# Maggie Nixon

> Maggie Nixon is the CEO of Capstan Medical, a Santa Cruz medtech startup building a robotic platform and catheter-delivered implants for minimally invasive mitral and tricuspid heart valve replacement. A nationally ranked high-school shot put and discus thrower, she earned a Stanford athletic scholarship, designed her own biomechanical engineering major, and then spent more than two decades at Intuitive Surgical across instrument design, clinical development, quality and regulatory, and China operations and strategy. In 2022 she reunited with her first Intuitive boss, Dan Wallace, to lead Capstan, where in 2025 her team completed the world's first robotic catheter mitral valve replacements in humans after raising a $110M Series C.

- **Role:** CEO at Capstan Medical
- **Organizations:** Capstan Medical, Occam Labs, Intuitive Surgical, Stanford University
- **From:** Chicago area, Illinois, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Biomechanical engineering (self-designed major, medical device design focus), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Led Capstan Medical to the world's first robot-assisted transcatheter mitral valve replacement procedures in humans (2025)., Raised a $110M Series C in December 2024, bringing total company funding past $150M., Helped develop and launch Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci Xi robotic platform.

## Career timeline

- **2000** — Joins Intuitive Surgical (~80 employees) as an instrument design engineer, reporting to Dan Wallace; works on the original cardiac team designing devices for revascularization and mitral valve repair.
- **2000s** — Leads instrument design teams for roughly a decade across surgical instrumentation.
- **2010s** — Moves into clinical development engineering, leading development and launch of the da Vinci Xi system.
- **2010s** — Takes on quality and regulatory roles, scaling product quality across multiple surgical platforms.
- **2010s-2022** — Leads Intuitive China operations and strategy, establishing joint ventures and engineering activities.
- **2022** — Leaves Intuitive after 22 years to lead Occam Labs, the Santa Cruz incubator behind Capstan, reuniting with founder Dan Wallace.
- **2023** — Becomes CEO of Capstan Medical.
- **2024-12** — Leads Capstan's $110M Series C, led by Eclipse with Intuitive Ventures, Yu Galaxy and Gideon Strategic Partners; total funding surpasses $150M.
- **2025** — Capstan completes the world's first robotic catheter mitral valve replacements in two human patients.
- **2026** — Plans to bring its second-generation structural heart robotics system online and start a pivotal mitral trial.

## Achievements

- Led Capstan Medical to the world's first robot-assisted transcatheter mitral valve replacement procedures in humans (2025).
- Raised a $110M Series C in December 2024, bringing total company funding past $150M.
- Helped develop and launch Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci Xi robotic platform.
- Was a nationally ranked high-school shot put and discus athlete and earned a Stanford athletic scholarship.
- Designed her own undergraduate biomechanical engineering major at Stanford with mentor Dennis Carter.

## Latest updates

- **2024-12** — Closed a $110M Series C led by Eclipse, pushing total funding past $150M.
- **2025-03** — Announced the world's first robotic catheter mitral valve replacements completed successfully in two patients.
- **2026** — Working to bring a second-generation structural heart robotics system online and begin a pivotal mitral trial.

## Links

- Website: https://capstanmedical.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-nixon-92089941/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/maggie-nixon
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-11