Champions of Health: Spotlight On Leaders Shaping Germany’s Healthcare
We are delighted to inform that an interview with the CEO and Founder of joimax®, Mr. Wolfgang Ries, has been published in the Champions of Health magazine.
The Interview
In this insightful interview, Mr. Ries shares the inspiring story behind the founding of joimax®and provides an in-depth look at our cutting-edge products and innovations that are shaping the future of minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery.
I believe in fostering a culture of collaboration and teamwork as well as empowerment within the organization. By encouraging open communication and valueing diverse perspectives, I ensure that decisions are well-informed and reflective of the collective wisdom of the team.
Mr. Wolfgang Ries
CEO and Founder of joimax®
This publication serves as an opportunity to showcase the dedication of joimax® to advancing endoscopic minimally invasive spine spine surgery technology and improving patient care.
Melle, Belgium –(ORSI ACADEMY)- Orsi Academy, the unique training & expertise centre for robotic and minimally invasive surgery in Melle, is once more enhancing its training facilities. With the support of the European Regional Development Fund, made available by VLAIO, it invested in revolutionizing robotic technology from Corin and latest navigation systems from joimax®. This equipment allows Orsi Academy to further expand its offer in clinical disciplines such as navigated spinal surgery, neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery, particularly in knee and hip replacements. With the investment, Orsi Academy continues to contribute to improve and increase the quality and safety of our modern healthcare system.
“With the investment, Orsi continues to improve and increase the quality and safety of our modern healthcare system.”
Corin’s revolutional orthopaedic OMNIBotics System is designed to enhance precision to the balancing and implantation of knee replacements. This partnership will undoubtedly elevate the standards in training in orthopaedic surgical procedures.
Simultaneously, through a partnership with joimax®, Orsi Academy aims to pioneer advancements in spinal surgery. joimax®’s Intracs System is a smart navigation system based on electromagnetic tracking ensuring an easy and safe access to any spinal target.
The grant from the European Regional Development Fund plays a crucial role in financing the acquisition of these technologies, marking a significant milestone for Orsi Academy. This partnership not only integrates two remarkable platforms into its robotic family but also expands the training offerings, providing healthcare professionals with hands-on experience in the latest minimally invasive techniques.
Giovanni Tegami, Managing Director Corin Belgium
“Corin is honored to collaborate with Orsi Academy in advancing orthopaedic surgery training. Our robotic technology aims to enhance outcomes by restoring proper soft tissue balance and leg alignment, crucial factors in knee replacement success. Through this partnership, we’re eager to contribute to elevating standards in orthopaedic surgical procedures.”
Wolfgang Ries, Founder and CEO of the joimax® Group
“Being able to offer the Intracs® EM navigation system at any course held at the Orsi Academy for training and research needs is huge. It allows participants to directly experience the ease of use in endoscopic spine surgery and learn the difference of non-navigated and fully navigated procedures significantly driving the accelerating adoption rate of endoscopy in spine, which sees very fast growing high level literature on new applications, but also on major patient and surgeon benefits!”
Prof. Dr. Thomas Luyckx, Medical Leadership Orthopaedics Orsi Academy
“We are excited about the possibilities and advancements this collaboration will bring. This grant and collaboration reaffirms our dedication to pushing the boundaries of orthopaedic medical education.”
KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – German-based joimax®, the market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, and distributor Uber Ros S.p.A are excited to announce their new partnership for the Italian market, effective immediately.
Under this strategic alliance, Uber Ros will be a full sales and service provider of joimax® products to surgeons and medical practitioners throughout Italy. The partnership allows both companies to expand the renowned joimax® brand via first-rate networks and distribution channels to the Italian health community, ensuring that patients have access to the latest spinal endoscopic technologies.
“We’re looking forward to working with Uber Ros, a strong and well-established partner in Italy,” says joimax® Founder and CEO Wolfgang Ries.<
“Together, we will continue to provide best-in-class service and grow our presence in the Italian spine community while creating a solid business growth strategy,” states Uber Ros President and COO Giorgio Rosati.
In addition, the acclaimed joimax® training and education program for spine physicians, managed under ESPINEA®, the Endoscopic Spine Academy powered by joimax®, will be introduced in Italy. “Uber Ros and joimax® will align all education activities and set-up special workshop programs that offer certified courses to Italian physicians,” says ESPINEA® Chairman Wolfgang Ries.
