With a background in nursing and midwifery in the UK, Wendy Burgess’ career has seen her living and working on opposite sides of the globe across diverse roles in medical technology.

Describing her career as exciting and rewarding, Wendy has been a senior midwife and clinical tutor in the UK and has thrived in several medical sales roles. Having been with Getz Healthcare for 10 years, Wendy works across the country representing Getz Healthcare’ Interventional and Neuro portfolios. “I look after the Interventional portfolio here, which means supporting microwave and NanoKnife cases, and also the Neuro portfolio," explains Wendy. “I support the rest of the New Zealand team as well”.

Working in a small team means no two days are ever the same. “There is no typical day,” shares Wendy. “Both reps here are country wide. There are four neuro centres, and microwave centres in a few other places, including in private. My work is quite fluid. Most weeks I'm travelling, not all, but most.”

As a company that has continued to evolve, particularly over the last five years, Wendy describes the culture at Getz Healthcare as inclusive, and her NZ team as close-knit. “My direct team in New Zealand is lovely. It's very close-knit, we've had to be. There were four of us struggling during COVID and lockdowns together, supporting each other. Obviously, life happens and it's not always okay, so certainly here we've got each other's back. And we really care about each other.”

When speaking with Wendy, it becomes so clear that she is dedicated and enthusiastic about the work that she does. “I am absolutely passionate about making sure patients have access to New technology,” Wendy shares. “It’s really important to me. That's why I get up each morning, to make sure that people get the best treatment available. As if they were our mothers, brothers, sisters, and fathers.”

Looking to the future, Wendy is working hard to get prostate IRE available more widely, and hopefully in the future, supported by private medical insurance. I want one North Island and one South Island site so that men in this country have access to this technology and we can drastically reduce the deaths of prostate cancer, as well as people having to travel to Australia to self-fund treatment.”

For Wendy, working closely and forming strong, meaningful relationships with the staff at hospitals and practices around the country is a rewarding part of the job. “I’ve been visiting a Christchurch radiology department for 20 years. They don't even think of me as anything other than a member of their staff, which becomes obvious when one of the doctors says, ‘You and I are the longest serving in this room.’ Or they introduce me as, ‘This is Wendy, she's part of our team.’”

How would you describe Getz Healthcare in three words?  “Innovative. It's unique—I don't perceive us as either a distributor or a supplier or a manufacturer because we sit in the middle. And I think we're very versatile.”