Podcasts about medical alley

Hyedi Nelson, the Director of Health Strategy at Bellmont Partners and an award-winning strategic health communications leader, shares her journey from studying mass communication to becoming an expert in medtech communications. She discusses the importance of storytelling, building trust, and collaborating with various stakeholders, including engineers and regulatory bodies. Hyedi also touches on the evolution of social media in the medtech space and offers insights on fostering creativity while staying compliant.    Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hyedinelson/ | https://bellmontpartners.com/health-and-medical-public-relations/  Charity supported: Equal Justice Initiative  Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at theleadingdifference@velentium.com.  PRODUCTION CREDITS Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen Producer: Velentium Medical   EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Episode 071 - Hyedi Nelson Lindsey Dinneen: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Lindsey, and I'm talking with medtech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world. Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating, and so are the people who work with them. Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives. Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives, and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives, Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives. Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is the Leading Difference. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I'm delighted to introduce you to my guest, Hyedi Nelson. Hyedi is an [00:01:00] award-winning strategic health communications leader with deep experience partnering with MedTech companies of all sizes and stages, with a special affinity for working with entrepreneurial startup companies. She has dedicated her career to leveraging her strategic communication skills and expertise to help improve health outcomes. Hyedi is the Director of Health Strategy at Bellmont Partners, a full service PR and communications agency where she helps medtech organizations navigate and communicate around complex crisis situations and mergers and acquisitions, launch breakthrough technologies, raise capital, drive clinical study patient enrollment, and ultimately position themselves effectively with key partners and interested parties, including investors, healthcare providers, current and prospective employees, media, and patients and caregivers. All right, Hyedi, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here today. Hyedi Nelson: Thank you for having me. Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. I would love, if you wouldn't mind starting off by sharing just a little bit about yourself, your background, and what led you to medtech.[00:02:00] Hyedi Nelson: Sure. Absolutely. So my name is Hyedi Nelson. I'm currently the Director of Health Strategy at Bellmont Partners. We're a full service communications and PR agency located in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, which I'm sure you're well aware, that's considered Medical Alley. My whole background, my whole career has been spent in health and medtech communications. So, I kind of gotten to that area and just really fell in love with it. I guess the backstory on that, I was graduating undergrad from the University of Minnesota in mass communication and still kind of didn't really know what I wanted to do and timing-- I'll date myself here-- but that was around 2008 and so if you recall, it's kind of a tough time, you know, in the economy and a lot of my friends who were graduating were having a hard time finding a job. And around the same time I ended up just kind of looking for a class to take to fill some re remaining requirements for graduation. And I took a health [00:03:00] theory class and I just like became obsessed with health and I started to think, well, maybe there's something there. And the professor of that class actually shared with me that they had a two year master's MA program that was like a joint program between the School of Journalism and the School of Public Health. And so you've got this really nice combination of you know, communication theory and how to create, you know, more communication strategies and influence public health, but you also got a really good overview of the healthcare field as well as some basic knowledge in like epidemiology and biostats to like really give you the tools you need to do a good job as a healthcare communicator. So I ended up applying for that and finishing out that program and kind of positioning myself in a better place a couple years later to graduate and look for employment. So during that time, I was asked to participate on a Social Media for Healthcare panel. [00:04:00] So at the time it was like social media was super new to healthcare. They were really far behind, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And I met someone who was PR professional and I was not super familiar with the world of prPR but we started talking and she shared that they were really looking to expand their health and MedTech practice within the, within their agency. And kind of one thing led to another and I applied and started working there, and the rest is history there. That's kind of what I've been doing ever since. Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. So first of all, thank you for sharing a little bit about that. There's so much I kind of wanna dive into. But I'm curious, was journalism and marketing and those kinds of interests were, did you have those, you know, growing up? Or was this something that developed in college, or how did that all come about? Hyedi Nelson: I think for me, just the love of writing, first and foremost, was what really did it for me. I read a lot, so I was always just [00:05:00] like really amazed that people could, like, use words to, you know, make you transport yourself into this other place, or get you to take some sort of action. It seemed like kind of a magical thing. And then you know, just going through school and everything, I realized that like my skillset definitely wasn't like math or that side of things and was really drawn more to the the writing piece of it all. So, I thought about, "Do I wanna be an English major?" Do I, I actually went into college wanting to go into the music industry and did an internship for a record label-- I suppose that's another story for another day-- but ended up deciding an English major, wasn't sure I what I wanted to do with that. And so, trial and error kind of decided that communications more broadly, you know, whether it's journalism or strategic communications felt like it would be a really good fit for kind of where my interests lied. Lindsey Dinneen: Nice. Yeah. And so-- okay, well what's funny is I actually did wanna dive a little bit. So we're gonna, if we can take a [00:06:00] very quick detour into the music aspect, because I did notice on your LinkedIn that's something you still do, is you actually help musicians-- is that correct-- with some of their PR and marketing? Hyedi Nelson: Yeah. I, a couple years ago started my own consulting side hustle thing where I really use, you know, my skills that I do like in my full-time job and a communication strategy and promotion and publicity and project management to help independent artists, just because I have a lot of friends and my partners a musician. And I see kind of the struggles that they go through with how the industry is, is really like how it exists and how the payment structures aren't there and it's really hard for them to make a living as well as the fact that they're expected to like not only be a super creative person who's putting like this music out into the world, but also like a business person and a marketer and, you know, all those things. [00:07:00] So, kind of doing that to like merge all of my passions together and do something kind of fun and different than what I do, you know, during the day. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. No, I love that. I love that. Especially because I don't know if we've talked about this before-- it's, I know we've had a few different conversations before this-- but yeah, i'm also a professional ballerina and so I understand. Stand having the two sides of, you know, the art, the artist and the medtech enthusiast and sort of the both worlds. So I just I love that you do both too. Hyedi Nelson: There's gotta be some sort of like where that helps us in our job somehow, like having that too. I don't know, but I think so, yeah. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. I think part of it is, you know, creative problem solving and, you know, sort of the skill sets that are learned. Are you a music musician yourself? Hyedi Nelson: I mean, I am not very good at it, Okay. I do play, yes. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And so I think a lot of the, of it comes from the [00:08:00] discipline of having, you know, grown up learning some kind of an artistic endeavor because it's, there's so much discipline that goes into it. There's so much you have all of these skill sets that you're learning. And anyway, I don't wanna get too far off on the tangent, but that is one thing that I do think it helps honestly. But yeah. So, okay. So back to your career. So now you are working with Bellmont Partners, and can you just share a little bit about what your day-to-day kind of looks like helping these medtech, health, tech life science companies succeed? Hyedi Nelson: Sure. Yeah. I mean, every day can be wildly different than the last. But in my role, I really, I've been with the agency now for about 12 years and we've really grown tremendously our business in this space because I think one, there just continues to be like more of a need for our services in this area, but also I think, we've just uncovered so many more like [00:09:00] areas and places where our team that works on our health and medtech accounts specifically are like super passionate about and we just like wanna do more and more. But I would say day to day I work with a number of companies that are in, you know, early stage or more in the startup phase. So a lot of my work is helping them, you know, develop and execute communication strategies that you know, look really different than companies that are at a later stage. So we're focused more on things that are really educating the market or priming the market for you know, once they have FDA clearance or helping with patient enrollment and clinical studies sharing their story in a way that will resonate to really position them for the next step, either raising another round of financing or, you know, maybe positioning themselves for a specific type of exit, or even doing work that helps them start to recruit, you know, potential employees that they're looking to hire. So. That's a lot of [00:10:00] what I do. And that can, the actual tactics that kind of align with that can be, you know, connecting with members of the media and then trying to tell those stories through those outlets and those vehicles, supporting trade show, you know, if some of my clients have a booth at a trade show are gonna be at the podium finding the way to really leverage that big investment of their time and resources. You know, a lot of storytelling, a lot of interviewing, key opinion leaders and experts, which is one of my favorite things to do. And then taking that content and using it, you know, in a lot of different ways to help them reach their goals. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Excellent. And so, you know, medtech and health tech, all of that is just such a heavily regulated industry for very good reason. Now, when you are on the PR side and the marketing side, it's a very different animal, say, then, you know, other types of PR for other industries basically. And so I'm wondering how do you navigate being [00:11:00] cognizant of all of the regulations and being compliant with all of that, with your storytelling and perhaps, you know, wanting to share more, I suppose. Hyedi Nelson: Yeah, I have so many thoughts around this topic. It's actually funny, I'm working on an event that Bellmont Partners is putting on in the spring that's gonna like tackle that exactly. It's about like infusing creativity into medtech marketing while being compliant, basically. So exactly what you're asking about. Part of, I think my answer to this question starts with the fact that I worked for a couple years for an integrated nonprofits' healthcare provider and payer and I worked on their individual Medicare plans. And so everything I was doing needed to be reviewed and approved by CMS. And I think working in that space and within those types of constraints really [00:12:00] primed me for being able to like be as creative as possible without like sacrificing anything that would make them fall out of regulation or compliance. I will say that a lot of it has come from experience seeing different things and just learning what the guidelines are and what's okay and what's not. I love to get really close and have a great working relationship with my clients' regulatory folks. And I think sometimes there's a little bit of like tension between marketing and those folks. And I've seen that. But you know, if you really keep in mind like that, what they're trying to do and they're doing their jobs and and knowing when it, you know, it might be appropriate to push back or trying to work together collaboratively, you can still come out with a really great product. And then I think we as an agency, just at the end of the day, like, we don't wanna get a warning letter. We don't want our clients to get a warning letter. And so, we just always have that in mind and [00:13:00] and know that like at different stages that the company is in, we're able to say different things. So early on, we might need to be a little bit softer in our language and only talk about certain things, but knowing that down the road we'll be able to say more, is also helpful. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, I think that's great advice, and I think it's, it's helpful to know that there are ways to do that. I love the fact that you collaborate so well with the regulatory people. I think that makes so much sense. I, and actually that brings up a really good point I wanted to ask you about too, is just in general with-- especially with this industry-- I feel like when you're doing marketing and PR, that collaboration within the company itself is so critical. So you're not just necessarily speaking-- and please correct me if you have a different experience-- but you're not just necessarily speaking to the marketing people, but hopefully if you have the opportunity, you're also speaking to the engineers and many different facets of the company. [00:14:00] And one thing that I've always really enjoyed the challenge of, and I'm curious about your take on it, is how do you translate sort of that engineering speak, the scientific speak-- which is really important to include as well-- but how do you translate that into, again, storytelling and messaging that might resonate with a broader audience than a highly, you know, technical background might have? Hyedi Nelson: That's a really great question, and what I spent a ton of my time doing is figuring out just that. We love and I love-- especially when we're first starting out with a new client, but we do this kind of on an ongoing basis-- is getting a bunch of people around a table that might not necessarily sit around a table. And that can either be an actual table or like, you know, how we're talking right now. And, we try and have a good representation of all of those different voices, like you're talking about. Members, you know, they're out in the field and they're, you know, more of like on the sales side of things as well as those engineers, as well [00:15:00] as, you know, maybe that, you know, an end user, maybe a patient, if that's possible, in addition to leadership, marketing and the other folks that you'd expect us to be talking to. And we play that third party role of asking questions, hearing the different ways that people that all work for the same company answer the questions differently because, you know, they have different perspectives and you know, different priorities. And I think one thing that I feel like I've developed a skill around is being able to like hear all of that and take all of that into consideration 'cause it's all very valid, but then pull out the pieces that ultimately you know, get at what we've heard or the company's objectives. And so I think then taking that and then applying it, whether it's distilling down technical information into digestible language, or if it's just, even just tweaking it to pull out like things and prioritize [00:16:00] it differently because certain audiences obviously care about certain things more than others. I think part of it is just putting yourself in those audience's shoes and thinking about what they care about. And it seems like kind of obvious, but it's not like everyone is working on so many different things and there's so many different competing priorities that feel like that's kind of where myself and my team, like we really provide value because we're able to like come in and take that perspective and do that. And then of course, you know, making that a collaborative process as well. So making sure I didn't dilute the messaging too much and really working with those subject matter experts to make sure, like explaining, "Yeah, we can't say it that way because they won't understand it, but does this, is this what I'm saying, still accurate?" And having those kinds of conversations, and sometimes it takes a little while. You know, I found out that engineers, scientists, you know, these really brilliant, you know, medical professionals, like, they're so smart and they've gone [00:17:00] to a ton of school and they do this every day, like they are the experts. And so when I'm coming here being like, "No, we don't wanna say it that way," like, I think, like, I understand why there's like a little bit of hesitation on their part to just be like, "Okay." So really trying to like communicate why, you know, the why behind things. And make sure that they know that, you know, we're all working towards the same goal and just trying to figure out the best way to get there. Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, I love that. Yeah, I think building that trust that, you know, also on some level, their baby, so to speak, is in good hands. You know, you care just as much-- maybe not just as much, but you do, you, I'm sure that you take on a kind of ownership in, you know, with your clients and their success, and you want them to be able to talk about these amazing innovations they're producing. So being able to build that trust in that room with all those people is such a critical part, but I think it makes a [00:18:00] profound difference. Hyedi Nelson: Absolutely. Yeah, totally agree. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. So, you know, you mentioned kind of at the beginning a little bit about social media, and I'm curious how you've seen the evolution of it in terms of specifically for your clients and for, you know, the health tech, biotech, medtech industries in general. How have you found that companies can actually leverage it in a way that makes sense since it's so niche and they're not necessarily going to need to be on every platform? Hyedi Nelson: Yes, and it changes like every day, I feel like, the rules and the best practices and how you measure things. I think that what we've found for our clients and for this space that works the best is starting off by using social media as a listening tool. And trying to, we call it an audit, but like really just trying to get a, like a lay of the land before [00:19:00] diving into anything or adjusting anything. So oftentimes, what I think is the most helpful to inform a good social media strategy for a specific company is by taking a look at, you know, what others in their space are doing, what maybe their competitors are doing, where their key audiences are spending their time. And being able to pull some insights from that kind of research can be really valuable in deciding what platforms they actually need to be on, what type of content is gonna resonate, how much they actually do need to post. And those kinds of things because it's so different from company to company. You know, for example, our clients that are in the urology space, like there's a ton of urologists on, you know, formally Twitter now X, it's just remarkable. But a lot of, you know, when we work maybe in more in the neurology space, it's not so much so, you know, so [00:20:00] it's you can't just go in assuming anything basically. And then I think the other thing is like not taking a set and forget it approach. So like once you start, you say, "Okay. This company, we think LinkedIn makes the most sense for you because you're really focusing on you know, speaking with investors or potential employees. And here are the things that you should be talking about right now." But then knowing that like that's not always gonna be the goals and that's not always gonna be the things that are resonating. And you might start looking at metrics and realize that like maybe what you thought wasn't quite right. So having some humility and being able to like, keep an eye on that and make informed, you know, recommendations to change course if you need to, I think is really important. And that's kind of the approach that we take for, you know, most of our clients when we're talking about social media. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And what an interesting example about urologists and X, like I, I didn't know that either. So that's such a cool example that, you know, like you [00:21:00] said, research is so critical and trying things and being willing to, to change if it doesn't work. You know, being willing to take those risks, so to speak, although that's kind of a over little bit too strong of a word. But to take those opportunities and see what resonates and what doesn't. Yeah, so, I'm curious, so when you are engaging with a potential client, what are some things that you want to make sure is a good fit for both parties? And then I guess alongside that, when should a startup company or a medtech company engage with you? Hyedi Nelson: That's a really fantastic question. A few thoughts come to mind. I think in terms of fit, this would probably be different if you were talking to, you know, other consultants or agencies. But for us specifically, we really like to be very [00:22:00] collaborative and be seen as a partner to our clients. And I think both parties get the most value out of it when that approach is taken. So, we always say it's kind of cheesy, but like Bellmont Partners, like "partners is more than just a part of our name," but it's true. And I think that actually works really well in most cases because a lot of our clients, especially the startups, are very lean teams and maybe we are their marketing team or maybe they have one person and they aren't able to hire anyone else yet. And so, you know, by default we really do become that extension of the team. But it's, you know, of course always great when they invite us to be at the table for certain conversations or you know, kind of understand the bigger picture, strategy and business objectives, because it really does help us do our jobs better and be able to connect more dots and bring up things and ask questions that maybe others, just because they're so in it from day to day, might not see. You know, and for them, I think, you [00:23:00] know, obviously they need to be okay with that and comfortable with that. And I think that thing you talked about earlier, that really important piece about trust is you know, something that might-- obviously trust needs to be built and it's something that can take some time-- but once we get to that point, it's like that's when everything just works a lot better and fits really well. So, and then, throughout the years, I think we've started working with companies earlier and earlier than we have in the past. And I think that's for a number of reasons. One, I think companies are starting to understand the importance of that. And I think just the way that, you know, the changing in the way investing is being done and other things that need to kind of happen early on or setting that exit strategy and figuring out how communications plays a role in that early on is just becoming more and more important. I think, from the very beginning is great. I mean there, you know, there needs to be some funding [00:24:00] available, but, you know, we've worked with companies with, you know, just some seed funding, and I think because we're so passionate and because we like wanna be able to build that relationship early on, like oftentimes we will like work in maybe a different way than we would work with other clients, where it's just to "call us when you need us" kind of thing. And you know, maybe we just consult with you and answer some questions and then you can execute. We, you know, we just at the end of the day want them to be so successful that like, that's okay. So, really there's not a time that's too early at least even just have a conversation. So that's what I would say about that. Lindsey Dinneen: That's great. Yeah, I mean, I think also starting off on the right foot, to be frank, is a huge thing. So if there's the ability for a company to engage with you as early as possible, it's just gonna set them up for success because there's so much value that you all bring to the table. So I'm [00:25:00] also wondering, are there any moments that stand out to you that, you know, along your career path helping these clients just really reinforce the idea that, "Wow, I am in the right industry at the right time." Hyedi Nelson: Oh, I feel like I'm still like, I have those moments, like every day still, it's, which is why I am still doing this. I guess, I suppose one moment in particular stands out to me. It was like very early on in my career when I was still like even trying to figure out probably honestly like what PR was. But I had the opportunity to sit in on an interview between this amazing entrepreneur, inventor, and a health reporter with a, you know, major daily newspaper. And he was explaining how he came up with the idea for the technology that he created and was in the process of, you know, trying to develop into something that was [00:26:00] gonna go to market. And, you know, he's telling this incredibly personal story about his family and how it affected them directly and how he kind of made it his life's mission to focus on finding a cure and a better solution that was than what was currently available. And it was like this moment where everything clicked, it was like so powerful. I was like, overcome with a million different emotions. And then I was also like, "I am helping tell this story" and that felt really great too. And so I think that was really powerful. And then, yeah, like moments like that happen all the time where, you know, when my clients get FDA approval and you know, something that they've been working on for so long and, you know, I played a very tiny role in that. But like, it's, that is very cool, and that is a very real confirmation that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yes. I could not agree more. I totally relate to the-- you know, I'm not the engineer [00:27:00] who's creating this incredible product. I'm not the scientist who's vetting it. I'm not, you know-- but I, I do get to, to help tell the story and that feels really cool to get to play a part. So, yeah. Hyedi Nelson: We're so lucky, aren't we? Lindsey Dinneen: I know. I know. Yeah. Okay, so pivoting the conversation a little bit, just for fun. Imagine that you were to be offered a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything you want. It can be within your industry, but it doesn't have to be. What would you choose to teach? Hyedi Nelson: I feel like there's a couple areas I'd probably focus in on. I think one is more around like more specific to like what I do in my job every day, or even just like how I approach my job and the world, I guess is like-- always looking for connections or dots that can connect. I think even when it does not seem like it is possible, like it probably is. And so [00:28:00] teaching people how you might be able to connect those dots and then, like, why that's important. Whether it's making a connection to someone who, you know, might be looking for something you have to offer or maybe it's oh, there's this weird connection to this investor of this product that like all of a sudden like this new collaboration could be formed that you had never thought of before. It works in so many different ways and I feel like, that is something that like, I feel like I've gotten really good at over the years and would be really like, really fun to share that with other people because it makes me really excited. And then I think the other thing is more about, so I like to really, I like to speak to college students. I will oftentimes like do guest lecturing at some of the local universities and typically what I'm talking about is like my career path or you know, what the field is like in general or what it's like to work at an agency or that kind of [00:29:00] thing. And I think that being able to teach some sort of masterclass on how to develop confidence-- or even if it's not totally real and you're kind of faking until you make it-- but of being comfortable being in a room that you might not feel like you deserve to be. And I think that can be applied in so many different places. So like for me over the years, especially working with startups, I find myself in rooms with, you know, physicians with a bunch of letters after their name and they, you know, like performed all of these major surgeries, or I'm with, you know, CEOs of companies who've also founded, you know, dozens of other companies and sold them. And people that on paper and sometimes in person are very intimidating. But like at the end of the day, I'm being hired to do my job for a certain reason. And it took me a long time to be able to get [00:30:00] there to that point and realize that and be able to be like, "Yes, I should be in this room." And now I can do my job better now that I feel that way. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, I love that so much. And I think, and I very much relate to that. I very much understand where you're coming from. I think a lot of people probably struggle with that at some point during their career. You know, imposter syndrome is super real. And I also think that one of the things that I've found for me is really helpful is to be curious and if you're curious, that makes such a difference 'cause you're asking good questions and "Yeah, I'm not the expert, like you're the expert at X, Y, and Z, but I am the expert in the room with this really niche thing." But still being able to say, "I don't know anything about this, can you please educate me?" is-- it can be really helpful too in, in navigating those otherwise uncomfortable rooms to be in. [00:31:00] Did you find that as well? Hyedi Nelson: Oh, absolutely. But like, you just put it way more eloquently. Yeah, that's really great advice. And I think it just, it sets the tone and like the environment in like a very safe way that I really love. And yeah, like we're all communicators and journalists and, you know, marketing strategists, like most of us come from a place of curiosity anyway, so really leading into that makes a ton of sense. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Love it. And how do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world? Hyedi Nelson: I mean, gosh, like hopefully people thought I was nice. I, you know, it would be amazing to have people think about me in that I really cared about others and really cared about making a difference. And whether that's through my profession, but you know, also in how I'm [00:32:00] raising my child or how I'm spending my, you know, free time and volunteer work and that kind of thing. I hope that's what really shines through. And you know, maybe some of the things that, you know, you aren't as proud of people just kind of forget that conveniently. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, I, yes, I understand. Yeah. And then final question, what is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it? Hyedi Nelson: I have two answers I think for this. So, professionally, I would say I worked with a hearing aid manufacturer for a while, and part of what we did is tell some of the stories that they would do on the philanthropic side. And I-- there are things that you just don't think about until all of a sudden it's right there in front of you. And one of the things like [00:33:00] I didn't, I guess I just didn't realize, was like how powerful and impactful someone not being able to hear, to being able to hear like what that looks like and how that can be. So, what we would often do is pitch local media in certain areas about someone being gifted hearing aids, and then there would be, like a news story would be the deliverable there, and and it would be like this moment of someone being able to hear again. And there were a couple instances where it was like a child hearing their mom's voice for the first time. And like, obviously like I was also crying, but like smiling and I can, if I need to smile, like I can just like cue that up in my memory and it makes me smile. And then my other answer is like, anytime I see any sort of living creature of any kind, basically like if I'm on a walk and there's like a caterpillar, like I smile and I get very excited. So that's probably the other [00:34:00] one. Lindsey Dinneen: I love both of those answers so much. Yeah, those videos of especially the child hearing their mom for the first time or something like that. Oh my goodness. I'm just like, "Did I need to cry today? I guess I did!" But also it makes me smile and also every little living creature, so yeah. I, I love that so much. Well, this has been an amazing conversation and I really appreciate your time today and I am so excited about, you know, where you are heading professionally. In fact, I feel like I saw on your LinkedIn profile, you just won an award, didn't you? 2025 Women in Business something? Hyedi Nelson: That was, that was a very cool, unexpected thing. Yes, the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, our local business journal, has a Women in Business list, and one of my colleagues was kind enough to nominate me and I was selected and got to do the whole you know, award ceremony and, you know, remarks and [00:35:00] it's been great. It's been, I've met so many really amazing people through that experience, so. Lindsey Dinneen: Love it. Well, congratulations on that, and I am delighted to continue to stay in touch and, you know, follow everything that you're doing. But thank you so much for your time today, and thank you so much for everything you're doing to just change lives for a better world. Hyedi Nelson: Well, and likewise, thank you for this podcast existing. It's so wonderful and you're such a great host and and keep up your amazing work as well. Lindsey Dinneen: Thank you. All right. Thank you so much and thank you to our listeners, and if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, please share this episode with a colleague or two and we'll catch you next time. Dan Purvis: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium Medical. Velentium Medical is a full service CDMO, serving MedTech clients worldwide to securely design, manufacture, and test class two and class three medical [00:36:00] devices. Velentium Medical's four units include research and development pairing electronic and mechanical design, embedded firmware, mobile app development, and cloud systems with the human factor studies and systems engineering necessary to streamline medical device regulatory approval, contract manufacturing, building medical products at the prototype, clinical and commercial levels in the US as well as in low cost regions, in 1345 certified and FDA registered Class VII Clean Rooms, cybersecurity generating the 12 cybersecurity design artifacts required for FDA submission, and automated test systems assuring that every device produced is exactly the same as the device that was approved. Visit velentiummedical.com to explore how we can work together to change lives for a better world.

