Oby: From the campus of Harvard Medical School, this is ThinkResearch, a podcast devoted to the stories behind clinical research. I'm Oby, your host. ThinkResearch is brought to you by Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University's Clinical and Translational Science Center, and by NCATS, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

A successful medical device technology company takes more than a functioning device. Effective business and marketing strategy are key to ensuring your product reaches relevant stakeholders and investors. Today we are joined by Ilsa Webeck for our first episode in the course director series, highlighting some of Harvard Catalyst post-graduate education collaborators from in and outside of Harvard. Ilsa is the managing director and founder of Medtech Strategies, and she dives into the strategies behind advancing the commercial position of medtech companies. Hi, Ilsa, welcome to the show.

Ilsa Webeck: Thank you very much for having me. Glad to be here.

Oby: So to begin, could you walk us through your career path and what led you to where you are today?

Ilsa Webeck: Sure. I think maybe first off I can say that I didn't really know where I was going to end up. I knew that I was interested in the sciences and I considered going to medical school. I ended up majoring in biology in college. But then after an experience working at a hospital, I actually decided that I didn't want to be a doctor and wanted to find another career pathway where I could still be involved in medicine in one way or another.

So I took a position in product development in Orthopedic Tissue Bank where I saw what it was like to be at a essentially a medical device company. And I really enjoyed the experience because it helped me to see both the product development side, which obviously you hear a little bit more about the products in the medical world, but also business and the management side of the world. And that opened up a bigger picture for me, the different career options down the road.

That experience led me to go back and get my degree in business. So I went and got my MBA. And through that experience as well saw lots of different opportunities for someone that likes science but doesn't actually want to work in a lab or be a physician. So after business school, I took a couple of years of consulting working with medical technology companies of all types. And then from there went to DePuy Spine, which is now DePuy Synthes, which is a Johnson & Johnson company.

And had the opportunity to work in product management, product strategy, corporate strategy, and as well helping organizations really understand the R&D portfolio and how that aligns with the organizational strategy, which was really an interesting way to combine both my understanding of the clinical space and the business dynamics that are associated with running a device company.

But then at that point in my career, most of the work that I had done since college and since graduate school had been in orthopedics. And I took a little side leap and went to Biogen. Worked there for a couple of years in the global strategy team. And I worked with the multiple sclerosis franchise to help each of them see sort of the strategy across the whole organization. And although I really enjoyed the experience and I really learned a lot, I decided that I liked the medical device side better. So I went to a small device company from there for a couple of years back in the day to day management of the devices themselves.

And reflecting on my career at that point, I realized that a lot of what I like to do is to answer tricky questions, which is where I decided to open my own consulting business. And that's where Medtech Strategies started. Through all of that, really gathering all those experiences together, they really, even though it's sort of a long way from point A to point B, all those different experiences really fed each other and helped me better form that understanding of that direction that I wanted to go.

Oby: So given your background and the work you do now, you accepted our invitation to be a course director, thank you, for one of our hybrid courses that we offer about medical device development. What was this experience like and what can participants expect to gain from this program? So even the experience of working with the education team and then what individuals who take the course can expect.

Ilsa Webeck: So yeah, thank you. It was really a pleasure to work with the Harvard Catalyst team, obviously, with you and the rest of the extended team members for the program. It was a really great experience to take a step back from advising companies on a day to day perspective and whether looking at specific questions that we're trying to answer, it's like, well, what if we take a step back and take a little more holistic view about what are these questions that the folks are trying to answer as they look at their business and how they represent their business?

And so it gave us really a chance to look at how a CEO runs a small company from a bigger picture, thinking really from a strategy perspective rather than the operations perspective and kind of weave in that thinking and some metrics and tools to help them better understand how they can represent their business. And the program was designed for entrepreneurs that had some experience, as you know.

So we set it up so it wasn't a 101 course. It was really an opportunity for folks that knew a little bit of what they were doing but wanted to take a deeper dive into that thinking about their organization and how they represented it to others, either advisors or investors or other organizations that they were looking to partner with. So I think as the course director, I really enjoyed that opportunity to step back from the day to day to take that bigger picture approach.

Oby: So stepping back for a second, you talked just through your career path and brought us to current day about Medtech Strategies. So you're currently the managing director and founder. How do you assist medical technology companies?

