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    Episode 33 · August 12, 2025 · 43m listen · 797 words · ~4 min read

    From Surgery to MedTech Startups: Dr. Dylan Attard’s Journey | Ep. 32 - Full Transcript | The Med Device Cyber Podcast

    Read the complete, searchable transcript of Episode 33 of The Med Device Cyber Podcast - expert conversations on medical device cybersecurity, FDA premarket and postmarket guidance, SBOM management, threat modeling, and penetration testing.

    Prefer the listening experience? Open the episode page for the synopsis, key takeaways, topics, and Apple / YouTube listen links.

    Episode summary

    In this illuminating episode of The Med Device Cyber Podcast, Dr. Dylan Attard, founder of MedTech World, shares his unique journey from a surgical career to leading a global MedTech community. Dr. Attard, joined by co-host Trevor Slatterie, discusses the evolving landscape of medical technology, including the rapid expansion into the Middle East and Asia. The conversation delves into the often-overlooked yet critical importance of cybersecurity in MedTech. Dr. Attard and Slatterie emphasize the need for MedTech startups and established companies to integrate cybersecurity from day one, rather than as an afterthought, to avoid costly delays, regulatory rejections, and reputational damage. They highlight the increasing awareness amongst investors regarding cybersecurity as a crucial risk factor. The episode also touches on the distinct regulatory approaches in the US and Europe, particularly concerning legacy devices and the integration of AI in medical technology. This discussion is essential for product security teams, regulatory leads, and engineers seeking to navigate the complex world of medical device cybersecurity and innovation.

    Key takeaways from this episode

    • MedTech startups should integrate cybersecurity into their product development from day one to avoid significant delays and increased costs during regulatory submissions and market entry.
    • The medical device cybersecurity landscape is slowly shifting with increased awareness, but many innovators still neglect it until it becomes a crisis, leading to rejections and financial strain.
    • The expansion of MedTech into previously unexploited regions like the Middle East and Africa offers significant opportunities for investment and growth.
    • Regulations in Europe, such as MDR guidelines, are often more mature and adaptable than those in the US, particularly regarding retrofitting cybersecurity to legacy devices.
    • While AI offers significant functionality benefits in medical devices, it also introduces substantial new security risks that require careful management, data cleaning, and model validation.
    • Hospitals are often highly vulnerable to cyberattacks, with devastating consequences for patient care, making robust cybersecurity in networked medical devices paramount.

    Topics covered in this transcript

    Full episode transcript

    Hi, welcome back to another episode of The Med Device Cyber Podcast. Today we have a special guest: Dr. Dylan Attard, founder of MedTech World. I think MedTech World has been going on for a couple of years now and it's growing quite a bit. Blue Goat Cyber has attended a few of the MedTech World events, and we have one coming up as well. We're joined by our co-host, Trevor Slatterie. Trevor, how's it going? I think you're coming to us from Qatar today, is that right? Are you still in Doha? Yep, yeah, still in Doha. I've heard a lot of back and forth while being here about if it's Qatar or Qatar, and I don't think anybody knows the answer. I think it's Qatar. That's how they say it on the airway, in the airline. Yeah, it's 110 degrees outside, so happy to be inside on this podcast. Not quite as hot as it is in Phoenix. I think it'll be about 110 today as well. I'm coming to you from Phoenix. Where are you today, Dylan? I'm actually at home base in Malta. In Malta, okay, cool. So, we have like kind of the whole globe covered. Summer is just starting here actually. Up until yesterday, there was a very nice breeze, but today it's put on heat, so I'm guessing June is going to be hot. Cool. Well, I know we'll be going to Malta later this year, so we're excited. I've never been to Malta before, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure you're going to enjoy it. Yeah, we just got back from Monaco, so I'm a little bit jetlagged, but it's all good. We're very similar, I guess. Malta to Monaco, except there's no Formula One racing here, other than the quality of life, streets, history, culture. I guess we're a little bit similar to Monaco. Awesome. Well, as we get started here, do you want to give us a little bit about your backstory? I know you were a practicing physician for a while and then what inspired you to leave that and start MedTech World? Yep, so I graduated as a medical doctor around 10-11 years ago out of Malta's main university. I was doing surgery. I always loved working as a physician, as a medical doctor. That always felt like kind of the natural path from primary school to secondary, always wanting to be right in the middle of some kind of action. And healthcare, especially surgery, seemed to be the right fit. But then eventually, it always felt like, especially tending to one patient at a time, I've always felt restricted working in a hospital, just working in one hospital, tending to one patient at a time. I always wanted to be able to not just purely travel but work on an international scale, on a global scale. I always loved events, was quite curious about venture funding back then, and sort of got lucky in terms of the opportunity that got handed to me to start MedTech World, which back then, five, six years ago, it was meant to be simply an annual conference promoting Malta as a potential hub for MedTech and health tech companies to set up on the island. I mean, I took a risk, I guess. I still keep saying it's a break from surgery, but I guess five, six years in, it's a permanent stop. Awesome. It's interesting. In Blue Goat Cyber, we have a former cardiac surgeon who heads up our sales team, Rick Turner. And we have a former nurse, Melissa, she's my wife, actually. And they both kind of said the same thing. Like Melissa, it's one patient at a time. And with Rick, you know, one surgery at a time, but now they feel like we're helping more patients by helping bring these devices to market securely. Yep. I mean, I do miss surgery, especially now. Most of my friends and people I did medical school with have started to be promoted to resident specialist consultants, so towards the end of the spectrum where it gets more fun, because then you have a team working for you as opposed to doing most of the hard work at the hospital alone. So I do miss it, and I guess it's always a case of the grass being greener on the other side. I mean, it wasn't easy for me to take this decision, especially being a first-generation medical doctor within my family. So you could imagine me going to my parents who had devoted most of their life towards funding me as much as they can for me to go to medical school, private lessons, get the best grades that I could, and then eventually,