Massi Joe E. Kiani (born September 16, 1964) is an Iranian-American entrepreneur who founded medical technology company Masimo in 1989.
Early life
Joe Kiani was born in Shiraz, Iran, and immigrated to the United States at the age of nine. Kiani's father was an engineer and his mother was a nurse. Despite not speaking more than three words in English when he arrived in the United States, he graduated from high school at the age of 15 and, by the time he was 22, had earned both his bachelor's (B.S.E.E) and master's (M.S.E.E) degrees in electrical engineering from San Diego State University. SDSU later honored Kiani with the College of Engineering's 2005 Monty Award, recognizing his achievements and success.
Beginning in 1989, Kiani worked at Anthem Electronics. While with the company, Kiani detected an issue with the devices, and pitched the company a solution, which they declined. Following this, Kiani established his own business while maintaining a role with Anthem Electronics until 1991.
Career at Masimo
Kiani founded the medical technology company Masimo in 1989 and was later joined by partner Mohammed Diab. The company is publicly traded and employs more than 5,300 people worldwide. Kiani holds more than 500 patents or patent applications for advanced signal processing, optical sensors, and wearable technologies. Masimo pulse oximetry is used to monitor over 200 million patients per year and is the primary pulse oximeter at 9 of the top 10 hospitals listed in the 2020-21 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll. In 2011, Forbes named Masimo to its list of top 20 public companies under a billion dollars in revenue, based on earnings growth, sales growth, and return on equity.
Pulse oximetry is one of the most commonly used monitoring technologies in healthcare. Masimo makes a pulse oximetry technology known as Signal Extraction Technology (SET), which is the first pulse oximetry technology to reliably measure through motion and low perfusion conditions.
Since its introduction in 1995, Masimo SET pulse oximetry in over 100 independent and objective studies has outperformed other pulse oximetry technologies, providing increased sensitivity and specificity. Masimo SET helps clinicians reduce severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in neonates and improve critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) screening in newborns. As of March 2021, ten published CCHD screening studies, all with positive conclusions and representing over 300,000 infants, including the largest CCHD study, have used Masimo SET. In addition, when used for continuous monitoring with a patient surveillance system, Masimo SET reduces rapid response team activations, ICU transfers, and costs.
In 2022, under Kiani's direction, Masimo acquired Sound United premium audio brands including Bowers & Wilkins, Polk Audio, Denon, Marantz, Definitive Technology, Classé and Boston Acoustics.
Industry reform and patient safety initiatives
In 2002, Kiani was interviewed for a New York Times article titled "Medicine's Middleman" that focused on the practices of Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) and dominant medical suppliers. The article was followed by a series of 18 additional New York Times stories on GPOs over the next two years. After the Times article appeared, The United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights held four hearings regarding these practices, at which Kiani testified twice. Kiani's efforts led media to call Masimo "the poster child for small medical device manufacturers" and observe that Kiani "almost single-handedly galvanized the rancorous debate over the GPO industry's purported role in locking out innovative technologies from the marketplace."
Kiani is active in efforts to reform U.S. health care and encourage medical innovation. In 2010, Kiani and Masimo provided $10 million in funding to create the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare, which is dedicated to encouraging and promoting activities that improve patient safety and deliver advanced healthcare worldwide. Masimo Foundation supports third-party research, development initiatives, and clinical studies with an emphasis on transformative projects that seek to truly enhance patient safety and outcomes; helping to forge a world free of sickness, disease and inhumanity.