On September 30, Medical Alley hosted Women in Health Leadership, bringing together an extraordinary group of leaders for connection, reflection, and growth. The featured speaker was Sheri Dodd, CEO of Tactile Medical. Sheri is a seasoned executive with vast experience in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and digital health sectors. She is widely respected for her insight, integrity, and perspectives on healthcare transformation and leadership and offered lessons in leadership and inspiration to pursue bold ideas and meaningful change in your work.Send us a message! Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Recorded live at the Medical Alley 2025 Summit!Ash Shehata is a highly experienced healthcare professional at the cutting edge of information technology (IT) advances in the sector. In a career spanning over 25 years, Ash has worked for some of the world's leading IT and consulting firms, using technology to drive improvements such as telemedicine, e-commerce, membership systems, customer service and healthcare management.In 2023, Ash was featured on the cover of Healthcare Everything representing KPMG as one of the top 10 most trusted consulting firms in the industry. He has also authored various thought leadership pieces such as Healthcare 2030, on the board agenda, the role of Gen AI in healthcare, reimaging the healthcare workforce, M&A trends, and cloud migration.Send us a message! Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Medical Alley is a powerhouse in global healthcare innovation, connecting startups and Fortune 100 companies to transform healthcare solutions. Headquartered in Minnesota, it's one of the world's largest medtech clusters.At the 2024 MedTech Conference in Canada, MTPConnect and Medical Alley renewed an MOU to strengthen collaboration and support for Australian medtech companies looking to expand internationally.Now, Medical Alley is launching a game-changing online training program, Medical Alley Academy, designed to help innovators move into the US market - a great opportunity for Australian companies to tap into.Joining Caroline Duell to talk about this exciting initiative are Medical Alley CEO Roberta (Bobbie) Dresson and MTPConnect CEO Stuart Dignam.What's in this episode?·       How Medical Alley is shaping the future of medtech·       The changing trends and challenges in the US medtech ecosystem·       All about Medical Alley's new online Academy training ·       Key opportunities for Australian medtech companies to expand to the U.S.Tune in for expert insights and actionable advice for taking your medtech innovation global!

Recorded live at the Medical Alley 2025 Summit, this panel discussion explores the landscape of women's health from many angles and how it goes far beyond so-called bikini medicine.Featuring: Roberta Antoine Dressen (President & CEO, Medical Alley), Stephanie Sassman (Portfolio Leader, Women's Health, Genentech), Kathy Tune (Co-Founder & Board Chair of Marani Health, Managing Partner at Capita3), and Joe Connolly (Co-Founder & CEO, Visana Health).Send us a message! Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

Recorded live at the Medical Alley 2025 Summit, this panel discussion explores how innovation is driving efficiency, enabling transformative solutions, and redefining care delivery models to meet the evolving needs of patients and healthcare systems.Featuring: Jodi Hubler (Board Director, Gratum Ventures), Will Geist (President, Protein Sciences Segment, Bio-Techne), Jaclyn Wainwright (Co-Founder & CEO, Aircare Health), John Rondoni, (Chief Technology Officer, Inspire Medical Systems), Dr. Jeremy Cauwels, (Chief Medical Officer, Sanford Health)Send us a message! Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

On this episode of The Medical Alley Podcast, we welcome Peter Glessing, Medical Alley's Senior Director of Government Affairs & Communications, to discuss election results at both the state and federal level. Peter offers insights into how the evolving political landscape may impact Medical Alley Partners, the broader ecosystem, and key policy priorities. He discusses what these shifts could mean for the future of healthcare innovation and business growth in Minnesota.  Send us a message! Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

In this episode of Medsider Radio, we sat down with Steffen Hovard, CEO of Neuspera Medical, where his team is developing a novel, less invasive device that uses neuromodulation to treat conditions like overactive bladder.Previously, Steffen spent two decades at Coloplast, where he held various senior leadership roles that contributed to the company's growth, including the acquisition of a Minneapolis-based urology business in 2005. With deep expertise in the space, he has consistently driven growth and innovation across multiple functions, positioning himself as a leader of leaders in medtech, with board roles at Medical Alley and AdvaMed.In this interview, Steffen talks about confirming market fit before investing, building an early network for key hires and investors, aligning development speed with each phase, engaging with regulators early, and taking a steady, relationship-driven approach to fundraising.Before we dive into the discussion, I wanted to mention a few things:First, if you're into learning from medical device and health technology founders and CEOs, and want to know when new interviews are live, head over to Medsider.com and sign up for our free newsletter.Second, if you want to peek behind the curtain of the world's most successful startups, you should consider a Medsider premium membership. You'll learn the strategies and tactics that founders and CEOs use to build and grow companies like Silk Road Medical, AliveCor, Shockwave Medical, and hundreds more!We recently introduced some fantastic additions exclusively for Medsider premium members, including playbooks, which are curated collections of our top Medsider interviews on key topics like capital fundraising and risk mitigation, and a curated investor database to help you discover your next medical device or health technology investor!In addition to the entire back catalog of Medsider interviews over the past decade, premium members also get a copy of every volume of Medsider Mentors at no additional cost, including the latest Medsider Mentors Volume VI. If you're interested, go to medsider.com/subscribe to learn more.Lastly, if you'd rather read than listen, here's a link to the full interview with Steffen Hovard.

As thousands in the medical technology sector headed to Toronto, Canada for The MedTech 2024 Conference, MTPConnect was making sure that the 18 companies and organisations joining the Australian delegation were given opportunities to showcase their capabilities and make valuable US and international connections with a stopover in the medtech hub of Minnesota, before hitting Toronto.In this podcast special from North America, our MTPConnect CEO Stuart Dignam caught up with Kylle Jordan from Destination Medical Centre at the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester Minnesota ahead of the Medtech conference to find out more about the 20-year initiative underway to expand the hospital precinct as a global medical care destination.Then it was on to the three-day MedTech Conference. MTPConnect signed an MoU with Medical Alley and Stuart talks with their new president and CEO Roberta Dressen about working together to foster global partnerships in health technology.Stuart was on the ground at the Australian Pavilion and caught up with some of Australia's medtech movers and shakers including iYarn's Founder and CEO Lockie Cooke, University of Melbourne's Principal Research Fellow, Optometry and Vision Sciences, A/Prof Lauren Ayton, Materia Health's Founder, Dr Emily Zhen as well as the delegation's major supporter, Global Victoria's Carolin McCaffrey.   The Team Australia delegation was supported by our major sponsor the Victorian Government, through Global Victoria and Invest Victoria, as well as support from NSW Health and AusBiotech.

