The Future Is Now: Jamie Milas Of Medical Microinstruments (MMI) On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Don’t always be predictable. Being unpredictable every now and then keeps people on their toes and allows you to avoid being pigeonholed by your own habits. So often in my career I’ve heard, ‘Jamie will do it’, ‘Jamie will fix it’, ‘Jamie always says yes’, etc. This behavior can lead to people taking advantage of your kindness and hard work. Always be a team player but know when to say no or stand your ground. Being a pleaser doesn’t always get you ahead.
As a part of our series about cutting-edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jamie Milas.
Jamie Milas is VP of Marketing at Medical Microinstruments (MMI) SpA, an Italian robotics start-up company. Throughout her career, Milas has held various marketing roles which have led her to live and work in the United States, France, Belgium, and Italy. Milas is a graduate of the University of Dayton, where she received her Bachelor of Science and MBA in International Business and Marketing.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I was always interested in pursuing a career in marketing because it’s a skill set that you can apply to any industry, product, or service. I knew this would afford me flexibility as I began my professional journey. After a job in the automotive sector and then in the power generation industry, I found my true passion in the medical field with a company called Materialise based in Leuven, Belgium. I became the Marketing Manager for the Medical Business Unit which is where I realized that I could use my business acumen to make a ‘better and healthier world.’ Knowing that our solutions were improving patient care motivated me during the many long days, nights, and weekends of hard work. From this moment on, I knew that my passion was to promote disruptive, high-tech, medical devices. After Materialise, I became the VP of Marketing at EOS imaging in Paris, which developed a revolutionary imaging system offering a full body, bi-planar X-ray at a remarkably low dose of radiation. I was then recruited to become the VP of Marketing at MMI SpA in Pisa, Italy. MMI has developed a robotic system and instruments aimed at revolutionizing microsurgery.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
One of the most interesting things that has happened in my career was the ability to join MMI SpA when it was still a small start-up. I was able to build the brand, logos, messaging, and all collateral from scratch. I participated in naming the robot, the initial human cases, preparing the go-to-market strategy in Europe, onboarding the first hospitals, covering the first patient story, and now contributing to the industrial design of the next generation and US launch plan. The ability to lay this important foundation has been an exciting and rewarding challenge that few marketing professionals get to experience in their lifetime.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
The Symani System will help surgeons by providing additional precision as they perform tiny, delicate microsurgical procedures. Additional precision equates to patent anastomoses and better outcomes, as well as the ability to address vessels that are too small to suture by hand. This technology may also greatly benefit patients by reducing reinterventions, minimizing failures, and providing access to treatments that are extremely difficult to address without the support of a robot, such as lymphedema.
How do you think this might change the world?
The Symani System will change the world by expanding surgeon capabilities far beyond what’s achievable today with human hands, opening the doors to the field of supermicrosurgery. With the help of Symani’s robotic precision and new instrumentation designed for supermicrosurgery, we will discover entirely new procedures that will help patients who have no options today. Particularly when it comes to the surgical treatment of lymphedema which affects 250 million people worldwide.
In addition, the robot will enable experienced surgeons to extend their careers and young surgeons to perform effective microsurgical techniques faster thanks to the tremor elimination. This will expand patient access to microsurgical treatments.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
As the Symani System helps surgeons to perform more precise surgery, I can’t imagine a negative drawback. In fact, one day, it’s possible that a surgeon could operate remotely on a patient using the Symani System. This could improve access to exceptional care worldwide.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
Widespread adoption of the Symani Surgical System will require FDA clearance so that US surgeons can begin to use the system, build clinical evidence, and enable other hospitals around the world to justify acquiring the system. Once there’s a critical mass of hospitals using the system and publishing positive research results, we believe that procedures with the Symani will become the standard of care.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
To increase brand awareness and reach innovative surgeons and institutions, we have been participating in both regional and global microsurgical congresses, providing demonstrations, encouraging Symani Surgeons to present their cases, hosting symposiums, developing video assets, and focusing on growing our social media following.
