Kate Rumrill, CEO of Ablative Solutions, has navigated a unique path to the C-suite with over 30 years of experience in the medtech and pharmaceutical industries. Initially interested in a career in neurosurgery, Kate’s coincidental foray into toxicology research during her gap year eventually led to her professional future in the medtech space. Her journey is a testament to the power of seizing unexpected opportunities and embracing the twists and turns that often shape our careers.
Kate’s initial work as a pharmaceutical researcher spawned new opportunities, starting with toxicology research and gradually expanding into clinical affairs, medical affairs, reimbursement, and executive leadership. By gaining experience in various industry functions, Kate acquired invaluable insights into strategy and tactical planning and became familiar with the intricacies of both the clinical and commercial aspects of a medical device company.
Kate’s leadership journey includes roles as President and CEO of NeoSync and Vice President, Global Medical Affairs of Covidien’s Peripheral Vascular Division. These experiences helped further refine her expertise in product development, clinical strategy, financial management, and commercial product launches.
Currently, Kate is leading the charge at a clinical-stage medical device startup specializing in transcatheter perivascular alcohol denervation for hypertension treatment.
The company has pioneered the Peregrine System to perform chemical renal denervation using alcohol as a neurolytic agent. Their solution uses a proprietary catheter to deliver a neurolytic agent — alcohol, in this case — into the perivascular space, which sets the device apart from other energy-based technologies in the market.
Key Learnings From Kate’s Experience
- Sustained success in medtech requires three ingredients: thorough research, a deep conviction in your technology, and a complete understanding of its potential impact on patients’ lives.
- When designing clinical trials, you must take into account the required capital, regulatory compliance, and end-user experience. This involves engaging with the right stakeholders, investors, regulators, and practitioners early on to preempt potential issues and future-proof the trial design.
- A comprehensive understanding of your technology's unique landscape is crucial to devising a successful reimbursement strategy. Your plan must be comprehensive and articulate, as investors are interested not just in the technology but in how it will get paid for.
Kate Rumrill, CEO of Ablative Solutions, is an accomplished leader with over three decades of comprehensive experience within the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. She brings a unique blend of expertise to the table, spanning roles from clinical affairs to executive management, with pivotal stints at prominent companies such as Eli Lilly and Covidien.
Leaning Into and Leveraging Personal Drive
The medtech terrain is often risky, challenging, and fraught with uncertainty. Yet, for seasoned industry leaders like Kate, these are the very elements that catalyze innovation and opportunity.
Having held influential roles at Covidien, NeoSync, and, currently, Ablative Solutions, Kate's career journey offers essential insights into leveraging strategic pivots to ascend the professional ladder.
Some of the most important things for professional success, according to Kate, are having a comprehensive understanding of your product along with a deep belief in the technology you’re working on. More than merely understanding a company's position, Kate underscores the need for personal conviction in the technology's potential to impact patients’ lives. In her case, both of her parents struggle with hypertension and aren’t fond of taking their medications. This personal background reinforced her drive to explore medical devices for this particular problem.
When stepping into unknown territories, Kate posits that understanding the medical need and having a vested interest in your target illness is crucial. She explains: "What is the unmet medical need and what are you trying to do there? I always try to think about that."
Despite facing skepticism, Kate's conviction in the potential of renal denervation led her to join Ablative Solutions. Her belief was anchored in expert opinions, a nuanced understanding of hypertension, and meticulous scientific evaluation.
The critical lesson learned was understanding the real-world implications and having realistic expectations of a technology developed for treating a complex medical condition like hypertension. She says: “Hypertension is a lifelong illness, and it's very complex because it's not just what's going on with your sympathetic nervous system. It's diet, it's exercise, it's lifestyle. All of those sorts of things factor in.”
Overall, Kate’s experiences underline the value of extensive research, personal connection, realistic expectations, and a firm belief in the technology you’re developing.
Devising a Strategic Clinical Trial Design
The medtech realm is a highly competitive space. And one thing to keep in mind is that the best technology doesn’t always win. A great product blueprint is only as good as its reach and utilization. It’s also critical to ensure your product aligns with the available reimbursement mechanisms.
