When Innovation Meets the Human Heart

What if the lines of code you wrote weren't just running a program—but keeping someone's heart beating? In this episode of Med Tech Gurus, we sit down with Wade Demmer, Vice President of Research and Development for Cardiac Pacing Therapies at Medtronic, whose career journey began with his grandmother's pacemaker and led him to help pioneer some of the world's most impactful cardiac devices, including Micra, the world's smallest pacemaker. Wade shares the lessons of two decades inside the world's largest medtech company—what it really takes to build a culture of innovation, engineer for reliability, and launch breakthrough devices at scale. From balancing patient safety with bold ideas, to recognizing when timing makes or breaks a technology, Wade brings a deeply personal and practical lens to the future of cardiac pacing and medtech innovation. Whether you're an engineer, entrepreneur, or leader aiming to improve patients' lives, this conversation will expand how you think about risk, collaboration, and building technologies that truly matter