• Hyedi Nelson | Director of Health Strategy, Bellmont Partners | Navigating MedTech PR, Strategic Communication, and Industry Innovation
    Jan 9 2026
    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 ...
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    37 mins
  • Katie Bochnowski | SVP Customer Success & Services, NowSecure | Navigating Mobile Security in MedTech
    Dec 12 2025
    Katie Bochnowski is the Senior Vice President of Customer Success & Services at NowSecure. Katie shares her journey from studying cyber forensics at Purdue University to becoming an expert in mobile app security and forensics. She discusses the impactful work her team does in securing mobile apps, especially in the medtech industry. Katie also offers valuable advice on building relationships within organizations, the importance of security best practices, and staying curious as a professional. Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestrzempka/ | https://www.nowsecure.com/ Charity supported: Save the Children 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 070 - Katie Bochnowski [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. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I am absolutely delighted to introduce you to my guest, Katie Bochnowski. Katie is Senior Vice President of Customer Success and Services at NowSecure co-author of the book, "iPhone and iOS Forensics," and a recognized expert in mobile forensics and app security testing. Katie holds a master's in Cyber Forensics and Bachelor's of Science and Computer Technology from Purdue University. In her current role, Katie oversees customer support, onboarding and success departments, as well as the mobile AppSec Professional Services Organization that is responsible for pen testing, training, and consulting. All right. Well, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. I'm so delighted to speak with you today. [00:01:37] Katie Bochnowski: Awesome. I'm really happy to be here. [00:01:39] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. Well, I would love, if you wouldn't mind just starting off by telling us a little bit about yourself, your background, and what led you to medtech. [00:01:48] Katie Bochnowski: Awesome. Sure. So, I'm Katie Bochnowski. I work for a company called NowSecure. My background, dating back many years to school is in computer technology and more specifically cyber forensics. Where I am now is mobile app security. How I got into that industry is, is really from that forensic background. Our company used to do data recovery and forensic investigations on mobile devices, and we kind of quickly realized that mobile apps are storing a lot of data. So we shifted into proactively working with organizations to secure those apps that reside on devices. And in terms of medtech, obviously you can probably make that connection, but we began working closely with first, companies that really care about the data that's being stored, and transmitted on those apps, which absolutely includes medtech industry. [00:02:43] Lindsey Dinneen: Awesome. Okay, so going back a little bit. So when you were first deciding on college paths and career paths and all those lovely things, what drew you to where you ended up? [00:02:55] Katie Bochnowski: You know, I don't have a great, like "aha" moment for this question. It was just one of those things. I grew up, I had a computer in my house. I did Typing Tutor when I was really young on MS Dos, and I just always en enjoyed that. I had a friend in high school and we both got interested in making our own website with HTML. So, it was just enjoying being around computers and also tinkering to figure out what was wrong with something from a technology perspective. Purdue is where I attended. Purdue had a more generic computer technology degree that I didn't have to know exactly what I wanted to do. You could try different paths, so that's kind of what got me into it. It's not like I knew I wanted to do that my whole life, but I never really went back or questioned it. I always just kind of enjoyed it along the way. [00:03:45] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Excellent. Okay, so the phrase cyber forensics is just exciting. So, can you dive a little bit more into exactly what that means and entails and what it looks like? [00:03:57] Katie Bochnowski: Yeah, absolutely. So, it is exciting-...
