DeviceTalks Podcast Network

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Senior Editor Conor Hale sits down with Jonathan Vigdorchik, MD, the chief science, technology and medical affairs officer at Zimmer Biomet, we talked about the company’s new pitch for “surgeon-guided autonomy” in robotic orthopedic procedures.

The company aims to build an ecosystem around its robots, implants and analytics platforms that will allow clinicians to predict risks and outcomes, perform precise surgical plans, and track patients’ progress as they recover — with the goal of reducing the total administrative workload and mental burdens on surgeons.

We discussed Dr. Vigdorchik’s journey in m...

The evidence doesn’t always point toward the outcome you hoped for. Leadership means acting on it anyway.

Leadership means being prepared to act on evidence, even when it points toward a difficult decision.

In this episode of the Women in MedTech podcast, Host Kayleen Brown talks with Medtronic’s Linnea Burman, SVP and President of Neurovascular, about her journey from communications and patient storytelling to leading a medtech business. Linnea shares how listening, preparedness, and accountability have shaped her approach to leadership—and why building strong teams and an innovation roadmap are essential to moving...

I hope we're still friends. Be back next week, promise!

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Host Kayleen Brown talks with Joanna Nathan, CEO and Co-Founder of Prana Surgical, about why catching lung nodules earlier requires a right-sized approach to surgical intervention.

Nathan explains Prana’s goal of bringing a lumpectomy approach to lung surgery and how the company is developing its technology to localize and remove nodules while preserving surrounding healthy lung tissue. She distinguishes its initial focus on supporting tissue diagnosis from its longer-term vision of potentially treating lung cancer.

Nathan also shares lessons from Prana’s first-in-human experience in Australia, including how obse...

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Host Kayleen Brown welcomes back Rocco De Bernardis, Global President for Soft Tissue Robotic Surgery at Johnson & Johnson, to discuss the company’s OTTAVA™ Robotic Surgical System.

De Bernardis explains why OTTAVA’s four robotic arms are integrated into the operating table and how the system’s smaller footprint could give surgical teams more room to work while helping hospitals bring robotic surgery to additional operating rooms. He also shares what Johnson & Johnson learned from OTTAVA’s clinical trial, including how the system performed in different operating-room environments and what the company’s...

Better MedTech requires more than one perspective.

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Women in MedTech podcast, Host Kayleen Brown talks with Deanna Harshbarger, CEO of Cala Health, about designing for the whole picture, from patients’ everyday needs to the people, evidence, and business decisions that bring a technology to market.

A chemical engineer turned business leader, Harshbarger shares lessons from her career at Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic, including helping build Boston Scientific’s deep brain stimulation franchise and gaining experience with connected devices and direct-to-patient care at Medtronic.

Now leading Cala...

The strongest MedTech innovation doesn't begin with technology in search of an application. It begins with a problem that matters enough to solve.

In this episode of the Women in MedTech podcast, Host Kayleen Brown talks with Melaine DiLuzio, Vice President of U.S. Sales for Enabling Technologies within Medtronic’s Cranial & Spinal Technologies (CST) unit, about purposeful innovation—and the responsibility to connect every technology investment to a meaningful clinical need. Melaine shares how more than two decades in MedTech sales, including her progression from associate sales representative to executive leadership, have shaped her approach to purp...

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Host Tom Salemi talks with Preceptis Medical CEO Dave Carey about his path from MedTech sales to the corner office.

Carey shares lessons from launching disruptive technologies at Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Stryker and Pristine Surgical, including what he looks for when hiring salespeople and what it takes to change established clinical workflows. Carey also explains why his new role at Preceptis is personal. After his daughter experienced emergence delirium following anesthesia for an ear tube procedure, Carey was drawn to Hummingbird, Preceptis’ technology for moving ear tube procedures out of the OR...

In this episode, MassDevice Editor Chris Newmarker interviews Shan Jegatheeswaran, Global President, Polyphonic, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, about what’s to come after the transformation brought to the operating room by digital surgery and robotics.

Jegatheeswaran reports that a new wave of surgical intelligence could take that transformation much further by connecting devices, data, AI and clinicians across the entire perioperative pathway. Jegatheeswaran explains why the biggest challenges may no longer be technological. Interoperability, economic incentives, governance, change management and trust all have to evolve alongside AI and connected medical devices.

We’ll open the episode with...

