What happens when a college student looks at a decades-old surgical tool and asks a simple question: why hasn’t anyone made this safer? 

In this episode of Entrepreneur Rx, host John Shufeldt reconnects with Casey Qadir, Co-founder and CEO of Hubly Surgical, several years after her first appearance to talk about how far the company has come, from an undergraduate idea to FDA-cleared technology being used in hospitals across the country. 

Casey started Hubly while studying neuroscience at Northwestern University after learning that emergency cranial access still relied on hand-crank drills without automatic stopping technology. Working with neurosurgeon Dr. Amit Ayer and CTO Tyler Panian, she co-developed the Hubly Auto-Stop Drill, designed to automatically stop after penetrating bone and help protect the brain beneath it. 

John and Casey revisit one of their earliest meetings, when John put his hand beneath a demonstration skull and drilled through it to see whether Hubly’s technology would stop. It did, helping turn a pitch meeting into an investment. 

Since then, Hubly has moved from early development to commercialization while expanding beyond cranial access. Casey shares how feedback from neurosurgeon customers led the company into spine surgery, resulting in FDA clearance for laminectomy and laminotomy procedures, and why clinician feedback continues to shape what comes next. 

The conversation also gets into the realities of building a medical device company: raising the first million dollars during COVID, finding physician champions, selling into hospitals, challenging the status quo, and staying confident when investors insist that if an idea were really that obvious, someone else would have done it already. Casey also shares what she has learned about balancing conviction with humility. 

About Casey Qadir: Casey Qadir is the Co-founder, CEO, and co-inventor behind Hubly Surgical. She started Hubly while studying neuroscience at Northwestern University and has since led the company from a classroom concept through two FDA clearances, nationwide commercialization, and use in thousands of patients across the United States. Casey holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in computational mathematics from Johns Hopkins University. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Healthcare list for 2026 and serves as an entrepreneur-in-residence and advisory board member at Northwestern’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

About Hubly Surgical: Hubly Surgical is a medical device company committed to making surgery safe. Its flagship product, the single-use, cordless Hubly Auto-Stop Drill, combines automatic breakthrough detection, mechanical plunge prevention, and real-time force indication to give clinicians greater control during high-stakes procedures. Initially developed for cranial access in the Neuro ICU, the platform now has FDA-cleared applications in both cranial access and spinal decompression procedures, including laminectomy and laminotomy. Since its commercial launch in 2024, Hubly Drills have been used to save thousands of patient lives nationwide. 

About Xcellerant Ventures: Xcellerant Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in innovative companies across healthcare, technology, defense, and other emerging industries.  Xcellerant partners with founders to provide capital, strategic guidance, and support as they build and scale their companies.  Learn about their newest fund, Jetstream Venture Fund, and its $5,000 minimum.

About Deal Titan: Deal Titan is an AI-powered platform that helps investors evaluate early-stage companies faster by turning pitch decks into structured diligence reports covering the market, team, financials, competition, and key risks. Use code EntrepreneurRx for a free solo membership, including 10 full analysis reports.