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    29 mins
  • Charu Roy | Chief Product Officer, Enlil | MedTech Innovation, Leadership Journey, & Customer-Centric Solutions
    Nov 28 2025
    Charu Roy, Chief Product Officer at Enlil, shares her extensive journey in the software industry, which began in the late 1980s and evolved into her leadership role in medtech. Charu discusses her role at Enlil, where she oversees the development of an AI-powered platform to enhance medical device lifecycle management. She emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs, fostering team potential, and ensuring cybersecurity in medtech software solutions. With profound insights on her career growth, leadership style, and the technological advancements propelling the industry forward, Charu's story is an inspiring tale of innovation and dedication to improving lives. Guest links: https://enlil.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/enlil-inc/ Charity supported: ASPCA 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 069 - Charu Roy [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. Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host Lindsey, and today I'm absolutely delighted to introduce you to Charu Roy. Charu is the Chief Product Officer at Enlil, where she leads product strategy, vision, and execution for the company's AI powered medtech development platform. With over two decades of experience building and scaling enterprise software products, Charu brings deep industry expertise in product management, user-centered design, and go to market leadership. Before Enlil, she held senior product roles at industry leaders, including Epicor, Oracle, I-2 Technologies slash Aspect Development, HP and Agile Software, where she drove software innovation across enterprise cloud SaaS and data driven solutions. Known for her ability to align customer needs with business strategy, she is passionate about delivering products that transform complex industries and enable measurable impact. Well, welcome, Charu, to the conversation today. I'm so excited to be speaking with you. [00:01:54] Charu Roy: Thank you so much for having me. I'm very really excited about being here on this podcast. [00:02:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, awesome. Yeah. Well, I would love, if you wouldn't mind starting off by sharing a little bit about yourself, your background, and what led you to medtech. [00:02:10] Charu Roy: Sure. As every other sort of person who gets into the software world, I came in a while back in 1987 to 89, where I did Master's in Computer Science at University of Louisiana. That was my first introduction to America, really. And computer science brought me to the Bay Area where I worked at HP, Hewlett Packard. In those days, it was called Scientific Instruments Division in Palo Alto. And there I programmed robotic hands to, to sort of move that, the vial from samples, drug samples from athletes so that they could get tested for drugs. So, I didn't know the importance of all this. It was my first job. I enjoyed myself seven years, you know, software programming, really, and understood how a large company works. And then slowly I started getting a little bored. So I went on to my next startup and was involved in the same kind of principles that drive things today. So I just sort of built my way up. In terms of the software, I joined different groups, ran consulting services, ran engineering, and sort of worked myself up through the ranks and into sort of more decision making capabilities, and you know, continued to join companies and learn new things and leave them for some better opportunities. So I moved from Hewlett Packard to a startup that was called Aspect Development, which got sold to I-2 Technologies for $9.3 billion in those days. So, you know, I went through that acquisition, trying to understand the market, what kind of software triggers buying, you know-- so sort of just the software aspects of how to sell software, how to develop software, how to deploy it. So in general, I was learning all of the ropes until I came to Agile PLM, which is a company which, very popular company which ...
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    34 mins
  • Garrett Schumacher |  Product Security Director, Velentium Medical & Co-Founder/CTO, GeneInfoSec | Navigating the Future of Medical Device & Genetic Security
    Nov 14 2025
    Garrett Schumacher is Business Unit Director of Product Security at Velentium Medical and the co-founder and CTO of GeneInfoSec. Garrett discusses his journey from medical student to cybersecurity expert and educator, dedicating his career to securing medical devices. He shares insights on the intersection of cybersecurity and healthcare, highlighting the challenges of protecting genetic data. Garrett gives honest advice about navigating cybersecurity and data privacy concerns, how to be a good leader, and what medtech startups should consider as they design and develop their devices. Guest links: https://velentiummedical.com/ | https://www.geneinfosec.com/ Charity supported: Save the Children 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 068 - Garrett Schumacher [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. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Leading Difference Podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I am excited to introduce you to my guest, Garrett Schumacher. Garrett is the Business Unit Director of Product Security at Velentium Medical, where he has led the cybersecurity efforts on 200 plus medical device products and systems. He is the co-founder and CTO of GeneInfoSec, a startup focused on securing the world's most valuable and private data, our genetic information. In his work, Garrett has trained engineers, developers, manufacturers, healthcare delivery organizations, and laboratories across the globe in cybersecurity, and is an active member of several related industry working groups. He also teaches secure product development and medical device cybersecurity at the graduate level for the University of Colorado Boulder's Department of Computer Science as an adjunct professor in the little bit of time left in his days, Garrett is either rock climbing or spending time with family. Thank you so much for being here, Garrett. I'm so excited to speak with you today. [00:01:48] Garrett Schumacher: Yeah. Thank you for having me. [00:01:49] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, I'd love, if you wouldn't mind, by starting out and sharing a little bit about yourself and your background and what led you to medtech. [00:01:59] Garrett Schumacher: Yeah. So I guess my background, I mean, it started as I always thought I was gonna be a doctor. I did my undergrad in physiology, thought I was gonna do med school, the whole nine yards. And towards the end of my, let's say junior year, just started being like, "I don't think this is what I want to do." I always had a fascination with tech. I was really involved with a lot of the tech groups on campus at the University of Colorado Boulder, early days of Hack CU, one of the largest collegiate hackathons. And I really regretted not doing a computer science degree, but I was three quarters of the way done. So sometimes you just gotta finish it up, right? Get the degree, find out what's next. After that I went and did a master's in genetics. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do either yet, but hey, a master's degree is not a bad thing to do if you're unsure. And actually I was in a PhD program and dropped out early with a master's. Different story. But yeah. And then I started I helped the University of Colorado Boulder start their cybersecurity programs. So it was getting into the cyber world. I did a, I guess it was a bootcamp, at the University of Denver in cybersecurity. And so that all culminated in me always focusing on healthcare and cybersecurity together. And then COVID happened and that made the world change for a lot of people. And basically I was looking for a new job and I found Velentium, and I think that's where it really spoke to me, where I could do my love of medical and human health with cybersecurity and technology development. And so yeah, I think that's really how I got into it. I had been doing projects related to that before, but Velentium's where it really culminated and I found a place that let me do all the things I love, not ...
