Patrick Hope is the Executive Director of AdvaMed’s newest division, the Medical Imaging Division, since its launch in January 2024. Previously, Patrick was the executive director of Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA), a position he held from 2015 – 2023. He came to MITA from the American College of Cardiology (ACC), where he served as senior director of legislative policy.

Before joining ACC, he served as legislative counsel and senior manager of legislative affairs for the American College of Physicians. As a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, he represents the state’s 1^st district (Arlington County), where he serves on the Health Welfare and Institutions Committee. Patrick holds a law degree from Catholic University Columbus School of Law, a master’s in congressional studies from Catholic University, and a bachelor’s in history and political science from St. Mary’s University.

The post Patrick Hope appeared first on AdvaMed.

Carol Blackford is the Executive Vice President of Payment and Health Care Delivery Policy at AdvaMed.  AdvaMed’s Payment and Health Care Delivery Policy department develops and advocates for policies to ensure and expand patient access to medical technologies by improving coverage, coding, and payment processes used by Medicare and commercial payers.

Ms. Blackford comes to AdvaMed with over two decades of health care policy experience.  Prior to joining AdvaMed in 2023, Ms. Blackford served as a Senior Executive and Director of the Hospital and Ambulatory Policy Group in the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  In this role, Ms. Blackford had responsibility for payment and benefits policy on the acute care side of the Medicare Fee-For Service Program. These payment systems, which account for approximately $270 billion in Medicare spending, include inpatient and outpatient hospital services, physician services, Part B drugs and laboratory services, and other acute care services and providers.  During her 28 year career at CMS, Ms. Blackford lead work in every major Medicare fee-for-service payment system and served in a number of enterprise wide leadership roles, including serving as the Agency’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response Coordinator. 

Carol holds a B.A in Political Science from McDaniel College and a Master’s of Public Policy from The College of William and Mary.

The post Carol Blackford appeared first on AdvaMed.

Santiago Madriñán is Global Director, Sales Effectiveness at Sirtex Medical, Inc. Sirtex Medical is a global medical device company specializing in liver cancer therapy but aspiring to be the leader in intertumoral therapy by 2028.  He is excited to represent Sirtex Medical at the AdvaMed PRIDE Leadership Network to help foster an even stronger LGBTQI+ support system within the organization. Santiago has been in the biotech and medical device industry for over 20 years in different roles, including sales, marketing, sales operations, and training. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University Santiago de Cali.  Santiago joined us to answer a few questions about himself:

Tell us about your hometown.   

I grew up in Colombia, South America in the third largest city named “Cali”. The origin of the word “Cali” comes from the local Amerindians the “Calima Tribe.” After graduating, I relocated to Miami, FL where I started early on my career in the healthcare environment. After a few years I relocated to Arlington, Texas where my brother and sister lived allowing me to be closer to my family. While in Texas, I had the pleasure to work for Caremark Therapeutic Services and Genentech. From Texas, I relocated to San Francisco to work at the Genentech headquarters for several years in different roles. I then relocated once again back to Florida where I decided to settle and plant my roots. Here I met my husband Chuck and we have been together for over 12 years.  

What does PRIDE mean to you?   

PRIDE to me is more than feeling proud, it is to express authentically who you are without restrictions or fear during our life’s journey. PRIDE represents a state of mind, a heartfelt position that nobody can take away. PRIDE allows us to overcome challenges and negativity and turn them into educational moments to help ourselves and others grow intellectually and learn to respect differences we all have and the commonalities of all humans. 

Why the medtech industry?   

Since I was a young man, I wanted to be in the healthcare industry, caring and helping people live a better life. However, I never wanted to be a healthcare provider, so it took me a while to find my calling. I was blessed enough to find it when I worked for a small pharmacy in north Miami in the finance department. I had an amazing mentor who taught me the importance of always thinking about the “patient” as the essence of everything I do. I have carried that teaching ever since. 

What advice do you have for other LGBTQ people in the medtech industry?   

You are not alone! You have to be involved to make things better for everyone. I have seen in my life the positive evolution of the LGBTQI+ movement, but the change is happening because we are speaking, we are showing up, we are living authentically. Everything starts from you, not all changes happen immediately, small but solid steps are the beginning of huge changes. Be a part of the change. 

The post Santiago Madriñán appeared first on AdvaMed.

Ann Bunnenberg is the Venture Partner at Oregon Venture Fund. She is also a Member-at-Large of AdvaMed Accel. Additionally, Ann Bunnenberg was Co-Founder & COO at Electrical Geodesic as well as the President at Synergic Medical Technologies. She attended the University of Oregon.

The post Ann Bunnenberg appeared first on AdvaMed.

Shaye Mandle serves as the Executive Director of the AdvaMed Digital Health Tech. Shaye is an accomplished corporate, association, and government executive with more than 25 years of experience in innovation sectors and public policy, including healthcare, technology, entrepreneurship, national defense, and economic development. Shaye has served on multiple Boards and advisory committees, including major research universities and public sector appointments.

