Beyond the Device

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...

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 s...

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, bu...

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 definin...

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 work...

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 deliv...

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...

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...

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 furnit...

Chris Hannan, VP of Quality & Regulatory at Oxford Nanopore, has built an extraordinary career in MedTech without following the traditional path.   Leaving school without a clear direction, Chris started in the stores department of an electronics company and deliberately put himself in environments where he had to learn. By staying curious, surrounding himself with good people and learning fro...

Tony Cooke has spent more than 40 years in diagnostics, building and leading companies in Cambridge after humble beginnings in a working-class family in Sheffield. This episode isn’t about job titles. It’s about mindset. Tony shares why he never let himself get too comfortable. Growth, for him, came from change. New roles. New challenges. Moving before he was forced to. He’s seen companies sold, p...

This week on Beyond the Device, we speak with Lucy Hemming, who’s career began on the frontline as a nurse and evolved into senior leadership across quality, regulatory and sustainability in Medtech. But her path was shaped as much by personal turning points as professional ambition.   After her parents separated and her mum became unwell, Lucy moved home, inadvertently stepping into her first qua...

In this week’s episode of Beyond the Device we sit down with Caroline Alexander, who shares with raw honesty how a short, intense period of upheaval dismantled her life and then how she rebuilt it.  Within two years she faced redundancy, left an abusive relationship with two young children, retrained for a new career, suffered a serious injury, and still found her way back into the profession wher...

In this episode of  Beyond the Device , we’re joined by  Simon Richards , a respected leader in diagnostics quality and regulatory affairs whose career has helped shape the UK and global IVD industry. From a childhood love of science to senior roles in major organisations and leadership across industry bodies, Simon reflects on a career spent building systems, guiding regulation and supporting the...

In this episode of Beyond the Device, we’re joined by Adam Isaacs Rae, a quality and regulatory consultant working at the forefront of AI and emerging medical technologies. Adam shares his journey growing up in working-class Glasgow, shaped by immigrant roots, financial pressure and navigating a household affected by mental health challenges. He reflects on the pivotal moment in his early 20s when...

In this episode of Beyond the Device, we speak with Chris Barker, CEO (or “Chief Mischievist”) of Spirit Health, about the pivotal moments that took him from corporate pharma to health tech founder. Chris shares how a personal family health crisis forced him to rethink his career path and step away from the traditional corporate ladder. We dive into leadership, vulnerability and why knowing what y...

This episode is a look back at everything Beyond the Device has become over the last year. This time last year, the podcast was just an idea. A few honest conversations and a mic. Now it’s a movement and a core part of the CAPU community.   We’ve released 20 episodes so far, and in this special review we share our personal top picks from the series. The moments that stuck with us. The lessons we’v...

We’re back for 2026 with our 20th episode and this one hits differently. Francis White, CEO of Heart Biotech, opens up about the moments that shaped him. Losing both parents in his early 30s while raising young children forced him to grow up fast and take control of his future. That experience became the turning point that pushed him to study, stretch himself and redefine what success meant to him...

In this week’s episode, Beyond the Device goes stateside as we sit down with Tara Turney, Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs at BD, to explore the moments that shaped her career and leadership style. Tara’s journey began in the Pacific Northwest, where an early love of science, the outdoors and team sport set the foundations for a career in medical devices. She takes us through her early years...

On this weeks’ episode of Beyond the Device we are joined by Thais Sala, whose story began in São Paulo where she grew up with a rare sense of clarity about what she wanted from life. From a young age she was driven by the idea of using science to improve lives. That purpose guided her through competitive public universities, long hours in neuroscience labs, and the belief that research was the pa...

How does someone end up as Head of Diagnostics and Medical Devices at the MHRA? In this episode, Joseph Burt takes us through the path that led him into one of the most influential regulatory roles in the UK Joseph grew up in a house filled with science and engineering, which shaped him from an early age. He talks about being a practical kid who loved building things, later discovering a love for...

In this episode of Beyond the Device, we sit down with Ana Burman, a digital health and SaMD leader whose story spans continents, careers, and profound personal change. Ana grew up in rural Brazil in an academic household, surrounded by education, curiosity, and a strong sense of possibility. She moved from early interests in technology into software, then cyber security, and later completed a PhD...

In this episode of  Beyond the Device , we’re joined by Jacqui O’Connor, founder and Managing Director of MedScan3D, a company pioneering medical 3D printing in Ireland. Jacqui’s turning point came when she became a mum twice in quick succession. With two under two, she began reassessing how she spent her time and what she wanted her career to look like. During her second maternity leave, the idea...

In this episode of Beyond the Device, we’re joined by Nicholas Hitchins - an award-winning biomedical engineer, board member at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and MedTech leader whose career has spanned surgical, respiratory, and drug delivery devices. Nick’s story began with an early fascination for how things move - cars, planes, and machines - shaped by a dyslexia diagnosis that pushed...

In this episode of Beyond the Device, we’re joined by Matthew Wictome - VP of QARA at Trinity Biotech, Managing Director of his own consultancy, and co-author of Transforming Quality Organizations and Untangle: Building Simpler Organizations. Matthew’s story reaches far beyond his professional achievements. Once an anxious child, he found direction thanks to a teacher who spotted his potential and...