Host Bob Traynor sits down with Brandon Sawalich, President and CEO of Starkey, as he celebrates his 30th anniversary in the hearing industry. Brandon reflects on his journey from working summer jobs at Starkey to ultimately leading the company. He shares how hands-on experiences with hearing aids shaped his perspective, emphasizing the importance of teamwork, leadership, and curiosity. Brandon considers his greatest accomplishment to be the team he has built at Starkey and highlights his vision for the future of hearing care, focusing on AI and technological advancements to enhance both hearing and overall quality of life. Under Brandon's leadership, Starkey has pioneered the integration of sensors and AI in hearing aids, establishing the company as a leader in technical innovation. His extensive experience, having held ten positions at Starkey before becoming CEO, has given him a deep understanding of the industry. Committed to exceptional customer service, Brandon's approach combines customized service, professional evaluation, and cutting-edge technology, earning him the 2023 Executive of the Year award in the Excellence in Customer Service Awards. Beyond Starkey, Brandon serves on the George W. Bush Presidential Center's Executive Advisory Council, Medical Alley's Board of Directors, and supports Special Olympics Minnesota as a longtime board member. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest episodes each week, and follow This Week in Hearing on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter): https://www.linkedin.com/company/this-week-in-hearing/ https://twitter.com/WeekinHearing

