Med Tech Monday: Recent Episodes
NEMIC
Med Tech Monday is a bi-weekly podcast series covering new trends, tech, innovation, and the US Med Tech startup industry. With a hyper-focus on SouthernNew England's Med Tech ecosystem, cohosts Danielle Sturm and Maey Petrie of NEMIC, are joined by an array of guests starting their own company, working on lifechanging technologies, or supporting the commercialization of regulated innovations. This podcast is made possible by the New England Medical Innovation Center, a Med Tech Venture Studio otherwise, know as NEMIC.
Episode Summary
This episode’s guest is Kate MacNamee. She is Ximedica’s director of design research. Danielle and Kate dive deep into collecting data and advanced statistics within medical technologies and devices. Although this may sound big and complicated, Kate explains it wonderfully and compellingly. Kate also questions which department should manage and collect data. She reflects on the relevance of data in entrepreneurship and in building business. They close down the conversation turning to data and digital health. Data will always affect the design; that’s why saving it and properly managing it are essential for developing new medical devices and digital health.
Today's Guest - Kate MacNamee
Kate is experienced in design research, business strategy, system thinking, and relationship management. She is a compelling communicator that works with clients to provide insights they can act on. It’s her job to lead development teams to a position of success. Whether she’s developing an autoinjector, a surgical robot, or a portfolio pipeline, Kate advocates for designs shaped by science and empathy. She knows how to solve complex problems, provide people with focus and direction, and communicate easily with multidisciplinary teams. Effective strategy requires equal parts detail awareness and system-level thought. Kate works within this balance to grant a prosperous future for products, businesses, and healthcare. She also offers deep expertise in product research and design methods following various regulatory bodies and standards for organizations, including FDA, DoD, and ISO/IEC. Source
Key Take-Aways
All businesses are created by people and for people.
“Data, for data's sake, is always a mistake.” - Kate MacNamee
P-hacking is collecting massive amounts of data.
Always answer the “why” question first.
Data is an R&D endeavor.
Inequitable data is when the data collected comes from a single group of people.
Equitable data opened up the fields of study and broadened our understanding.
Always take Human-centered design into account in an accelerator program.
Data is not a value proposition.
Resources
NEMIC | Ximedica | Kate's Email | Kate's LinkedIn | Sign up to help a community affected by the opioid crisis | “Start with Why,” book
We are joined by Alan Humphrey this week! As a mechanical and biomedical engineer, Alan has a lot of knowledge in the medical device industry. He shares his vision towards the challenges the development cycle has right now. He calls out also the impacts within the cycle. Alan also reflects on how the teams are addressing the development of new medical technologies. He also shares memories in hindsight of specific production processes and how teams should face up to problems that pop up.
If you know little things about the medical development cycle and wish to learn more, this episode is for you!
Today's Guest - Alan Humphrey
Alan Humphrey has a double major in mechanical and biomedical engineering from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He has been working with Ximedica for almost 5 years now, changing roles from systems engineer to senior systems engineer. Prior to joining Ximedica’s team, he worked in Research and Development at DEKA and Rescale. He is also an Eagle Scout and a member of the Biomedical Engineering Honor Society.
Key Take-Aways
One of the biggest challenges in the R&D sector is dealing with the unexpected.
The research side of R&D is always dealing with the unknown, trying things for the first time.
There are three pillars to consider in development: medical feasibility, usability, finance, and marketability.
R&D is a skill in and of itself.
Just because the problem seems obvious, the solution and way to fix it is.
Teams must develop a consistent protocol to address problems that pop up.
Resources NEMIC | Ximedica | Alan's Email | Alan's LinkedIn | Sign up to help a community affected by the opioid crisis
We're back and ready to talk about Med Tech innovation, commercialization, and startup development! In this episode, NEMIC’s Co-founder and Healthcare Innovator Aidan Petrie joins Ayan Bhandari, Senior Human-Centered Industrial Designer at Ximedica and CEO of his own startup Nuway to recap how we implemented NEMIC's Innovation Design Sprint Process at the COVID-19 Response Innovation Hackathons. Both guests teach the Business of Design course at RISD, where they focus on the intersection of Design and Business. Listen in as two incredibly talented designers speak to the importance of implementing a tried and true design process to invent ideas that move healthcare forward. This amazing interview is packed with tons of insights on the innovation and design process, so please make sure to tune in!
