Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Edwards Lifesciences
A Career Built on Innovation: Mike Mussallem’s Lasting Impact on Global Healthcare | Rose-Hulman
At Rose-Hulman, Mike Mussallem (CHE, 1974) became a student of innovation. Mussallem is the co-founder of the Linda and Mike Mussallem foundation and the retired chairman and CEO of Edwards Lifesciences, which is a global leader in patient-focused medical innovations for structural heart disease. Edwards’ market-leading technologies for people fighting cardiovascular disease have helped millions of patients around the world. One of the biggest lessons he learned at Rose was how to be curious and not to accept “what is” as a limitation, but as a beginning. That belief helped him take a leap of...
About Michael Mussallem
In a May 2025 interview with Rose-Hulman, former Edwards Lifesciences chairman and CEO Mike Mussallem discussed his career and the company’s focus on structural heart disease. Mussallem said that in the 1990s, the cardiovascular business was not excelling while competitors were, and that his analysis led him to conclude that innovation was the difference. He proposed changing course, and Edwards Lifesciences became a freestanding publicly traded company on April 3, 2000. Mussallem stated that over 95% of what Edwards sells today holds the number one global position. Mussallem credited his education at Rose-Hulman, where he earned a chemical engineering degree in 1974, with teaching him how to learn and the importance of collaboration. He noted that the faculty took a personal interest in him and guided him to “learn to learn.” Mussallem also said that technology is racing at incredible speeds and that young people have an opportunity to change the world in dramatic ways. He is the co-founder of the Linda and Mike Mussallem foundation.
Transcript (7 segments)
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Michael Mussallem0:01
We were not excelling in the cardiovascular business in the '90s, and everybody else in that business kind of was. When I did my deep analysis, it was innovation that made the difference. Those companies were innovating, finding new ways to treat patients, and distinguishing themselves. I became a student of innovation and really proposed that we need to change course.
Edwards Lifesciences is very much focused on patients with cardiovascular disease, and in particular what we call structural heart disease. So you think about the structures of the heart, the valves, the chambers, and so forth. Whether it's driven by an infection or high blood pressure or some other disease process, something can go wrong in a patient, and solutions to that are critically important because it is the pump that provides blood to all your organs and the rest of your body. We're ones that decided to specialize just in that space and try and become the best in the world.
I'm Mike Mussallem. I'm a proud graduate of Rose in 1974 as a chemical engineer. I was very fortunate to have loving parents that just wanted to give their children a better life. I was influenced in high school because I was pretty good at math and science that, hey, you ought to think about engineering. I started doing my homework, and that's what caused me to apply to a number of engineering schools. Rose was one of the schools that I applied to. Rose seemed very serious about delivering a great education, and I know that it attracted incredible students. Part of that attraction really meant something to me.
I really grew up as a person when I was at Rose. I would say when I entered, I was relatively immature. Classwork had come pretty easy, and so forth. Once I got to Rose, it got much more serious, and especially once I moved from my freshman year to my sophomore year, it was kind of like, wow, I'm going to get left behind if I don't really start applying myself and really thinking. One of the things that was wonderful about Rose is the faculty took personal interest in me and tried to help guide me to, hey, why don't you take on learning? Why don't you learn to learn? It's one of the greatest lessons that I got, and I think probably the greatest gift I got from Rose is I learned how to learn.
I graduated from Rose as a chemical engineer, went to work for Union Carbide making Prestone antifreeze. After spending about five years at Union Carbide, I discovered medical technology. I joined a company called Baxter in Northern Illinois and I worked there for 20 years. Very much a meritocracy, I learned by doing. I moved from kind of a manufacturing background into product development and R&D, and ultimately into general management. I had responsibility for the cardiovascular business of Baxter during the late '90s. It ultimately resulted in a decision to say maybe it's better for Baxter to exit. So I raised my hand and said I would love to be part of that. April 3rd of 2000, we rang the bell in New York and became a freestanding, publicly traded company called Edwards Lifesciences. I'm proud to say that over 95% of what Edwards sells today is in the number one global position.
I think one of the things that Rose does, it doesn't just create an engineer, but it creates an incredible learner. Being stimulated to learn more and to know why opened your mind. It taught me to be curious and not to accept what is as a limitation, but as a beginning. That caused me to believe in and take the leap of faith to actually dream big about what could we do for patients. So that stayed with me the rest of my life. Another really important lesson from Rose was to accomplish big goals, it takes a much broader team, and it takes those people that are expert in these various areas to collaborate together to solve the big problems. I began learning that in Rose, and it's been reinforced over my career. That way of thinking is powerful. It's the kind of thing that I think distinguishes Rose and allows those that graduate from them to go out and make a big difference.
I can't think of a more exciting time to join the world with innovative solutions. Technology is racing at incredible speeds, and the opportunity to decide where your place in all that is one of the exciting parts of life. I don't think we fully know what we're best at or what we love doing till we get a chance to experience it ourselves. When you start down a road with a specific degree, that turns out to be the beginning, not the end. Ultimately, if you can steer yourself into something that is truly fulfilling for you, then the best of you comes out and an opportunity to have huge impact on the world. I think through technology, we have an opportunity to change the world in just dramatic ways that are almost beyond our own thinking today. Together, we are game changers.