Richard Kuntz

Most recently, Dr. Rick Kuntz was senior vice president, chief medical and scientific officer of Medtronic and served as a member of the company’s executive committee. In this role, Kuntz oversaw the company’s medical affairs, health policy and reimbursement, clinical research activities, and corporate technology.

Rick joined Medtronic in October 2005 as senior vice president and president of Medtronic Neuromodulation, which encompasses the company’s products and therapies used in the treatment of chronic pain, movement disorders, spasticity, overactive bladder and urinary retention, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and gastroparesis. In this role, he was responsible for the research, development, operations, and product sales and marketing for each of these therapeutic areas worldwide.

Rick brings a broad background and expertise in many different areas of healthcare. Prior to Medtronic, he was the founder and chief scientific officer of the Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI), a university-based contract research organization that coordinates National Institutes of Health (NIH) and industry clinical trials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Kuntz has directed numerous multicenter clinical trials and authored more than 250 original peer-reviewed publications. His major interests are traditional and alternative clinical trial design and biostatistics.

Rick also served as associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief of the division of clinical biometrics, and as an interventional cardiologist in the division of cardiovascular diseases at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Kuntz has served as a member of the board of governors of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), part of the Affordable Care Act, from 2010-2018.

Rick graduated from Miami University and received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He completed his residency and chief residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Parkland Hospital, Dallas, and then completed fellowships in cardiovascular diseases and interventional cardiology at the Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. Kuntz received his Master of Science in biostatistics from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.