Cardiovascular Innovation Fellowship

Job description

Fellows develop skills in early-stage innovation value proposition, invention, and pre-clinical testing of new categories in device therapies and technologies serving critically unmet needs for people living with structural heart disease. Candidates are cardiovascular physicians-in-training (cardiology fellows) or surgeons-in-training (residents or fellows) driven to think, communicate, and create entirely novel solutions that challenge the limitations of today’s standard-of-care offerings. Apply Now Criterias and requirements Selected fellows will work on multi-disciplinary teams to learn and apply a focused, needs-driven innovation process to identify, invent, and implement solutions alongside expert med tech innovators. More About the Cardiovascular Innovation Fellowship Building on Edwards’ legacy of innovation since 1958, the Innovation Fellowship was founded in 2020 to enable a “learn-by-doing” approach to support exploration of gaps and opportunities in structural heart disease care, and invention and testing of conceptual solutions in a pre-clinical environment. Innovation Fellows also gain a deeper understanding of the stakeholders and key elements which determine clinical adoption and ultimately change clinical practice. The Innovation Fellowship offers the opportunity to work on a multidisciplinary creative team alongside leaders in design and engineering, regulatory affairs, quality, strategy and market research, health economics and reimbursement, policy, intellectual property and clinical trials. Innovation Fellows will become active contributors to the team as they characterize unmet clinical needs and develop novel solutions with the potential to move forward to first-in-human (FIH) use. As part of this pre-clinical research experience, Innovation Fellows will co-design computational and bench-top simulation models for novel physiologic targets, invent and prototype new technologies, and implant and evaluate proposed solutions in bench-top, live large animal, and human cadaveric systems. They will receive training through experience, advancing personal development as clinician-innovators and key opinion leaders. Apply Now 2026-2027 Innovation Fellows Romy Hegeman, MD, PhD Dr. Romy Hegeman joins us from the Netherlands, where she was a resident in the Cardiac Surgery Department of the Amsterdam University Medical Center. Romy conducted research in cardiothoracic surgery and advanced imaging in structural heart interventions and supervised multiple PhD candidates and research students. She will apply her expertise to the next projects driving Edwards' technology growth. Christopher Arakawa, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Arakawa is a pediatric cardiologist, engineer, and biodesign innovator committed to improving patients' lives through healthcare innovation. Inspired by the challenges faced by patients and clinicians, he is passionate about identifying unmet clinical needs and creating technologies that improve patient care and outcomes. He joins Edwards Lifesciences from Stanford University, where his work spanned clinical management of complex congenital heart disease, regenerative medicine research, and strategic venture creation. Fellowship Information Session Please complete the form below if you'd like to join a live 30-minute information session. First name Last name Email address Phone number Address City Zip/Postal code