Scott Hebl - Vice President for Program Management at Medtronic

[00:00:01] Rob Howe: Welcome to Diabetes Innovators, a special series from Diabetics Doing Things covering the 85th Scientific Sessions. We're held in June 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. You're going to hear interviews from leaders of tech companies, people with diabetes, diabetes creators, researchers, and more on this podcast. If you want to learn more or hear more from this series, visit DiabeticsDoingThings.com slash Diabetes Innovators. Enjoy the episode. episode. Okay, let's talk about our partners who help support this podcast. Today, I'm going to talk about Type Zero, which is typezerohealth.com. It is a business run and founded by a person with type 1 diabetes, John Jensen, who's been on this podcast a couple of times. I've been using this product since 2018. I started training for a half marathon, which I ran in Dallas in December 2018. I was looking for a workout supplement, a pre-workout that I could trust not to spike my blood sugar. 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[00:04:32] Scott Hebl: form on our website, diabeticsdoingthings.com. Hi, Rob. I'm Scott Hebl. I'm the Vice President for program management at Medtronic Diabetes.

[00:04:39] Rob Howe: Scott, thank you so much for being here today. We're here in Chicago where you're from, which is always a great reveal. What's it like scientific sessions, 85th scientific sessions here this week?

[00:04:49] Scott Hebl: Great. I love the energy. Good weather, of course. A beautiful summertime in Chicago. Lots of exciting sessions. Lots of exciting innovations. So yeah, it's great to be here.

[00:04:58] Rob Howe: Well, as a Medtronic champion and now a mini-med champion, I know over the past couple of weeks there's been a lot of excitement around coming out of Medtronic, announcing earlier this spring the Medtronic is going to separate the diabetes business, and now the announcement is going to become mini-meds. Everybody's been talking about how much energy there is and how much excitement there is internally. What can you share with us about that?

[00:05:20] Scott Hebl: Yeah, it's a really, really cool story. It gives me shivers when I think about it. Going back, you know, more than 40 years, back to 1983, when the company was started, a gentleman named Al Mann, I started working for Al Mann companies in my early medtech device days. So 40 years of innovation, taking that that mini med brand, all the benefits of being medtronic diabetes and then back now with, you know, a company solely focused on serving our mission and going after what we're trying to deliver for, you know, again, trying to make living life with diabetes more predictable and delivering great outcomes. So very exciting. A lot of energy. A lot of people I've seen online were like, they're going to call mini med again. I think that I think they're going to be mini med again. So to see that come to life and learning about Al Mann and his innovation as a person with diabetes, like obviously like easy to be inspired by, you know, all that he's built and very cool to see that come back.

[00:06:14] Rob Howe: Yep, for sure. So, you know, innovation is at the center of this series. And, you know, we're calling the series Diabetes Innovators. When you think about what's exciting about you and what gives you chills about what's going to come out of MiniMed and what's going to come out of this new company out of Medtronic Diabetes, what innovation are you really excited about? What gets you going?

[00:06:32] Scott Hebl: Yeah, that's a great question. There's a lot there. You know, it starts with building off of everything we've done for the last 40 years, being at really the leading edge of innovation for a long time. I'd start with what we have. We're introducing now at ADA as far as 780G US employer sync, meal detection, you know, all of the benefits around that, as well as some of the improvements on the MDI side with InPen 2.0 and missed dose correction alerts and those types of things, trying to bring more intelligence to, you know, the MDI therapy area. So those are the things I'd start with that are super exciting going forward. And this is, again, back to that exciting piece of, you know, a fresh look for mini med, but continuing to deliver on 40 plus years of innovation and that drive and that mission. So going forward, it's a lot about what we've been focused on, which, again, is trying to just simplify life with diabetes, deliver exceptional outcomes. I think that looks like, again, delivering great outcomes, but reducing burden, allowing choice and flexibility, maybe choice for how you interact with your therapy, whether you're, you know, wearing a pump or if you're taking a break or if you're doing MDI. So a choice really in how you want to interact with your therapy and then choices and flexibility for how you interact with the technology. It's important, I think, we've got this vision and the goal of the patient at the center of that. And so if you could think about a person with an ecosystem that's wrapped around them where you can choose between which style of pump you want to wear, if you'd like to switch to MDI, but having maybe a common interface to that and having portability between those things. A lot of excitement as far as, I think it's a great time. There's a lot of momentum and we're right on that trajectory of some very exciting next generation things coming.

[00:08:13] Rob Howe: Yeah, kind of one login to rule them all, right? You know, you don't have to change your diabetes.shop account. You just go, if you need to take a pump break. I went and did a stint on the InPen a couple of years ago, giving my body a break from some of the pump sites and then came back. So it was really nice to be able to have that flexibility. One login, you can even think of, you know, conceptually of a single app that you could have that would, you know, change between what therapy mode you were delivering. And so, yeah,

[00:08:38] Scott Hebl: Well, you know, the ease of use and again, the simplification and kind of blending into lifestyles.

[00:08:44] Rob Howe: Yeah, more integrated vision. Very cool. Simplera Sync has been live in Europe for about a year. I know it's coming later this year in 2025 to the U.S. What's the response been like from patients for using the upgraded sensor with 780G?

