
Mastering Medical Device
We help medical device professionals deepen their knowledge of customers, the industry, and their role. Our main objective is to help you become expert in your current position, and through a better understanding of others within your company and the best practices in others in the industry, enable you to fast-track your career.
Latest episodes

Sep 27, 2022 • 1h 1min
Tackling an R&D Project When the "R" is as Large as the "D" with Andrew Buckler
Send us a textAndrew Buckler is the Founder, President and CTO of Elucid, a company that is focused on characterizing placque, with the goal of providing clinicians better information on placque stability, vessel structure, treatment options, and risk factors for cardiac events. In this episode, Andrew shares how to found a company when you have a significant amount of research ahead of you, the importance of understanding biology when designing devices, the evolution of coronary angioplasty, translating research into a product, the importance of staging a project, and the problems Elucid is targeting.Links from this episode:Andrew Buckler LinkedInElucidSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Aug 30, 2022 • 1h 7min
Why You Need to Embrace the New Go-To-Market Strategy with Scott Alexander
Send us a textScott Alexander is the CEO of iVelocity Marketing, and has been on the leading edge of identifying market shifts and building strategies and programs to embrace a new and improved go-to-market strategy. In this episode he shares what providers don’t understand about medical device companies, what we don’t understand about providers, the reasons why the old go-to-market strategy no longer works in medical device, the benefits of using a digital strategy, and why sales will love – and prosper – from embracing this change.Links from this episode:Scott Alexander LinkedIniVelocityJairus Physician Micro-MarketingSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Aug 23, 2022 • 56min
Choosing the Right Problems to Solve and Aligning Your Core Technologies with Stephen Mariano
Send us a textStephen Mariano is Vice President of Global Endosurgical R&D at FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas Corporation. Stephen has a long history of success in research and development for the medical device industry and has helped bring numerous innovative technologies to market. In this episode Stephen shares how a company chooses the types of problems to solve, how to choose a specific problem, leveraging capabilities and core technologies, strategic direction and planning, what to do when a technology you own doesn’t fit in your portfolio, and an overview of FUJIFILM and how they’ve grown their helathcare segment.Links from this episode:Stephen Mariano LinkedInFUJIFILM Healthcare AmericasSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Aug 9, 2022 • 1h 3min
Studying vs. Experiencing Entrepreneurship - Shortening Your Learning Curve with Amit Vohra
Send us a textAmit Vohra is the Founder and CEO of Promaxo, a medical technology company that is commercializing an office-based MRI system. In this episode he shares why entrepreneurs need a support system around them, how culture is really built in a company, identifying good start-up team members, why everyone needs to be a salesperson, working with advisors, the balance between being flexible and holding true to what you believe, and what Promaxo does and why the technology is a game changer. Links from this episode:Amit Vohra LinkedInPromaxoSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Jul 19, 2022 • 1h 4min
Objectively Measuring Motion - A New Frontier with Frank Fornari
Send us a textFrank Fornari is the Founder and Chairman of BioMech, a leading company in motion analytics. In this episode Frank shares information on how our movement can indicate health, injury, decline, disease or neglect; why assessing motion can help to understand if we are getting better or worse over time, or after an intervention or surgery; the BioMech system; options for commercializing a platform technology; and the future of motion analytics.Links from this episode:Frank Fornari BioBioMechSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Jul 12, 2022 • 1h 4min
Patient Preferences and Their Impact on Healthcare Facilities with Amber Schiada
Send us a textAmber Schiada is the Head of Americas Work Dynamic Research at JLL, one of the largest real estate services firms in the world. In this episode she shares the results of their 2022 Patient Consumer Survey and other topics, including the most important consideration in choosing a health care facility, generational differences in healthcare choices, attitudes toward tele-health, differences by geographical region and if you reside in an urban, suburban or rural location, life science hot spots in the US and globally, and trends in the short and mid-term.Links from this episode:Amber Schiada LinkedInJLL2022 Patient Consumer SurveySupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Jul 5, 2022 • 55min
Leveraging Data to Target Customers and Optimize Sales Territories with Skylar Talley
Send us a textSkylar Talley is CEO of MedScout, a company that provides life science companies data and insights to help sales reps and sales managers be more targeted and effective. In this episode Skyler discusses upstream and downstream marketing, bootstrapping a company, why inside sales is becoming more popular, leveraging distributor organizations, why digital marketing should be moving higher on your radar, using data to design territories and target customers, surprising things medical device companies don’t do that are common in other industries, aligning the sales team targets, and how sharing data to with providers can lead to stronger relationships.Links from this episode:Skylar Talley LinkedInMedScoutSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Jun 28, 2022 • 47min
Proven Processes to Simplify and Assure Sales Success - Part 2 with Jim Surek
Send us a textJim Surek is a recognized sales leader whose teams have performed wherever he has been, based on proven sales principles. Jim is currently VP of Sales at Explorer Surgical and is also host of the podcast, Medical Sales Nation. In this episode Jim shares the sales process, including translating engineering language into customer language, aligning the company behind customer messaging, building a learning culture, question-based selling, setting sales targets for a new product, and identifying and segmenting buyer types.Links from this episode:Jim Surek LinkedInMedical Sales Nation Podcast - Apple PodcastsSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Jun 21, 2022 • 41min
Proven Processes to Simplify and Assure Sales Success - Part 1 with Jim Surek
Send us a textJim Surek is a recognized sales leader whose teams have performed wherever he has been, based on proven sales principles. Jim is currently VP of Sales at Explorer Surgical and is also host of the podcast, Medical Sales Nation. In this episode Jim shares how medical sales has changed, why reps have evolved into enterprise salespeople, his mindset of helping to heal our healthcare system, developing a value proposition for a multi-headed customer, commercialization as an initiative, the importance of sales skills, sales training based on real customer knowledge, and how to begin a salesforce in a start-up.Links from this episode:Jim Surek LinkedInMedical Sales Nation Podcast - Apple PodcastsSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!

Jun 7, 2022 • 50min
Understanding Software as a Medical Device with Vivek Thakkar
Send us a textVivek Thakkar has over a dozen years of experience in regulatory affairs for Class II and III medical devices, while at Roche, JUUL, Cardinal Health, and Abbott Vascular. He is also a frequent speaker on software, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Vivek is now focused on start-ups and consults with medical device companies to identify and refine their regulatory strategies in the software as a medical device space.In this episodeVivek shares the definition of software as a medical device, the regulatory requirements during product development, how hardware and software programs are similar and different, working with teams that do not have a medical device background, how changes are made to software products, AI and machine learning and what is being done today vs. what will be coming, and the challenges specific to software products that the industry and regulatory bodies are attempting to overcome.Links from this episode:Vivek Thakkar LinkedInSupport the showConnect with Mastering Medical Device: Website: https://www.masteringmedicaldevice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mastering-medical-device Patrick Kothe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-kothe Patrick Kothe Twitter: https://twitter.com/patrickkothe Support the show for as little as $3/month: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1286645/support Thanks for listening!