The lesson here is straightforward: you need to factor in all the different aspects of your product when designing clinical trials. Fundraising, regulatory expectations, and end-user experience should not be afterthoughts but guiding forces from the inception of the business plan. A failure to do so, or postponing these aspects to later stages, can potentially derail your venture before it even takes off.
To successfully navigate all of these key arenas, Kate advises consulting with the right people early on. In her words: “You need to be looking ahead, and you need to be looking around the corner when designing your clinical trial because after it’s implemented, it's too late to make significant changes.”
The right people she’s referring to are investors, regulatory stakeholders, and practitioners. When you involve experts from diverse aspects of the product’s life cycle, proactively addressing the potential questions that may arise in the future, you can ensure your clinical strategy is built on a robust foundation.
Do Your Reimbursement Homework or Suffer the Consequences
When stepping into the world of medtech startups, predicting the unpredictable is a core tenet of success. As Kate bluntly states: "You need to constantly be challenging yourself and thinking about the what ifs." The industry is dynamic, and unexpected hurdles are more of a certainty than a possibility.
What distinguishes successful medical device entrepreneurs, according to Kate, is their capacity to adapt in the face of these unforeseen circumstances. Based on her experiences, preparing for the unexpected comes down to one thing – thorough homework.
Kate explains that reimbursement strategy is not a one-size-fits-all concept. "It's hard to give general advice because reimbursement is so different depending on the technology," she shared. That is why understanding the unique landscape of your technology is crucial, and it's a question investors will certainly ask.
"You have to have a strategy, know what the landscape is, and know what your plan is at least at the 30,000-foot view because you're going to get asked about it," she advised. No investor wants to see a deer-in-headlights look when they ask, "Who's going to pay for this technology that you're developing?" Having at least an overarching strategy can be the difference between walking away with or without a check.
From her days at NeoSync, where she cut her teeth in fundraising and perfected her pitch, to her current role at Ablative Solutions, Kate understands that investors are looking for more than just a compelling product — they want to see a roadmap to success that includes a thoughtful reimbursement strategy.
Kate Rumrill, CEO of Ablative Solutions, has navigated a unique path to the C-suite with over 30 years of experience in the medtech and pharmaceutical industries. Initially interested in a career in neurosurgery, Kate’s coincidental foray into toxicology research during her gap year eventually led to her professional future in the medtech space. Her journey is a testament to the power of seizing unexpected opportunities and embracing the twists and turns that often shape our careers.
Kate’s initial work as a pharmaceutical researcher spawned new opportunities, starting with toxicology research and gradually expanding into clinical affairs, medical affairs, reimbursement, and executive leadership. By gaining experience in various industry functions, Kate acquired invaluable insights into strategy and tactical planning and became familiar with the intricacies of both the clinical and commercial aspects of a medical device company.
Kate’s leadership journey includes roles as President and CEO of NeoSync and Vice President, Global Medical Affairs of Covidien’s Peripheral Vascular Division. These experiences helped further refine her expertise in product development, clinical strategy, financial management, and commercial product launches.
Currently, Kate is leading the charge at a clinical-stage medical device startup specializing in transcatheter perivascular alcohol denervation for hypertension treatment.
The company has pioneered the Peregrine System to perform chemical renal denervation using alcohol as a neurolytic agent. Their solution uses a proprietary catheter to deliver a neurolytic agent — alcohol, in this case — into the perivascular space, which sets the device apart from other energy-based technologies in the market.
Key Learnings From Kate’s Experience
- Sustained success in medtech requires three ingredients: thorough research, a deep conviction in your technology, and a complete understanding of its potential impact on patients’ lives.
- When designing clinical trials, you must take into account the required capital, regulatory compliance, and end-user experience. This involves engaging with the right stakeholders, investors, regulators, and practitioners early on to preempt potential issues and future-proof the trial design.
- A comprehensive understanding of your technology's unique landscape is crucial to devising a successful reimbursement strategy. Your plan must be comprehensive and articulate, as investors are interested not just in the technology but in how it will get paid for.
