AHF Podcast

Send us Fan Mail What real-world use reveals about a medical device that no clinical trial ever could — and why the most dangerous moment in med tech innovation often comes after success, not before. A conversation about the fatigue failures, reimbursement gaps, and feedback breakdowns that surface only at scale. For ten episodes, the From Idea to Market series has followed medical innovation through every threshold an idea must survive — the first clinical insight, the years of iteration, t...

Send us Fan Mail What med tech investors and strategic acquirers actually evaluate when a founder walks into the room — and what separates the pitches that earn capital from those that don't. A conversation drawn from people who've sat on both sides of the table. For nine episodes, the From Idea to Market series has followed innovation from the founder's perspective — the problem noticed in a clinic, the iteration through years of prototypes, the regulatory climb, the manufacturing scale-up. ...

Send us Fan Mail What does it actually take to move a medical device from a working prototype to a product that can be built reliably at volume? In this episode of From Idea to Market, surgeons, founders, and attorneys describe the discipline that separates an approved device from a scalable company. Most medical device teams underestimate what happens after a prototype works. Manufacturing at scale is a different problem from manufacturing at all, and the assumption that the hard work is do...

Send us Fan Mail A patient had already signed every document — but no one had told her she would lose her stomach. That moment early in her anesthesia training convinced Marie-Isabelle Batthyány that informed consent was fundamentally broken. Years later, she built XRS Medical, a VR platform that replaces paper consent forms with immersive, avatar-delivered patient education and tracks attention in real time using a patented eye-tracking algorithm. Batthyány walks through exactly what happen...

Send us Fan Mail Your device just got FDA clearance. So why isn't anyone using it? In this episode of From Idea to Market, Joe Schwab and a panel of surgeons, engineers, and MedTech leaders explore why regulatory approval is only the beginning — and what it actually takes to earn a place in the operating room. Clearance tells you a device is safe and effective. It doesn't tell you whether a busy surgeon will change their workflow, whether a procurement committee will approve it, or whether a...

Send us Fan Mail What actually happens between building a medical device and getting it approved? In this episode of From Idea to Market, we walk through the regulatory valley that separates a working prototype from a cleared product — and why so many promising innovations stall right here. This is the stage where progress stops being about what you can build and starts being about what you can prove. Joe Schwab breaks down the FDA's device classification system, the critical difference betw...

Send us Fan Mail Most MedTech founders think financing is about getting enough money to keep building. But once you take capital, it reshapes your governance, your priorities, and your pace — and some consequences don't surface for years. In this episode of the AHF Podcast's From Idea to Market series, we explore what funding actually buys beyond time and resources, how capital decisions redistribute power within a startup, and which financing consequences only become visible years later. Fou...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Sebastian Rodriguez-Elizalde built a same-day anterior hip program inside a Canadian public hospital — not a private surgical center. This conversation covers what it actually takes to change your approach, your team culture, and your system all at once. Sebastian trained in posterior approach at HSS and transitioned to anterior approach early in his independent career. In this episode, he talks honestly about the ego hit of relearning something you were already good at,...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is about the moment an idea needs a formal structure to move forward — and why that choice is just as strategic as any technical decision. It's for clinician innovators, med tech founders, and anyone trying to understand how organizational structure shapes what an innovation can realistically become. The episode draws on voices from across the From Idea to Market series — surgeons, engineers, attorneys, and executives — to explore three questions: what determine...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Kristoff Corten built an AI-driven platform called Hip Cloud that predicts patient outcomes after hip replacement — and it's changing the way he practices. If you're an orthopedic surgeon interested in how predictive analytics, personalized care pathways, and clinic efficiency can reshape your workflow, this conversation is for you. In this episode, Joe Schwab sits down with Belgian orthopedic surgeon and entrepreneur Kristoff Corten to explore how he went from feeling bo...

Send us Fan Mail This episode explores how medical innovation actually begins—not in labs or boardrooms, but in operating rooms, clinics, and patient encounters where routine practice no longer feels acceptable. We speak with orthopedic surgeons, engineers, and founders who've lived the journey from clinical frustration to real-world solutions. Innovation doesn't start with a breakthrough moment. It starts when someone notices the same problem repeatedly and decides they can't look away. Thro...

Send us Fan Mail Learning the anterior approach to total hip arthroplasty doesn't follow a straight line. Dr. Joe Schwab shares what happened when improving his femoral technique unexpectedly made his acetabular work feel worse—and why that unsettling experience taught him more than any single complication. This episode is for orthopedic surgeons and trainees navigating the anterior approach learning curve, especially those who feel like their progress isn't linear. Joe walks through his own ...

Send us Fan Mail Protecting the Tensor Fascia Lata in Anterior Approach Total Hip Arthroplasty 🎥 Welcome to the AHF Podcast! Join host Joe Schwab as he dives deep into a revealing and award-winning study on tensor fascia lata (TFL) injury during anterior approach total hip arthroplasty with special guest H. John Cooper. Dr. Cooper shares insights from his prospective study presented at the 2025 AHF annual meeting, discussing how often TFL injuries occur, the critical steps to minimize such i...