Explore the dynamic world of regulatory affairs with Amra Racic, a seasoned expert with over 25 years of experience with Medical Alley partners, including  Medtronic and Abbott. Now at Veeva Systems as Senior Director of Government Strategy, Amra brings her deep expertise to the Medical Alley Podcast, where she unpacks the complexities of navigating global regulatory requirements.In this episode, Amra shares invaluable insights on leadership and career development within regulatory affairs, highlighting the crucial roles of inclusivity, ethical decision-making, and mentoring. The discussion also tackles the vital issue of health equity in medical device regulation and underscores the importance of data transparency in achieving fair health outcomes for all.Send us a message!Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Late in 2023, Visura Technologies and YKK Corporation of America partnered to launch Evevo Manufacturing, which offers medical device manufacturing services in the Medical Alley ecosystem. So how did this partnership come about, and what have Visura and YKK learned throughout the process?To answer those questions and more, we're joined by leaders from both companies on this week's episode of the Medical Alley Podcast. Christine Horton, CEO of Visura, and Jim Reed, President of YKK Corporation of America, joined our Filip Kostal for a conversation on the power of partnerships. They also share how a global company like YKK came to join forces with a small Medical Alley company in Visura to launch this venture together.Send us a message!Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The innovative wearable technology developed by Cogwear allows for many insights on the human brain, including mental and behavioral health and Alzheimer's disease. By allowing for clinical-grade EEG readings in everyday settings, Cogwear's technology provides accurate measurements during a number of different activities To learn more about Cogwear and the uses for its technology, we're joined by CEO David Yonce on this week's episode of the Medical Alley Podcast. David shares more about the healthcare benefits to Cogwear's device, and also explains why the Philadelphia-based company recently opened a location in St. Paul to connect with the Medical Alley community.Send us a message!Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Mark Oreschnick, a MedTech industry leader and the founder of Evolve Engineering, shares his journey of nearly 30 years in engineering and leadership, starting in aerospace before landing in the medical device industry. With a passion for mentoring and helping startups, Mark discusses the importance of right-sizing staff and systems for success. This conversation not only showcases the human side of technology, but also highlights the power of networking and building relationships for personal and professional growth. Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-oreschnick-82367a8/ | marko@evolve-engr.com | www.evolve-engr.com | https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14248328/ Charity supported: Feeding America Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at podcast@velentium.com.  PRODUCTION CREDITS Host: Lindsey Dinneen Editing: Marketing Wise Producer: Velentium   EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Episode 032 - Mark Oreschnick [00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world. [00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them. [00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives. [00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives. [00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives. [00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference. [00:00:50] Welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey and I am so excited to introduce you to my guest today, Mark Oreschnick. Mark is the founder, owner, and president of Evolve Engineering, LLC. With over 25 years working in and leading engineering and operations in small, such as four employees, to large, such as 15,000 plus employees, companies, he has gained valuable experience he will use to complete your project as efficiently as possible. Mark's career has focused on developing products, processes, people, and businesses. Mark, thank you so much for being here. I cannot wait to talk with you all about what you're doing and your background. So thanks for joining today. [00:01:36] Mark Oreschnick: Thank you. I'm happy to be here. [00:01:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Wonderful. Well, I would love if you wouldn't mind starting off by sharing just a little bit about yourself and your background and maybe what led you to MedTech. [00:01:47] Mark Oreschnick: Okay. I've been an engineer and leader for nearly 30 years. I started in the aerospace industry in college, and while I was an intern, I was offered a full time position to work as an engineer for my last year of college. So I did full time school and work, which I think very much set me up for my life in startups because I was sleeping about two and a half hours a night. [00:02:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my word. [00:02:16] Mark Oreschnick: So, after that, I just kept having bosses challenge me with a variety of different projects. I've designed and built buildings for two different companies, automated. Equipment doing 16 million packages in four months, shipping out of a company, totally different industry and 20 years ago, coming this Valentine's day, I started the medical device industry. So, I'm coming out of my 20th anniversary right now. And within the medical device industry, I've been in really large and really small companies, both on the operations and manufacturing side and the R&D side. And I'm currently working with my seventh startup. So that's, like I said, the world of startups I've really enjoyed. [00:03:02] And now I've moved into consulting full time, and I'm working with startups as a fractional CTO. So I'll put together their technology roadmap, help build their R&D team, work with the founder on what I've learned from my experience. What are the good things to do? What are the bad things to do? And how to right size your staff and your systems to be successful. [00:03:26] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, that's incredible. Well, thank you for sharing about that. It's so much fun to see how little bits of threads throughout your career kind of interweave, and then all of a sudden they've produced this really cool thing. And that's now you doing this on your own and consulting. And I just love hearing about that. Several things just stood out to me and I'm curious. Okay. So, so you said you sort of set yourself up for success by being like full time college student, full time working at the same time. And then yes-- so can you start by: where did this drive in this passion come from, because clearly your work ethic is astronomical and wonderful, so maybe start there. [00:04:11] Mark Oreschnick: I would say it comes from my parents. Definitely did not grow up on the rich side. So everything that we had in our lives, we worked hard for. And I learned that if I wanted something, I needed to go out and get it. So, I think that was a good attitude that my parents put into me. And then they also, I won't say over expected things from us, but it was more, if you say you're going to do it, you're going to do it, figure out how to get it done. Just live up to what you say you're going to do. And that I think automatically put a drive behind me to just, all right, and you offered me a full time job. I'll be successful at it, but I'm graduating. So I got to be successful there and I'll just figure out how to make it happen. [00:04:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. And then you alluded to the two and a half hours of sleep a night. I hope that's still not the case moving forward. [00:05:08] Mark Oreschnick: No, it's better than that now, but I've had 24 hour days as things come up throughout a career, and it's, you do what you need to at that point for your company and to get things done or you're having a team work extra hard. You get in there, you work with them, make sure that they're getting the support they need and they know you're there for them. So, sometimes it's insane. Other times you get to relax a little bit, but that's also, like I said, the life of a startup, you have your big pushes and then you get to relax for a little while and then you hit your next push. [00:05:47] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, so true. It seems like you have quite a passion for helping startups in particular, and you obviously also have your own entrepreneurial bent and endeavors. And so where did the interest in helping startups in particular come about? Because I know that's a, can be a different skillset in terms of you often wear a lot of different hats and you end up pitching in so many different ways. So, so tell me about your heart with startups and entrepreneurship. [00:06:17] Mark Oreschnick: Someone who has now become one of my best friends, we, my very first medical device job, I worked with him and when I left to go to another company, we looked for a position for him to join me. There wasn't a good fit, but a couple of years later, he went to a startup, which he had already been in startups previously, and asked me to come over and work with him there. And I came in, I saw that I could do a lot of things to help people. And that's kind of been my career also is how can I help people do things easier, better, just make their life easier. So if I saw a gap where there wasn't someone to jump in, I just jumped in and filled it. And that's what you do in a startup and it just really worked with my attitude of, I get to help a lot of people because, today I'll work on documentation with the quality side, next week I'll go build a fixture for production and whatever was needed at that moment. It let me get that joy of helping people. [00:07:23] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh [00:07:23] Mark Oreschnick: And that's ... If you get joy out of everything you do in work, it makes going to work really nice. [00:07:29] Lindsey Dinneen: That is so true. I love that. That is so true. And so, you know, then you also have the skill sets to be able to help in lots and lots of different ways. And one common theme as I've been doing some of these interviews is that it seems like having that generalist background-- I mean, obviously you're highly specialized as an engineer. You're incredibly incredibly gifted and talented in that way. And you've built that skillset, but then you also have the opportunity to draw from multiple different industries that you've been a part of. So how has those various other kinds of influences in your life maybe contributed to your success now? [00:08:13] Mark Oreschnick: I would say one of the ways that definitely benefited me a lot was getting into a non technical industry. The industry where I did the packaging automation and built my first building is called Consumer Fulfillment. Literally at that time, you were getting in buckets of mail, manually sorting it, data entering information into a computer, typing in UPC codes, like not technical, not anything like that. But it made me look at that world in a big picture format. And how could I help the process and make things flow from department to department much easier. And I just had to step back and kind of, all right. By making this process easier, I'm helping on the finance side. By making this less labor intensive, we have less workman comp. [00:09:14] And it was just, what affects each piece of it? And as you kept digging deeper and deeper, you got to learn what the IT group did and how they could change the software to make it better. You'd figure out what the shipping companies are doing. We actually figured out how to load semis and make sure that the addresses were in the order of the post offices that they were going to. So the last bag onto the mail truck was the first bag that they took off. And we built that into our computer system so the trucks could drive direct and never have to backtrack or unload extra things. So it's just, you have to start looking at that big picture and you got to learn about every department to see how they all work together and make sure everyone's efficient, not just your little group. [00:10:05] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, and I love that approach. Being able to look beyond maybe what you feel like is the daily task or the task most important at hand and have that zoomed out view of, okay, this isn't just important for the success of this one department. It affects everybody else. And I love that. So now in your current role and in your current business with Evolve Engineering, you get to have that more eagle eye perspective again. Is that true? So when you're coming in, you're able to help? [00:10:36] Mark Oreschnick: At the beginning, yes, if it's a new founder, and there tend to be two new founders that I've met lots of. They've, almost all of them have never been in a startup before. So that's a common theme. And they either come from not within the medical device industry or from a very large company within the medical device industry. So changing the mindset and getting real expectations and real realistic goals and budgets is where you kind of start with that. So I work with them to talk about, here's how much you can expect to spend on this project. Here's how long it's really going to take. [00:11:21] If you're from a big company and you're still having five different computer systems that are managing your inventory and your sales and everything else, we're going to be running on QuickBooks and Excel, and that's what we're going to live by. Because if you want to put those systems in, you're going to hire 20 people to manage those systems rather than 10 people to get the product out the door. And get this design finished. So it's teaching them to just have a total different mindset about everything. And still knowing how all those systems have to work together. But trying to get it down onto the micro, basic scale, rather than going on to buying a great enterprise system, but we're not actually going to sell anything for five years, so we don't really need it. [00:12:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing a little bit about the two different types of these startup leaders that you're encountering. And I'm wondering, so part of your role, it sounds like, is not just getting into the very specific nitty gritty details of the actual company operations and technology and whatnot, but it's also having a little bit of this even broader range of, how do I help you as the leader develop the skills and priorities that you need to. So it sounds like you're in a, you're in a very Diverse mentorship kind of role in addition to like, let's get down to the nitty gritties, but you're also helping them develop those skill sets. Yeah? [00:13:00] Mark Oreschnick: Yep. That's my goal is to help them become a good leader of a startup and understand what it takes. And I met with a doctor who had found me on LinkedIn about his company. And I wasn't sure exactly what he wanted, but as we were talking through things, I told him, "if you plan on being the CEO, we are going to figure out what day you fire yourself from that position." I said, we will do it to save money in the beginning, but you're a doctor. Be a doctor. Let's bring in a professional CEO when we get to the point where you stop saving the company money and possibly cost us money." And, he didn't want to be the CEO. [00:13:43] So it wasn't a conversation that had to be had, but trying to put the mindset of, you're a great inventor, kick me out of my job, become the company CTO, drive development once we get to that point. I'm totally fine with that because it's the best for the company and it'll get us to the sale of the company or commercialization spending the least amount of money and getting there as quickly as we can. So being part of it's, be open, have those conversations with people and do that type of mentorship in the beginning. And if somebody said, "no, I'm going to run this thing until the end, I'm going to be the greatest CEO." I probably know from the beginning, I'm not the one to work with them. [00:14:29] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. Yeah. [00:14:33] Mark Oreschnick: We probably won't gel in the end. [00:14:36] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And do you find that it's partly because perhaps the idea of, the things that got you to where you are not the same skill sets that are going to get you to the next level? Is it partially just because usually that somebody who comes up with this great idea and has the passion and the vision for the company can really get it off the ground and maybe get those first rounds of investment, but then they might not possess the skill sets to get them to continue growing and scaling. Is that part of it? [00:15:10] Mark Oreschnick: That's 100%. [00:15:11] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. [00:15:12] Mark Oreschnick: What normally it is and truly that passion in the beginning as the CEO gets your team driven. You get a lot done. It is a wonderful thing. But once you start to look at the commercialization and how do you grow a business, that creativity and passion don't directly translate. Now it's getting into nuts and bolts, black and white, a little more ruthless and you have to do what's right to make the company commercial. [00:15:43] And the, I think it's lots of times not even ego of the founder. It's the passion. It's their baby, and they don't want to give up control and worry that somebody is going to ruin it. But that's why if you move yourself out, but stay within the leadership role in a different way, you're hand in hand with the CEO and you can move the company forward together rather than having a board kick you out because you're not doing your job and then you've lost all connection to your company. [00:16:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Right. [00:16:21] Mark Oreschnick: So I look at it as a, here's a way you can grow and you can learn from that CEO so the next time you do this, maybe you are the person who can take it another step, bring in the new CEO, one step farther down and finally you'll get to be that person who runs the company from start to finish, but you got to learn it. You got to live through it and protect your baby by moving into a different seat. [00:16:46] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my goodness. Yeah. What a challenging thing to overcome. So it's helpful that's your perspective from the start so you can help people prepare for that and that this is actually a wonderful thing. It's a growth thing. It's not a demotion. It is not a, you are any less important. You aren't. You're as still as important, but you're just moving into a role that suits you and suits what the company needs. Yeah. That's really interesting. [00:17:13] Mark Oreschnick: And there are some investors who, if they hear that day one, that you know you're the one to bring it up to a certain point and then you will transfer it that will give them more faith in you because they know that you understand where your skills are and that you need the commercialization person to move the company to sale and they're going to appreciate that. [00:17:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. And so with your consultancy now, can you tell me a little bit about how that came about? And then I'd also love to hear, because I know that you've started, or co-founded, a very successful networking group in Medical Alley. And I would love, if you wouldn't mind sharing just a little bit about that, because that's a really cool opportunity for people in the area. But I would just love to hear a little bit about your origin story as well. [00:18:04] Mark Oreschnick: So my origin actually started about eight years ago. [00:18:07] Lindsey Dinneen: Aha. [00:18:09] Mark Oreschnick: And the gentleman that I talked about who brought me into my first startup, we were at two different startups and he asked me if I could do a side project for him for his company to help it out. So I started Evolve Engineering. [00:18:24] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. [00:18:25] Mark Oreschnick: And they brought me into interview to see if I was the right guy to do this project for them. And they liked my overall skill set and offered me a permanent position. So I wound up not consulting. [00:18:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. [00:18:40] Mark Oreschnick: But it was something that I'd always thought, yeah, someday I'll get into this because one of the things great about startups is doing lots of short term projects. Even if your company lasts for seven years that you're there, you've jumped around a lot in it because that's what the company needed. So the idea of consulting and knowing that I'm going to be jumping around is exciting because you're always doing something new. So that got me hooked. [00:19:07] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. [00:19:09] Mark Oreschnick: And then I was with a startup and I was looking for, what do I want to do next. I knew it was time to be moving out of that startup. And I started researching consulting and got myself connected with a bunch of people. And then another company offered me a permanent position. [00:19:27] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. [00:19:29] Mark Oreschnick: So that postponed me for about another 16 months. And then in late 2022, I made the decision that "No, it's really my passion. I want to get back helping as many startups as I can." And I just dove into it. One of my former employees became my first client. And then another group called me up of a bunch of employees that I used to work with at a different startup, and I started working with them. And then, like I'd mentioned, a doctor called me up, so I have a deal going with that company. And it's all these little pieces just coming together. And right now, I have two different companies that are submitting me for projects that they're just waiting on funding for. And someone that I connected with through this networking group. He called me up and said, "Hey Mark, in, in February, I'm going to need your help on one of my projects." So he used to be the founder of a startup. Now he's doing the exact same thing I'm doing and he's my competitor. And he called me up and said, "I want you to work with me." [00:20:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Phenomenal. [00:20:39] Mark Oreschnick: Yeah, it's good competition and those are the people that I still have around me are people I've worked with in the past or met in the past. We don't look at each other as competitors. It's, "You're going to be better at this one than me. So you take it and you'll tell me about one that I'm better at than you." So, so that's got me kind of