To replace its outgoing chief medical and scientific officer, Richard Kuntz, M.D., Medtronic looked inward.
The result of that inner search? The appointment of Laura Mauri, M.D., to take over Kuntz’s role upon his retirement at the end of this week—building on her previous purviews as chief clinical and regulatory officer and a senior vice president at the company.
After Kuntz’s departure April 29, Mauri will take on the title of chief scientific, medical and regulatory officer. That’ll tie together Medtronic’s scientific and medical work, clinical research and regulatory affairs under a single leader, putting Mauri in charge of integrating medtech development with patient safety and engagement needs.
Medtronic is also looking to the newly promoted Mauri—who will also maintain her position on the company’s executive committee—to help infuse additional medical expertise into all areas of the business, from R&D to corporate investing.
“With this appointment, we’re enabling a patient-centered approach to healthcare technology innovation at every stage of the product lifecycle,” said CEO Geoff Martha. “Dr. Mauri’s expertise and leadership connects medical and scientific intelligence, ensuring we have a clear appraisal of the medical and scientific landscape as we make investment decisions, and helping to deliver effective and reliable innovations for patients and healthcare providers.”
Mauri has been at Medtronic since the fall of 2018, when she was tapped as vice president of global clinical research and analytics. She took on the mantle of clinical and regulatory chief two years later in September 2020.
During her time at the medtech giant, Mauri has served as executive sponsor of Medtronic’s global clinical research council, led the development of new data analytics tools to better manage the clinical evidence supporting the company’s devices and software and taken charge of clinical trial response as well as mitigation plans amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to joining the corporate world, Mauri spent a decade and a half as a practicing interventional cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and clocked several years as a professor of medicine at her alma mater, Harvard Medical School.
“Medtronic is fortunate to have world-leading experts across diverse scientific and medical fields who provide unique insights and breakthrough discoveries. I’m excited to integrate this expertise across our company, to connect technology innovation with better health outcomes for patients,” Mauri said in a statement. “A strong scientific and patient-centered mindset across all stages of device development will enable innovation that saves and improves lives.”
Medtronic has conducted quite a few staffing switch-ups in recent months. Most recently, the company announced last month that it would split up its diabetes and cardiovascular businesses under two separate leaders, tapping Honeywell alum Que Dallara to take the diabetes segment off the hands of Sean Salmon, who will now oversee only the cardiovascular portfolio.
At the same time, Medtronic also shuffled around some existing employees, scouring its own roster to find new presidents of its cardiac rhythm management and surgical robotics operating units.