Medtech Talk

At this year’s Medtech MVP, a panel of industry experts explored how robotics are changing healthcare beyond the operating room. Robotic technologies are being deployed across inpatient care, rehabilitation, logistics, and remote patient support. Moderated by Virginia L. Giddings of Edwards Lifesciences, the panel includes Amanda Baumann of Stryker; Nir Goldenberg of Mayo Clinic Ventures; Kate Jackson Hobbs of Intuitive; and Maggie Nixon of Capstan Medical. Together they discuss the workforce, financial, and reimbursement considerations shaping adoption and how AI advancement will affect the future of robotics. 
Medtech Talk Links: 
Cambridge Healthtech Institute   
Medtech Talk 
Medtech MVP

Edwards Lifesciences:
Edwards Lifesciences 
Stryker:
Stryker 
Mayo Clinic:
Mayo Clinic 
Intuitive:
Intuitive  
Capstan Medical:
Captstan Medical

A discectomy can feel like instant relief until the pain comes back, and the “small” hole in the disc turns into a repeat surgery, degeneration, and lost mobility. Joining the podcast is Greg Lambrecht, founder and executive director of Intrinsic Therapeutics, with host Geoff Pardo to unpack why recurrent lumbar disc herniation is still so common, what surgeons and patients often don’t see downstream, and how his team built Barricaid to address the problem at its source: the annular defect. They also discuss the engineering logic of a bone-anchored barrier and why early “optimal” designs failed inside a body that’s anything but gentle, as well as CMS versus private payer incentives and why trial protocols should be negotiated with reimbursement stakeholders early. 
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LINKS:      
Medtech Talk Links: 
Cambridge Healthtech Institute   
Medtech Talk 
Gilde Healthcare  
Intrinsic Therapeutics Links:
Barricaid

Brian Webster, President and CEO of Kestra Medical Technologies (Nasdaq: KMTS), joins Medtech Talk to discuss his 30-year career in cardiac defibrillation and the road to founding Kestra. With host Swaril Mathur, Webster unpacks learnings from leading through decades of repeated acquisitions, divestitures, and restructurings — and keeping the team motivated through it all. Their conversation explores what it takes to commercialize a rental fleet model with outsourced manufacturing, revenue cycle management, and payer contracts, as well as closing with the decision to IPO and staying steady in volatile markets by focusing on execution fundamentals. Subscribe, share this with a MedTech operator who’s scaling something hard, and leave a rating or review with the leadership lesson that hit you most. 
Medtech Talk Links: 
Cambridge Healthtech Institute   
Medtech Talk 
Gilde Healthcare  
MicroTransponderLinks:
MicroTransponder 
Kestra Medical Technologies:
Kestra Medical Technologies

How do you approach growing and investing? Quentin Blackford, president and CEO of iRhythm Technologies, joins Medtech Talk host Justin Klein to discuss how he took his company beyond traditional monitoring and expanded into the primary care setting, even though many traditional medical device companies don’t have much success in primary care. Blackford shares advice on how to develop expertise and comfort in approaching and embracing technology investment (particularly with AI), as well as his thoughts on how the medtech ecosystem is currently approaching the learning curve and tech adoption.

Medtech Talk Links: 
Cambridge Healthtech Institute   
Medtech Talk 
Gilde Healthcare   
Vensana Capital: 
Vensana Capital 
iRhythm Links: 
iRhythm

How do you evaluate investments and risks? Kate Garret, managing partner at Sonder, and Deborah Kilpatrick, partner at Sonder, share their insights and experiences as entrepreneurs, CEOs, and investors in this episode of Medtech Talk, hosted by Swaril Mathur. They deep dive into the practical realities of entrepreneurship, including the importance of networking, knowing when to keep pushing or pull out of an investment, making hard decisions, and how to conduct a successful shutdown. Garret and Kilpatrick also discuss their mentorship programs and offer advice for aspiring innovators on how to break into the industry.

Medtech Talk Links: 
Cambridge Healthtech Institute   
Medtech Talk 
Gilde Healthcare  
MicroTransponderLinks: 
MicroTransponder