Developing a Career in Surgical Robotics 

The surgical robotics space is a richly varied industry that’s full of opportunities. Whether you’re an engineer, leader or marketer, there’s plenty of potential. On Season 2 Episode 5 of The Surgibots Podcast I spoke to Jeff LaConte, the Vice President of Global Marketing and Business Development at Medical Microinstruments, about his personal experience of moving through the surgical robotics space. Here’s what he said about his experience of moving into and progressing through the surgical robotics sector so far:  

What was your first experience with robotics, and how did you transition into the space? 

My first experience with robotics was back in the Ethicon endosurgery days where I led a portion of the business, and we were competing with the early days of Intuitive. I was looking at their trajectory, spending time evaluating what they were doing, and obviously watching how they've gone from those early days to where they are now. Before that, I was spending a little bit of time looking at what J&J was thinking about and wondering how to approach that side of the business.  

From an orthopaedic standpoint, with Velis, my first experience was with the prototype. It was an acquisition from a very impressive company - eCential Robotics and Stefan, who I believe you've had on The Surgibots Podcast before - and seeing that prototype and knowing that our great r&d team had plans to accelerate it as quickly as we could to bring it to market was really my first experience of the surgical robotics space.  

We had to really look at what was in the market and figure out the advantages of being fourth to market. We were able to see what was working and what was not, and pivot quickly so that we could offer something really unique to the market despite being fourth. I believe that that team really did that, and transformed that space from these big robotic concepts to something that is a little bit smaller and more fit for form. That first experience showed me that there's a lot of impressive technology in that space; I think we’ve got some of the most technologically savvy concepts that are on the market.  

Talk to me about what it was that you saw in MMI. 

With where things were at J&J, I didn't want to leave for just any technology. I didn't want to leave for anything other than really the right opportunity. When I looked at what we have here at MMI with their R&D team, and the incredible leadership from Mark on the executive side, it was really eye opening, and a bit of a no brainer. MMI is a technology where there really is no other technology in this space. It's targeting minimally open procedures, which I saw in some of my early work at Ethicon endosurgery in the laparoscopic space. There's been so much focus on laparoscopy - rightly so - and advancing that through natural orifice surgery, that I haven’t seen anybody else develop something like what MMI has.  

There is this concept that opened my eyes, which is that there are many procedures that will never be laparoscopic, they will always be open, and a lot of them are in the plastic reconstructive space. Some of the most talented surgeons on the planet are performing a lot of these procedures, and it’s a big range of applications for what MMI and the Cemani robot can do. I really saw an opportunity to come into the space and bring our technology to a target audience that has not really had advanced technology like this before. In some ways, the last great technology that they may have had may have been an awesome microscope, but we are offering them something that can do everything from extend careers down to change procedure types and go even more minimally invasive. We can really change lives. 

How have you found the transition so far? 

It's maybe not exactly what I expected. but there are definitely pieces that I just mentioned that I did expect. I did expect it to be fast. I did expect it to be dynamic. I did expect to wear multiple hats here. When you talk to anybody who is a former big company person, and say, “Hey, are you willing to wear many hats? Can you do X, Y, and Z?” The answer is yes. Folks in all these big companies do that. I think that sometimes goes unrecognised, or there's this perception from smaller companies that the bigger company, the people and assets and resources, etc. there are, and that's not always true.  

The other thing that I would say that is not quite as expected is the opportunity to constantly engage with our customers. I did have a little bit more of an expectation that folks may not necessarily know exactly who we are and what we're doing, but that is not the case at all. This space definitely knows who we are and what we're doing, and the engagement is fantastic. The opportunity to get out, see customers, spend time with them in their facilities and talk to their staff has been fantastic. Sometimes in big companies that isn't something you can do all the time, because of travel restrictions, a different focus, or more internal management that has to take place. At MMI we’re absolutely focused on creating our technology, changing a space and ensuring the customers understand exactly what we're talking about, then really continuing that loop. 

To learn more about Jeff and his work at Medical Microinstruments, tune into Season 2 Episode 5 of The Surgibots Podcast here.