Samantha Wagner, Director of Business Development, Aptyx

Samantha Wagner is Director of Business Development at Aptyx, where she bridges integrated experience in engineering, clinical research, and business development. She began as an R&D engineer at Medical Murray, focused on class II and III cardiovascular devices. Today at Aptyx, Samantha plays a key role in supporting clients and guiding MedTech devices toward market success. She is driven by a belief that precision engineering and true collaboration – among engineers, clinicians, and innovators – are essential to delivering better outcomes. Inspired by her family’s history with heart health and her early work in pediatric cardiology, Samantha remains committed to advancing solutions that are both innovative and life-changing.

What initially attracted you to the medtech industry? How has your perspective on the industry evolved over the course of your career?

I was initially drawn to the medtech industry because of a combination of patient impact and innovation. I come from a family with a history of heart health issues, so cardiovascular disease has always been personally meaningful to me. I started out studying biomedical engineering with plans to go to medical school, but I discovered that developing cardiovascular devices offered another way to make a difference and intervene earlier at the innovation level rather than directly in the clinic.

As I moved into customer-facing roles, my perspective on the industry broadened. I’ve come to appreciate that bringing a device to market is challenging in stages: innovating novel technology, securing regulatory clearance, and ultimately ensuring it reaches patients through commercial and clinical adoption. Success at each of these stages requires strong collaboration, and I’ve grown to value how interconnected the medtech community is. Engineers, clinicians, and commercial teams all play a role in driving meaningful impact. I’m excited to see that collaboration continue to expand, enabling more innovations to reach the patients who need them.

As a seasoned professional in the industry, how do you envision the future of medtech? What emerging technologies or trends do you believe will have the most significant impact?

It’s easy for everyone to be drawn to AI and new exciting tech – and they’ll make a significant difference – but nothing will be able to replace devices & implants, and the humans involved in developing and building them. The deeper stories will be at the intersection of AI-enabled smart design and enhanced capabilities, robotics-based precision, and the human insights that drive exploration of new challenges.

I’m also excited about advances in novel materials and regenerative approaches. Across all of it, the common thread is personalization and precision medicine. It’s about devices and systems customized to the individual patient, while still being manufacturable at scale.

From your experience, what are some of the key challenges that medtech engineers are likely to face in the coming years? How can professionals in the industry prepare for and navigate these challenges effectively?

One of the biggest challenges engineers in medtech will face is the growing complexity of technologies and treatments. We’re seeing advances like surgical robotics and regenerative medicine, which combine biologics with devices, and these can’t be tackled in silos. Success will increasingly require interdisciplinary collaboration between electrical, mechanical, materials, and industrial engineering, alongside clinical partners. It will also require a systems-level approach. For example, an implant and delivery system will need to be co-developed from the outset to ensure optimal performance and user experience, particularly as complexity continues to increase.

For professionals in the industry, I think the best way to prepare is by developing the ability to work across disciplines and speak a common language with colleagues who have different technical backgrounds. The problems we’re solving are often too complex for one specialty alone, so the more we can build collaborative, cross-functional teams, the more effective we’ll be at navigating these challenges and ultimately getting innovations to patients.

In your opinion, what areas or applications within medtech have the greatest potential for growth and innovation? Why are they promising?

Pediatrics is a huge area of need and potential. I started my career in pediatric cardiology, so it’s also close to my heart. Devices are generally designed for adults, then adapted for children off-label because pediatric-specific solutions aren’t available. That’s finally starting to change.

One especially exciting direction is implants that can grow or expand with the patient, so kids don’t need as many surgeries in their early years of life. Pair that with advances in minimally invasive access, and you can see the potential for better outcomes with a lot less burden on patients and families.

As technology advances rapidly, how can medtech engineers stay ahead of the curve and keep their skills sharp?

Adopt a growth mindset. That’s actually one of our core values at Aptyx. We’re constantly learning in new ways, and the most important thing is getting out of the lab! Our engineers attend conferences to see procedures live and interact directly with surgeons. They’ll even collaborate with our customers on pre-clinical studies and clinical trials to stay at the forefront of innovation. It’s helpful to see first hand how these devices are used in the clinic and have a direct impact on patients’ lives. It’s that convergence of engineering and the clinical side of the industry that I think can be a key factor in staying ahead and keeping skills sharp.

From a broader perspective, how do you see the role of medtech engineering in shaping the future of healthcare? What impact do you anticipate it will have on patient care and outcomes?

At its core, medtech engineering is about turning ideas into meaningful and impactful solutions for patients. I think that’s exciting. With smaller devices, more accurate navigation, less invasive procedures, and increased personalization all on the horizon, the possibilities are endless. We’ll see all kinds of improvements – shorter recoveries, expanded patient populations served, and overall better patient outcomes. I’ve never been more optimistic about the role that medtech engineering gets to play.

Considering the increasing importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, how do you think medtech engineers can effectively collaborate with professionals from other fields, such as medicine and computer science, to drive innovation in the industry?

You have to be there. I deeply believe that engineers need to spend time in clinical settings – watching procedures, asking questions, solving problems side by side. Co-locating resources helps too. With the growth of personalized medicine, there may be a future where hospitals have onsite manufacturing and can create faster feedback loops between clinicians and engineers.

On the computer science side, I think it’s about aligning early on what data is needed, what safety guardrails exist, and how humans will actually interact with the system. Whatever the discipline is, the recipe is the same: shared requirements, rapid iteration in realistic settings, and a common definition of success that starts with the patient.

How do diversity and inclusion contribute to advancing medtech engineering? How do you foster a culture of innovation within your team?

Diversity of backgrounds, ideas, industries, even personalities, are hugely important for innovation and creativity. Different perspectives surface different questions, and that’s where technological advances often begin. I’ve seen tough problems crack open because someone with a unique background made an unexpected analogy.

Inside Aptyx, we’ve been intentional about building diversity, community and voice. I have to say, women are a big part of that. As examples, we were a founding sponsor of the Women in MedTech program at DeviceTalks, and are now hosting our own version at the CDMO level. Our first event featured two fantastic women leaders from a top-tier global medtech company. In our Charlotte facility, which is our D&D center and Interventional COE, the team is more than 50% women, which is unique in the industry. We’re really proud of having a company where women’s voices are represented.