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Meet the Team: Richard Hausmann, CEO

In this first post of our “Meet the Team” blog series, we talked to Richard Hausmann, CEO of Combinostics, about his background, interests, and love for vintage Volkswagens.

What positions have you previously held and at what companies?

Most recently, I was President and CEO of Elekta AB, a cancer care company based in Sweden. Before that I was President and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Magnetic Resonance (MR) division and President and CEO of Siemens Limited China for six years. I also previously advised multiple Chinese municipalities, such as the cities of Beijing, Wuhan, and Kungming, on their infrastructure development.

Are you currently using your degree at Combinostics?

I have a PhD in theoretical nuclear physics from the University of Regensburg, Germany. While I’m not using it directly, my training as a physicist was vital to developing innovative new medical imaging technologies like MRI, a technology with which I was involved in many of my previous positions including my current role at Combinostics. It taught me how to make confident, evidence-based decisions. It also helps me understand the concepts behind our technology. I gained my business and leadership acumen during special training at the Fuqua School of Business (Duke University) and, of course, during my long career at different companies around the world.

What do you find most interesting about the healthcare technology space?

The space in which we’re involved at Combinostics is an amazing combination: healthcare technology with artificial intelligence and digitizing workflows — and all for the benefit of one of the most challenging degenerative diseases to diagnose and treat: dementia.
I also really enjoy seeing healthcare technology develop, become less expensive, and become more accessible — to help increase the number of people who can be diagnosed and treated. Bringing beneficial and important technology to physicians and their patients has been self-motivating during my entire career.

What’s the most memorable thing you’ve learned?

Having a great product or technology is one aspect and relatively easy for a team of scientific experts to develop, but marketing and sales are just as important to be successful. A great product won’t benefit physicians or patients if it’s not adopted. Therefore, they’re two sides of the same coin.

Is there a customer interaction that has stood out to you?

Every sale is interesting because our products help patients and caretakers — and those are the best kind of success stories. Specifically, we’ve had customers tell us that Combinostics products have helped to discover conditions or characteristics that weren’t previously detected, and that’s very satisfying to hear.

Tell us a fun or unique fact about yourself.

In my free time, I collect vintage Volkswagen beetles and vans. I actually built my own museum and modeled it to look like a Volkswagen garage from the early 1950s. I love to drive these 70-80-year-old cars. In 2009, I even drove a 1949 beetle from Germany to Beijing, China — over 7000 miles in one month!
My favorite car in the collection is a dark blue Beetle from 1948. It was only used for 3 years and then put aside in a garden shed where it was found many years later. It had less than 10,000 miles driven. You can imagine how original and rust free this Beetle is.

Have you attended an interesting conference, meeting, or event recently?

A wonderful performance comes to mind. I was lucky enough to see “Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman),” an opera by composer Richard Wagner, at the Bayreuth Opera Festival.

What vacation destination are you dreaming of?

I would love to travel the Pan American Highway (the longest road in the world) from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina in one of my Volkswagen buses.

If you have a question for Richard, or just want to chat about vintage VWs, you can find him at richard.hausmann@combinostics.com.

Check back for the next post in our “Meet the Team” series, where we’ll be talking to COO and co-founder Lennart Thurfjell, PhD.