Born out of necessity and passion, Brad Slaker is leading a team of volunteers in the development of pediatric medical devices for the unmet clinical needs of children. In this interview, Brad unfolds the inspiring story of DesignWise Medical.
Interview Highlights with Brad Slaker
- An inspiring story of how a young patient suffering from a lung disease helped kickstart an idea for a new medical device.
- The premise of DesignWise Medical and how this unique organization was born.
- Why DesignWise Medical is focused solely on the pediatric patient demographic.
- Unique ways DesignWise Medical is able to crowdsource ideas for medical devices.
- How Brad leads a volunteer team of college students and medical device stakeholders in the development of new medical devices.
- The somewhat surprising funding sources for DesignWise Medical.
- What is the end goal for the current projects in the portfolio of DesignWise Medical?
- Brad’s impressive resume and his advice for ambitious medical device doers.
Brad Slaker is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board for DesignWise Medical, a unique, volunteer-based, nonprofit pediatric medical device organization that develops device-based solutions for the unmet medical needs of children. Slaker has over 22 years of experience in the for-profit medical device industry split between small start-up organizations as well as large medical device firms, Boston Scientific and Zimmer Spine. Brad has acquired extensive experience in all aspects of medical device product development from concept generation, product development and refinement, regulatory submissions, quality system requirements, manufacturing development, surgeon/physician relationships, project management and the management of engineering staff and cross-functional project teams. He also holds eight patents for various medical devices. Slaker has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a MBA from the University of St. Thomas.
Born out of necessity and passion, Brad Slaker is leading a team of volunteers in the development of pediatric medical devices for the unmet clinical needs of children. In this interview, Brad unfolds the inspiring story of DesignWise Medical.
Interview Highlights with Brad Slaker
- An inspiring story of how a young patient suffering from a lung disease helped kickstart an idea for a new medical device.
- The premise of DesignWise Medical and how this unique organization was born.
- Why DesignWise Medical is focused solely on the pediatric patient demographic.
- Unique ways DesignWise Medical is able to crowdsource ideas for medical devices.
- How Brad leads a volunteer team of college students and medical device stakeholders in the development of new medical devices.
- The somewhat surprising funding sources for DesignWise Medical.
- What is the end goal for the current projects in the portfolio of DesignWise Medical?
- Brad’s impressive resume and his advice for ambitious medical device doers.
Brad Slaker is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board for DesignWise Medical, a unique, volunteer-based, nonprofit pediatric medical device organization that develops device-based solutions for the unmet medical needs of children. Slaker has over 22 years of experience in the for-profit medical device industry split between small start-up organizations as well as large medical device firms, Boston Scientific and Zimmer Spine. Brad has acquired extensive experience in all aspects of medical device product development from concept generation, product development and refinement, regulatory submissions, quality system requirements, manufacturing development, surgeon/physician relationships, project management and the management of engineering staff and cross-functional project teams. He also holds eight patents for various medical devices. Slaker has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a MBA from the University of St. Thomas.