About Uber Ros S.p.A
Uber Ros S.p.A was founded in Rome in 1986 by Dr. Umberto Rosati and his son Giorgio. It is a Medical Devices Distribution Company active in all Italian territories. Uber Ros promotes and sells high-tech medical devices, mainly specialized in Orthopedics, Trauma Surgery, Neurosurgery, Spine, Maxillo-Facial, Head and Neck surgery (ENT-OTO), Wound Care and Vascular surgery. Uber Ros has a sales organization spread throughout Italy, providing customer service 24 hours on any day of the year. The Company collaborates with the world leading Research Centers, and is involved in the most advanced studies on bioengineering, promoting and supporting scientific research in high-tech emerging fields.
KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – joimax®, the German-based market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, launched its new iLESSYS® Biportal Interlaminar Endoscopic Surgical System for the treatment of spinal disorders at the EUROSPINE 2023 Annual Meeting in Frankfurt and at the SMISS Annual Forum (Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery) in Las Vegas, marking its global debut. This week, it will be presented at the NASS meeting (North American Spine Society) in Los Angeles.
The new instrument set, iLESSYS® Biportal for unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE), expands the wide range of joimax® endoscopic offerings by separating the instrument working port from the endoscope, allowing for free relative movement between the two. The iLESSYS® Biportal offers all instruments tailor-made for biportal spinal endoscopy, with:
A special Triangulation Tool to simplify the access triangulation of two ports
Biportal specific working tubes with inbuilt irrigation outflow control for precise water management
Larger, more powerful tools for effective tissue ablation and resection
“This system is excellent and will allow me to perform the surgeries not only biportally but also bimanually,” stated Javier Quillo-Olvera, M.D., spinal neurosurgeon and an expert in biportal surgery at the Brain and Spine Care Group, Querétaro, Mexico. “It allows me to use the iLESSYS® Pro working channel endoscope. I’m excited to use it with my patients.”
EUROSPINE attendees were impressed that this comprehensive system could be used as a biportal system and available for bimanual surgical procedures. Moreover, the iLESSYS® played a key role during the expert talks, spurring debate about when to use the transforaminal (TESSYS®) and when to use the interlaminar (iLESSYS®) approach for a given spinal disease.
“The system will be part of the ESPINEA® training and education program and will be fully implemented in the workshop courses by the end of the year,” commented Wolfgang Ries, CEO and founder of the joimax® group. “We´ve already lined up a range of surgical faculty in Europe (Dr. Ralf Wagner, Dr. Maxime Challali, Dr. Raed Abohussein, Dr. Miguel Loureiro), in the Americas (Dr. Peter Derman, Dr. Meng Huang, Dr. Javier Quillo-Olvera) and in Asia (Prof. Si-Young Park, Dr. Junseok Bae) among others in each of these regions, with many more to follow.”
KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – joimax®, the German-based market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, presented at the ESPINEA® World Summit at the prestigious Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, PASMISS in Taiwan, NASSi in Bangkok, the ASEAN MISST in Jakarta, and at the first Annual Endoscopic Spine Surgery Symposium at the Seattle Science Foundation.
From July 13 to 15 more than 80 attendees from 22 countries connected at the ESPINEA® World Summit. “This historic event was a major milestone in the educational training activity of ESPINEA®, where we are proud to guide highly active surgeons from around the world within this encouraging field of endoscopic spinal therapy,” concluded ESPINEA® board members Dr. Alastair Gibson and Dr. Menno Iprenburg.
The July events provided joimax® the ideal opportunity to launch the highly anticipated surgical access systems, iLESSYS®Biportal and TESSYS®Trans SAP, along with the new electrosurgical probe, Vaporace®Bipo, which are key to the soon-to-be announced endoscopic expandable fusion platform.
joimax® will also share its latest developments at EUROSPINE in Frankfurt, affording participants an opportunity to attend an open house at their global headquarters in Karlsruhe, where they will further learn about joimax®’s research and manufacturing capabilities. Moreover, the joimax® US team will welcome NASS attendees in its hometown of Los Angeles.
“We are excited to see the widespread acceptance of endoscopic spine surgery around the globe,” said joimax® Founder and CEO Wolfgang Ries. “Having reached a tipping point, the NASS endoscopic “Surgical Stadium” event, will be another highlight the spine community can look forward to”. For further information and event registration, contact joimax®.
joimax® demonstrating its innovative minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery solutions at Global Spine Congress 2023
Prague, Czech Republic | June 2023 – During this years Global Spine Congress (GSC) joimax® CEO & Founder, Wolfgang Ries, talked to the GSC Chairman, Jeffery Wang, MD, PhD about the latest innovations by joimax®.
KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – The newly renovated and expanded Endoscopic Spinal Academy (ESPINEA®) facilities, sponsored by joimax®, makes exceptionally, high-quality training accessible in an innovative and appealing environment. Every day, the Academy offers educational and hands-on workshops to surgery teams, customers and partners.
