John Sheets, Jr., Ph.D.

Congratulations to Dr. John Sheets who has been appointed as the new director of FDA’s premarket review office for devices. Sheets is a UF alumnus and a former UF BME external advisory board member.

Prior to joining the FDA, Sheets was appointed chief scientific officer of Anika in 2013. Before joining Anika, he was at Boston Scientific, where he was senior vice president, corporate research. At Boston Scientific, he was responsible for revitalizing product development by establishing new global processes, creating worldwide technology strategies, and establishing new product sourcing and development networks with a focus on emerging markets. Before his work at Boston Scientific, Sheets was corporate vice president of R&D and chief technology officer for Bausch and Lomb. Sheets has also served as President of Hoya Surgical Optics and was chief technology officer at ETHICON (Johnson & Johnson). Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at both Alcon Laboratories and IOLAB Corporation (Johnson & Johnson). Sheets holds a B.S. (Zoology) and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville.

Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANIK), a leader in products for tissue protection, healing and repair, based on hyaluronic acid (“HA”) technology, today announced it has appointed John W. Sheets, Jr., Ph.D. as its new Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Sheets joins Anika from Boston Scientific, where he was Senior Vice President, Corporate Research. At Boston Scientific, he was responsible for revitalizing product development by establishing new global processes, creating worldwide technology strategies, and establishing new product sourcing and development networks with a focus on emerging markets.