For the past 12 years, Shaye has served as a healthcare association executive, including advocacy for medical technology, biotechnology and digital health organizations. Shaye has served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and as President & Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Alley Association (MAA). Shaye has also served as the Chair of the State Medtech Alliance (SMTA) for AdvaMed.

Previously, Shaye has served as the leader of multiple innovation and economic development organizations, including the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis and the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition. Shaye’s national defense experience included 5 years with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Shaye has also served on the staffs of U.S. House Speaker Denny Hastert and Illinois Governor Jim Edgar.

Shaye hold a JD, cum laude, from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University and a BA in political science and history from Illinois Wesleyan University.

The post Shaye Mandle appeared first on AdvaMed.

Stephen Van Lyon is the Head of Finance – Sleep and Respiratory Care at ResMed Inc.  He also serves as the Chair of our LGBTQIA+ employee resource group “ResPect”.  He has worked at ResMed for about 4 ½ years, in a few different roles spanning across various finance functions.  Prior to ResMed, he worked a couple years in Technical Accounting at Qualcomm and as an external auditor at KPMG for a little under a decade (spending time in the San Diego and London offices).  While not as relevant to his current work, he has also worked in personal finance, retail, and food and beverage service industries (including a couple years bartending at an old San Diego gay bar).  He has an undergrad degree in Biology, a Masters in Accountancy and is a California CPA. Stephen joined us to answer a few questions about himself:

Tell us about your hometown.   

I grew up in a small town called Manteca in California’s central valley.  While not much to add by way of excitement, diversity or culture, I can see why my parents chose to raise me and my siblings there.  I regularly say it’s a great place to be “from”.  When I was 18, I moved to San Diego – “America’s Finest City”.  Shortly thereafter I met my husband, Mike while attending a small private Christian university.  We’ve been together over 20 years, married for 18, and have the joy of raising our now 10-year-old daughter, Westley, in this beautiful SoCal oasis. 

What does PRIDE mean to you?   

Pride, to me, is about community coming together, to laugh or to lament, to sing and dance or to march and shout.  It’s about knowing that I’m not alone; knowing that I have colleagues, friends, family… even complete strangers who see me as me… fully human, fully empowered to live a life of love, free from judgment and persecution.  I’m lucky to find that community of Pride not only in my personal life, but also where I work… and I’m committed to ensuring I help provide that same sense of community and pride to others at ResMed and in the Medtech industry. 

Why the medtech industry?   

I really didn’t land in Medtech until my most recent employment experience with ResMed.  But, the allure of the industry was very real to me.  While a finance guy by trade, I’m also a trained scientist and always thought I’d find myself in the healthcare space (although early on thought it would be as a physician).  I’m a person motivated by an organization’s mission and values… and working for a company in this industry, helping people leave and breathe healthier lives, is so rewarding!  I take pride as I talk about the positive impact my company and this industry have on the world. 

What advice do you have for other LGBTQ people in the medtech industry?   

Don’t be afraid to be you, and know that you’re not alone.  There are others similarly situated and similarly motivated to make a positive impact.  Leverage resources, make connections, and help others where you can.  I was taught early on to leave things better than when I found them (while perhaps a ploy to get me to clean my room when I was a kid… I think this applies to our relationships and employment experiences as well!).   

The post Stephen Van Lyon appeared first on AdvaMed.

Shane Reif is Director, Human Resources at Baxter Healthcare. Prior to its acquisition by Baxter, he worked for Hillrom, a global medical technology company. At Hillrom, he was part of a core team that developed a DE&I program, including the launch of an employee resource group for LGBTQIA+ employees. Prior to his time at Baxter/Hillrom, he worked for Hospira, a global sterile injectable company (acquired by Pfizer in 2015). Shane joined us to answer a few questions about himself:

Tell us about Your Hometown.   

I hail form a Hoisington, Kansas, a town of 2,500 in the middle of the state. Located on the plains of Kansas, it’s s small farming community with deeply conservative German-Catholic roots. I later moved to Lindsborg, KS, a community founded by Swedish immigrants in the 1800s. The community is deeply committed to the arts in all forms. I now live in Chicago, IL. 

What does PRIDE mean to you?   

“Pride” means feeling comfortable in your own skin and displaying authenticity in all that you do. By being prideful, you have the opportunity to change the culture around to and to be an example to the generation that will come behind us. 

Why the Medtech Industry?   

I started my career in non-profit. I truly felt as though I had to remain in non-profit in order to get that “warm fuzzy” feeling. I’ll never forget the candidacy process at Hospira, when I realized that being part of the healthcare/Medtech industry was exactly where I belonged! I still have the ability to have a major impact on society and even my own family and friends. It’s an industry I hope to be part of for a very long time! 

What Advice Do You Have for Other LGBTQ People in the Medtech Industry?   

