Nyra Medical Names Lori Chmura as CEO

August 8, 2023—Nyra Medical announced the appointment of Lori Chmura as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Director. Chmura succeeds Murali Padala, PhD, who founded the company and will assume the role of Chief Scientific Officer.

Nyra, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, is developing its next-generation Carlen transcatheter mitral valve repair technology for the treatment of mitral regurgitation. Carlen is designed to preserve the physiological valve geometry while restoring its function and eliminating the risk of stenosis, while preserving a full range of transcatheter and surgical treatments as future options.

According to the company, Chmura has more than 30 years of business leadership experience within several leading medical device companies, including Medtronic, Covidien, and Johnson and Johnson. She has extensive experience in leading and growing medical device businesses in the United States and globally.

Most recently, Chmura served as President and CEO at Soundbite Medical Solutions, a privately held medical device company in Montreal, Canada. At Soundbite, she provided strategic leadership to transform the business resulting in FDA clearance of its device for the treatment of calcific occlusive cardiovascular disease using shockwave energy.

Before Soundbite, Chmura was CEO and member of the Board of Directors Dune Medical Devices. She exited Dune with the sale of the company’s business in April 2020.

“I am honored and excited to join the talented team at Nyra Medical as CEO at this pivotal moment in its journey toward developing the most innovative transcatheter solution to mitral valve regurgitation,” said Chmura. “With the recent funding round as well as compelling pre-clinical data, the Carlen device is designed to safely and effectively correct mitral regurgitation across different valve anatomies, preserving the full range of other transcatheter and surgical treatments as future options.”

She continued, “I also look forward to collaborating with Dr Padala, in his role as Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, as we build a world class leadership team poised to advance the company’s mission of serving the multitude of patients suffering with mitral regurgitation each year.”

In addition to her role at Nyra Medical, Chmura currently serves on the Board of Directors, as a member of the audit committee, of OpSens Inc. She expects her MBA from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, in Spring 2024 and received her BSN in Nursing from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut. In 2017, she was recognized by the Southeast Medical Device Association as its “Woman of the Year.”