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When Michael Ashenuga (MBA ’06) went to work for his new company in 2002, he never imagined that in four years it would spawn a major breakthrough for patients with advanced heart failure. The business was in financial straits and had lost all but one investor. But what it hadn’t lost was a belief in its product and a vision for how it could bring hope to patients with severe heart disease and few treatment options. After regrouping, the company gave itself a new name—Heartware, Inc.—and set about raising capital to test and market its innovative heart pump device. In 2006, Heartware reaped the benefits of its hard work when surgeons at Vienna General Hospital implanted the first heart pump into an Austrian man in his 40s. Ashenuga was on hand for the momentous occasion. “It was an incredibly moving experience to meet our first patient and see that all our efforts had actually made a difference in someone’s life,” Ashenuga said. “We are all really humbled by the experience and by the fact that with this device we are able to help people.” Product targets worldwide problem. According to the World Health Organization, heart disease is the number one cause of death globally. In the United States alone, nearly five million people suffer from heart disease, with 550,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Ashenuga explains that patients who would benefit from the heart pump are those for whom transplantation would be the only other option.
“The need for heart transplants far outweighs the supply,” Ashenuga said, “and the waiting list grows every day. Many people die each year waiting for a transplant.” Heartware estimates that its pump could benefit up to 10,000 people a year worldwide. Ashenuga explains that the pump has been designed both as a short-term bridge to transplant and as a long-term therapy that would allow patients to forego transplants. The company is focusing on the former as part of the process of gaining regulatory approval, but the real goal, Ashenuga said, is to make the pump a permanent solution for heart disease sufferers. “We even are looking at ways in which the pump could be used to help the heart recover,” he said. New degree positions Ashenuga for future success. His engineering background has come in handy at Heartware; he is part of the team that works on the external devices that supply power to the pump. However, he hopes his future with the company will involve a move into marketing, where he’ll have more opportunity to interface with customers. That’s part of why he enrolled in the Evening MBA (EVEMBA) program in the college’s Chapman Graduate School of Business. “I have always enjoyed technology, but I wanted to do something beyond the lab,” Ashenuga said. “I knew the EVEMBA program would help me broaden my background and add to the technical knowledge I already had.” He chose the college’s program for several reasons. “The college is highly ranked; its expertise in international business is top-notch, and the program had the flexibility I needed. To me, it was clearly the best option,” he said. It also helped that his wife, Elizabeth, was enrolled in the MFA writing program at Florida International University. She graduated in 2005. Ashenuga said they both had a great experience at the university. “The faculty is amazing and the breadth of classes is wonderful,” he said. “There is no doubt that the degree will help me advance professionally.” In addition to both career and educational milestones, Ashenuga marked another significant event in his life recently. In August, he and his wife became parents of twins Cecilia and Philip.
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