[00:08:58] Scott Hebl: Yeah, it's been really great. You know, it's easy to, easier to use. It's easy to insert, easy to wear, no over tape, no recharging a transmitter, no cleaning. So just a very modern, simple, you know, contemporary sensor. That's been very compelling as far as the uptake. People have loved it.

[00:09:15] Rob Howe: Yeah, I mean, I think I'm looking forward to that as well. We had a champion's lunch today and we were all talking about, hey, what are we looking forward to the most? And it's like, you know, having a simpler insertion and getting to enjoy what our friends in Europe have been telling us about. When we think about looking forward, we're at 780G today, looking forward to future pump series and options. You mentioned InPen 2.0. What can you share about those innovations that will be coming up?

[00:09:42] Scott Hebl: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's back to what I was saying about really trying to just simplify, you know, life with diabetes relative to not spending as much time thinking about all of the care, moving some of that to the background. I think that looks like, again, about offering choice and flexibility. So, you know, pump form factors that fit different modes of lifestyle, whether you're being active or, you know, you've got certain dress or clothes you're going to wear. So you could think about, you know, smaller, more discrete pumps, smartphone controlled. Certainly a patch pump's been a compelling form factor that's doing quite well. So you can imagine, you know, those types of form factors offering choice in terms of sensors continuing to kind of improve on our CGM portfolio. And then on the in-pen space, again, there on the MDI side, I'm trying to, again, bring some of the smarts and the intelligence we have in the AID algorithms over to MDI to, again, facilitate decision making, kind of, you know, lower burden, just integrate things more into, you know, lifestyle.

[00:10:37] Rob Howe: Yeah, and I think, you know, when you're talking about switching from one to the other, being able to have the same data on one that you get on the other in terms of active insulin and, like you said, notifications if you miss a bolus or mealtime insulin or whatever the case may be. Very cool. Scientific sessions, there's a lot going on, a lot of energy here like we talked about. What have you seen that you're really excited about? Whether it's research or innovation, what have you seen here at ADA?

[00:11:00] Scott Hebl: Yeah, sure. One thing that jumps out at me is, I guess, the continued kind of strength of AID data. And so it's really good to see the outcomes there. There was some good CGM data shared relative to the performance of that across different populations, different groups, socioeconomic status. And so really kind of gets to the lasting power of AID and making, trying to continue to advocate for AID as a standard of care. So a lot of good stuff on that. But personally, I'm drawn to from just a technology perspective to insulin dosing algorithms. So I've been eating up a lot of those sessions in terms of what's presented there. A lot of good, you know, deep quality content on research and things. So it's been it's been fun.

[00:11:38] Rob Howe: Yeah, it's interesting. I think, you know, this is now my fifth scientific session. So I kind of learned the pathway of like, you know, you get an announcement of FDA approval at one meeting and then the next meeting you have goes on the market. And then the next meeting you have research and the outcomes from different populations. And so, you know, I remember 2023, we had the big announcement for 780G and then last year, the first data. And now seeing more like deep dive studies with the data coming out of it is really exciting. Anything else that you want to touch on in the series?

[00:12:07] Scott Hebl: I will say one last thing, I guess, in closing is that so I've been in medical device technology, you know, 25 plus years. Really exciting time, you know, and when you have that chance to deliver innovation that really impacts people's lives. and you can see that front and center. It's a really special time. I treat it as kind of a privilege. And when you talk about the excitement at Minimed, it's a really talented team with a lot of drive and a lot of momentum. So I'm very excited about the future and can kind of feel and sense that each and every day. So really just looking forward to, again, trying to go out there and get back after it and bring that innovation to life. Everybody seems upbeat. I've run into lots of different members of the team thus far at the meeting. and it's really exciting and looking forward to being a part of it.

[00:12:52] Rob Howe: Yeah, great. Yeah, thanks so much for your time.

[00:12:54] Scott Hebl: Yeah, thank you. It's an interesting story. I'll tell you one way like this. I'm deaf and so I wear cochlear implants and my ears don't work at all. So I hear through these two devices. I lost my hearing when I was like 18 and went through college. Basically, I could hear for a little while. I couldn't hear for a little while anyway. Right at the end of college, I got a cochlear implant and that then drew me into an outman company. So I got a cochlear implant. This was like late 90s. and I was a technology student, and so I put up a website, and the company found it. They're like, oh, wow. And they said, hey, we'd like to have a conversation with you. And I started a conversation with them. I was talking to them, and it turned into a job. And so I moved from Purdue out to Los Angeles. Advanced Bionics was an Al Mann company that was right off of a mini-med, off the original mini-med. So I grew up in Alman companies. I knew Al personally, spent a lot of time with him and that leadership team. So, yeah, it was a pretty cool journey. But it comes, it shifts into like more about me and like deafness.

[00:13:53] Rob Howe: I wouldn't be here without my own diabetes, probably. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's interesting for me because I, it's a very different domain, you know, but I wear, I have a processor I wear on my hip and I have a ear level device and I've got to recharge them and I've got to take care of them and do stuff. And so I live with medical devices that are a very important part of my life, you know. And so that aspect of what it's like to actually like, oh, where are you going to put it when you sleep or when you shower? So it's intrinsic to me relative to medical device and medical device technology. It makes me very passionate about the impact you can have on people's lives.