Mark A. Turco, MD is a healthcare and business executive with 30+ years of academic, private, and public sector expertise. Serving in leadership roles across the biomedical and life sciences sectors, Dr. Turco brings a diverse combination of clinical experience, scientific expertise, strategic vision, and operational excellence used to drive invention and innovation, company creation and transformative results. He was selected as the President & CEO for the Rhode Island Life Science Hub in January 2025, an entity expanding the Life Science sector in Rhode Island by fostering innovation, businesses attraction, and company creation.
Prior, Dr. Turco last held President & CEO roles for companies in the Cardiovascular field. He led efforts to bring a dedicated transcatheter aortic device for the treatment of Aortic Regurgitation to patients and physicians. JC Medical was acquired by Edwards Life Sciences July 2024.
Dr. Turco had the privilege of serving as the Chief Innovation Officer for the Penn Center for Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania — across all 12 schools. He was the founder of Penn-Health Tech an organization that brings together Penn’s school of Medicine and Engineering.
Dr. Turco was a practicing Interventional Cardiologist, and the Director, Center for Cardiac and Vascular Research at Washington Adventist Hospital in Maryland, USA, before transitioning to the medical device industry working in operating roles at two-large-cap companies serving as Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the vascular and neuro franchises for Medtronic, Inc. and Covidien, plc. Dr. Turco was instrumental in helping to build out Covidien’s vascular platform, which was subsequently a key component of Medtronic’s $49B acquisition of Covidien.
He has been a resident of the Ocean State for the past 12 years but spent many years in the Philadelphia area and he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.