Since mid-January, we've seen three veteran healthcare industry dealmakers make the jump to small biotechs and medical device firms. The most high-profile is Shawn McCormick, who, after leading medical device maker Medtronic Inc. through a series of recent transactions -- presumably including the company's Jan. 12, $41 million acquisition of Ablation Frontiers Inc. -- has taken a job as chief financial officer at smaller rival ev3 Inc., a maker of stents, angioplasty balloons and other devices.

McCormick, 44, spent more than 15 years at Medtronic, most recently as vice president of corporate development, and helped expand the company's cardiac treatment business, the same sector in which ev3 operates. Could ev3 be on Medtronic's target list? We don't know for sure. But if it is, Medtronic's deal team would certainly find a familiar face across the negotiating table.

Other healthcare dealmakers on the move include Samantha Miller, who joined Jennerex Biotherapeutics Inc. on Jan. 13 to help identify and negotiate strategic alliances. Miller most recently headed business development at biotech Anesiva Inc. In a 20-year career, Miller has helped execute more than 30 partnerships and licenses with companies including GlaxoSmithKline plc, Eli Lilly and Co. and Johnson & Johnson. Also on Jan. 13, former investment banker Eric Tardif, 39, joined biotech Gen-Probe Inc. as senior vice president of corporate strategy. Tardif was most recently with Morgan Stanley's healthcare investment banking group and before that, a principal in Piper Jaffray & Co.'s healthcare group.

What's behind these career moves? One factor is surely that healthcare industry dealmaking has held steady, despite the credit crunch and recession. That's put a premium on veteran dealmakers, particularly among biotech and small healthcare companies hungry for licensing deals and strategic partners.

And as cash-rich healthcare companies hunt for targets and cost-cutting pharmaceutical giants turn to smaller partners to keep their pipelines full, transactions in the industry are expected to continue at a healthy clip in 2009.