up to today. And you had mentioned my networking group, which is called The Twin Cities Medical Device Networking Group. I was in a group pre COVID that actually died before COVID. So COVID wasn't the killer, but it made starting a new networking group a real challenge during COVID. I tried bringing the old group back. We had one event and then a new spike, and it died again. [00:21:32] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:21:33] Mark Oreschnick: So working with one of the startup accelerators that I'm involved with, I went to a medical presentation that they were having a showcase about all of their startups that they were working with, and met a gentleman named Kris Bauerschmidt. And he and I actually already had a call scheduled for the next day through a different networking group and we just happened to run into each other in person. So we started off, we did the call the next day, and I toured his company a couple weeks later. And I brought up, "Hey, I'm thinking about starting a networking group." And he said, "Oh, I'd love to be a part of that, can I help you?" And that was on Thursday, so April 29th, which was a Saturday, I started the group. And it took about 16 days to get up to 100 people. [00:22:24] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. [00:22:26] Mark Oreschnick: About another month to get to 200. And then it started slowing down a little bit. So now we're at eight and a half months since we started it, and we have almost 850 people. [00:22:38] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. [00:22:39] Mark Oreschnick: So it's growing basically a hundred a month. [00:22:42] Lindsey Dinneen: That's amazing. Congrats. [00:22:45] Mark Oreschnick: So each month we just post on LinkedIn, "Hey, we're doing a happy hour at this brewery." People come out, get together. We normally have around 70 people show up to each of our events and people sit around and you talk a little bit of business, you know, "Hey, what do you do for a living? What cool projects are you working on?" that type of stuff. And many of these people have now got to the point of, "So how's your son's basketball game last night?" And we've become friends and we're building relationships. Business is going to come out of that naturally because now we've actually built trust in 70 other people that we meet, and really it's probably about 150 people rotate through our events, but there's always around 70 that show up. So this 150 out of 850 is getting to be a tighter network every month. [00:23:40] Lindsey Dinneen: That's incredible. [00:23:42] Mark Oreschnick: And out of that, we wound up doing a presentation at startup week, Kris and I, for other people, we did a panel discussion on Networking 101. [00:23:50] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice. [00:23:52] Mark Oreschnick: A college brought out their entrepreneur program and we had 20 plus students from that, and it was a total of, like, 80 people showed up to hear us talking about networking. [00:24:03] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice. [00:24:04] Mark Oreschnick: And that's one of the keys in the med device industry, or actually in any industry, network, know the people you're working with. If you ever get laid off, fired, you're in transition, you instantly have a group of people to go talk to. But the big thing that we've seen in our group, lots of the people are there really just to help. [00:24:26] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:24:27] Mark Oreschnick: Much less about, "What can I get out of this," and it's, "What can I do for you?" So, it's really nice that, you know, people are saying, "Hey, let me introduce you to this recruiter. Hey, let me introduce you to this person. They might be able to help with your project." And it's much more of the giving side of things. And it gets kind of funny when you have two people who are both givers, who have are meeting for the first time and trying to talk about something, and both of them are trying to give and neither wants to receive. [00:24:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. [00:24:59] Mark Oreschnick: So eventually somebody has to just step out of the zone that they're in and say, "This person's honest and trying to be helpful. I need to accept that." [00:25:10] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:25:11] Mark Oreschnick: It's quite funny when you start to see these interactions of people who really network on a regular basis and are out there just to meet and help people. [00:25:21] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that's incredible. And I love that. I love that that's the spirit of the group because I think a lot of times where networking groups can get challenging is it seems to be kind of the opposite. And it's sort of "what can I get from this group" versus "how can I give and contribute," but that's, that's such a part of who you are. In fact, you've recommended a couple of books to me that I have thoroughly enjoyed. And I wonder if you wouldn't mind telling a little bit about maybe how that philosophy has impacted even your own life and the way that you've approached your entrepreneurial endeavors and your networking endeavors. Would you like to share about that? [00:26:02] Mark Oreschnick: Sure. So, similar to the words that I was just saying. [00:26:06] Lindsey Dinneen: Yup. [00:26:07] Mark Oreschnick: I know the book she's talking about right off the bat and that is " The Go Giver" and it's tells the story of how somebody is out there trying to get sales and bugging everyone trying to get leads, trying to just close the deal, worrying about the end of the quarter. And eventually he meets a series of people who talk about being in things for the right reason, and you can't sell something to someone, someone has to want to buy from you. So you have to give them value, and then they will choose to purchase from you, because you cannot force a sale. You can't make somebody sign on that dotted line. [00:26:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:26:56] Mark Oreschnick: So it's all about: connect with people, meet them, figure out how you can help them. Karma's going to come back, help you in the end. And I have definitely seen that in my career, you know, like I'd mentioned earlier, somebody who is a direct competitor of me calling me up and saying, "I want you to work on my project." I was trying to help him find investors at his last company. And I didn't have any stake in the game in that, but he seemed like a really good person doing a good thing. So I wanted to help him. [00:27:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah! [00:27:30] Mark Oreschnick: The thing that for me about "The Go-Giver," I read it and I went, "Okay, this reinforces what I've been doing. And here's a few ways I can do it a little bit better and a little more intentionally." So I highly recommend, read the book. The guy who I founded the networking group with, I gave him a copy. He absolutely loved it. He now recommends it out on LinkedIn. The author wound up seeing that we had been recommending it to people and connected with us and commented. So, and I'm actually in another group that has about 230 people, and the first time you meet with the founders of that group, they're going to say, "You need to go by "The Go Giver" and read it." So right off the bat, that's just their first conversation. It's kind of, "If you go forward with this attitude, your business will be successful." [00:28:22] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:28:22] Mark Oreschnick: And then the other book, it's from the same authors and it's called, I believe, it's "The Go Giver Guide to Marriage." [00:28:28] Lindsey Dinneen: Huh. [00:28:29] Mark Oreschnick: And I actually read it while I was on my 10th anniversary with my wife in Napa. And it was again about intention. You can tell your spouse that you love them, you can tell them they're beautiful, all these things, but why are you doing that and making sure you do it with reason and not just because I should say I love you every time I walk out the door. [00:28:53] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Right. [00:28:55] Mark Oreschnick: And there are lots of really good tips in it that is just kind of, okay, I'm doing things good, but I can do it better. Here's a way to do it better. And it's the reminder of why you're in your relationship, why you love the other person. And it was a fun book to read. And the fact that I chose to do it on our anniversary weekend was a really good thing. [00:29:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice. [00:29:17] Mark Oreschnick: It was the right time to reinforce everything. [00:29:19] Lindsey Dinneen: There you go, folks. Life and business advice all wrapped up into one. It is a great series of books. I recently finished "The Go Giver Leader" too and that's another brilliant book. I was listening to it on audio book and I kept having to rewind so that I could take notes because I was like, there are too many amazing quotable quotes in this book. It's, [00:29:43] Mark Oreschnick: Yes. [00:29:43] Lindsey Dinneen: Highly recommend. Yeah. So just out of curiosity, looking back over your life, do you think six year old Mark could have ever imagined being where you are now? Or is this engineering and business and creativity? Has this always been a thread of your life or has this evolved over time? [00:30:07] Mark Oreschnick: So engineering and creativity, yes. The business side, no. If you would have asked six year old Mark, what he was going to be doing, I actually know the answer from my parents and I was going to be a garbage man. [00:30:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes! Coolest job ever! You get to hang on! [00:30:25] Mark Oreschnick: I love trucks. I loved big equipment and that part of me has never changed. I am a mechanic. I have two cars in my garage, one up on the lift, one underneath it. I'm always working on something mechanical. And that mechanical side of me, along with the creative side of me has helped me design different devices and keep that vision. And I know how things work on the inside, and now I can design something because I know the different pieces, and I can put them to use for a different reason. So one of my products was an upper arm orthotic that helped people eat and drink and do activities of daily living when they had upper limb weakness from muscular dystrophy. So I was able to watch a lady who couldn't put her, push her glasses up. She put our device on and held a bottle of water for three minutes. [00:31:19] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh. [00:31:19] Mark Oreschnick: Another lady went back to painting. [00:31:22] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh. [00:31:24] Mark Oreschnick: And she hadn't painted in five years since her injury. So, but it was a completely mechanical nut and bolt type system, my side of it that I worked on, and my brain just knew how to make that stuff work. [00:31:38] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. I love it! [00:31:41] Mark Oreschnick: That's from when I was a little kid building with Legos and working on lawn mowers and mini bikes, and it's never stopped. [00:31:49] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Sure. [00:31:52] Mark Oreschnick: The business side of things, I think it still fits with my analytical brain and, you know, you can have things in columns, things have a right way of doing it. There's a process to everything that just, so that aspect of it fits me, but no, I would have never thought of that when I was a kid. [00:32:10] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. [00:32:10] Mark Oreschnick: It doesn't sound like fun to a six year old. [00:32:13] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. Well, I have to nerd out for just a minute because as a, I think I was maybe a little older than six years old, but for one of my early birthdays, it would have had to have been like seven or eight, or actually for Christmas, I asked for a bunch of office supplies, because I am that nerd and so I was like setting myself up to play office ever since I was six or seven. And I would have, I had my little fake phone and my little fake receipt thing. I, it was a blast. So yeah, I, I... [00:32:48] Mark Oreschnick: And your organization skills have led through to this day. [00:32:52] Lindsey Dinneen: I know. Yeah. Yeah. All the hard play worked out in the end. It's really paid off. So anyway, you've actually shared a couple of very touching moments, even those last two stories that you shared were really sweet. And I'm wondering if there are any moments like those that kind of stand out to you as reinforcing the idea that, "Hey, you're in the right industry doing the right thing at the right time." [00:33:18] Mark Oreschnick: Yeah, they're definitely, I remember the first time that I had that moment. I had always thought once I got into medical device that I was in the right field. It fit me really well. It worked with how my brain worked. We have to do all these steps to prove everything because it's a human. We need to do the right stuff because we're dealing with people and we want to save lives, not hurt lives. But the first startup that I was in, we had a whole bunch of patient videos of interviews of patients that had used our, had our device used on them and how it affected their life. [00:33:54] And the one that I always remember, there was an older gentleman who had bad circulation in his leg and a doctor told him he needed to have a below knee amputation. And he was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Luckily he didn't like his diagnosis and he got referred to a doctor who is using our product, and the doctor was able to go in and clear out the blockages in this gentleman's leg and get blood flowing to his foot again. So all of his sores healed, all of the swelling went away. His foot became normal again. And in a very short period of time, he went out, and golfed nine holes, pulling his bag. He walked for nine holes. [00:34:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh. [00:34:44] Mark Oreschnick: So he went from, "I'm going to have my leg chopped off and be in a wheelchair" to going back to the sport that he loved. And being able to actually walk, not even have to ride a cart. [00:34:56] Lindsey Dinneen: Wow. [00:34:57] Mark Oreschnick: That was that moment that's kind of, "Yep, I'm where I belong." [00:35:02] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for sharing that. That's a powerful story and what an amazing testament to the power of medtech and being able to be a part, even play a small part, in those developments and realize that you're impacting lives. Like there's, you hear these incredible stories of, you know, even if it's just one person, which it never just is, but even if it's just one person, you change their life. That's incredible. Yeah, nothing more rewarding. [00:35:36] Mark Oreschnick: Yeah, I said, that story, I'm never going to forget. I can still picture the guy and this is 14, 15 years ago. So. [00:35:46] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. Well, so, so amazing and pivoting completely for fun. Very different. Okay. Imagine you were to be offered the opportunity to teach a masterclass on any subject you want. It can be in your industry. It doesn't have to be, but you're going to get paid a million dollars to do so. What would you choose to teach and why? [00:36:11] Mark Oreschnick: So it's actually what we've already talked about and it would be networking. My experience with networking is it can have a huge effect on your career from day one. And luckily I've always liked talking to people. So I've been networking as long as I can remember, but people always say, "it's not what, you know, it's who you know." There is a, I'm going to say that should not be a truth. And if you actually live that way, there's a little problem there, because you should get the job because of what you know, and you should not take a job because it's just who you know and you're not qualified. But as long as you are qualified for that position, the who you know is going to introduce you to so many more opportunities, and if you go into all of those relationships trying to figure out how you can help others, people are naturally going to help you. [00:37:10] But as a student, you know, one of the things from our networking one on one class, we had the student saying, "what do I have to give to people when I'm networking? I'm still in school. I just, I'm about to graduate." During the conversation, ask them the type of people they want to meet at that event. And when you're walking around talking to others, if you meet that person, bring them over and introduce them. You can be their ears and talk to more people for them. You always have something to give no matter what. [00:37:46] Maybe they have a kid who's thinking about going to school and you could talk to their kid about what school you went to. You always have something. So going out, having that attitude, but every job I have gotten throughout my career, someone has introduced me to that position. My first internship was one of my lab partners in college. " I'm doing an internship. Would you like to meet my boss?" So yeah, I wasn't networking to do that, but we were friends from a class, so it was the who I knew. [00:38:24] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:38:25] Mark Oreschnick: And every, like I said, every job has been that way. The doctors that found me on LinkedIn, they found me because of my posts about networking. [00:38:37] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice. [00:38:38] Mark Oreschnick: So direct indirect, my networking had me meet those doctors and turned into a client. [00:38:46] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. [00:38:47] Mark Oreschnick: So it's just, it always happens. Go out, meet people, talk to them, learn how to do things out of the goodness of your heart, and it will take you a very long way in your career. And when I think of people you and I both know that we've worked with, how many relationships have those people made throughout their lives that have now become business? It's just always happening. And so, yeah, that would be my courses to, especially with young engineers, young anyone, teach them, "You're getting into industries, start networking, learn the people in your company, learn the people at your suppliers, build your network, be good." And it will help you. [00:39:34] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. And be a go giver. I love it. Yeah. I love that. That's a great idea for a masterclass and it does not surprise me at all that's what you chose. [00:39:44] Mark Oreschnick: Yeah. So during startup week, I did two classes. It was the networking and "Key Considerations When Starting a Medical Device Company." [00:39:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Nice. Yeah. That seems accurate. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. [00:40:00] Mark Oreschnick: Go to your strengths. [00:40:01] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. Okay. How do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world? [00:40:10] Mark Oreschnick: Definitely want to be known as someone who took care of his family because family is obviously important, but within my career, I was the guy that helped. Whatever it was, I figured out a way to help people. [00:40:25] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. [00:40:26] Mark Oreschnick: So. [00:40:27] Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. Absolutely. Okay. And final question. What is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it? [00:40:36] Mark Oreschnick: My daughter. [00:40:38] Lindsey Dinneen: Aww. [00:40:39] Mark Oreschnick: So, that's an easy one. I have a 17 year old daughter. And I'm the first person to have a female in my family. I'm one of three brothers. My brothers have three sons and then I have the daughter who's the youngest of all of us. So I'm thinking, "Okay, I'm Mr. Mechanical. I love working on things. I love nuts and bolts and stuff." When she was two, she grabbed a screwdriver when I was working on the refrigerator and put it on the screw. So it's kind of, okay, there's my kid. She's definitely mine. And as I've watched her growing up, she has the same analytical mind as me, likes to divide things into even sections, things must be uniform, must be organized. But as she's growing up into a young woman, she is now a member of our church's youth group and she is a mentor to all of the other students. So she goes out and works with other kids and helps them at camp and does confirmation and she's just become a really good person. So looking at her, always smile. [00:41:57] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, that's so special. Yes, and you're her up for massive success and sounds like she's just a lovely human, so. [00:42:06] Mark Oreschnick: She is. [00:42:08] Lindsey Dinneen: That's incredible. Well, this has been so much fun, Mark. I am so thankful for you and your time today. And, you know, we are so honored to be making a donation on your behalf today to Feeding America, which works to end hunger in the United States by partnering with food banks, food pantries, and local food programs to bring food to people facing hunger. And also they advocate for policies that create long term solutions to hunger. So thank you so much for choosing that charity to support and... [00:42:40] Mark Oreschnick: Thank you. [00:42:41] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, and thank you so much for everything that you're doing. I just wish you such continued success with your business, with your networking group as you work to change lives for a better world. [00:42:54] Mark Oreschnick: Thank you very much for having me on. I enjoyed this. [00:42:57] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. And thank you so much to our listeners for tuning in. And if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, I'd love if you'd share this episode with a colleague or two and we will catch you next time. [00:43:10] Ben Trombold: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium. Velentium is a full-service CDMO with 100% in-house capability to design, develop, and manufacture medical devices from class two wearables to class three active implantable medical devices. Velentium specializes in active implantables, leads, programmers, and accessories across a wide range of indications, such as neuromodulation, deep brain stimulation, cardiac management, and diabetes management. Velentium's core competencies include electrical, firmware, and mechanical design, mobile apps, embedded cybersecurity, human factors and usability, automated test systems, systems engineering, and contract manufacturing. Velentium works with clients worldwide, from startups seeking funding to established Fortune 100 companies. Visit velentium.com to explore your next step in medical device development.

