In this week’s DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, we visit with Chris Landon, SVP and business leader of image-guided therapy devices at Philips, about that company’s plans to build a medtech powerhouse.

Here’s a partial, edited transcript.

Why did you enter medtech?

Bill George, the former CEO of Medtronic, mentored me while I was doing my MBA in Switzerland. At one point, Bill showed me a video of a gentleman who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. He was also a virtuoso pianist. He’d been implanted with a Medtronic neurostimulator. In the video, you could see what happened when the device was turned on. I watched those man’s tremors just fade away and he sat down at a piano and just played this beautiful music. I realized right then what a wonderful industry this is.

Why did you leave Medtronic to join Philips?

When Frans van Houten was appointed CEO in 2011, he started the company on this great transformation from going to kind of a conglomerate that had all sorts of interests into one that is healthcare-focused, that really wants to change the total continuum of care and drive better outcomes for patients. Medical devices are a big part of that strategy. (Philips acquired Volcano Corp, Spectranetics, and most recently Intact Vascular to build out the business.) When Phillips first approached me, I think they were looking for somebody with that blue-chip medical device company experience who knew what globalized and scalable looks like for a medical device company. And for me, it was just an opportunity for me to continue on my, my own personal journey of leadership and to take the skills and the insights that I had learned from a company like Medtronic and bring them to an entity that was thirsty for that. And I got to be paired with a CEO who certainly was ready to invest more heavily, both in organic innovation, as well as expand expansion into other adjacent clinical areas. So it was just a great fit.

Landon answers several additional questions including:

• How large is Philips’ medical device business?
• How does the company manage business development and acquisition?
• Will Philips make direct investments?
• Where will Philips seek innovation?
• How do AI and Robotics fit?

We also welcome back Chris Newmarker, executive editor of Mass Device, who delivers his Newmarker’s Newsmakers, including news from GE Healthcare, Merit Medical, pharma campaign contributions, Eurofins and DxTerity Diagnostics and the FDA.

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