Today's Guest Aidan Petrie Aidan is a healthcare innovator, strategist, and mentor. He is a founding Partner of NEMIC (New England Medical Innovation Center), a partner in Magpie Medtech Venture Fund, and a founding partner of Ximedica. He is also a Fellow of the Provost at RISD and a mentor and adviser to multiple startups. His passion for innovation and design has helped bring hundreds of products to market that range from simple drug compliance aids to wearable therapeutics, home monitoring products, and complex surgical systems.
Ayan Bhandari Ayan is a Senior Human-Centered Industrial Designer at Ximedica. He is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Nuway and an Assistant Professor at Rhode Island School of Design. Since graduating from Virginia Tech in 2013, Ayan has honed his skills at various start-ups and corporations, culminating at Ximedica.
Key Take-Aways
The capability of working simultaneously with a good process is what makes innovation sprints successful.
Ideas come from more than just one place or one person. It comes from energizing the domain expertise that comes from the whole company.
Fear is the misuse of your imagination.
Create opportunities to use your talent.
Medical innovation is difficult. It's not just about a good idea. It's not even just about good design. It's not even just about good ergonomics. There is a business and an infrastructure. There are material restrictions.
The medical health care industry is the largest industry in the country.
If you want to create something amazing, you have to put in so much work.
Resources
NEMIC | Ximedica | Ayan's Email | Ayan's LinkedIn
Today's guest , Michael Pereira is the Chief Strategy and Technology Officer at one of the largest medical device developers in the US, Ximedica. Michael has over 25 years of product development and manufacturing experience and has been at Ximedica for over 20 years taking the company from 20 to over 200 employees. Michael focuses on supporting clients on how to best manage the right mix of business, technology and portfolio needs while understanding budgetary and time constraints of device development. On this episode, we discuss the opportunities for Med Tech startups and established companies to partner with independent product developers to best utilize their R&D budgets for higher returns on investment during the research phase of development. We also say goodbye to our co-host Tom Chiginski who we will miss dearly!
On this episode you will meet our new co-host, Maey Petrie and learn the backstories of how two young women in Providence, Rhode Island ended up hosting a Med Tech commercialization focused podcast and are supporting the growth of Southern New England's Med Tech ecosystem. Also, we introduce two NEMIC Programs that just launched to support Med Tech entrepreneurs ( free to Rhode Islanders). Applications are now open for our Med Tech Leadership Program and Digital Health Accelerator. Listen to learn more.
Fernando Oliveira, Vice President of Strategic Development at Ximedica, joins up for a discussion around diagnostic devices. Fernando's deep background in the diagnostic industry makes for a robust conversation around the state of the industry pre-COVID-19, how patient and industry needs, due to the pandemic, have accelerated innovation in the space, and how business models have changed to meet commercialization needs. We close the episode with a forward-looking discussion around the future of the industry and up-and-coming diagnostic technologies.
On this episode, we spotlight MMID's Providence Office with guest Steven Nijenhuis, Cluster Manager. MMID is an product development group based in the Netherlands that focuses on developing healthcare and regulated medical devices. Steven joins us to share why Providence, RI was chosen as the groups first and only US based office, their competencies in not only developing products for the US market but, accelerating the transition to the European market, and tells us about one of his favorite projects, which was completed during COVID with their partner Drager.
On this episode of Med Tech Monday, guest David Copeland, Director of Human Centered Industrial Design at Ximedica, joins us for a conversation around how entrepreneurs can successfully commercialize beginning at the early stages of designing a medical product. David also talks about the integration of research and user design inputs, and the importance of failing early. In the digital age of COVID-19, Ximedica and their partners have also pivoted to accomplish user and product testing remotely, listen to find out how.
On this episode, Danielle Sturm, is joined by her colleague, Maey Petrie, Program Manager at NEMIC to update us on all the programs and events available to support Southern New England's Med Tech ecosystem. Listen to learn about out upcoming programming and events. NEMIC Fellow, ResusciTech also joins us for an update on their startup and launch of their app.