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    32 mins
  • Sarah Ptach | President & CEO, Canyon Labs | Elevating MedTech Standards, Leadership in Innovation, & Patient-Centric Culture
    Oct 31 2025
    Sarah Ptach, President and CEO of Canyon Labs, discusses her journey from professional sports and advertising to leading Canyon Labs, a company specializing in medical device and pharmaceutical testing. Inspired by her father's Parkinson's diagnosis, Sarah transitioned to healthcare to make a meaningful impact. She delves into her leadership philosophy, emphasizing the importance of trust, transparency, and collaboration in building a strong company culture. Sarah also highlights Canyon Labs' dedication to elevating industry standards and ensuring patient safety. Guest links: https://canyonlabs.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahptach/ Charity supported: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research 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 067: Sarah Ptach [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. Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I am super excited to introduce you to my guest, Sarah Ptach. Sarah is the President and CEO of Canyon Labs, a leading provider of medical device and pharmaceutical testing, consulting, and sterilization services. She joined the company during a critical ownership transition with a clear goal in mind: to raise the standard of service in the industry and build a true end-to-end solutions partner. Drawing on her background in packaging engineering and testing, Sarah focused on expanding beyond packaging alone to create a more integrated, accessible, and expert driven experience for clients. Sarah began her career in professional sports and advertising, but a desire to create more meaningful impact led her to the healthcare space after her father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She went on to help grow and successfully exit a packaging firm before bringing her vision and leadership to Canyon Labs. In addition to her role at Canyon, she co-leads Kilmer Innovations and serves on the board of the Medical Device Packaging Technical Committee of the Institute of Packaging Professionals. She remains deeply committed to advancing healthcare through innovation, expertise, and strong partnerships. All right. Well, thank you so much for being here, Sarah. I'm so excited to welcome you to the show. [00:02:05] Sarah Ptach: Likewise. Thank you, Lindsey. I appreciate you having me. [00:02:08] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, I'd love if you would start off by telling us just a little bit about yourself, your background, and what led you to MedTech. [00:02:16] Sarah Ptach: Yeah. Thank you. So I'm Sarah Ptach. I'm the president of Canyon Labs. I have kind of an interesting story of getting into to medtech. I originally started my career actually in professional baseball. I was a contract negotiation person mainly for closing pitchers. And I ran track in college. I thought like, "oh, I wanna be in sports." And I like to say that's the most fun I never wanna have again. It was, it was a great start of a career. It teaches you a lot about negotiation, teaches you a lot about high stakes opportunities. But, you know, in the end it, it felt very kind of un unfulfilling in that perspective. And so I had kind of then taken that into to marketing for a pretty big ad agency in Chicago and hit the same thing. I felt like I was-- you know, now I was just selling people stuff that they didn't need instead of promoting people that, you know, that make a ton of money in the sports industry. And at the time my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and I wanted to feel like I was making a difference. So I, I went back and got my MBA and my whole goal of that was really to, to use my skills to, to do something that makes a difference in people's lives. So, I had reached out to a really small medical device company and it's " I'm willing to make no money as long as we, we have a difference in a change we can make in the world." And at the time that company couldn't hire me but I ended up getting introduced to...
