Few health threats loom larger in the U.S. than heart disease. It remains the nation's leading cause of death, killing over 900,000 people in 2023, according to the CDC. Yet despite the universal stakes, the cardiovascular technology sector responsible for developing treatments and devices continues to be led overwhelmingly by men. This imbalance matters: when leadership and R&D teams do not reflect the diversity of the patient population, blind spots in design and decision-making can emerge.
One exception is FastWave Medical, where women hold pivotal roles in both operations and technology, shaping the company's next-generation intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) platforms for calcified arteries. It's a model that remains relatively uncommon in cardiovascular device development — and one that's influencing how the technology itself is being designed.