Welcome to the Health Marketing Collective, where strong leadership meets marketing excellence. On today's episode, Sara Payne sits down with Frank Jaskulke, Vice President of Innovation at Medical Alley. With 20 years of experience in fostering collaboration within the healthcare industry, Frank is here to share his insights on building a culture of innovation and the importance of cross-sector partnerships. Medical Alley was founded with a mission to keep the community at the forefront of health innovation, positioning the industry to be the best on earth. Frank emphasizes the necessity of viewing competition and collaboration not as opposites but as interconnected elements of a sophisticated and flourishing ecosystem. He discusses how technology can serve as a bridge between differing sectors and highlights the essential role of empathy in fostering successful partnerships. Sara and Frank share several high-profile examples of both successful and failed collaborations in healthcare, examining what factors contributed to their outcomes. Through these stories, Frank underscores the importance of taking calculated risks and budgeting for these innovations, all while ensuring alignment with an organization's mission and purposes. In this episode, Frank shares examples from his own career, including legislative successes and groundbreaking collaborations that have had a significant impact on healthcare. He also offers valuable advice for staying ahead of market changes and trends in an industry that is constantly evolving. Thank you for being part of the Health Marketing Collective, where strong leadership meets marketing excellence. The future of healthcare depends on it. Key Takeaways: 1. The Power of Collaboration: Frank Jaskulke explains why collaboration is vital in healthcare, emphasizing a mindset of abundance over scarcity. Strong, cross-sector partnerships, particularly between healthcare and technology, are key to driving innovation and addressing industry challenges. 2. Budgeting and Calculated Risks: Innovation necessitates risk. Frank stresses the importance of budgeting for risk and ensuring organizational buy-in before pursuing innovative ventures. This strategic approach ties back to an organization's core mission, leading to more effective and purpose-driven innovations. 3. Failed and Successful Collaborations: Learning from the past is essential. Frank discusses notable examples of both failed (like Haven) and successful (like DOCSI and triValence) collaborations, drawing lessons that can guide future partnerships in the healthcare sector. 4. Staying Ahead of Trends: Engaging with industry professionals and maintaining a startup mentality are crucial for staying ahead of market changes. Frank highlights trends like the increased executive activity on LinkedIn and the shift towards digital health as pivotal movements shaping the future of healthcare. 5. Cultural Change and Preventive Medicine: Shifting from a reactive to a proactive healthcare system focused on preventive medicine is critical. Frank and Sara discuss the cultural changes needed to prioritize prevention and wellness, illustrating how incentivizing organizations and changing public behavior can lead to a healthier society. [embed]https://youtu.be/-7f6ErhZXDk[/embed] About Frank Jaskulke Frank is the VP of Innovation at Medical Alley where he leads startup, international, and corporate innovation efforts to ensure the Medical Alley community is the epicenter of health innovation and care. www.medicalalley.org www.linkedin.com/in/frankjaskulke/

