Health Tech: Daniel S Goldberger On How electroCore’s Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Lesson One: Be passionate about what you create. Hire a passionate staff with the same morals, values, and skills. Energize and inspire your team and be supportive of them.

In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel S Goldberger.

As Chief Executive Officer, Daniel is responsible for leading and guiding the overall vision and goals of electroCore. Prior to joining the company, Daniel served as Executive Chairman of Repro Med Systems, Inc. (RMS), a publicly traded developer of home and specialty infusion products, and previously served as the company’s Chairman and interim Chief Executive Officer. He has over 35 years of leadership and medical device experience, including; Director and Chief Executive Officer of Xtant Medical Holdings, Inc. and Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sound Surgical Technologies. Earlier in his career, Daniel held various positions at Glucon, Inc., OSI Systems, Ohmeda, Nellcor and Hewlett Packard.

Daniel earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and attended the Stanford Directors College.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

Thank you for the opportunity. I am a first-generation American. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York and attended public schools. From there, I had the good fortune to attend MIT where I earned an engineering degree and later a master’s degree at Stanford. I have spent most of my professional life in diagnostics and medical technology. I started in product development, moved into operations and sales, and I have been in leadership roles at smaller, revenue stage private and public companies since the 1990s.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I was part of the team that commercialized the first pulse oximeters in 1982 and the co-inventor on some of the key patents that have long since expired. I have been amazed to watch the technology evolve into an incredible number of use cases that we never could have imagined 40 years ago. Today, you see them on TV, in consumer products like the Apple Watch, and on Amazon.

None of us can 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 must start with my parents who were World War II refugees from Europe and finally arrived in the U.S. in 1956. They began with no financial resources, had to learn the language, worked incredibly hard, and always put family first. My mother obtained nursing credentials and moved into management, and my father started out as a mechanic and worked his way into corporate management with a VP title at a Fortune 100 business. Their influence on me can be seen in every facet of my professional life.

The leadership team I worked with at Nellcor in the 1980’s, Bill New, MD; Jack Lloyd, and Jim Corenman set a great example for me as a young engineer and demonstrated how to build a corporate culture that aspired to greatness while being respectful of all stakeholders. My long-time business partner, Jim Braig, may he rest in peace, was an amazing mentor and perhaps the smartest, hardest working, most compassionate executive I have had the good fortune to work with.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My father used to say that it doesn’t matter how big your slice of the pie is, or how large the pie is, but make sure you get a chance to eat that pie! I believe the lesson is that achieving success is a noble endeavor but don’t forget to share in the success.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Compassion for others, listening to others, and the willingness to make decisions and revise those decisions when the facts become clear.

Compassion for others means understanding that every individual has personal and professional challenges. When a team member faces a challenge, a life event like a baby or a death, or just needs a mental health break, I try to demonstrate understanding.

Listening to others means talking less and listening more. While this sounds easy, it is not. In leadership, we are accustomed to providing guidance and setting objectives, and being at the head of the table. Listening is a skill that matures as we gain experience and place trust in a team. Success is found more in listening.

Making and revising decisions based on information is critical for success. Attaining an objective is iterative, and a good leader must understand that facts change, and flexibility is key.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

Our mission is to bring the power of neuroscience to a world suffering from pain and help people access that power for a meaningful quality of life improvement. We currently offer a non-invasive vagus nerve stimulator called gammaCore for a variety of primary headache indications. We hope to treat a variety of additional conditions including PTSD, concussions, symptoms of withdrawal from substance abuse, symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological issues in the future.

How do you think your technology can address this?

We have treated thousands of patients for the acute and chronic symptoms of headache, especially Cluster Headache which is a very debilitating condition affecting about 400,000 Americans with non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) therapy which is considered a first-line treatment. We are involved in a variety of clinical activities that will provide support for extended indications in the future.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

Implanted Vagus Nerve Stimulators were first commercialized in the 1990s by Cyberonics, now Livanova, to treat epilepsy and depression. These implants work very well but are expensive and require a costly surgical procedure and do have associated complications. The founders of electroCore set out to find a better way to deliver the same therapy non-invasively. During our initial human trials in epilepsy and asthma, patients noted that their headaches went away, so the company pivoted to that as our launch indication.

How do you think this might change the world?

If changing the world means relieving the debilitating effects of headaches and migraines, then we want to do our part!

Keeping the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

I really can’t. Our gammaCore device requires a prescription but it is not a drug or surgical intervention. The stimulation of the vagus nerve is a medical game-changer in our view, and we do not see any issues now or in the future.

Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)

Lesson One: Be passionate about what you create. Hire a passionate staff with the same morals, values, and skills. Energize and inspire your team and be supportive of them.

Lesson Two: Collaboration is key. Share impactful ideas and brainstorm the ways your technology can be a betterment for society.

Lesson Three: Challenge what has been widely accepted. Innovative technologies are created every day; challenge assumptions about what can and can’t be done. Never give up just because something has been widely accepted to never exist. Prove them wrong and create it.

Lesson Four: Remember why you started on your journey. It is easy to forget this when things get hard and stressful. The key to being successful at anything is always remembering why you started.

Lesson Five: Never miss an opportunity to learn from failure. To successfully create a first-generation technology, there will be trials and errors. Don’t get discouraged.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

Find your passion and make it your career. And if you can put your passion and compassion for others in the mix, you will possess a formula that will be personally satisfying and compassionate to others.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can visit our website and learn all about electroCore, our philosophy and our products at www.electrocore.com

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.

Thank you.