Lewarski Jumps From Inogen to Invacare
Invacare Corp. has announced that Joseph S. Lewarski, former vice president of government affairs for Inogen, will join the company as vice president, respiratory products group.
Lewarski will be responsible for all of the company's respiratory and sleep-related activities, including new product development, business development, and creation of sales and marketing programs.
"We are happy to have Joe join the Invacare team," said Carl
Will, group vice president, home medical equipment (HME) division.
"Joe's strong business and clinical experience will make him an asset to growing our respiratory business. He will drive the continued development of our key products, including the HomeFill Oxygen System and Invacare's market leading oxygen concentrators. He also will be responsible for identifying new areas of growth in the sleep and international businesses."
Lewarski has served in numerous management and leadership roles in both the acute care and alternate health care settings, shifting to homecare in 1991. He is a former partner and president/CEO of a large, independent HME/RT and pharmacy operation based in Ohio, which was acquired by Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE-OCR). Following the acquisition, he served six years as the subsidiary president until leaving to join a medical device startup company in late 2004.
In addition, Lewarski has published over two dozen scientific and research papers in peer review, primarily in the areas of oxygen technology and home ventilation, as well as numerous articles, white papers and health care industry commentaries. He has co-developed a number of medical devices, including a nasal CPAP humidifier and oxygen-conserving device and has served as a consultant on respiratory product development and marketing to a number of medical device manufacturers.
"I am very excited to be part of the Invacare team. I have worked with Invacare since 1991, first as an HME customer and later along side them working on industry issues. I have always had a great deal of respect for the company, especially for their strong contributions and commitments to the HME industry," said Lewarski. "I'm looking forward to combining Invacare's immense experience and success in the homecare
business with my respiratory business and clinical background. I truly believe there is a lot of opportunity here."
Visit www.invacare.com.
This article originally appeared in the July 2007 issue of HME Business.