Dr. Steve Sampson, founder of The Orthopedic Institute (TOBI) and the Orthohealing Center, discusses the evolution of orthobiologics, highlighting the integration of machine-based therapies like shockwave and a focus on patient safety, with patients traveling overseas for untested biologic treatments. 

In this interview with SmartTRAK, TOBI founder Steve Sampson, DO, discusses the development of orthobiologics, highlighting a key inflection point where technologies like shockwave and light therapy are used to boost the body's natural healing process. Dr. Sampson also mentions patients traveling abroad for treatments. He warns about the lack of regulatory oversight, potential complications and offers solutions through the Orthohealing Alliance.

Click on the following video (11:10 min) to learn more. A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is provided below.

SmartTRAK: My name is David Shepard. I'm with SmartTRAK, and I'm here at the 16th annual TOBI meeting. and it's my pleasure to be joined by Dr. Steve Sampson. Thanks so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it.

Steve Sampson, DO: Thanks for having me. Looking forward to chatting.

Absolutely. So, the agenda of this year's conference is... It's got a wide range of topics. What do you think is reflected in this year's agenda that really typifies the technologies that are happening out there in the field today?

SS: It's probably the most exciting time in my 20-year career that I feel like we're at this inflection point with new technologies, including machine-based therapies. So, the concept is the human body is remarkable, and we're made of 37 trillion cells, and we have our own drug store, our own ability to self-repair. Our role as physicians is to try to facilitate that. So, machine-based treatments are a big point of this conference where there's a session on shockwave therapy, photo-biomodulation light therapy, hyperbaric oxygen. They're all different machine-based treatments that are trying to boost our body's healing capacity. Then I also have a new session of mesenchymal stem cells or MSCs overseas.

SS: A lot of times, in clinic, we find patients are going to Mexico, Panama, Thailand, and some of them have unlimited resources, but they may not be getting the best level of care and bigger isn't always better.

Right.

SS: So, understanding what are some of the regulatory challenges here in the United States, why are patients going overseas ,,,

Click the button to get the full transcript of our exclusive interview with TOBI founder Steve Sampson, DO, conducted by David Shepard, SmartTRAK GM/Sr Analyst, Orthobio & Regen.

Cerapedics’ CEO Valeska Schroeder discusses the company’s newly PMA-approved PearlMatrix P-15 Peptide Enhanced Bone Graft and its unique advantages over existing bone graft options in an interview with SmartTRAK.

Valeska Schroeder, CEO of Cerapedics, discusses the launch of PearlMatrix, a next-generation bone growth accelerator approved for transforminal lateral interbody fusion (TLIF) procedures, and how its strong clinical data, especially its speed to fusion in high-risk patients, sets it apart in a crowded bone graft market. Click on the following video (16:18 min) to learn more. A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below.

SmartTRAK: This is Erin Dorgan, senior analyst at SmartTRAK. I'm here today with Valeska Schroeder, CEO of Cerapedics. Valeska, thanks for joining me today.

Valeska Schroeder: Hi. Thanks so much for having me today. I'm excited to be here and to be able to talk more about Cerapedics.

Awesome. Before we kind of get started, can you share a little bit about your background and how you came into your current role today as CEO and chairman of the board?

VS: Sure, I'd be happy to. I started my career as an engineer, so my background is in material science and I have been in the medtech industry for most of my career, starting out more on the R&D side. I was part of a venture group for the six years prior to joining Cerapedics, and that's where I first got to know Cerapedics; that group, KCK, invested in Cerapedics back in 2018. And I joined the board at that point and got more involved with the company in 2021 and joined as CEO in 2022. So I've been super excited about the Cerapedics story for many years and happy to be CEO and be able to share more about the company today.

Thank you. Speaking of that, can you share a little bit more about Cerapedics? Currently, our subscribers come from spine-focused companies, orthopedic companies, so some may not know the name Cerapedics as well as I do, someone who's intimately involved in the bone replacement market. Can you share a little bit more about the history of Cerapedics?

VS: Yes, I'd be happy to. So Cerapedics is a global commercial-stage orthopedic company, and we have drug-device products that are focused on improving bone repair. We're headquartered in Colorado and have been a company for over a decade at this point. Drug device products take a fair amount of time to get onto the market in the US, and our products are used in spinal fusion procedures in the US and broader indications for bone repair in other geographies.

We have a first product, i-FACTOR, that has been available commercially for many years, and that has been used in over 200,000 patients since launch. And in the US, it's indicated for cervical spinal fusion. And just this last month we launched PearlMatrix, which is a bone growth accelerator that is indicated for  ...

 Curious about PearlMatrix, the next-generation bone growth accelerator recently launched in the US? To learn more, click the button below to download the complete transcript of our interview with Cerapedics CEO Valeska Schroeder, conducted by Erin Dorgan, SmartTRAK Sr Analyst, Spine & Bone Replacement.

