The Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC), announces the appointment of eight new members to their Board of Directors:  Joseph Ferrara, Veranex; Michelle Fox, Teleflex; Brent Fullerton, Medtronic; Chris Kilburn-Peterson, Depuy Synthes Mitek Sports Medicine; Jaydeo Kinikar, Best Buy Health; Sonal Patel, Hologic; Stacey Pugh, Butterfly Network; and Adam Sachs, Vicarious Surgical. 
 
“We are honored to welcome our new members to our Board of Directors to further the mission of saving and improving the lives of patients everywhere through medical technology,” said MassMEDIC President, Brian Johnson. “Their dedication to continuous improvement of our healthcare ecosystem in Massachusetts and New England, paired with their industry expertise, will strengthen our community built on collaboration and collaborative success.”  

Joseph Ferrara is the chief innovation officer for Veranex, a global end-to-end service provider of design, engineering, pre-clinical and clinical development and commercial strategy and market access expertise to medical device, diagnostics, and digital health innovators. Joseph brings more than 25 years of experience helping clients capture value for medical technology innovation, with particular focus on precision medicine, advanced diagnostics and imaging, health information technology, and digital health. 

As the Chief Medical Officer of Teleflex, Michelle Fox and her leadership team set the clinical vision and strategy for Teleflex. She provides leadership to Medical Affairs which provides medical guidance for the Company’s global product portfolio and assures compliance with global regulatory, legislative and medical requirements. Clinical Affairs representatives lead the design of and implementation of multidisciplinary clinical development programs covering a broad range of products and therapeutic areas in collaboration with strategic business partners. Michelle also leads the scientific, clinical research and reimbursement arm of the organization. Michelle’s work has focused on organizational and systems development. This includes interactive medical education, as a means to making transformational change and supporting research that implements the best medical practices into bedside clinical care. Michelle offers a rare blend of strong clinical practice and leadership, driven by her desire to improve patient outcomes, and tempered by a clear understanding of the challenges facing healthcare today. 

Brent Fullerton is the senior director and site lead for the Medtronic Danvers, MA campus with responsibility for product development and manufacturing for a global customer base and over $7B dollars in revenue. Brent is an accomplished operations leadership executive with over 30 years of experience in the medical technology industry. He is an expert in large manufacturing site leadership, acquisition integration, plant network strategy, continuous improvement, six sigma, and global capacity expansions, with broad international experience. 

Chris Kilburn-Peterson is the vice president, U.S. sales & marketing for Depuy Synthes Mitek Sports Medicine, the Orthopaedics Company of Johnson & Johnson, focusing on healing and restoring movement for millions. In this role, he is responsible for leading the Sports Surgical and Early Intervention/Orthobiologics Business Units. A veteran of the organization for 16 years, Chris previously held roles in global marketing, innovation, strategy, product and program management. 

Jaydeo Kinikar brings over two decades of leadership experience in building and scaling innovation businesses at GE, Philips and Best Buy Health. He is currently the vice president of virtual care strategy & offering at Best Buy Health. As a member of the executive leadership team, he is responsible for spearheading growth and innovation in provider, payor and senior living markets. Best Buy Health is focused on enabling care in the home for patients and consumers through technology and meaningful connections. Jaydeo is an active participant and thought leader in the healthcare ecosystem and a co-author of Springer textbook on Healthcare IT for Cardiovascular Medicine. 

Sonal Patel is vice president, corporate business development and strategy, with Hologic, Inc., an innovative medical technology company primarily focused on improving women's health and well-being through early detection and treatment. Sonal has close to 20 years of experience in business development, strategy, and marketing roles within the MedTech industry. She joined Hologic in 2016 and is focused on defining and executing the company’s inorganic business development efforts.   

Stacey Pugh is the chief commercial officer at Butterfly Network. As a leader in Medical Technology, she has more than 15 years of experience in medical device research, development and commercialization. Stacey joined Butterfly in 2021 and leads the company in the planning, organization, and implementation of all sales and marketing activities. Butterfly Network has transformed point-of-care patient assessment by developing the world’s first and only semiconductor-based, handheld, whole-body ultrasound system - a groundbreaking tool that enables better clinical decisions through better information and insight at the point of care. Butterfly equips clinicians with the power to image anytime, anywhere information is needed – in the hospital, community, or home. 

Adam Sachs is CEO of Vicarious Surgical, a surgical robotics company he co-founded in 2014. As an MIT-trained roboticist who is revolutionizing minimally invasive surgery through the development of proprietary surgical robotics, Sachs is passionate about improving care for patients and enhancing the work environment for surgeons, while helping the bottom line of hospitals. His hands-on approach and vision as CEO include a focus on the development and commercialization of the Vicarious Surgical robotic system with the goals of ease of use, full access inside the body, and increased visualization for surgeons, utilizing a single small incision and providing 360-degree visibility inside the human body. In 2021, under Sach’s leadership, Vicarious Surgical began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. He has deep roots in the Bay State and has worked for more than 12 years as a volunteer emergency medical technician. 

Organizational Updates 

In the past few years, the role of the association has grown to include both virtual and in person educational and networking events, government affairs and workforce development services, regulatory guidance, membership discounts, and promotional opportunities. 

To continue to build on the service offerings available to MassMEDIC members, we are proud to announce the addition of two key staff members: Kayla Fasken, director of community engagement, and Nichole Wenderlich Owens, director of marketing and communications.  

Working collaboratively with the organization’s newly promoted Chief Operating Officer, Rachel Robinson, Kayla works closely with MassMEDIC members to ensure they are taking full advantage of their membership benefits, as well as leading business development initiatives and the Women in MedTech series. Kayla brings more than five years of sales, membership and account management experience with her to the role, most recently serving as an account executive at Softchoice.  

With two decades of integrated marketing communications experience, Nichole will lead marketing communications initiatives and events for the organization. Most recently the chief marketing officer for GRYT Health, Nichole previously served in a leadership position at New York State’s MedTech Association and has managed events and communications initiatives for start-up and matrixed organizations in the healthcare, non-profit, agriculture and aerospace industries. A patient herself, Nichole is a five-year breast cancer survivor. 

“We are excited that Kayla and Nichole have joined the MassMEDIC team to bolster the impact we can have in support of the New England medical device community,” said Rachel Robinson, chief operating officer of MassMEDIC. “These two new positions will allow us to support our membership more effectively and bring our offerings to the next level.”