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    34 mins
  • Tyler O'Malley | VP of Clinical Affairs, Exagen | Pioneering Autoimmune Diagnostics & Building Communication Bridges
    Oct 17 2025
    Tyler O'Malley is the Vice President of Clinical Affairs, Bioinformatics, and Market Access at Exagen, Inc. Tyler shares his journey in the MedTech industry and discusses Exagen's innovative approaches to autoimmune testing solutions, including cutting-edge diagnostics for lupus and other diseases. With over a decade of experience, Tyler provides insights into the challenges and breakthroughs in the field, highlighting the significance of early diagnosis and personalized treatment, while also discussing the challenges and opportunities in effective leadership during different stages of company growth. Guest links: https://exagen.com/ Charity supported: Save the Children 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 066 - Tyler O'Malley [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. Hello, and 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, Tyler O'Malley. Tyler serves as Associate VP of Clinical Affairs and Market Access at Exagen, Inc., a leader in autoimmune testing solutions. In his role, he oversees clinical trials, bioinformatics, and medical policy development for Exagen's current diagnostic portfolio and pipeline of proprietary solutions. With more than a decade of experience, O'Malley has contributed to more than a dozen clinical trials focusing on clinical validity and utility evidence for autoimmune diagnostics. His expertise is widely recognized with numerous publications in esteemed peer reviewed journals, and notably, he's the first author of one of the largest clinical utility studies in lupus diagnostics. O'Malley graduated from Georgia Gwinnett College with a Bachelor of Science in biology, concentrating in biochemistry. His 11 year career in research and development and medical affairs encompass medical science, education, assay development, and clinical research coordination. Well, welcome to the show, Tyler. I'm so excited to have you here today. [00:02:01] Tyler O'Malley: Thanks, glad to be here. [00:02:02] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I would love just starting off by telling us a little bit about yourself, your background, and what led you to MedTech. [00:02:11] Tyler O'Malley: Sure. So, I'm the Vice President of Clinical Affairs, Bioinformatics, and Market Access at Exagen. We're a specialty diagnostics company focused on autoimmune rheumatic diseases. So we develop proprietary testing technology for conditions like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren's disease, as well as many others. And yeah, our focus is trying to find solutions for patients who are dealing with what are many times challenging chronic diseases that can present themselves in very mysterious ways oftentimes. And so, these are challenges that patients have that have, for the most part, gone unsolved for many decades, and so there's a lot of opportunity out there. In terms of, myself, my background, I've been with Exagen for the past 11 and a half years. So I've been doing this for a while now, and I've worked in a couple of different areas within the organization, doing work within the lab assay development, as well as outside the lab doing clinical research, statistical analysis, which led to the bioinformatics role. And then as well as doing some work trying to align our clinical evidence with medical policy for our tests which is the market access role. So, a little bit of everything, but there are some through lines that I assure you do make some sense if you really think about it. [00:03:33] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. Excellent. Well, thank you for sharing a little bit about that. There's so much to dive into, but going back a little bit in your story, when you were thinking about careers-- you're a eager high school student ready to embrace college, and you're ready for the next step --is this something that you could have imagined yourself doing or has this always been a passion of yours? Or is this ...
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    26 mins
  • Sara Aswegan | Strategic Advisor | Rare Disease Advocacy, Patient-Centric Solutions, & Global Collaboration
    Oct 3 2025
    Sarah Aswegan, a seasoned biopharma leader and strategic advisor for global rare disease solutions, shares her journey from sales in pharma to her consulting work today. She discusses her experience in transitioning biopharma companies from clinical to commercial success, the evolution of medtech in diagnosing and managing rare diseases, and the collaborative efforts required to bring innovative treatments to market. She also shares insights on current trends in gene therapy, the dynamics of funding, and the importance of data in advancing care for rare disease patients. Guest links: www.saraaswegan.com Charity supported: 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 065 - Sara Aswegan [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. Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host Lindsey, and today I'm delighted to welcome to the show, Sarah Aswegan. Sarah is a seasoned biopharma leader helping organizations transition and grow from clinical to commercial success. She prides herself on the success of leading multiple global cross-functional teams and contributing to the success of the franchise areas she oversaw and served. Until recently, she's applied these experiences while serving in a consultancy capacity for many small to midsize biotechs entering or expanding in rare disease. She has also successfully helped organizations to start and scale adjacent spaces to biopharma, and most recently has been serving as a Global Head of Commercial Assets, Brands, and Care Solutions, and has led transformational change at UCP, having been part of the design and scale of the business unit for rare disease. She maintains a strong network among clinicians, access, bioethicists, and patient advocacy globally. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so excited to speak with you. [00:01:52] Sara Aswegan: Thanks, Lindsey. It's nice to be here. [00:01:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Wonderful. Well, I'd love, if you wouldn't mind, sharing a little bit about yourself and your background and what led you to medtech. [00:02:02] Sara Aswegan: Yeah, thanks Lindsey. You know, I, I started my career ages ago in the pharma side of things, and as my career has grown, so has the exposure across pharmaceuticals, into biotech and including aspects of medtech. As we look at some of the areas I've spent the last 18 years in rare disease, the medtech component is coming in largely around if we think about the diagnosis component and then the management of the different conditions over the lifespan of a child or adult affected by a rare condition. You can see things really evolving. I started my career on the sales side of things. My education is in business and communication, so anyone can learn the science if you have good mentors and people to help you along the way. And I was really, really fortunate to work amongst a team of amazing individuals, both in the US and then now having lived away for about 15 years outside of the US that have helped open my eyes to what can be possible and the differences by markets. And as I mentioned, I spent the last 18 years in the rare disease space really helping companies of all sizes build out and scale their teams, bringing in new assets and bringing solutions to the field of rare disease. And it's something I'm very passionate about. [00:03:06] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing a little bit about that. So I'm curious, that's a very specific niche and I would love to understand how you arrived at that and how you realized, "Oh, this is what I'm meant to be doing." [00:03:19] Sara Aswegan: Yeah. So I made a move geographically and company-wise to a small firm at the time. We were just a very small team. We called it the bootstrapping team at Shire Human Genetic Therapies, and I moved from the Chicago area to Boston, and that was my first really exposure to rare diseases. And, it's a completely different field and it continues to evolve even to...