With locations in 13 cities throughout the country and a large presence in healthcare, SEI has a good footprint throughout the United States. But there are some factors that make this consulting firm unique. Among them is that SEI is employee owned, meaning each consultant is personally invested in the success of the company — and the success of their clients.To learn more about SEI and to hear why the company has become more involved in recent months in the Medical Alley community, we're joined on this week's episode of the Medical Alley Podcast by CEO Bill Gallagher and Erin Gregory, the national practice lead for SEI's life sciences clients. Send us a message!Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Dan Cohen was a competitive athlete for a long time, playing hockey into college and eventually becoming a professional triathlete. He realized the importance of different data points as it related to his physical condition, but he struggled to find all of the important data in one place.That's the goal of Human Powered Health, a newer company in the Medical Alley ecosystem that is helping athletes and non-athletes alike better understand their body's capabilities and performances through data. From VO2max testing to gait analysis to hydration testing and much more, Human Powered Health distills data to provide actionable recommendations and insights to hep improve wellness.Dan joined our Frank Jaskulke in studio to share more about the company's goals, about his experience as a professional athlete, and about how his time working at UnitedHealth Group helped prepare him for this opportunity with Human Powered Health.Send us a message!Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To make mental health care more accessible and impactful for patients and employees, mental health providers and insurance companies in Medical Alley have formed partnerships and had ongoing conversations as they work together to destigmatize mental health care and help people feel empowered to seek the care they need. On this week's episode of the Medical Alley Podcast, we're joined by leaders at three organizations who are partnering with the same goal in mind: better and more affordable mental health care. Tune in as Brett Edelson of UnitedHealthcare, John Hutchinson of CARE Counseling, and Todd Archbold from PrairieCare share their insights on the impact of payers and providers collaborating to address mental health challenges.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Everyone in the Economic Club of Minnesota audience felt so fortunate to hear Consul General, Alan Gogbashian's perspectives on UK/US trade, the Great Lakes Shipping Corridor, leadership, and business on April 23rd. Consul Gogbashian spent time reviewing his past 4 years in his post at the British Consulate-General Chicago. His next post has not yet been revealed publicly. Tom Hauser, Senior Political Reporter for 5 Eyewitness news moderated an engaging discussion on BREXIT, trade, protectionism, and future opportunities such as Memorandum of Understanding in many business verticals, most especially Medical Alley.  

Frank Jaskulke is one of the regular hosts of the Medical Alley Podcast, but on this week's episode he's on the other side of the microphone as the guest. Medical Alley celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and Frank has been with the organization for nearly half of its history. He has now worked for 19 years at Medical Alley, and he joins the podcast to reflect on how the organization — and the ecosystem — have changed during that time.From driving around looking for companies that sounded like medical organizations, to establishing his signature red shoes as a way to be easily identified at meetings and events, Frank shares some of the highlights from his 19 years at Medical Alley — and looks into his crystal ball at what the next 40 years for Medical Alley (both the organization and the ecosystem) might look like.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Artificial intelligence enabled devices are changing the landscape of medical devices and are subject to evolving regulation. Listen back to a replay of our webinar from late last year as team of lawyers from Covington & Burling LLP discuss key considerations for the AI-enabled medical device space, including current best practices for industry participants seeking to take advantage of this powerful new technology.Panelists from Covington included:Andrew MentPam ForrestAdrian PerryTo watch a video replay of the webinar, you can find it on Medical Alley's YouTube page.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Forty years ago, Earl Bakken  helped establish Medical Alley to ensure that Minnesota's healthcare ecosystem remained strong. Prior to helping found Medical Alley, Bakken famously founded Medtronic. But his inspiration and love of science and technology started as a kid when he fell in love with the movie "Frankenstein." Many years later, Bakken's legacy and his love of innovation and curiosity — and electricity — is preserved and told at the Bakken Museum in Minneapolis.On this week's Medical Alley Podcast, Bakken Museum President and CEO Alissa Light and Adrian Fischer, curator of exhibits and collections at the museum, join to share more about the Bakken Musuem as an incubator for innovation. They also discuss the ways in which the Bakken Musuem is helping future generations of entrepreneurs and innovators by fostering a love of STEM in children through various programs and educational opportunities.Learn more about the Bakken Museum or find out what you can expect when you visit at thebakken.org.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Envoy Medical is a pioneer in the world of hearing health. The Medical Alley-based company has been around for 30 years and is doing truly innovative work with its fully-implantable devices used to treat hearing loss. Brent Lucas fell in love with Envoy Medical as an intern years ago and is now the company's CEO. He joined us in studio this week to share more about what makes Envoy unique.Tune in to this week's episode to learn more about what makes Envoy Medical's implantable technology different from a traditional hearing aid, the lessons Brent has learned after the company went public, the challenge of finding a pathway to reimbursement, and much more.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As one of the founders of Minute Clinic, Steve Pontius knows a thing or two about successfully starting and running an innovative healthcare company. After CVS purchased Minute Clinic in 2006, Steve has gone on to work for a few different companies. His latest, HealtheMed, is helping break down barriers to healthcare access for the Medicaid waivered population in Minnesota.Steve joined in studio for this episode of the Medical Alley Podcast to share more about how HealtheMed is using its digital system to provide in-home care for Medicaid waivered patients through case managers. He also shares about the plans for growth for HealtheMed, the company's partnership with fellow Medical Alley member Accra, and how some of his lessons learned from founding Minute Clinic have helped with the work he's now doing at HealtheMed.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Poor sleep has plenty of side effects — especially if it's a result of sleep apnea. It can range from more minor consequences such as feeling tired all the time to more major long-term implications like heart attacks. That's why treating sleep issues early is so important, and it's why ADVENT has continued to grow from a single clinic in Milwaukee in 2004 to 18 locations in the United States, including four here in Medical Alley.Dr. Madan Kandula co-founded ADVENT with his wife 20 years ago and serves as the company's CEO. He recently was in the Twin Cities to celebrate the opening of ADVENT's new Maple Grove location, and he stopped by the Medical Alley studio for this week's podcast episode to share more about the importance of treating sleep and breathing issues. Dr. Kandula shares more about ADVENT's growth and discusses the company's focus on The Breathing Triangle® in treating patients.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Mental health continues to be a focus for many healthcare providers throughout Medical Alley, and Allina Health is no different. It's something that Allina President and CEO Lisa Shannon cares deeply about, and is helping lead the organization's efforts to create more access to mental healthcare for its patients.On this week's episode of the Medical Alley Podcast, Lisa Shannon talks with Medical Alley President and CEO Bobbie Dressen about her assessment of the state of mental health in the United States. Lisa, a Medical Alley board member, also discusses the challenges of the mental health workforce pipeline, and shares how she takes care of her own mental health amid the stress of running one of the largest health systems in Minnesota.Listen now and be sure to subscribe to the Medical Alley Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We had so many great guests on the podcast in 2023 and enjoyed all the conversations with leaders from Medical Alley who are all working to help make this region the epicenter of health innovation and care. Thank you to all of our guests on the podcast this year, and to all of you who tuned in to listen.As we look ahead to the new year, we first look back at the most-listened-to episodes of the Medical Alley Podcast in 2023. The top five episodes included:Relieving Lower Back Pain: A Conversation with Tyler Binney, President and CEO, Relievant MedsystemsInnovation in Neuromodulation: A Conversation with Jim Schuermann, President and CEO, Saluda MedicalWearing Many Medtech Hats: A Conversation with Morgan Evans, Medtech EntrepreneurInteracting with the FDA: A Conversation with Chris Mullin, Director of Global Strategy Services, NAMSAJoy and Mindfulness: A Conversation with Deepak ChopraTake a listen to some highlights from our most popular episodes, and stay tuned for more great conversations with healthcare leaders in 2024.Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In countries with significantly aging populations like Japan and parts of Western Europe, wound care is the third biggest expense to their national healthcare systems. As the population in the United States continues to age, wound care will be a very important aspect of the healthcare system.That's why Nima Ahmadi co-founded The Wound Company, a Medical Alley-based company offering virtual-first wound care to its patients. To learn more about what virtual first means when it comes to wound care, Nima joined Frank Jaskulke on this week's Medical Alley Podcast to share The Wound Company's story.Nima also discusses:The ways in which medical technology plays a role in wound careHow The Wound Company grew its national footprint in just a few short yearsThe benefits of having the company based in Minnesota's Medical AlleyTune into the conversation with Nima to learn more about The Wound Company as it looks to help a growing population of patients needing wound care.  Follow Medical Alley on social media on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Ear infections are a common ailment among children, but the process of putting tubes in kids' ears can be intimidating for families. Thanks to Medical Alley member company Preceptis and its Hummingbird procedure, the ear tube procedure takes just a matter of minutes and doesn't require anesthesia. On this week's Medical Alley Podcast, we talk with Dr. Ted Truitt of St. Cloud Ear, Nose and Throat to learn more about the Hummingbird procedure and the response from both patients and providers to this new alternative for inserting ear tubes.

