At Intuitive, we believe that exceptional ideas can come from anywhere. That’s why it’s imperative that our leaders inspire and empower their teams as we take on unprecedented challenges with meaningful impact. Below we introduce you to four leaders doing just that.
A mechanical engineer by training, Charlie Dean once wanted to build cars. But a mentor guided him toward medical devices, which set him on a path to Intuitive. He is now SVP and general manager of our Endoluminal business unit. His team works on Intuitive’s Ion product. “Our current focus is enabling physicians to help diagnose lung cancer,” Charlie explains. “We chose to start there because it’s one of the biggest, hardest problems we could apply robotics to.” To solve these incredible challenges, Charlie says, requires a respectful, inclusive environment where people feel they can work without constraints.
Read more about Charlie’s approach to leadership and the diagnostic barriers his team might breakthrough next.
As Iman Jeddi considered joining Intuitive in 2013, she test drove our products. “I never looked back,” she says. “I fell in love with the technology and the possibilities of what it could do.” A decade later, Iman leads our Single Port Platform business unit: the da Vinci SP provides surgeons the ability to deliver robotic-assisted surgery through a single port and provides 360-degree access to the anatomy. What’s it like working on a team opening the door to the next era of surgical innovation? “I want everyone to have a voice,” Iman says. “And I want my team members to challenge each other and challenge me.”
Check out Iman’s story to learn more, including about Iman’s own da Vinci surgery and why it motivates her to “empower people to push on the borders of what’s possible.”
Like so many of us at Intuitive, Chris Carlson has always been driven to innovate. Growing up, Chris “loved the idea of designing a state-of-the-art product to solve a problem.” As head of the Multiport business unit—the team behind the da Vinci—Chris is realizing that dream every day. As his team works on the next generation of da Vinci products, Chris says, collaboration is essential to bringing products to market that enable doctors to help patients. “We are an incredibly multidisciplinary company—both across the technology and across the business. The level of teamwork required is probably the most challenging and rewarding part of working here.”
Read more about Chris, including how he prioritizes the empowerment and growth of his team members.
Chief Digital Officer Brian Miller has been at Intuitive for more than two decades and says definitively there’s never been a more exciting time to work here. That’s because of the opportunity before us to build on our market position and innovate leading-edge solutions. As Brian explains, the solutions that connect our technology to providers and hospitals are transforming the way surgeons learn, and how Intuitive enables them to help patients. Every day, the digital team confronts unique challenges, working with complex data and the most advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence tools—all while focusing on the goal of advancing healthcare. As Brian says: “We cannot build technology that’s useful without the baseline mission of who we’re helping and what we’re trying to do.”
Check out Brian’s story to learn why, despite the incredible advances he and his team have made, he says they’re “far from done.”
