Steven Goetz Joins Motif Neurotech as Chief Technology Officer

Motif Neurotech has named Steven Goetz as chief technology officer. Goetz joins the company after spending more than 26 years in Medtronic’s Neuromodulation Operating Unit, where he led engineering and innovation initiatives for implantable device therapies for numerous diseases.
 
At Motif, Goetz is responsible for leading all R&D activities, including advancing Motif’s therapeutic device for treatment resistant depression (TRD) and extending the company’s platform technology towards application to a broad set of mental health disorders.
 
“Steve is an innovative senior executive with the exact experience we need, at the intersection of neuromodulation innovation, engineering, therapeutic areas and commercialization,” said Motif Neurotech Founder/CEO Jacob Robinson, Ph.D., a Rice University professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “I’m so excited to add him to our team—Steve is my dream candidate for this role. His expertise and leadership will be transformative as we accelerate Motif into its next phase of growth, developing our platform for TRD and beyond.”

Before joining Motif, Goetz held leadership and engineering positions of increasing responsibility during his tenure at Medtronic. Most recently, he was vice president of Technology and Platform Innovation in the Neuromodulation Operating Unit, driving new therapeutic opportunities in bioelectronic medicine and defining major new implantable device architectures. Prior to that, he was a senior distinguished engineer in Brain Modulation, responsible for an innovation pipeline spanning technology, strategy, and business development. Prior to that role, Goetz was chief engineer for Deep Brain Stimulation and Neuromodulation, leading technical definition of multiple deep brain stimulation systems, including novel brain sensing devices and Medtronic’s directional lead stimulation design. He also led cross-functional teams in systems engineering and human factors and contributed to system designs for spinal cord stimulation, implantable drug pumps, and peripheral nerve stimulation therapies.

Goetz holds more than 160 patents and has contributed to multiple publications in the field. Steve left Medtronic as a Bakken Fellow, Medtronic’s most prestigious technical award. He earned a BSEE from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and an MSEE from the University of Minnesota.
 
“Motif has developed an elegant new way to deliver neuromodulation therapy to the brain that avoids many of the barriers of more invasive approaches, and I’m excited to join the company at this time of growth to help translate this innovative technology to market,” Goetz stated. “Building on positive proof-of-concept data, Motif technology promises to change the lives of 2.8 million people with TRD who suffer a major depressive episode but do not respond to antidepressants each year.”

Motif is developing a miniature brain pacemaker that is designed to stimulate the brain to restore healthy circuit activity and treat mental health disorders. Inserted in a 20-minute procedure, the pea-sized implant is placed in the skull above (and not touching) the brain, can deliver at-home therapy, and should have minimal side effects as compared to drugs or less precise brain stimulation. The company’s lead product is for treatment resistant depression.
 
Motif Neurotech is a clinical-stage company developing minimally invasive neuromodulation therapeutics for mental health. The company’s lead product, for treatment resistant depression (TRD), is a miniature implant that is designed to treat TRD by increasing activity in the prefrontal cortex. Studies over 20 years show stimulation of the pre-frontal cortex effectively treats treatment resistant depression without the side effects of anti-depressants. However, existing brain stimulation treatments like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be expensive and challenging for patients to access, with daily treatments required for six weeks that may need to be repeated. Human and large animal studies show Motif’s prototype stimulates target brain areas like TMS, and the company is preparing to begin clinical trials of their first chronic implants in 2025. Motif’s implant is enabled by patent-pending wireless magnetoelectric power transfer developed at Rice University. Motif’s founders and key team members are clinical, medical device and academic experts with over 5,000 surgical procedures and decades of medical device experience.
 
The Motif Neurotech device is for investigational use only. It has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is not available for commercial sale.