Ximedica's Director of Technical Innovation and Advanced Analytics, Jennet Toyjanova joins us for an extremely enlightening and forward thinking discussion around how big data and analytics currently influences the development of medical technologies. Then shares how the utilization of these tools will influence moving towards a more connected healthcare system to better patient's lives and the steps she imagines we need to take to build the infrastructure to support it.
Dr. Megan Ranney joins us this week to announce her newest endeavor, the launch of the Brown University and Lifespan Health System partnered Center for Digital Health (CDH). As the newest addition to the medial innovation ecosystem in Rhode Island, the CDH is hub where creative minds from Brown and its affiliated hospital partners collaboratively design, test, and deploy digital solutions to society’s most pressing health challenges.
This week we have two very special guests, Paul LaViolette, Managing Partner of SV Health, and Lisa Carmel, VP of Strategy joining us to give you an inside "listen" about the current state of the Med Tech investment landscape and their thoughts on opportunities within the space. This is a can't miss episode for anyone in the industry, especially entrepreneurs planning to fundraise in this mid-COVID climate. Listen carefully for a Trends and Insights segment with Brian Wong.
Peter Lucas, President and Founder of RI based Practice Marketing & Communications joins us to talk about how COIVD has impacted the marketing landscape of the US healthcare system. How are providers reaching new patients how are they maintaining current patients, what messages make patients feel safe? Listen, as we cover telehealth, best marketing practices for healthcare entrepreneurs, and tips for social media marketing.
Brian Wong, Phd, joins us for our first installment of episodes with our partner, Ximedica. As a Sr. MedTech Analyst, Brian's day to day job is to research and analyze the MedTech industry then translate it to actionable insight and plans to best develop regulated products. Listen for insight into the current industry trends, opportunities, and what the future of medical technologies looks like.
Meet Dave Josephs, IP lawyer and NEMIC SMARTeam Member joining us on this episode for mini master class for MedTech entrepreneurs. Dave covers all you NEED to know when you create an invention and what not to do if you want to protect it.
This week, hear from new-to-the-ecosystem marketing consultant and one of NEMIC's newest SMARTeam members, Brian Morley. Within the year, Brian left his previous employer, J&J. Looked for a way to get involved in the local community while utilizing his MedTech marketing skills. And started a local marketing consultancy to fill a RI ecosystem need, regulated product marketing and strategy for startups. Listen as he tells his timely story and how he is supporting the local startup and healthcare communities.
In this episode, we discuss digital health, paths to market, barriers, how to leverage hospitals, nailing your value proposition, and pilotitus with our guests Brian Clancy and Brian Mullen. Both guests, bring a deep understanding of the digital health world and have a robust discussion as Brian Clancy brings expertise in the digital therapeutics world and Brian Mullen brings knowledge from experience in a hospital digital innovation center.
Having a go to market strategy is one thing, having a go to market strategy with the RIGHT PRICE is quite another. In this episode David Mok a product pricing guru gives a short master class ( that]s why its our longest episode yet) in the strategy of product pricing in the Medtech space. Listen and take notes, it's worth it.
This week, meet CEO Brad Artery who is leading the RI based startup, MyMOC. MyMOC is combating physician burnout with their platform, MOCingbird making it easier for healthcare professionals to keep up with board certifications, state licensing, and continuous learning. We talk to Brad about administrative burdens on healthcare professionals, piloting and growing the company in Rhode Island, fundraising for the healthcare SaaS platform, and his entrepreneurial journey.
This episode we are joined by regulatory expert and NEMIC SMARTeam Member, Tom Hutchinson who details what EUAs are, how innovators should utilize them, what happens when EUAs end, and EVERYTHING in between. Get ready for an informative yet interesting episode delivered precisely by seasoned regulator, Tom Hutchinson. Thinking of submitting under the EUA? Listen here first.
