(San Antonio, September 9, 2019) – Pioneering San Antonio business leader and entrepreneur Catherine M. Burzik has been selected by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) to receive its highest honor – the Lifetime Achievement Award – for her many contributions to the medical technology industry.

Burzik served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI) from 2006-2012 and now invests and advises public, private, venture-backed and private-equity backed businesses in the medical device, diagnostic and life science tool sectors.

Burzik maintains an active presence in the medical sector in San Antonio.  She serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for StemBioSys, Inc., serves on the Board of Directors of Xenex Disinfection Services, and provides advisory and consulting services to several San Antonio start-up companies in the medical sector.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has had a monumental impact and made lasting contributions that have been a continuing positive influence on the medical technology industry. Recipients are selected for their demonstrated industry leadership, activities and actions that have had an impact well beyond their own company, employees, products and the patients they serve.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected for the AdvaMed Lifetime Achievement Award.  It is a privilege to be involved with businesses whose products enable clinicians to dramatically change outcomes for patients. And, the pace of breakthrough innovations in the medical field is accelerating…offering great promise for improved health for people globally,” said Burzik.

Key among the required qualifications for the Lifetime Achievement Award are leadership, innovation, discovery, commercialization, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, venture capital/capital formation and sustained contributions to the medical technology industry.

Burzik has led six different companies and made significant contributions to biology and life sciences, medial technology and health care. Her career spans more than four decades and includes leadership positions at Eastman Kodak, Johnson & Johnson, Applied Biosystems and KCI. She serves or has served on the board of directors of numerous companies including Becton Dickinson, Haemonetics, Xenex, Gemini BioProducts, Allscripts, Bausch & Lomb, ViroXis and Cordis. Burzik is currently Chairman of the Boards of Directors of the American College of Wound Healing & Tissue Repair as well as StemBioSys, Inc. and Gemini BioProducts.

Burzik previously chaired the Canisius College Board of Trustees and the San Antonio Branch of the Federal Reserve Board of Dallas. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Advanced Medical Technology Association from 2007-2012, where she chaired the Wound Healing Sector.

While serving as president and CEO of KCI, Burzik was recognized for her leadership in distinguishing the company in the fields of wound care and regenerative medicine. She significantly expanded KCI’s global footprint, dramatically grew revenue and profitability and doubled the company’s market cap. She executed the private sale of KCI to Apax Partners in 2012.

Burzik and her husband, Francis, are known for their support of education and the performing arts through the Catherine and Francis Burzik Foundation.

“Cathy Burzik has been such a generous supporter of the San Antonio biomedical community and the College of Engineering at UTSA, providing critical funding and mentorship for our faculty in technology and entrepreneurship,” said Dr. JoAnn Browning, Dean of the UTSA College of Engineering.  “In 2013, the College received a grant from the Catherine and Francis Burzik Foundation to establish the Burzik Professorship in Engineering Design.  Endowments like the Burziks’ help propel our programs toward excellence by providing resources that benefit faculty research and teaching activities which, in turn, benefit the college and its students. experiences.  We are so grateful for her generous support, and extremely pleased to see her honored by such a distinguished award.”

For seven years, Cathy Burzik has played an active role on the Board of Directors of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. “As a Founding Board Member, Cathy was involved in the research and design of the $200M construction project that would provide San Antonio its first performing arts center, as well as the first five years of organizational development,” said Michael J. Fresher, President and CEO of The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. “Her business expertise as well as her willingness to advocate on behalf of the organization have led to countless community and corporate relationships for our new entity.  For Cathy, this work was personal, as her love of the arts is as great as her entrepreneurial spirit. We deeply appreciate Cathy and Frank’s commitment to the arts, and Cathy’s longtime service to The Tobin Center, and extend our heartfelt congratulations on this lifetime achievement award.” 

Burzik will receive her Lifetime Achievement Award during the MedTech Conference in Boston September 25.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Cece Abel
210-279-5303

Cece.abel@cfboffice.com