Ilsa Webeck: Thanks for asking. I think one of the big things that I help people with is really helping them to better understand their needs. And those needs can come across lots of different areas of the work that I do. It comes in many forms. For example, user needs for the clinical users of the products, a lot of times that comes in the form of primary research to help them ensure that there's a good market fit for their new product. And that comes through talking to the clinical user. Sometimes that surgeons. Sometimes that's nurses or technicians or patients. And helping to understand what are the needs or the gaps or the issues that they're struggling with today and have that company better understand how their product is going to fit into that space.

Another aspect is maybe a need for data. They don't have enough information to help them make good decisions about the marketplace, and so that can be through secondary research as an option, something like competitive intelligence, and helping them understand what are the other organizations doing in this space or what are the indirect competitors, other products that could potentially bump into the product that they are developing or have on the market, and what does that look like overall.

And then another area for needs is the overall needs of the team. Sometimes the team is kind of going full force forward with a good understanding of the market and good understanding of the products that they're working on. But they haven't taken that chance to take that step back and do the strategic planning and take the time to think about how they're managing the organization through the challenges and transitions as they bring that new product to market.

So I also do work on the strategic planning side of things, which sometimes leads to a little bit of marketing support where they might need help better understanding a new space that they're working on or doing some due diligence in a new area. And I'll help them through that process as well.

Oby: So you just talked a bit about how you assist these different companies. But why is having someone like you on a team integral to the success of medtech companies?

Ilsa Webeck: Because I'm fun to work with, Oby. We had a great time. We had a great time working together. Well, I hope they enjoy working with me. I hope they also like the fact that I have over 20 years, close to 25 years of experience working in this space. And really drawing from those years of experience working in multiple different technology areas and different sectors. That brings a little different view to the world.

So if someone's in orthopedics and they're thinking, well, what has happened in the cardiovascular space? Can we apply a relevant story to this and learn better, learn more about what we can do to do a better job? Or a different part of the business where you're thinking about the validation work that needs to be done to get the product out of the market as well as the quality systems and the marketing team and how all of those people come together to make a good story. So bringing my expertise and experience from across different sectors and different parts of the organization, I think, help to tell that story a little bit better.

And then also help them really identify what the key questions are that are on the table. And having that opportunity to have a conversation, understand those key questions, and then find really a pragmatic and logical approach to answering those questions. I frequently tell clients that I'm pretty straightforward. I don't try to oversell or overpromise what I can deliver.

And so when we're thinking through these questions I'll say, look, maybe I'm the right person to work with, but maybe I'm not. Let's understand really what the core issues are that you're dealing with right now. But if it's something that pops up that's more of a regulatory affairs question, I can take it a little ways, but I know when expertise is needed. And I can either help them manage that process or help them find the experts to address those issues. So I like to think that I'm able to bring those experiences from other areas of the medical technology sector and then be helpful for them to make some good decisions about what to do next.

Oby: And even as our listeners or people think about interacting and working with someone like you, someone that leads a company like yours, what sort of challenges or issues do you typically see before you step in?

Ilsa Webeck: Yeah. It's a good question. Frequently clients state a particular issue that they have and they might have a suggestion about how to solve it. But many times in having conversations with them, speaking to them, and talking through the issues, the real question that pops up might be deeper or maybe even more basic than what they were thinking it might be originally.

So this is really why I try to spend a good deal of time just listening and asking questions in some initial meetings. And it takes a little while to get to a point where we might have a real project out of it. But just having the opportunity to talk through the issues and where we think that they should go I think is a useful activity.

So it may be that challenge is that a lot of times CEOs are excited about getting something done quickly, or I have this real problem that I'm dealing with and I don't want to spend a lot of money. And so this is what I need you to do. But after that conversation, we say, well, let's just take a step back. Maybe that's not the question that you really need to have answered. But if we do this other kind of work, that will answer that question and then many others along the way. So really try and take that time to listen and have some discussions with clients as we get started to make sure that we're approaching the problem in the right way.

Oby: So you are also on the board of the Medical Development Group of Boston or MDG Boston. So can you tell us what is MDG Boston? And why is it important for those interested in medical device development to be a part of a community like this?

Ilsa Webeck: I think community is really the right word to describe this organization. It's a community of folks that are in many facets associated with developing medical technology. And the medical development group was put in place with the original founders when they realized that they had common questions, issues, challenges that they were dealing with and evolved the organization to become what I describe as an education and networking organization.