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    30 mins
  • Dr. Adam Power | Co-Founder & CMO, Front Line Medical Technologies | Innovating Trauma Care, Aortic Occlusion, & Global Impact
    Sep 19 2025
    Dr. Adam Power, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer at Front Line Medical Technologies, shares his fascinating journey from a background in vascular surgery to developing COBRA-OS, a groundbreaking device for hemorrhage control. He discusses the challenges and milestones in bringing this life-saving technology to market, the impact of the device in trauma and emergency care, and innovative future applications, including its unexpected use in non-traumatic cardiac arrest. Guest links: https://frontlinemedtech.com/ Charity supported: Canadian Cancer Society 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 064 - Dr. Adam Power [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. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and today I'm excited to introduce you to my guest, Dr. Adam Power. Dr. Power is a leader in innovative medical devices for trauma and emergency care that is committed to lowering the barriers and bleeding control and resuscitation. Dr. Power was instrumental in the development of COBRA-OS, drawing on his unique clinical viewpoint and expertise to ensure utmost patient safety and assist with the company's global expansion. In addition to his current role as co-founder and Chief Medical Officer at Front Line Medical Technologies Incorporated, Dr. Adam Power is a vascular surgeon in the division of vascular surgery at Western University, which he joined in the fall of 2012, and he is involved in all aspects of academics and clinical care. Also, Front Line was just named the 2025 Medical Device Technology Company of the Year, so I definitely wanted to highlight that too. All right. Well, thank you so much for being here today, Adam. I'm so delighted to speak with you. [00:01:55] Dr. Adam Power: Yes, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you. [00:01:57] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, I'd love if you would start by sharing a little bit about yourself, your background, and what led you to what you're doing today. [00:02:05] Dr. Adam Power: Sure, I'd love to. So I'm a Canadian. I grew up on the east coast of Canada and was always interested in science and math and those types of things. I think, importantly, I grew up with an identical twin brother as well. So we really didn't know what we wanted to do with our lives, and ultimately we're good in science and math and ended up in medicine. And then both of us, when we got into medicine, we weren't sure exactly what we wanted to do in medicine, and ultimately both of us became surgeons. He became a urology surgeon, and I became a vascular surgeon, where we joke that we're both plumbers. I deal with the red stuff and he's the yellow stuff. But I did my initial medical school out on the east coast of Canada and then I did my general surgery training, which also involved trauma training, and then did a Master's of Bioscience Enterprise, which was basically biotech business from the University of Cambridge in the UK. When I finished my general surgery training, I continued on and did vascular surgery training at Mayo Clinic down in the US, and since that time after graduating from there, I've been at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, for the past 13 years practicing as a vascular surgeon and an academic vascular surgeon. But when I was here at Western, I was always interested in innovation. I filed my first patent as a resident way back when, and have filed many over the years. But ultimately, if I was ever gonna see anything that came outta my head and was actually used in a patient or I could actually use in a patient, I figured I'd have to do it. I knew that I couldn't do it by myself. And so, I was very fortunate to meet my co-founder Dr. Asha Parekh. She's a PhD, biomedical engineer, extremely smart jack of all trades, and we teamed up now about eight years ago. We met here at Western, teamed up and really took an idea right out of our heads and patented it and raised money for it, prototyped...
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    29 mins