In addition, we have developed a ‘Road Show’ concept where we bring the robotic system to a hotel and invite top prospects to come and spend a few hours with us working on the system. This method was ideal during COVID-19, as most people could drive or take a local train even during lockdowns. We have found that after being able to suture with Symani, surgeons leave very motivated to acquire the system and are excited to move forward with developing a robotics program at their hospital.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I am forever grateful to my mother N. Carole Milas for being such a great role model. She taught me to be confident, to manage multiple tasks at the same time, and that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. She always worked hard and was very dedicated to her career at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Epidemiology. I believe that the joy she found in conducting research to help people live healthy lives was a motivation for me to pursue a career where I can make a meaningful impact on patient care.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
As my job requires very long hours and extensive travel, I don’t often have a lot of free time. That’s why I try to give back through my work by sharing my experiences and mentoring junior team members. I know how important a mentor can be and have always made my colleagues a top priority. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing someone on your team succeed and progress professionally. I am looking forward to volunteering at an elephant rescue when I retire and finding other ways to give back.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Don’t always be predictable.
Being unpredictable every now and then keeps people on their toes and allows you to avoid being pigeonholed by your own habits. So often in my career I’ve heard, ‘Jamie will do it’, ‘Jamie will fix it’, ‘Jamie always says yes’, etc. This behavior can lead to people taking advantage of your kindness and hard work. Always be a team player but know when to say no or stand your ground. Being a pleaser doesn’t always get you ahead.
2. No job is a life sentence.
No job is perfect. There are always pros and cons to every role. I always try to remind myself that where I work is a choice that I make every day and that I have options. This helps me to focus on the positive aspects rather than getting frustrated with things that are not ideal. At the same time, a career takes an enormous amount of time, energy, and dedication. If you’ve done all you can to improve your situation and still aren’t happy, it’s better to move on.
3. Exceptional managers are rare.
I always hoped to have great managers to mentor me, give me constructive feedback, and help me achieve my professional goals. In reality, people are promoted for many reasons and having a manager title doesn’t make you a manager, or at least not a good one. I have been blessed to work for some exceptional people but have also had some negative experiences. Over the years, I found ways to contribute to my own advancement through constant learning, critical self-assessment, and emulating the habits of my role models.
4. Don’t become so indispensable in your current role that you’re not chosen for promotions.
I have always worked hard and been willing to do ‘whatever it takes.’ I would take care of everything from the highest strategic decisions to the most menial tasks to ensure success. I would often take on many efforts that were outside of my scope. Although this can be perceived as being a ‘team player’ it can also mean that you end up responsible for so many things that the organization doesn’t know how to fill the void if they were to promote you.
5. If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.
Early in my career, I accepted a few jobs either based on location or because my skills matched the role, and I knew I could do it well. In the end, I wasn’t passionate about my work because I did not have a connection to the company’s mission. After these experiences, I decided to carefully evaluate a company and their products before accepting the job. Once I was marketing solutions that I truly believed in, my job became more fun and my efforts more effective.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Many companies have a program to match some portion of employees’ charitable donations, but I believe there’s an additional way to give back. I feel that I make a difference by donating my time more so than writing a check. Just as monetary contributions are matched, I believe companies should also match a day off for every day that an employee uses their vacation time to volunteer. Obviously, there could be a cap to this type of policy but contributing your time and money to the organization you’re most passionate about is a win-win. I’m sure this idea might already be out there, but I want it to become a movement.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of my favorite quotes is from Fink’s Walking in the Sun, Sort of Revolution album “Even a blind man can tell when he’s walking in the sun.” It reminds me to be happy and grateful. So often in life, we get busy or stressed and struggle to see all the positive things in our lives. I try to use humor to get through the rough patches because laughter is always the cure for me.
Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
The Symani Surgical System is the only commercially available robot in the blue ocean of open surgery. Although the endoscopic and endoluminal spaces are cluttered with new entrants, MMI is bringing an innovative system and disposable, wristed instruments to the open microsurgical space. With more than 5 million open surgical procedures per year and 2.4 million in microsurgery alone, there’s a great opportunity to improve patient care through Symani. With the 7–20 X motion scaling for high precision, tremor reduction to avoid damaging tiny anatomy, NanoWrist Instruments for easy access with seven degrees of freedom, and obviously an ergonomic surgeon console to avoid surgeon fatigue or injury, the Symani system was created to address the challenges of microsurgeons and fuel supermicrosurgeons. With the Symani System, some of the 250 million people suffering from lymphedema could be cured by a supermicrosurgical approach which is nearly impossible to address by hand today.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
linkedin.com/in/jamie-milas-87080315
https://www.linkedin.com/company/mmimicro
Twitter: MMImicro
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
The Future Is Now: Jamie Milas Of Medical Microinstruments (MMI) On How Their Technological… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
