Beyond the Device

Every now and then a name gets suggested to us and we think, there's no chance we're getting them on. Chris Velis was one of those.

30 years in medtech and finance. Trained at Merrill Lynch, built the medtech practice at Brown Brothers Harriman, represented 150+ medical device companies and negotiated close to $10bn in M&A. In the middle of the 2008 crash he co-founded Auris, the surgical robotics company J&J later acquired for $5.75bn.

But we don't do the CV on this podcast. In the first episode of Series 3 we talk about the person behind it. Watching his dad, an oral surgeon, at work as a kid. Losing him to cancer as a teenager and walking away from medicine completely. A colleague's "headache" that turned out to be an aneurysm, and how that pushed him into medtech. And the moment years later when he realised the robotics he'd been building might have been about his dad all along.

We also get into hating sales and cold calls, the recruiter who told him he was an introvert and changed his career, therapy and being diagnosed with ADHD at 45, how lonely leadership gets, and why he thinks entrepreneurship can be taught (and why being told it can't made him so angry).

Chris's medtech entrepreneurship programme: https://aeioumedical.org

Chapters

00:00 Intro – Series 3, Episode 1

02:24 Growing up around his dad's surgery

10:26 Losing his dad and walking away from medicine

15:49 Sales, business school and Wall Street

20:39 The headache that changed everything

29:27 His first medtech deal: a $375m spine exit

32:40 Endovia, Hansen and the call from Columbia

47:03 Realising why he built it

51:50 Mental health, therapy and ADHD

54:57 Hating sales and cold calls

58:59 The recruiter who changed his trajectory

01:05:16 Why leadership is lonely

01:11:05 What he's doing now – teaching medtech entrepreneurship

01:21:57 What would his dad think?

01:26:06 One final lesson

If this episode made you think about your own turning point and you'd like to share it, get in touch with Nathan or Duncan.

#BeyondTheDevice #MedTech #MedicalDevices #SurgicalRobotics #Entrepreneurship

What happens when a coin toss changes the course of your life?

In this episode of Beyond the Device, Chris Weatherall reflects on a 30-year journey through engineering, quality, regulatory affairs, leadership and innovation. After narrowly missing out on an apprenticeship with Williams F1 through a coin toss, Chris found his way into engineering via an unconventional route, eventually building a career that has spanned diagnostics, manufacturing, consultancy and cutting-edge surgical robotics.

Chris shares the defining moments that shaped him, from being told by a teacher that he would "never make an engineer", to being made redundant and finding his way into MedTech, and later taking the leap into consultancy after successfully delivering a major manufacturing programme against the odds. Along the way, he discusses resilience, self-belief, leadership, mental health, and why curiosity remains one of the most important qualities for long-term success.

Now working with pioneering robotic microsurgery technology at MicroSure, Chris reflects on the future of healthcare, the importance of culture and values, and why life is too short to live with "what ifs".

Elizabeth Blake’s career has taken her from clinical healthcare into the commercial world of MedTech, ultimately leading her to launch Apple Orchard Marketing and support innovative startups.

But in 2024, while training to qualify for the Age Group Aquabike World Championships, a life-changing cycling accident left her with a spinal cord injury and forced her to rethink everything she knew about success, identity and resilience.

In this powerful conversation, Elizabeth shares how she’s navigated recovery, adapted to a completely different way of life, and learned to focus on what she can control. Her message is simple but powerful: don’t get overwhelmed by the end goal, just aim to be 1% better each day.

Support the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation in memory of Russell Payne: https://roycastle.org/ways-to-give/donations/

In this episode of Beyond the Device, hosts Duncan Cameron and Nathan Puxty sit down with Russell Payne to explore the defining moments that shaped his remarkable career and outlook on life.

Russell shares his journey from a self-described distracted student to earning a PhD, building and scaling a successful energy consultancy, and ultimately transitioning into the world of MedTech. Along the way, he reflects on the lessons learned from entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation, and the desire to create meaningful impact through technology.

This conversation goes beyond job titles and achievements, offering an honest look at the experiences, challenges, and motivations that influenced Russell's path. It's a thoughtful discussion about resilience, purpose, helping others, and finding opportunities where you least expect them.

Hosted by Duncan Cameron & Nathan Puxty.

• Andrew Mullen’s story is built on work ethic, curiosity, and a mindset that refuses to stay still.

Growing up in a coal mining community, value was simple: you worked hard or you didn’t matter. That environment shaped his early drive, but not his destination. From the mines to the Royal Navy, and eventually into MedTech, his path wasn’t planned, it was taken one opportunity at a time. 

The defining moment came later. Standing in a chaotic radiotherapy department, surrounded by patients waiting for life-changing treatment, he realised something fundamental:

Fixing the machine wasn’t enough.

That moment shifted everything. From being a technically strong engineer, to someone focused on improving systems, scaling impact, and ultimately helping more people. 

From there, Andrew deliberately pushed himself beyond his comfort zone, learning the commercial, operational, and leadership sides of the industry. Along the way, imposter syndrome was constant, but so was the decision to keep showing up anyway.

Now, as a multi-time CEO, his edge isn’t just technical knowledge, it’s perspective. Staying calm, seeing the bigger picture, and understanding how all the pieces fit together.

The core message is simple:

Your background shapes you, but it doesn’t define you.

What matters is how you respond, how you learn, and whether you’re willing to step into things before you feel ready.

Paul Fletcher-Dyer didn’t plan a career in medtech, he found it by following what felt natural. From early lab work to global QA/RA leadership, his path has been shaped by one defining lesson.

Early in his career, Paul experienced a moment where he did everything right, but still carried the blame for a failed outcome. It knocked his confidence for over a year and forced him to rethink how he works.

