Dennis Meister’s interest in ultrasound began in 1977 as an undergraduate biomedical engineering student. Upon graduation, he joined a start-up company (ADR Ultrasound) that developed the first commercially successful real-time ultrasound imaging system for the US market. He led various product and marketing efforts focused on making ultrasound a safe, efficacious and ubiquitous tool in Ob/Gyn – with a specific focus on improving outcomes in high-risk pregnancies. During his tenure, ADR sustained a >50% share of the Ob/Gyn market against dozens of competitors including General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens and Philips.
In 1990, Dennis joined Acuson – then a new player with a radically different Computed SonographyÒ technology enabling dramatic improvement in image resolution. He led Acuson’s entry into the OB market, achieving the market leadership position within one year. Subsequently, Dennis led Acuson’s international expansion, growing revenues 10X to >$100M within three years. After briefly leading Strategic Planning & Business Development, Dennis was named General Manager of the flagship Sequoia Platform. Under his guidance Sequoia became the #1 selling ultrasound imaging product for eight successive years and remains a dominant force within the industry.
Acuson was acquired by Siemens in 2000. Dennis retained overall responsibility for Sequoia programs until 2005. In 2006, he left to form a consulting practice focused on medical device start-up and growth phase firms.
Since it’s humble beginnings, diagnostic ultrasound has become a mainstay tool in a remarkably broad set of clinical applications. Within the worldwide medical imaging market, sales of ultrasound imaging systems are second only to that of basic X-ray systems and exceed those of Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance (MR), and all other high-end technologies.
A victim of it’s own success – and under clinical challenge from other imaging modalities such as MR – the ultrasound industry now faces a crisis of innovation to stem trends towards slow sales growth, product commoditization, and the resulting industry consolidation into a virtual intellectual property cartel.
Dennis’ high-level presentation will survey the clinical ultrasound applications and patient care improvements enabled by past technical innovations. Using this as a basis, Dennis will outline several key clinical and technical challenges as well as several emerging technologies that offer promise for the next generation of products. He will also briefly address the trend towards expanding medical ultrasound from its diagnostic roots into the therapeutic domain, and towards combining ultrasound technologies with other diagnostic modalities.