Kate Rumrill, CEO of Ablative Solutions, is an accomplished leader with over three decades of comprehensive experience within the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. She brings a unique blend of expertise to the table, spanning roles from clinical affairs to executive management, with pivotal stints at prominent companies such as Eli Lilly and Covidien.
Leaning Into and Leveraging Personal Drive
The medtech terrain is often risky, challenging, and fraught with uncertainty. Yet, for seasoned industry leaders like Kate, these are the very elements that catalyze innovation and opportunity.
Having held influential roles at Covidien, NeoSync, and, currently, Ablative Solutions, Kate's career journey offers essential insights into leveraging strategic pivots to ascend the professional ladder.
Some of the most important things for professional success, according to Kate, are having a comprehensive understanding of your product along with a deep belief in the technology you’re working on. More than merely understanding a company's position, Kate underscores the need for personal conviction in the technology's potential to impact patients’ lives. In her case, both of her parents struggle with hypertension and aren’t fond of taking their medications. This personal background reinforced her drive to explore medical devices for this particular problem.
When stepping into unknown territories, Kate posits that understanding the medical need and having a vested interest in your target illness is crucial. She explains: "What is the unmet medical need and what are you trying to do there? I always try to think about that."
Despite facing skepticism, Kate's conviction in the potential of renal denervation led her to join Ablative Solutions. Her belief was anchored in expert opinions, a nuanced understanding of hypertension, and meticulous scientific evaluation.
The critical lesson learned was understanding the real-world implications and having realistic expectations of a technology developed for treating a complex medical condition like hypertension. She says: “Hypertension is a lifelong illness, and it's very complex because it's not just what's going on with your sympathetic nervous system. It's diet, it's exercise, it's lifestyle. All of those sorts of things factor in.”
Overall, Kate’s experiences underline the value of extensive research, personal connection, realistic expectations, and a firm belief in the technology you’re developing.
Devising a Strategic Clinical Trial Design
The medtech realm is a highly competitive space. And one thing to keep in mind is that the best technology doesn’t always win. A great product blueprint is only as good as its reach and utilization. It’s also critical to ensure your product aligns with the available reimbursement mechanisms.
The lesson here is straightforward: you need to factor in all the different aspects of your product when designing clinical trials. Fundraising, regulatory expectations, and end-user experience should not be afterthoughts but guiding forces from the inception of the business plan. A failure to do so, or postponing these aspects to later stages, can potentially derail your venture before it even takes off.
To successfully navigate all of these key arenas, Kate advises consulting with the right people early on. In her words: “You need to be looking ahead, and you need to be looking around the corner when designing your clinical trial because after it’s implemented, it's too late to make significant changes.”
The right people she’s referring to are investors, regulatory stakeholders, and practitioners. When you involve experts from diverse aspects of the product’s life cycle, proactively addressing the potential questions that may arise in the future, you can ensure your clinical strategy is built on a robust foundation.
Do Your Reimbursement Homework or Suffer the Consequences
When stepping into the world of medtech startups, predicting the unpredictable is a core tenet of success. As Kate bluntly states: "You need to constantly be challenging yourself and thinking about the what ifs." The industry is dynamic, and unexpected hurdles are more of a certainty than a possibility.
What distinguishes successful medical device entrepreneurs, according to Kate, is their capacity to adapt in the face of these unforeseen circumstances. Based on her experiences, preparing for the unexpected comes down to one thing – thorough homework.
Kate explains that reimbursement strategy is not a one-size-fits-all concept. "It's hard to give general advice because reimbursement is so different depending on the technology," she shared. That is why understanding the unique landscape of your technology is crucial, and it's a question investors will certainly ask.
"You have to have a strategy, know what the landscape is, and know what your plan is at least at the 30,000-foot view because you're going to get asked about it," she advised. No investor wants to see a deer-in-headlights look when they ask, "Who's going to pay for this technology that you're developing?" Having at least an overarching strategy can be the difference between walking away with or without a check.
From her days at NeoSync, where she cut her teeth in fundraising and perfected her pitch, to her current role at Ablative Solutions, Kate understands that investors are looking for more than just a compelling product — they want to see a roadmap to success that includes a thoughtful reimbursement strategy.
