BD names chief technology officer

"Beth has been an influential leader since joining BD, leading R&D for the Medical Segment to achieve all key innovation and execution metrics with significant improvement over prior years," said Tom Polen, chairman, CEO and president of BD. "She has served as a highly impactful R&D sponsor for our top Medical segment priorities, while co-leading the segment portfolio strategy and growth acceleration initiatives. In addition, McCombs has helped to prioritize and redirect investments toward high-growth spaces that will accelerate category innovation across the medical segment businesses, with a focus on smart connected devices."

McCombs, who brings more than 20 years of extensive experience in advanced medical device innovation to her new role, joined BD in 2019 as senior vice president of R&D for the BD Medical Segment. She began her career at Johnson & Johnson Ethicon Endo-Surgery and progressed through positions of increasing leadership responsibility, including director at the J&J Corporate Office of Science and Technology, focused on external technology partnerships; R&D leader at the J&J Sports Medicine business; vice president of surgical innovation at the Ethicon franchise; and, most recently, as vice president of R&D at Ethicon, while also leading China R&D and industrial design/human factors for all of J&J Medical Devices. Aside from her technical credentials, she has been recognized for her work driving inclusion and diversity efforts, including the support and mentorship of fellow female professionals.

"BD is making great strides in shifting our R&D portfolio toward high impact opportunities like smart connected devices, enabling new care settings, and improving diagnosis and treatment for chronic diseases," McCombs said. "We will continue to advance an insight-driven innovation strategy and accelerate external technology partnerships and investments to increase the velocity and value creation of the innovation funnel, and we are committed to deliver the best customer outcomes and return on investment."

McCombs has a bachelor of science and a master's of science in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a master of business administration from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

BD also announced the creation of an external scientific advisory board, which will be comprised of top medical key opinion leaders, science and technology experts, and experienced innovation leaders. The SAB will meet to review BD's technology capabilities, innovation pipeline, tuck-in M&A opportunities and early-stage investments. The SAB will also advise BD's leadership on its growth prioritization and emerging trends in health care, science and technology, as well as the potential implications for BD.

DeFord, following his retirement from BD on May 28, 2021, will be a founding member and co-chair of the SAB. He brings 35 years of extensive industry experience to the SAB, as well as in-depth knowledge of BD's R&D and business priorities. DeFord earned his bachelor's degree and master's degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, where he also earned a doctorate in electrical/biomedical engineering.