James Voos, MD, chair of the Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland Browns team physician, and president of the NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS), shares his goals for the society and offers insight into how he is using biotechnology to monitor recovery, prevent further injuries, and safely return athletes to competition.

James Voos, MD, president of the NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS), discusses the society's efforts to standardize care for NFL players across the league in an interview with SmartTRAK at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) 2025 Annual Meeting recently held in Nashville, TN.

Dr. Voos also shares an update on ongoing clinical research for osteoarthritis treatment with stem cells. To listen to the interview, please click on the following video (4:18 minutes). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is alsoprovided below. 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Dave Shepard. I'm here at the AOSSM 2025. Keep watching for my interview with Dr. James Voos, who is the team physician for the Cleveland Browns, and also the president of the NFL Physicians’ Society. Dr. Voos, thanks for joining us.

James Voos, MD: Thank you very much for the invitation. I appreciate it.

Excellent. Tell me a little bit about the NFL PS and a little bit about what you're doing, what your initiatives are, what your goals are.

JV: As president of the NFL Physician Society, we represent all of the physicians that provide care for our professional athletes in football. That's not only our orthopedic surgeons, but our medical physicians and all of our associated consultants. So we help to provide standards for how to practice across the league, and that way we assure that every athlete and every team has ...

Interested in how biotechnology can be used to monitor recovery, prevent further injuries and safely return athletes to competition? Click
the button below to download the full transcript of SmartTRAK GM/Sr Analyst David Shepard's interview of James Voos, MD, president of the NFL Physicians Society (NFLPS) from AOSSM 2025.

SmartTRAK provides insights into the latest trends, research and consensus opinions in surgical Orthobiologic treatments and non-operative regenerative medicine from this year’s BA Summit and AANA meetings.

Dr Cheryl Blanchard, president and CEO of Anika Therapeutics, discusses the company, technology and developments for future growth in an interview with SmartTRAK.

In a recent interview with SmartTRAK, Dr. Cheryl Blanchard, president and CEO of Anika Therapeutics, discussed the company’s strategic direction, proprietary technology and advancements in its next-generation osteoarthritis (OA) pain management and regenerative solutions.

To find out more about the company, its differentiated technologies, products and growth strategy, click on the following video (26:40 min).

Interview topics by timecode are provided below, as is a link to download a complete transcript of the interview.

Interview Outline by Timecode:

00:20 Introduction to Anika Therapeutics, president and CEO Dr. Cheryl Blanchard and the company’s strategy.
01:14 The US OA Injectables Market and Anika’s next-generation OA pain solution, Cingal.
02:52 Cingal’s advantages and how it fit in the treatment continuum.
04:56 Cingal’s positioning and clinical trials’ progress.
10:47 Marketing communication, commercial and pricing approach and beyond knee OA.
13:42 Hyalofast, Anika’s next-generation cartilage repair solution.
17:25 Anika’s regenerative platform and the Integrity Implant System.
19:54 Cheryl Blanchard’s take on the next major disruptive force.
22:42 Thoughts around healthcare policy changes, tariffs uncertainty and other macro trends.

Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of SmartTRAK's interview with Dr. Cheryl Blanchard, president and CEO of Anika Therapeutics, conducted by  Freddy Buntoum, SmartTRAK Senior Analyst, Orthobiologics and Regenerative Medicine.

Thomas Lash, COO and co-founder of Aatru Medical, talks about the company’s innovative single-use negative pressure device, NP-Sims, a Negative Pressure Surgical Incision Management System.

Thomas Lash, chief operating officer and co-founder of Aatru Medical elaborates on the company’s strategy to mitigate the risk of surgical site infections through NP-SIMS, their single-use negative pressure surgical incision management system. To listen to the interview, please click on the following video (21:21 minutes). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is provided below. 

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is David Shepard, senior analyst with SmartTRAK. Today it's my pleasure to be joined by Tom Lash, COO and co-founder of Aatru. He's going to talk to us today about a product that he co-invented, called NPSims. Tom, tell us a little about your company and about the product.

Tom Lash: We started the business about eight years ago, a small research and commercialization team with the goal of developing an alternative solution for the single-use, disposable negative pressure wound therapy market.  Kind of a mouthful to say that, but in essence, what we were trying to do is looking at the predicate devices that are on the market, we knew that if we were going to try and have a product that could make an impact on that market segment, it would be necessary for us to find an innovative mode of action to create the negative pressure without the current use of electromechanical pump which powers the leading products that are in use today. They have an electromechanical pump. They're battery-operated. They have software. Those products were primarily devised for the open or chronic wound market, and because of our focus on the surgical incision market, we were able to design something that was different. We believe the current products are probably over-engineered for the surgical incision market. So, our approach was to devise ...

Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of SmartTRAK's interview with  Aatru Medical's Co-Founder and COO Thomas Lash, conducted by  David Shepard, SmartTRAK Lead Analyst, Orthobio & Regen.