In this episode, Host Tom Salemi sits down with Eliane Schutte, CEO of Xeltis, to discuss a remarkable biomaterial designed to help the body grow its own living blood vessels. Schutte explains how the technology is being used for dialysis patients today and how it could eventually transform coronary bypass surgery, peripheral vascular care and even heart valve replacement.

In the FOMO studio, Tom speaks with Katie Grant, VP of MR at Siemens Healthineers North America, about the global helium supply and why the MRI industry is working to reduce its reliance on the increasingly precious gas...

The best leaders do more than set a vision. They know what good looks like—and can help others build toward it.

In this episode of the Women in MedTech podcast, Host Kayleen Brown talks with Jaime LaMontagne, Chief Marketing Officer of Astrin Biosciences, about the leadership skills behind effective MedTech marketing. Jaime reflects on her 18 years at Medtronic, where she held a series of marketing and leadership roles across urology, neuromodulation, cardiac rhythm, and perfusion. She shares how that experience—along with her work at Smiths Medical and Exact Sciences—shaped her approach to communication, commercial strate...

In this podcast episode, Tito Porras, MD, MBA, CEO and co-founder of startup Inner Logic, shares his unusual path to MedTech entrepreneurship with Host Tom Salemi.

Dr. Porras was training to become a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins when he began questioning the limits of surgeon training. He realized that even better training wouldn't solve the larger problem: there aren't enough surgeons to provide the care patients need. That realization eventually led Porras to entrepreneurship and Inner Logic, which is developing intelligence and simulation infrastructure that can help develop devices with greater autonomy.

Porras explains the...

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Host Tom Salemi welcomes Kendra Grubb, MD, vice president and chief medical officer of Medtronic’s Structural Heart business. Dr. Grubb fulfilled her childhood ambition of becoming a cardiac surgeon and an interventionalist.

In this episode, Dr. Grubb discusses how structural heart has transformed over the past two decades and why she believes the field is approaching another major disruption. She explores the future of transcatheter therapies, the growing role of AI, imaging and robotics, the challenge of treating more patients, and how Medtronic is building a broader structural heart portfolio.

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, Mobia Medical CEO Richard Foust explains how the “magical” qualities of the company's neurotechnology helped steer it toward an IPO. Mobia Medical’s implantable pulse generator promotes motor skill recovery in patients who have suffered a stroke. The company’s early commercial success has generated modest revenue, but Foust tells host Tom Salemi that “not all revenue is the same,” explaining why a large, untapped and growing market won over venture capital investors a few years ago and public investors this spring.

MassDevice Editor Chris Newmarker returns with another edition of N...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, we tackle a range of topics related to the surgical robotics industry. In our keynote conversation, Brian Miller, formerly of Intuitive and now CEO of Sovato, discusses the potential of telesurgery, a promising capability of surgical robotic systems that could save lives while reducing costs and improving efficiency across the healthcare system.

In our FOMO interview, Christy Gaudet, global head of solutions at Karl Storz, explains the company's decision to discontinue the Asensus Surgical robotics systems and focus on the often under-appreciated art of imaging. Finally, surgical robotics expert...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, Host Tom Salemi is joined by Harith Rajagopalan, MD, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Fractyl Health. Dr. Rajagopalan explains why Fractyl shifted its focus from treating type 2 diabetes to helping former GLP-1 users maintain their weight loss with Revita, an outpatient endoscopic procedure designed to target the root causes of metabolic disease in the duodenum. He also shares new clinical data, the strategy behind Fractyl's pivotal trial, the company's commercialization plans, and why he believes metabolic endoscopy could become an entirely new category of care.

This episode is brought...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, Managing Editor Kayleen Brown sits down with Johnson & Johnson MedTech Heart Recovery Worldwide President Devi Govender at DeviceTalks Boston.

Govender shares how a deeply personal family experience shaped her mission to transform cardiovascular care. She reflects on Abiomed's integration into Johnson & Johnson, the evolution of heart recovery therapies, and why the industry must shift its mindset from treating "heart failure" to enabling "heart recovery."

The discussion explores patient-centered innovation, AI, clinical evidence, and the power of combining technologies, data, and advocacy to redefine the future of cardiovascular...

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Host Tom Salemi explores the breakthrough technologies—and the unique culture—driving one of MedTech's most ambitious missions with XCATH CEO Eduardo Fonseca. Fonseca shares the remarkable story behind XCATH's first remote robotic stroke procedure. Fonseca recounts the years of preparation, the high-stakes operation, and the emotional moment when a patient facing severe disability walked away with what he calls "a second birthday."