And so we have regular forums. We have had roughly two per month through the pandemic, which have been all online. But we will be moving to likely a hybrid forums come fall. And in these forums, we have the opportunity to hear from experts in the medical technology space. And not sell the company or sell their capabilities or sell their consulting services but really address the issues of developing products. What are the lessons learned? What are the challenges that have come up and how they address them?

And sometimes the forums are very technology focused where we hear three or four different new technologies that are addressing a particular clinical issue. And those are really fascinating because if you work in one part of the medical sector, you can actually learn from how others are approaching similar although maybe different problems and hopefully learn how you can apply some of that new technology or apply the learnings to your area.

From a networking perspective, we really provide the opportunity for folks to meet and greet and connect across the ecosystem. We've been doing this in online breakout rooms pretty regularly and have had several people meet and have further conversations that are applied to real technology in real time. So even though we know that the Zoom networking calls are sometimes challenging, we have it set up in such a way that people are able to make really great connections.

And then when we go back to the hybrid approach, we'll be in person and be able to shake hands and smile and pass cards maybe like we did before. So you get the opportunity both to learn and have the education component associated with working in the medical technology space and then the community part of it where you can network and grow your career and the work that you do through meeting others in the space.

And so I do recommend folks to check it out at mdgboston.org. And our forums have been free for a good period of time, although we're evaluating our business model and we'll take a closer look at that especially when we move in person. We have some costs of managing the spaces, et cetera. But a great opportunity for folks to dip your toe into an organization and learn. And if you get on our mailing list, you'll get regular updates about what the forums are and updates about our community and things that are happening across the med device space. So really encourage folks to check that out.

And as you mentioned, yes, I'm on the board. We just had elections and we have a new board that's just starting in July, which is a really great set of individuals that are bringing their interests and expertise from a really broad swath of the medical technology space, given the ability to go hybrid or have online meetings more than we've done before. Our board members are not all in the Boston area. They're from across the US. So we're really excited to have that broader perspective on the management board for MDG Boston.

And if folks are interested in getting more involved in an organization and having the chance to meet folks on a closer level, we are always looking for volunteers that could be interested in running a forum, which could be specific topic related. And so if there's a particular area that you like to work in and you really want to hear from other experts in your space, so you can learn yourself or you want to help others learn about what you're working on, there's the opportunity to do that.

As well as other areas across the organization, such as working with sponsors. We have a mentoring program that's getting up and running. We have a jobs page for our career development options, as well as there's a variety of different areas across the organization that folks can get involved in. So I'd be happy to talk to anyone more about that if they're interested.

Oby: So I'm going to circle this back to a little bit of where we began and maybe ask for a closing thought you may offer to people. Because we're doing a series with course directors, specifically individuals who've worked with Harvard Catalyst post-graduate education on different programs. And maybe the golden nugget that you may offer people about why they should work with us. I know I'm putting you on the spot.

Ilsa Webeck: The golden nugget. That's a good question. I think the one thing that I did enjoy was a chance to step away from the day to day research and strategy that I mentioned that I do and really think bigger picture about what your area of expertise and interests and bringing that to the table. I think it helped me, especially when I started doing some of these lectures or overviews for attendees or students.

It did help me think a little more deeply into the topics that I use on a regular basis and ask myself, how do I answer these questions? What are the approaches that I take? So it did allow that opportunity to think more, again, more holistically about the work that you do and how that can be structured in such a way to help folks as they're going down their journey.

And a little bit is giving back too. There are lots of people that I learned from along my career. Maybe not in this type of class specifically, but in other types of settings, other kinds of classes, other colleagues that helped me along the way. So I enjoy the opportunity to give back to the industry a little bit as well and help people move from point A to point B. So I think that's maybe my golden nugget.

Oby: I like it. Thank you so much for joining us again. We really appreciate it, and it's been a pleasure to have this conversation with you.

Ilsa Webeck: Yeah, thank you. Thank you for inviting me to talk to you today and I look forward to working with you again in the future.

Oby: Thank you for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, please rate us on iTunes and help us spread the word about the amazing research taking place across the Harvard community and beyond. We are always looking to connect and collaborate with the research community and would like to hear from you. Please feel free to email us at onlineeducation.catalyst.harvard.edu to inquire about being a guest on the podcast.