Ries took on the newly created role of Executive Vice President, Business Development and Operations at joimax®. In this position, based in Germany, he will be responsible for scaling global operations to ensure joimax® continues its exponential growth. Formerly the General Manager, for the past six of his 13-year tenure with joimax®, Ries built out the United States and Latin American markets.
“We are continuously developing and adapting our programs to meet customer demand”.
Courses and workshops at a pre-clinical and clinical level
For almost five years, ESPINEA®, which is accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, has stood for excellence in training in the field of endoscopic spinal surgery. After the recent inauguration of ESPINEA® China, joimax® has refurbished and enlarged the existing Karlsruhe training facilities into a modern, state-of-the art center to support their growing educational and training programs. The showroom demonstrates solutions from joimax®, the market leader in endoscopic spinal surgery technologies, enabling visitors to experience this mastery daily.
Organized in sections, by product line, practitioners can try out each clinical model, simulating an operative environment, and learn firsthand about the positive ergonomics and streamlined workflow of these offerings. All labs are equipped with integrated joimax® surgery systems, including the latest generation endoscopic tower, NAVENTO®. The surgery stations are digitally connected to imaging and to the joimax®Intracs® electromagnetic navigation system so that the endoscopic spinal surgery methods and applications can be reproduced during training. Moreover, the furnishings have been fully optimized so that the rooms can be easily adapted to new products and solutions.
“As a leading innovator in spinal surgery techniques, it’s important that ESPINEA® offers a pioneering center to further education and training,” said Wolfgang Ries, CEO and founder of joimax® and chairman and founder of ESPINEA®. “The dynamic, holistic and needs-oriented program sets new standards.”
The main focus is on endoscopic spinal care solutions for pain therapy, decompression, deherniation, and spinal stabilization. All hands-on sections have an open lab design, and bring the concept to life on how the products work together.
Setting standards in training of endoscopic spinal surgery
Professional knowledge and well-practiced skills are the building blocks for successful endoscopic spinal surgery.
“We are continuously developing and adapting our programs to meet customer demand,” said Susanne Schmidinger, senior director, global marketing and education. “We are convinced that our holistic and target-oriented education puts surgery teams in the position to optimally implement our available technologies and solutions for their patients.“
At the facility, an experienced, dedicated global team of certified faculty share their expertise and know-how. Every trainee is individually accompanied along the entire learning journey.
“It’s important that surgeons be able to directly and efficiently apply joimax® systems and methods in their daily work,” said Ries. “That’s why we developed the ESPINEA®3-step education program of visitation, hands-on workshop, and simulated live surgery.”
The program is available at ESPINEA® USA, Asia, China, and Europe.
KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – joimax®, the German-based market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, has appointed Mr. Maximilian Ries and Mr. Anthony Troncale to new executive positions, effective January 1. The announcement comes among record-breaking sales across Europe, Asia, and the United States in 2022.
Maximilian Ries
Ries took on the newly created role of Executive Vice President, Business Development and Operations at joimax®. In this position, based in Germany, he will be responsible for scaling global operations to ensure joimax® continues its exponential growth. Formerly the General Manager, for the past six of his 13-year tenure with joimax®, Ries built out the United States and Latin American markets.
Tony Troncale
Troncale was promoted to General Manager; he was formerly Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at joimax® Inc. Over the past two years, Troncale, in addition to increasing his responsibilities, successfully capitalized on the significant interest in endoscopic techniques to expand US sales operations. He joined joimax® in 2021 bringing 20-years of experience in the spinal device industry where he served in sales and marketing leadership roles at Stryker, K2M, and Synthes Spine. Contributing to the global organization’s continuous strong sales growth was the launch of a new surgical access system, “Tessys® Trans SAP” and the global expansion of the ESPINEA® Education Academy.
Wolfgang Ries
“I am extremely pleased with our 2022 global performance and the significant interest in endoscopic spine surgery,” stated joimax® Founder and CEO Wolfgang Ries. “With Max and Tony in their new roles, our market-leading endoscopic spine technologies, and our anticipated launch of two more new surgical access systems later in 2023, we are well positioned for another very successful year.”
KARLSRUHE, Germany – (BUSINESS WIRE) – joimax®is continuing its year-over-year double digit growth. Over the past 9 months, joimax® has grown more than 25% globally and in the United States alone, more than 35%. Among this major spurt, the market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery is launching a new endoscopic surgical system, TESSYS® TransSAP.