Along the way, Tom and Eduardo discuss AI's growing role in surgery, the global shortage of stroke specialists, the future of robotic intervention, and why expanding access—not simply...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, host Tom Salemi is reassured by his conversation with Joe Catanese, CEO of Calyxo, a urology startup that has developed a system designed to simplify kidney stone removal.

Catanese previously helped build Neotract, a urology startup that was acquired by Teleflex for more than $1 billion. Now, he's leading another potential gamechanger and may have his sights set on an IPO.

Speaking of gamechangers, HistoSonics continues to shatter fundraising expectations. The company recently completed a financing round that valued it at $3.75 billion. In this week's FOMO interview, HistoSonics...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, Host Tom Salemi visits his MedTech happy place — renal denervation — with Recor Medical COO Helen Reeve Stoffer. Reeve Stoffer joined the company shortly before the bottom fell out of the renal denervation market in 2014. This interview picks up from that point and follows Recor's pursuit of FDA approval to where denervation technology may be applied next.

This week’s FOMO features a portion of a keynote interview with Manny Villafaña, MedTech legend and CEO of Medical 21. The conversation took place at DeviceTalks Minnesota and focuses on the dream that sa...

In this episode, Host Tom Salemi is joined by Darla Hutton, Intuitive’s global vice president of cardiac surgery, to discuss the surgical robotics giant’s return to cardiac surgery.

Intuitive famously aimed for the heart at its outset but pivoted when cardiac surgery proved too complicated. Today, heart patients and surgeons are pushing for minimally invasive procedures, and Hutton, a former cardiac surgery OR nurse, has been tapped to lead the company’s push into an increasingly competitive specialty.

But first, Harmonic Drive’s Bill Frey, regional sales engineer, joins us in the FOMO Studio...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, Host Tom Salemi interviews Lisa Earnhardt, Executive Vice President and Group, President, Medical Devices, Abbott.

Earnhardt shared her views on Abbott’s advances in electrophysiology, pacemakers, and other technologies in this interview, which was conducted at DeviceTalks Minnesota.

In our sponsor interview ATL Medical CEO Jim Fitzgerald unpacks the meaning of its Manufacturing for Life philosophy with Managing Editor Kayleen Brown.

For more information go to www.ATLMedical.com. To find the blog mentioned in the interview, go here. 

But we’ll start off w...

In this episode of OlympusTalks, host Tom Salemi is joined by Dr. Davinderbir Pannu, a gastroenterologist practicing at McLeod Health in South Carolina, and Amanda Call, Clinical Education Specialist at Olympus, for a conversation on how endoscopic imaging advancements support clinical decision-making during screening and therapeutic procedures. Together, they discuss real-world experiences using the EVIS X1™ endoscopy system and Extended Depth of Field (EDOF™) technology, with a focus on visualization, clinical efficiencies, and procedural confidence in both routine and advanced GI cases. 

Chapter 1: Meet the Guests 

In this episode, the editorial team shares their highlights and lessons from two great days at DeviceTalks Boston.

Tom Salemi, Kayleen Brown, Chris Newmarker, Jim Hammerand, Sean Whooley and Skyler Rivera highlighted discussions on new technologies, personal stories, Boston’s ecosystem, and the power of MedTech. Joining them on the panel were special guests Saul Marquez of the Outcomes Rocket, Etienne Nichols of Greenlight Guru and Holly Scott of The Mullings Group. 

3:51 – Happy Birthday Kayleen Brown!

5:13 – MassDevice Executive Editor Chris Newmarker – Power of the Personal Story

9:25 - Senior Editor Sean Whooley – Analyzing B...

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Host Tom Salemi speaks with Axoft CEO and co-founder Paul Le Floch about the future of brain-computer interfaces and the material science breakthroughs powering the next generation of neural implants.

Le Floch shares how his background in materials science led to the development of “Fleuron,” Axoft’s soft, flexible implant material designed to better match the brain’s delicate tissue and reduce long-term damage caused by traditional rigid implants. The conversation explores the challenges facing the BCI industry, including device durability, signal stability, and the difficulty of commercializing implantable neurotechnology. Le Floch al...