Find a culture in which you are empowered to be your true and authentic self. If you feel as though you’re not part of a workplace culture/community that allows this, have open and honest conversations about the appetite to celebrate diversity. If there isn’t one, find a culture that allows this! 

The post Shane Reif appeared first on AdvaMed.

Rebecca Rehm is the Compliance Officer at Olympus Corporation of the Americas. In addition to her compliance role at Olympus, she is co-lead of the Olympus LGBTQ Colleague Affinity Network and co-chair of AdvaMed’s PRIDE Leadership Network. She has been in compliance and ethics for the past 10 years, in-house with Olympus for the past five, and consulting cross-industry, including in pharma, for the prior five. She has a background in healthcare and education and worked previously at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School.  She joined us to answer a few questions about herself:

Tell us about your hometown.   

I grew up in Lake George, New York, a small vacation destination nestled in the Adirondack Mountains. It is very rural, and I had only 87 students in my very homogenous high school class. Although I had a wonderful childhood, I was always excited to experience more. After a stop in Maryland and a couple of others in Massachusetts, I now live in the Town of Harvard, Massachusetts, also a small town, which my wife and I chose for the beautiful conservation land and great public school system for our kids.  

What does PRIDE mean to you?   

When I think about what pride means to me, it’s not really pride in my identity as a lesbian. I think I’d be proud of whoever I am. It’s really pride in my journey. That journey including coming out to my loved ones in the nineties when it was a hard time to do it. It’s pride in knowing that when my partner and I met we advocated for same-sex marriage and ultimately got married and have been married for 18 years. And it’s pride that living our lives authentically has, I think, made our world safer for other LGBTQ+ people.  

Why the medtech industry?   

With a background in biology and neuroscience, healthcare was a natural fit for my interests and skills. I started out in genetics professional education, and what I’ve found being at Olympus is that educating is like selling – you have to know your content or product, engage someone else in it, convince or sell them, and then you get to see great outcomes. The actual science of medical technology is also interesting to me – products you can hold in your hand, the mechanics of them – and when I had the opportunity to watch a surgeon use an Olympus for brain surgery, I was fascinated. Having been in compliance and ethics supporting healthcare companies for over 10 years, I can truly see the impact of my role on making people’s lives healthier, and that is ultimate reason I love the Medtech industry. 

What advice do you have for other LGBTQ people in the medtech industry?   

Bring your authentic self to work. Research shows that people who behave genuinely and authentically report less anxiety and are significantly more likely to win pitches and be hired than those who cater to others’ interests and expectations. In addition, after you’ve brought that authenticity and if you’re comfortable, share your story with those in our industry. Research also shows that hearing personal stories allows us to take others’ perspectives, which increases our motivation to respond without prejudice. By being authentic and sharing your story, you’ll find allies and a community of people with similar stories, which will be a wonderful support as you progress in medtech. 

The post Rebecca Rehm appeared first on AdvaMed.

Matt Wetzel is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Goodwin Procter LLP.  He counsels medical device and diagnostics manufacturers, laboratory testing companies, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and a variety of other health care and life sciences organizations on health care legal and regulatory matters.  He helps structure financial and remunerative relationships with customers and other health care providers, including strategic counseling on sales and marketing practices, innovative value-based arrangements, and discounting and pricing practices. He also conducts due diligence in the context of mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, and financing transactions. 

Matt has extensive in-house experience in both the multinational setting and the start-up environment and works with life sciences companies to develop and implement effective compliance programs. This includes drafting policies and internal control documents; training employees and agents on appropriate customer interactions; conducting risk assessments and audits to help identify potential vulnerabilities or gaps; conducting internal investigations in response to allegations of wrongdoing; and offering strategic guidance on the evolution and growth of life sciences companies’ compliance programs. 

Prior to joining Goodwin, Matt held a series of in-house positions, including serving as Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at GRAIL, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at AdvaMed, and Senior Counsel at Boston Scientific.  Matt chairs the Fraud & Abuse Practice Group of the American Health Law Association and co-chairs the AdvaMed PRIDE Leadership Network.  Matt holds a JD and a BA from Georgetown. 

The post Matt Wetzel appeared first on AdvaMed.

Ashley Miller is Executive Vice President of Global Strategy and Analysis of AdvaMed. Ms. Miller is responsible for the Association’s efforts to provide adequate reimbursement and open market access for medical technology products worldwide. She also serves as the Co-Chair of the Global Medical Technology Alliance.

Before joining AdvaMed’s leadership team in early 2022, Ms. Miller worked in the Executive Office of the President as Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative (USTR) for Market Access and Industrial Competitiveness. In this role, she was the lead negotiator for trade and regulatory issues in U.S. FTAs and had broad responsibility for the development and coordination of U. S. policy on international trade and regulatory matters focused on information technology, semiconductor, medical devices, and pharmaceutical sectors. Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Miller was the Department of Commerce’s Market Access and Compliance Attaché at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium.

Ms. Miller received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her MPA from Rutgers University.

The post Ashley Miller appeared first on AdvaMed.