“This allows for more extensive foraminal decompression and provides an optimal basis for transforaminal endoscopic fusion”
The company attributes strong growth to their popular workshop and educational program, which is now offered worldwide under the ESPINEA® training academy. To keep momentum, joimax® is releasing the TESSYS® TransSAP — the fourth addition to the TESSYS® family encompassing the standard TESSYS® Std, TESSYS® XT featuring longer reach instruments, and TESSYS® Thx, the optimized version for the thoracic spine.
The system is based on the proven TESSYS® method introduced in 2004. Since then, the technology has been enhanced and can be used for more complex indications, widening the spectrum of disease and vertebral level applications.
joimax® faculty surgeon masters, Dr. Christof Hofstetter and Dr. Ralf Wagner, demonstrate TESSYS® and iLESSYS® to an at capacity crowd during NASS 2022 in Chicago. (Photo: Business Wire)
“The TransSAP method follows an adopted access path to the spine, directly targeting the Superior Articulating Process,” says Dr. Christoph Hofstetter, associate professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington. “This allows for more extensive foraminal decompression and provides an optimal basis for transforaminal endoscopic fusion,” adds Dr. Ralf Wagner, a longstanding joimax® ESPINEA® Faculty orthopedic surgeon based in Frankfurt.
In addition, joimax® provides a series of implants for fusion indications, such as the percutaneous pedicle screw system, Percusys® Plus, and a family of 3D-printed titanium cages within the EndoLIF® program. The EndoLIF® suite of products consists of the static implants O/On-Cage, Delta-Cage and DoubleWedge-Cage. “There are plans to add a new fully-expandable cage, as well as a navigated solution for endoscopic disc preparation and implant positioning to provide a full endoscopic assisted fusion platform,” says Wolfgang Ries, CEO and founder of joimax®.
All joimax® implants can be safely inserted using the “Over-the-Wire” technique for precise implantation, making them ideal for endoscopically-assisted fusion procedures established and protected by joimax®.
These new products have been exhibited at the following trade shows: SMISS in Las Vegas, CNS in San Francisco, and NASS in Chicago, and will be featured at EUROSPINE in Milan and at the German Spine Congress, DWG, in Berlin later this year.
Karlsruhe (GER) — German-based joimax®, the market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, is excited to announce a major spike in attendance at its Endoscopic Spine Academy (ESPINEA®) workshops, which contributes to sustainable growth after another year of record revenues in 2021.
The growing interest can be attributed to increased coverage in literature and publications as cited on PubMed®. Moreover, the joimax® initiated workshop program, now under the umbrella of ESPINEA®, offers optimal training for a variety of applications and procedures, making it attractive to a broader audience.
joimax® established ESPINEA® three years ago. In Fall 2020, the Endoscopic Spine Academy was accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RCSEd). It is one of only four Accreditation Centers that meet its strict rigorous internal quality assurance processes. Together, with its growing team of faculty, joimax® developed the complete six-step curriculum to bridge the learning curve for spine surgeons. The curriculum, which was approved by the RCSEd, is developed as an educational program from beginners to masters alike.
J.N. Alastair Gibson DSc MD FRCSEd, a RCSEd and ESPINEA® Advisory Board Member sums it up: “The ESPINEA® mission is to serve endoscopic spine surgeons by providing a growing global network for lifelong learning to best benefit the patient. Our vision is to be the world’s leading interdisciplinary community in endoscopic spine surgery.”
In addition to holding ESPINEA® courses at the joimax®-owned premises in Karlsruhe (Germany) and Irvine (USA), they are also held at ORSI Academy (Belgium) and at other prestigious universities, such as Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg (Austria). Recently, ESPINEA® was rolled out in Thailand. Prior to the July PASMISS Meeting, the courses will be launched in Singapore for the APAC region, and following the October SMISS Meeting, launched widely in the U.S.
“Given the ongoing development of endoscopic spine surgery with more and more technological options, the benefits for the patients, along with the substantial publication, I am convinced that endoscopic spine surgery is now the gold standard,” states Iprenburg Spine Clinic Founder and ESPINEA® Advisory Board Member Dr. Menno Iprenburg.
With the ESPINEA® courses, surgeons can train on different procedures using the joimax® TESSYS®, iLESSYS®, CESSYS®, MultiZYTE®, EndoLIF®, Percusys® based on the latest NAVENTO® tower. Most of the courses are conducted in a hybrid mode — online and on-site presentations and lectures combined with in-person hands-on training using models, simulators and anatomical specimens.
ESPINEA® was established as an open education platform for other players in the field of spinal surgery as well. Therefore, further supporters have already joined and new entrants are welcomed.