In this special episode of the DeviceTalks Women in MedTech podcast, Host Kayleen Brown brings listeners inside the 6th Women in MedTech Breakfast held May 4 at DeviceTalks Minnesota for a powerful keynote panel on “The Art of High-Stakes Decision-Making.”

The conversation features Cat Jennings, SVP and President of Vascular Therapies at Boston Scientific; Laura Stoltenberg, President and CEO of Cryosa; and Marcie DeWalt, Chief Human Resources Officer at Provation. Together, they explore what it really takes to lead through uncertainty. From billion-dollar M&A and clinical trial bets to organizational transformations and personal career pivots, the panelists shar...

In this special DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast episode, Host Tom Salemi previews the biggest conversations, technologies, and innovators heading to DeviceTalks Boston on May 27–28 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

First, Tom Salemi and Mike Moore, partner at The Mullings Group, visits with Christian Howell, CEO of Cognito Therapeutics. Howell will be speaking at DeviceTalks Boston about the neuro company’s clinical, fund-raising and partnering success.

Howell also shares insights into Cognito’s partnerships with research institutions and the future of noninvasive therapies for neurodegenerative disease. He’ll be among the many speakers address Innovation & Investment at the c...

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Tom Salemi talks with Wayne Allen, the co-founder and CEO of Perfuze, an Irish company developing a novel new way of blood clot aspiration. Allen and his co-founder already executed one successful exit earlier in their careers. Can they find success again with Perfuze?

This episode is sponsored by DeviceTalks Boston. Go to Boston.DeviceTalks.com to register. Use the code DTW25 to save 25%.

MassDevice Editor Chris Newmarker opens up the podcast with this week’s top stories from the pages of MassDevice – Masimo, Danaher, ResMed, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, and...

In this episode, Host Tom Salemi and Holly Scott, senior partner at The Mullings Group, preview the upcoming DeviceTalks Minnesota agenda. Join us on May 4 at the McNamara Alumni Center!

If you haven’t registered, use the code DTW25 to save 25% off the price of registration, visit https://minnesota.devicetalks.com/.

MassDevice Editor Chris Newmarker also delivers this week’s top newsmakers on the pages of MassDevice—HRS 2026, Johnson & Johnson, Stryker, Medtronic, and Teleflex.

***

Enjoy the show? Follow DeviceTalks Weekly on all major podcast players + Follow us on YouTube.com/@DeviceTalks to ensure...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, SetPoint Medical CEO Murthy Simhambhatla gives listeners an audio glimpse of what attendees at DeviceTalks Minnesota will hear during the Bringing NeuroTechnologies to New Markets panel.

As he explains in this interview, Simhambhatla—an experienced MedTech executive—was initially skeptical of SetPoint’s potential after being invited to lead the company. But the more he read, the more he became convinced the vagal stimulator could help fight inflammation. “Cytokines don’t lie,” he said. Today, SetPoint Medical has FDA approval, is building a commercial plan, and is considering future financing, i...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, Host Tom Salemi interviews Michael Carter, SVP, President, Cranial & Spinal Technologies about the company’s deployment of robotics, AI and other tech.

Managing Editor Kayleen Brown hosts Etienne Nichols, Head of Industry Insights & Education, Greenlight Guru, on this weeks’ FOMO.

MassDevice Editor Chris Newmarker highlights the MassDevice newsmakers – Stereotaxis, Robocath, Prosomnus, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, Avanos Medical, Stryker and Amplitude Vascular Systems.

Thanks to Greenlight Guru for sitting in our FOMO studio! Download its QMSR readiness playbook, it's everything you need to get compliant with QMSR, all in...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Women in MedTech podcast, Host Kayleen Brown sits down with Gaele Lalahy, Chief Operating Officer at Plexāā, to discuss what it looks like to treat patients as true co-designers, not only in product development but across the entire pre-surgery experience.

Lalahy shares the clinical foundation behind BLOOM⁴³, Plexāā’s wearable, at-home device used the night before breast surgery to increase blood flow and support healing through supraphysiological preconditioning, and explains how Plexāā pairs the device with a holistic app that helps patients feel prepared, informed, and supported before and after surgery.

Kayle...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly Podcast, OrthAlign CEO Eric Timko explains how he’s built two successful companies in the wake of surgical robotics’ rise in orthopedics. He also shares sage advice from his father—words that ultimately led him to a career in medical devices.