Guests Rimsky Denis, MD, MPH, MBA, and Ms. Sam Hoeffler discuss community-based strategies for improving health outcomes and promoting health equity. Specific initiatives include health fairs, barbershops, increasing communication in disenfranchised communities, improving outcomes in hypertension, and increasing access to healthy food.Recorded in partnership with Medical Alley and the Association of Black Cardiologists.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do we effectively address the increasing strain on an already overwhelmed workforce? Guests Nikki Akparewa, RN, MSN/MPH, and Michelle Johnson, MD, MPH, describe how burnout, turnover, and early retirement are impacting health care professionals, and how training and education can lead to a better workplace.Recorded in partnership with Medical Alley and the Association of Black Cardiologists.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Health inequities affect a variety of health issues, including the chronic condition of obesity. In this episode, learn about the disparate impacts of social determinants of health (SDOH) on obesity. Guests Yvonne Commodore Mensah, PhD, MHS, RN, & Tiffany Powell-Wiley MD, MPH, also investigate how adoption of a holistic approach can positively impact obesity treatment, and how activating community health initiatives can help decrease rates of obesity in our patients.Recorded in partnership with Medical Alley and the Association of Black Cardiologists.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Monday, Aug. 28, 2023 was Mental Health Awareness Day at the Minnesota State Fair. This special edition of the Medical Alley Podcast was recorded on location at Dan Patch Park at the fair, as we were joined by a number of different organizations doing great work in the mental health space.Guests included:-Jorie Kulseth, Children's Minnesota-Michelle O'Brien, UCare-Nicole Mucheck, Nexus Family Healing-Julie Bluhm, Guild-Jill Wiedemann-West, People IncorporatedA special thanks to the Minnesota State Fair and to NAMI for organizing this event and allowing Medical Alley to be involved in this special day. To learn more about how Medical Alley is working to advance diversification in Minnesota's mental and behavioral health workforce, go to medicalalley.org/hti/.

As the healthcare world continues to react to a rapidly changing job market, some companies are looking beyond traditional qualifications in their hiring processes. What should companies do to expand their pool of candidates, while still hiring the right person for the job? Listen back to this Medical Alley webinar to hear from HR leaders on recruitment strategies they're using and skills-based assessments they're measuring to redefine what a qualified candidate looks like. Whether you're an HR professional, hiring manager, or job seeker, this webinar has plenty of valuable information for you.

Dr. Deepak Chopra was the special guest at the Medical Alley 2023 Annual Dinner, where he was joined on stage for a conversation with Medical Alley board chair Jodi Hubler and AiRCare Health CEO Jaclyn Wainwright. Listen back to their conversation, with topics ranging from mental health to artificial intelligence in healthcare to finding joy and much more.

You don't just want good talent. You want talent that is a good fit for your organization — for your values, goals, and company culture. More job seekers than ever are researching a company's reputation as an employer before applying for a job. They, too, want to an employer that's a good fit. Your company's employer brand has a significant impact on hiring, and a bad reputation can cost millions in additional wages. In this replay of a recent Medical Alley webinar, our panel explores how to build a successful employer brand and draw in qualified candidates who are a better fit for your organization. Moderator: -Karen Phang, Director of HR at Avio Medtech Consulting Panelists: -Ali Arom, Sr. Manager, Talent Acquisition at Silk Road Medical -Terri Lee, President and CEO of LEE Branding -Lauren Tannenbaum, Senior VP, Practice Lead at Joe Smith

As Mental Health Awareness Month comes to a close, we look back at some of our previous podcast conversations surrounding mental health. On this special episode, you'll hear highlights from several episodes, including: —Dr. Heidi Bausch-Ryan of CARE Counseling on the link between sleep and mental health —Lindsey Young of Vikings.com on professional athletes helping break the mental health stigman —Grady Hannah of NightWare on helping treat nightmare disorders with an Apple Watch —Scott Lien of GrandPad on addressing loneliness in seniors with his company's unique tablet

Specialty pharmacies tend to focus on high-cost medications for patients with complex conditions. Medical Alley company Shields Health Solutions is helping health systems build and manage specialty pharmacy programs. Shields president Stephen West was the guest on this week's podcast to share a bit more about how specialty pharmacies operate and also illustrates the benefits of working together with health systems to help lower the cost of care for patients.

Dr. Bill Morice of Mayo Clinic Laboratories is back on the podcast to discuss more about the world of diagnostics and laboratory medicine. On this episode, Dr. Morice shares more about the policy side of the work, and offers ways in which the Medical Alley community can help advocate for positive change in the diagnostic space, plus a bit about his role with the American Clinical Laboratory Association.

NAMSA, a leading medtech contract research organization, has been a longtime partner of Medical Alley. On this week's episode of the Medical Alley Podcast, we're joined by Chris Mullin, the Director of Global Strategy Services at NAMSA, to learn more about what the organization does, NAMSA's relationship with the FDA, and much more.

For the final part of our series for Sleep Awareness Week, we're joined by the founder of a newer and fast-growing Medical Alley company that is innovating the way sleep apnea is diagnosed. Brian Sauer, founder and CEO of GEM Health, joined in studio to share how his company — which just recently celebrated its one-year anniversary — allows patients to get diagnosed and treated for sleep apnea from home via its product, GEM Sleep. The company is already in 47 states and continues to grow. Brian also shares some insight for entrepreneurs to consider on their journeys, regardless of their product or their focus.

Medical Alley and the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association have partnered on a three-part content series focusing on obesity . In this first podcast episode, hosted by PCNA, Dr. Erin Ferranti joins host Geralyn Warfield to discuss the impacts obesity has on cardiovascular disease, and also examines the roles that social determinants of health play. The second podcast will include a patient and a healthcare provider for a discussion on advocacy for patients with obesity. Be sure to register for a webinar March 2, which will conclude the three-part content series. That webinar will focus on obesity's impact on mental health. Learn more or register at medicalalley.org.

Morgan Evans is busy. In addition to founding Avio Medtech Consulting (former Highland Circle Innovations), Morgan is also the founder and principal of Engage Venture Partners and the co-founder and CEO of Agitated Solutions. In addition to all of those roles, she has served as an adviser for our Medical Alley Starts initiative. We were thrilled to have Morgan join this week's podcast to share her experience on both the investor and founder sides of the medtech scene in Medical Alley. She also talks about the rebranding of her company to Avio Medtech Consulting, discusses the state of the Medical Alley ecosystem, and more.

As we prepare to turn the calendar to a new year, take a listen to the top five most popular episodes of the Medical Alley Podcast in 2022. Thank you to everyone who tune in throughout this past year. We can't wait to keep sharing the stories of Medical Alley in 2023. Episodes featured include: Health Equity and Medtronic: A Conversation with Dr. John de Csepel and Karen Shehade — https://medicalalleypodcast.org/episodes/health-equity-and-medtronic-a-conversation-with-dr-john-de-csepel-and-karen-shehade Venture Capital in Minnesota: A Conversation with Mary Grove, Managing Partner, Bread & Butter Ventures — https://medicalalleypodcast.org/episodes/venture-capital-in-the-minnesota-a-conversation-with-mary-grove-managing-partner-bread-butter-ventures A Conversation with Jenna Senger and Mike Nathan, Co-Founders, Mendota Health — https://medicalalleypodcast.org/episodes/a-conversation-with-jenna-senger-and-mike-nathan-co-founders-mendota-health A Conversation with Justin Noznesky, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, AtriCure — https://medicalalleypodcast.org/episodes/a-conversation-with-justin-noznesky-chief-marketing-and-strategy-officer-atricure Innovating in Diagnostics: A Conversation with Dr. Bill Morice, President and CEO, Mayo Clinic Labs — https://medicalalleypodcast.org/episodes/innovating-in-diagnostics-a-conversation-with-dr-bill-morice-president-and-ceo-mayo-clinic-labs

After founding a company called Rise, Suneel Gupta began to study leaders who he deemed as "backable" — people who are able to convince people to take a chance on something new. Suneel was originally researching for his own purposes but eventually turned his findings into a book titled "Backable." He will be the keynote speaker at the Medical Alley 2023 Summit in February, and chatted with MAA President and CEO Bobbie Dressen to share more about his work and about what Summit guests can expect to hear from his speech at the Four Seasons in Minneapolis. For more information on the event or to get your ticket, go to medicalalleysummit.org.

More people are opting to receive their healthcare in the comfort of their homes — a trend accelerated by the pandemic — and that now includes lab testing, thanks to companies like imaware. The Medical Alley member offers a number of different in-home lab tests that range from men's and women's health and wellness tests, to a celiac disease screening test, and more. On this week's Medical Alley Podcast, imaware Chief Medical Officer Dr. Chet Robson joins to share more about the work imaware is doing to make lab tests accessible and easy to use at home.

The story of Rebiotix is a success story. Lee Jones founded the company years ago in a region that, at the time, was not seen as a biotech hub. Today, Rebiotix is thriving and the biotech scene in Medical Alley continues to grow. On this episode of the Medical Alley Podcast, Lee joins us in studio to talk about the founding of Rebiotix — and how programs like the Minnesota Cup and the Angel Tax Credit were instrumental in helping get the company off the ground. She also shares insight on the startup scene in Medical Alley today, something important to her as an adviser with Medical Alley Starts.

Millions of people in the United States are unable to walk. Lite Run hopes to help people regain that ability. The Medical Alley-based company has built a device with a technology similar to an astronaut's space suit. The Lite Run device unweights a patient by up to 50 percent of their body weight. It's not only big for the patient's physical and mental health, but it can also alleviate some of the stress of care providers and physical therapists. To learn more about this technology and its benefits, we talked with Mike Bankowski, CEO of Lite Run, about how the company got started, how it persevered through the pandemic, and what lies ahead in 2023 for the company.

The passive aggressive nature commonly associated with Minnesotans isn't prevalent when it comes to collaborating in the healthcare and technology sectors of the state. Frank Jaskulke joins Michael Roth of The Jed Mahonis Group to share how Medical Alley invests in the growth of not only its members but its employees (himself included), and why the community here is different from that famous place of innovation on the West Coast. **SHOW LINKS** Full show notes at https://constantvariables.co  Medical Alley website | https://medicalalley.org Frank Jaskulke on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankjaskulke/  Jed Mahonis Group Medtech Apps | https://jmg.mn/industry/medtech  Michael Roth on LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-roth-508772183/  Follow The Jed Mahonis Group on LinkedIn | https://linkedin.com/company/the-jed-mahonis-group

Adam Choe began his career as an entrepreneur, founding a healthcare startup called Yonder. He eventually took his experience in the startup world and helped form Tundra Ventures, an early-stage fund that looks to fill a gap that exists for money and access, especially among underrepresented founders. Adam joined us in studio to share more about how Tundra Ventures was formed, what lessons he learned as a startup founder, his thoughts on the startup community in Medical Alley, and more.