Olympus Chief Medical Officer Helping to Elevate the Standard of Care

Dr. John de Csepel Marks First Year as CMO with Focus on Advancing Access to Quality Care

CENTER VALLEY, Pa., Jan. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. John de Csepel is marking his first full year as Olympus Corporation's Chief Medical Officer (CMO) with a continuing focus on strengthening Olympus' global Medical and Scientific Affairs (MSA) function to enable the company to reach more patients worldwide with relevant products that have demonstrable clinical and economic benefits.

As an 18-year MedTech veteran and someone who continues to practice trauma and emergency surgery on the weekend at a teaching affiliate of Mt. Sinai Health System in New York, de Csepel is well aware of the barriers to quality care patients face. One such barrier is physician training on the latest procedures.

In his first year as CMO and global head of MSA, de Csepel implemented metrics to track the effectiveness of Olympus' professional education efforts with a focus on procedure adoption and physician confidence rates. About 90% of physicians taking the company's professional education courses reported having greater confidence in performing their respective gastroenterology, urology and pulmonary procedures following training, according to a pilot physician survey.

For those healthcare professionals (HCPs) whose busy schedules don't permit in-person training, the Olympus Continuum global digital educational platform is available. Over a 12-month period, more than 60,000 HCPs took advantage of live and online training, and over 200,000 used the on-demand library.

Addressing patient and physician needs

As Olympus has made the transition to being a dedicated MedTech company, de Csepel built upon an existing MSA foundation, including filling key leadership positions and aligning the work of MSA teams globally. Part of the realignment involved a sharper focus on the MSA mission to identify future healthcare needs to better advise the company on the most relevant products to develop and acquire. That effort prompted de Csepel and members of the MSA team to begin hospital and clinic field visits to better understand challenges facing today's physicians.

"We can't anticipate tomorrow's needs unless we are side-by-side with doctors witnessing their everyday challenges," he said.

While attending the AdvaMed 2024 MedTech Conference in Toronto, de Csepel said he was encouraged by the industry's greater focus on patient access as the settings for patient care evolve.

"Olympus is working hard – whether around securing regulatory approvals or reimbursement – to ensure that our diagnostic and therapeutic technologies are equally available to patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings," he said.

Translating product into practice

Since joining Olympus, de Csepel had served on the company's global executive leadership team and his contributions were recognized with an additional appointment to Executive Officer. Along with the pivotal role of identifying areas where Olympus technology can solve unmet medical needs, de Csepel uses his CMO platform to promote the effectiveness and safety of Olympus products through evidence generation and public speaking.

"I am grateful to have my position in MedTech as it dovetails into another important role which is that of the voice of patients and healthcare providers," de Csepel said. "Whether as a former chief of minimally invasive surgery in a New York City hospital or as a volunteer war surgeon with Doctors Without Borders, I have always loved taking care of patients. As a still-practicing physician, I treat one patient at a time. Being the Olympus CMO, however, affords the opportunity to influence the health and well-being of thousands of patients around the world each day."

Moving forward, CMO initiatives will include expanding MSA's team of medical directors, which consists of physicians with practice experience in Olympus specialty areas, as well as enhancing the function's Health Economics and Market Access group with the ability to deliver outcomes research and inform healthcare policy.

Leading by example

Since joining Olympus, de Csepel marked another important milestone – a routine colonoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer. Olympus has long advocated for awareness and early detection around preventable diseases like colorectal cancer, so it is only fitting that the company's CMO lead by example by getting screened and share the experience of his clean screening.

"Having performed abdominal surgery for three decades, I have seen firsthand the life-saving potential of early detection," de Csepel said. "My colonoscopy was a welcome personal reminder of the importance of our mission and the reason why I value my role in MedTech." 

About Olympus
At Olympus, we are committed to Our Purpose of making people's lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling. As a global medical technology company, we partner with healthcare professionals to provide solutions and services for early detection, diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment, aiming to improve patient outcomes by elevating the standard of care in targeted disease states.

For more than 100 years, Olympus has pursued a goal of contributing to society by producing products designed with the purpose of delivering optimal outcomes for its customers around the world. Visit olympusamerica.com for more information.

SOURCE Olympus Corporation of the Americas