This episode is sponsored by DeviceTalks Minnesota. Register at Minnesota.DeviceTalks.com and use the code DTW25 to save 25% off registration.

In this week’s Newmarker’s Newsmakers, Host Tom Salemi shares his experience from MedTech Innovator’s Radar Forum. Then he and Chris Newmarker review the biggest news...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, Amaza Reitmeier shares with Host Tom Salemi why she left the company she never thought she’d leave — Medtronic — to lead Pharaoh Neuro, a company developing a novel approach to treating stroke patients by removing harmful blood from cerebrospinal fluid. Reitmeier shares lessons from her own career and her mentors on timing big moves, learning what you don’t know, and why some of MedTech’s biggest opportunities remain hidden in plain sight.

This episode is sponsored by DeviceTalks Minnesota. Register at Minnesota.DeviceTalks.com and use the code DTW25 to s...

In the final episode of AbbottTalks season 3, hosts Tom Salemi and Kayleen Brown sit down with Rebecca Wilkins, divisional vice president of R&D for Abbott’s Neuromodulation business, to discuss the technologies Abbott is advancing for chronic pain and movement disorders.

Wilkins explains how Abbott’s spinal cord stimulation platforms, Proclaim™ DRG Neurostimulation System, and Infinity™ deep brain stimulation system are designed to interrupt errant nervous system signals, helping patients manage conditions ranging from chronic pain and Parkinson’s disease to, potentially, treatment-resistant depression.

The conversation also highlights the features shaping Abbott’s neuromodulation portfolio, i...

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Medtronic’s Blake Tatum, Vice President of U.S. Commercial for Acute Care & Monitoring, joins Host Tom Salemi to unpack the evolving patient monitoring landscape. Tatum shares how Medtronic is integrating sensors, data, and digital health to support clinicians from the ICU to the home, why partnerships are reshaping the competitive playbook, and how lessons from the pandemic are driving a new focus on accuracy, equity, and connectivity in care delivery.

This episode is sponsored by DeviceTalks Minnesota. Go to Minnesota.Devicetalks.com to check out the amazing agenda!

Th...

In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, Distalmotion CEO Greg Roche updates Host Tom Salemi on the surgical robotics company’s commercial roll out of Dexter, a robotic system designed for ambulatory surgery centers. Roche shares the lessons he’s learned after a decade in surgical robotics and why he’s particularly optimistic about his company’s outcome.

You can hear Greg Roche’s first appearance on the podcast right here: https://www.devicetalks.com/why-distalmotions-roche-sees-dexters-small-size-as-big-advantage-in-the-robotics-surgical-market/ 

This episode is sponsored by DeviceTalks Boston. Register at Boston.DeviceTalks.com. Use the code DTW25 to save 25% off the registratio...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, Stephen From, the new CEO of Vicarious Surgical, explains why he jumped the chasm from biotech to lead surgical robotics company Vicarious Surgical. From brings years of experience bringing products to market and he lays out the plan for Vicarious’s single-incision robot to Host Tom Salemi.

Next, Salemi interviews Bill Frey, Regional Sales Engineer, Harmonic Drive, about the unique challenges of surgical robotics. For more information about Harmonic Drive, go to www.harmonicdrive.net.

But we’ll start off with Salemi and MassDevice Editor Chris Newmarker disc...

In this episode of the DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, Jessica Mathieson, president of Stryker’s medical business, takes Host Tom Salemi to the frontlines of healthcare, where hospitals are seeking support for healthcare professionals. Mathieson will explain how the acquisitions of Vocera and Care AI have enabled Stryker to build a comprehensive communications and monitoring tool that can keep nurses safe while improving patient care.

Find Mathieson’s first visit to DeviceTalks here: https://www.stryker.com/us/en/about/news/2022/acute-care-s-mathieson-explains-how-vocera-fits-into-stryker-s-g.html

And as an added bonus, on Monday, March 9th, Stryker announced that it launc...

In this episode, Armor Medical Co-founder and CEO Kelsey Mayo shares her ultimate entrepreneurial journey. Mayo recognized early on that her career needed to make an impact, but the focus of her passion became clear after a frightening experience of her own. Today, she’s CEO of a startup building a wearable device that can serve as an early warning system for hemorrhaging. This could immediately protect the lives of women giving birth and ultimately replace guesswork with irrefutable data. Armor Medical won MedTech Innovator’s top award at AdvaMed in the fall.

This episode is sponsored by D...