Alan J. Levy

Ph.D. 1962, Chemistry

Alan Levy is President and CEO of Northstar Neuroscience in Seattle, Washington. Prior to co-founding Northstar Neuroscience, he served as president and CEO of Heartstream, a company that developed, manufactured, and marketed an innovative automatic external defibrillator that revolutionized the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest. He successfully guided the company through product development, venture financing, U.S. Food and Drug Administration marketing clearance, product launch, manufacturing scale-up, an initial public offering, worldwide sales and distribution, and the sale of the company to Hewlett-Packard. Prior to joining Heartstream, he was president of Heart Technology, which developed, manufactured and marketed devices for removing plaque from coronary arteries. Dr. Levy effectively led Heart Technology through key business and product development miestones. The company was sold to Boston Scientific in 1995. Dr. Levy has served on the boards of the Ethicon division of Johnson & Johnson, as well as Gynecare, a medical device company acquired by Johnson & Johnson. He currently serves on the boards of Intuitive Surgical, a public company, and Proteus.