchio, C.J., Schafer, M.E., and Lewin, P.A., "Prediction of Ultrasonic Field Propagation through Layered Media using the Extended Angular Spectrum Method," Ultrasound in Med. and Bio., Vol. 20, No. 8, 1994.

Vecchio, C.J. and Lewin, P.A., "Acoustic Propagation Modeling Using the Extended Angular Spectrum Method," Proceedings of the 14th Annual International Conference IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1992.

“An experimental investigation of fundamental limitations on ultrasonic field reconstruction”
Vecchio, Chris; Lewin, Peter A.. Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology (0589-1019) 01/01/1990.p.281-282