That experience now underpins everything he does. He leads with ownership, open conversations, and a clear belief that bottling things up is where problems start. 

Today, operating in the fast-moving world of AI in healthcare, Paul sees the same theme playing out at scale: rapid innovation, slow regulation, and the need for people who can take responsibility in the grey areas.

This episode is about resilience, accountability, and saying things out loud before they build up.

In this episode of Beyond the Device, Andrew Rogers shares a career shaped less by certainty and more by resilience.

From struggling at school and “winging it” into his first role, to building a 30+ year career in QA/RA, Andrew opens up about a constant undercurrent of imposter syndrome and self-doubt. Despite this, it’s that very mindset that’s driven him to work harder and consistently deliver.

This episode covers:

• Non-linear career paths and finding your way without a clear plan
• Turning self-doubt into a driver rather than a blocker
• The importance of environment, support, and perspective

A grounded reminder that you don’t need complete confidence to build a successful career, just the willingness to keep going and do your best.

“Don’t limit yourself to what you think in your head… you can do more than that.”

Lucy Jung’s story is one of reflection, resilience, and purpose.

Growing up across South Korea and China, she was exposed early to different cultures, ways of thinking, and a core principle that would stay with her, focus on value, not just outcomes.

Creativity led her into design engineering, and eventually into medtech, where she saw an opportunity to combine problem-solving with real human impact.

But the defining shift came in her early twenties.

After being diagnosed with a brain tumour and facing major surgery, Lucy experienced life from the other side, not as a designer or researcher, but as a patient.

That moment forced reflection. On what actually matters. On how fragile things can be. And on the gap between research and real-world impact, where even a 1% improvement in daily life can mean everything.

It also built resilience.

Through uncertainty, recovery, and ongoing health challenges, Lucy developed a mindset grounded in perspective, focusing on what can be controlled, finding moments of lightness even in difficult situations, captured in a simple idea she still lives by:
“If you cant' avoid it, enjoy it.”

And from that came clarity of purpose.

What began as a university project in Parkinson’s became something much bigger, a commitment to take meaningful ideas out of academia and into people’s lives. Not just chasing breakthrough innovation, but improving the day-to-day reality for those living with long-term conditions.

In this episode, we explore:

• How reflection helps you stay aligned with what actually matters
• Why resilience is built through perspective, not just endurance
• How becoming a patient reshaped Lucy’s direction entirely
• The responsibility of building in healthcare, and why value must come first
• And how small, human-centred improvements can have life-changing impact

A conversation that challenges you to slow down, reflect, and build something that genuinely matters.

Kiran’s journey into regulatory leadership isn’t a straight line. It’s shaped by curiosity, resilience, and one particularly defining period where everything slowed down.She didn’t grow up around science or the industry. Her interest came from wanting to understand how things work, from the human body to the medicines her grandmother relied on. That curiosity led her into biomedical science, then into lab-based roles, and eventually into positions where she began to overlap with quality and problem solving.But the moment that really changed things came years later.During COVID, Kiran stepped away from her career to raise her two young children. At the same time, she was dealing with depression and a genuine loss of identity. Work had been a big part of how she saw herself, and without it, she had to confront that shift head on.What stands out is how openly she talks about that period. The counselling, the self-reflection, and the ongoing effort to understand herself better. Not as a one-off fix, but as something she continues to invest in. It’s an honest reminder that these moments aren’t always visible from the outside, but they shape how people show up afterwards.Instead of rushing back, she used that time to rebuild. She studied, developed her understanding of quality, and slowly put the foundations in place for what came next.Then an opportunity came through someone she had worked with before. A startup role in Quality & Regulatory. A clear step up, and one that came with uncertainty.She took it anyway.That decision became the inflection point. It accelerated her learning, gave her the space to grow, and ultimately set the direction for her career.Today, she’s operating at a senior level, drawn to environments where she can have real impact, whether that’s building in startups, improving patient pathways, or contributing to how regulation evolves.Looking back, it’s not just the career moves that matter. It’s the willingness to face difficult periods honestly, and then still choose to move forward.If you’re going through a period where things feel uncertain, whether that’s in your career or personally, you’re not the only one. And if you’re waiting until everything feels clear before making your next move, that moment might not come.Sometimes the next step comes while you’re still figuring things out.

Chris Lee, CEO of Summit Medical, has spent decades leading medical device businesses through some of the toughest conditions the industry has faced, from Brexit and COVID to supply chain disruption and regulatory change. But his path into MedTech leadership was anything but conventional.

Leaving school at 15, Chris spent years travelling and working a range of jobs, from cycle courier to furniture removals and the Royal Navy, describing his early career as “a series of gap years” shaped by curiosity and life experience rather than formal education.

His turning point came while working at Johnson & Johnson. A mentor challenged him with a blunt observation: despite his potential, there was a missing paragraph in his career story, his education. That conversation pushed Chris to complete an Executive MBA at Cranfield while working full time, an intense experience that transformed both his confidence and his leadership perspective.

The biggest shift was learning that leadership isn’t about doing everything yourself. Instead, it’s about building teams of people with complementary strengths and creating an environment where each person can excel.

After nearly two decades at J&J, Chris stepped away from corporate life into startups and smaller MedTech businesses. The move brought failures, successes, and a completely different level of responsibility, from managing investors to worrying about cash flow. Looking back, he says the hardest moments ultimately taught him the most.

Across a career that has spanned global MedTech leadership roles, Chris’s biggest lesson is simple: success is built around people. The right team, with the right mix of strengths, will always outperform individuals trying to do everything themselves.

His advice to anyone building their career: focus on what you’re genuinely great at, collaborate with people who fill the gaps, and don’t let anyone else define what you’re capable of.