MedtechWomen Announces Lisa Earnhardt as Recipient of 2019 Ferolyn Powell Leadership Award

Established in 2015, the award recognizes a leader who embodies persistence, passion, dedication to innovation and patients, and commitment to mentoring others and advancing diversity in the medical technology sector. Ferolyn Powell, a leader in the medical device industry and a mentor to young entrepreneurs, was recognized with the first award posthumously, which was named in her honor.

“Lisa shares Ferolyn’s commitment to innovation in health care, fearless leadership, relentless focus on improving the lives of patients, and entrepreneurial spirit. We are thrilled to present this award to her this year,” said Deborah Kilpatrick, Ph.D., MedtechWomen co-founder and CEO of Evidation Health.

Ferolyn Powell was best known as president and CEO of Evalve, Inc., a start-up medical device company founded in 1999. In 2009, Abbott acquired Evalve and its MitraClip^® technology, a minimally invasive device to repair the leaky heart valves of patients with mitral regurgitation, a common heart condition. At Abbott, Ferolyn oversaw the development of the MitraClip^® System, which was approved by the FDA in 2013.

“I’m honored to receive this award, which recognizes the legacy of a woman I knew and admired very much, from an organization that I hold in the highest regard,” said Earnhardt. “Our team at Abbott is committed to bringing the benefits of the MitraClip device to people around the world, continuing to fulfill Ferolyn’s vision and making this award even more meaningful.”

In her role at Abbott, Earnhardt leads the cardiovascular and diabetes care businesses, with combined sales of more than $10 billion and 30,000 employees. Prior to joining Abbott, Earnhardt served as Intersect ENT’s president and CEO, where she led the company from early clinical stage to the commercialization of several products, an initial public offering, and over $100 million in revenue. Previously, Earnhardt led divisions of Boston Scientific and Guidant Corporation. She currently serves on the board of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), and on the advisory board of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

About the MedtechVision 2019 conference

Established in 2011, MedtechVision is an annual conference that brings together business leaders, inventors, investors, physicians, policymakers and patients to discuss real-world solutions to the most challenging issues facing the medtech industry today.

Focusing on the theme of “Precision Health,” participants in this year’s conference will discuss how, with continued advances in technology, the practice of a one-size-fits-all imprecise approach to treatment is fading—and in its place, precision healthcare is quickly taking shape. Speakers include Bray Patrick-Lake, Evidation Health; Rowan Chapman, Independent Board Member and Advisor; Amy Friel, Tidepool; Andrea Downing,The Light Collective; Sang’ona Oriedo, iRhythm Technologies; Olivia Ware, Proteus Digital Health; Rebecca Messing Haigler, Verily; Brittany Wright Schuck, PhD, FDA; Giulia C. Kennedy, PhD, Veracyte, Inc.; Nada Hanafi, Experien Group, LLC; Martha Morrell, M.D., and Chi Nguyen, NeuroPace; and Andreana Dereniak and Lynne Lyons, Abbott Diabetes Care.

The Diamond sponsor for the conference is Medtronic, among the world’s largest medical technology, services and solutions companies—alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. Gold sponsors include Abbott, Fish & Richardson, and CooperCompanies. Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, and Venable LLP, are silver sponsors. Bronze sponsors include Baxter, BioQuest, iRhythm Technologies, Lazar Partners Ltd., and The Stevenson Group. Health+Commerce and Sprig Consulting are in-kind sponsors.

About MedtechWomen

MedtechWomen is a 510(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization dedicated to highlighting and connecting women leaders in medical devices and diagnostics. The organization was founded in 2010 when a group of women acted on their vision of bringing together sector leaders and policymakers to discuss real-world solutions to the most challenging issues in the medical technology industry today. They enlisted the support of their mentors and a broadening circle of colleagues to bring this vision to reality, resulting in the inaugural MedtechVision conference in 2011.

Founders and organizing members of MedtechWomen are innovators from across the U.S. in varied aspects of the medtech sector including business leaders, financial investors, researchers, physicians and experts in new product commercialization. For more information please visit www.medtechwomen.org.

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