Celebrating Innovation and Advocacy in Women’s Health: A Conversation with Angela Spang

May 30, 2025

In recognition of Women’s Health Month, Aspen Surgical is proud to highlight Angela Spang, a healthcare leader, entrepreneur, and surgical device innovator. As Aspen Surgical’s partner and the founder and CEO of JUNE Medical, Angela has spent more than 25 years in the healthcare industry creating medical devices that simplify the complexity of surgery through user-centered design and global collaboration. Among her notable contributions is the award-winning Galaxy II self-retaining retractor, used across various surgical specialties.

Aspen Surgical is proud to be the exclusive U.S. distributor of the Galaxy II self-retaining retractor, partnering with JUNE Medical to provide these innovative tools to operating rooms across the nation.

In this exclusive interview, Angela shares her professional journey, passion for advancing women’s health, and a glimpse of what’s next.

Q: After more than 25 years in the healthcare industry, what motivated you to found JUNE Medical in 2013? How did your early career shape your vision for creating devices like the Galaxy II Retractor?

Angela Spang: With entrepreneurial parents, starting my own business felt as natural as dancing when music starts to play.

My decade at Johnson & Johnson provided a comprehensive foundation in sales, marketing, clinical education, and product strategy.

Recognizing the opportunity to serve the NHS and its patients, I launched a UK distributorship that focused on delivering the high-quality products I believed every patient deserved, especially in women’s health.

A few years later, I invented the Galaxy Retractor. That transformed our business from a local distributor into a global MedTech company.

Q: What challenges did you aim to solve with the Galaxy II Retractor, and how does its design benefit surgical teams?

Angela Spang: I developed the Galaxy retractor concept while watching a surgeon break an old, outdated retractor. It was a device designed over a century ago with no significant updates since its inception. I tried to find an alternative online for the nurse to order, but nothing existed. So, I decided to make one myself.

As we built new frames, I realized many designs were adapted from urology tools originally intended for men’s health. Women’s health had simply inherited makeshift solutions. With the Galaxy Slider, we have modernized retraction: it features a low profile, is flexible, adjustable to any anatomy, and is unobtrusive to instruments or workflow.

Q: How do you ensure women’s unique needs are reflected in your innovation process?

Angela Spang: Historically, women have been an afterthought in healthcare. Even today, we test at the cellular level with male cells, not female cells. Many drugs are tested on 85kg men and scaled down, and instruments often assume large hands and high grip strength. That affects not just women, but many people globally.

I don’t necessarily set out to design “for women.” However, I do design inclusively. We test on diverse groups—by glove size, BMI, height, and ethnicity because that’s just good science.

Q: JUNE Medical is proudly a women-owned business. What does that mean to you, and how do you foster inclusivity through your leadership?

Angela Spang: I grew up in Sweden, where gender equality is deeply ingrained in the culture.

When my daughters talk about inventors or CEOs, they describe women. When my daughter and her friends discussed the spelling of the phrase ‘fairy princess,’ I thought, ‘If they can spell “fairy princess,” they should know what “CEO” stands for.’

So, I taught them.

Later that evening, I received a text from another mother whose child came home proudly spelling, “Chief Executive Officer.”

Representation matters. I hope being a visible female founder, inventor, and global leader shows others they can follow their dreams, even if their path is unconventional, like mine.

People often ask why my leadership team consists entirely of women. Truthfully, I didn’t hire them into those roles—they earned them. When you remove the hurdles that hold women back, they shine.

Q: As we observe Women’s Health Month, how do you envision female leadership influencing healthcare and Medical Devices? What advice do you have for aspiring women innovators?

Angela Spang: Female innovators and co-founders are doing important work, contributing vital ideas and technologies to the field. While female-led companies have historically faced more barriers in gaining investor support and exposure on major platforms, the landscape is changing.

Encouragingly, some investors are now focusing more intentionally on women’s health and female leadership. Research shows that companies led by women perform well. Supporting a variety of leaders isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also a smart investment.

To women entering this space: Keep pushing. Be resilient. The world is changing, and you can help lead the way.

Q: JUNE Medical donates 10% of retractor sales and provides Galaxy II devices to underserved regions. How do these initiatives impact patient care?

Angela Spang: I was simply raised to help when I can. While I can’t be everywhere in person, sending Galaxy devices to skilled volunteer surgeons allows me to offer my assistance from afar.

Each box of Galaxy is like an extra set of hands— they are never tired and never need a break. Knowing that our devices are helping countries in need of medical support fuels my drive to keep innovating.

One surgeon in Uganda told me how Galaxy helped them treat more patients during a medical mission, but they were limited by daylight. They used smartphones as flashlights. That moment inspired my next invention: LUX Connect, a light attachment that brings targeted illumination directly into the wound.

Q: Tell us about the new HandMe^® Retractor. What can we expect, and how does it build on the success of Galaxy II?

Angela Spang: I saw surgeons using the Galaxy Slider for hand surgery—and it worked well—but they also needed a lead hand and assistants to stabilize everything. I thought, "What if we simplify this?" HandMe is a 3-in-1 kit that can replace multiple tools. It holds the digits, retracts the incision, and reduces the need for an assistant. That means more independence for surgeons, fewer sterilized instruments, less storage, and more environmental sustainability—all in a single pack. It fits hands from age 5 to the largest glove size, works on both left and right hands, and keeps inventory simple with one SKU. We launched in the UK and EU, and the response has been phenomenal. One surgeon said they needed it “yesterday,” which is the best feedback an inventor can receive. HandMe is already being used for wrist fusions, nerve work, and trauma.

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To learn more about Angela Spang and JUNE Medical, visit https://junemedical.com/

U.S.-based customers: Learn more about the Galaxy II Retractor System and the LUX Connect Surgical Light, distributed by Aspen Surgical.

¹ aspensurgical.com ² worldsleaders.com ³ interhospi.com