Through our work at NEMIC, we know that developing a new medical technology that meets a clinical need is only half of the feat of bringing a regulated product to market. On April 2nd, we hosted an online event called, Aligning Development and Funding Strategies for MedTech Startups: A Conversation with Digital & Device Commercialization Experts, in partnership with the Venture Cafe Cambridge.
On this episode of #MedTechMonday, guest Daniel Weinstein, CEO and Co-Founder of Lura Health, shares the story of how his team of 3 student entrepreneurs are combating one of the world's leading diseases, tooth decay. That's just the beginning, saliva is the new blood and can help detect and monitor a broad range of health issues.
How can employers begin planning for the re-integration of employees after the quarantine? What can we be doing now? What challenges may occur? How can we best manage one of the most important assets of any business, our people? And what if this happens again? Explore conversations around all these questions with guest, HR, and workplace culture guru, Stephanie Chamberlin, in part 2 of this 2 part episode.
How can employers begin planning for the re-integration of employees after the quarantine? What can we be doing now? What challenges may occur? How can we best manage one of the most important assets of any business, our people? And what if this happens again? Explore conversations around all these questions with guest, HR, and workplace culture guru, Stephanie Chamberlin, in part 1 of this 2 part episode.
Ambient computing and Amazons Alexa will redefine interactions in healthcare. We are at the beginning but the future is bright, but not without hurdles. Alexa wanted to co-host! How could I resist?
This weeks guests, Sean Monaghan, MD and Jonghwan Lee are both researchers out of Lifespan Health System and Brown University. Both men took part in our Planning Pitch Deck + Immersion Program where we worked with them, one-on-one, on the various components of translating research into an eventual business plan, startup, and pitch deck with investors in mind. Listen as both men share advice for translating research into an eventual startup and business plan.
NEMIC was created because our Founders saw too many medical technologies getting stuck in the "Valley of Death.' This was due to many different reasons, usually on the business side, that marked the technology currently un-fundable. Ximedica, a Rhode Island based FDA registered product developer, would run into the same complications when potentially partnering with startups and new technologies.
Trying to innovate in the MedTech space is easy. There is so much low hanging fruit in our health care system ripe for innovation. The New England Medical Innovation Center defines itself as a “Venture Studio”, listen to find out why.
It takes much more than a building to build an innovation center today. We are well on the way with more work to be done. The community has to grow, evolve and embrace the challenge to thrive. Rebecca Weber of the Cambridge Innovation Center is one of the people tasked with the hard part.
Rhode Island and NEMIC offer support, funding and professional services for budding businesses. Learn how you can leverage these resources to accelerate your venture.
This week we invited Jenna Marchal, an independent consultant, and Dom Messerli, a startup Founder and CEO, for a dynamic conversation. We chat about the advantages and disadvantages of hiring independent consultants, contractors, and employees to work for a Med Tech startup. This episode is a great listen for anyone thinking of breaking into consulting or the next hire for your startup's team.
How do we design wearable for women when there is a shortage of women designing them? We sat down with Jeanette Numbers, Co-Founder of Providence-based design firm Loft llc, to talk about wearable trends, CES2020, the need for women in tech, and the industry's opportunities for adequately designing technology for women.
Abigail Kohler and Greg Fine are two undergraduate students at Brown University. They have spent the latter of their studies also working on building a startup around their assistive CPR technology. Listen and learn about how their technology will help us perform CPR correctly and what it's like being a student entrepreneur entering the medical industry.
Guest Brian Clancy, Co-Lead & Associate Director at AppScript (IQVIA) joins us in a discussion focusing on digital health and therapeutics. The digital therapeutic world is fairly juvenile, making it hard for early adopters and entrepreneurs to find their payers and markets. Listen as Brian shares his knowledge and experience and explores topics such as how digital therapeutics are being prescribed, who is adopting them, and who is paying for them.
The New England Medical Innovation Center (NEMIC) is New England’s premier med tech venture studio. NEMIC’s mission is to support innovators and entrepreneurs, and expedite the developmental process in order for ideas to realize commercial success and provide value to the patients they serve. Hear from Founder’s Aidan Petrie and Lydia Shin Schroter as they explain why they set up NEMIC and how they support innovators and entrepreneurs streamline the commercialization process for regulated technolo