Surgical arteriovenous fistula (AVF) creation has been a mainstay of dialysis care for multiple decades. What does it take to break into such an established space with a new endovascular medical device? In this episode of the BackTable Podcast, Dr. Jeffrey Hull discusses the challenging journey of developing the Ellipsys system for endovascular AVF creation. --- SYNPOSIS We trace Dr. Hull’s path from the device's initial conception in 2006, through the first-in-human cases in 2013, to regulatory approval and acquisition by Medtronic in 2020. Dr. Hull highlights the roles of key business mentors, the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration with vascular surgery and nephrology, and the impact of investment. He also shares valuable insights on the benefits of having competitors and selecting a well-thought-out exit strategy. Additionally, we explore deep vein arterialization (DVA) as another application of endovascular AVF creation in the context of peripheral arterial disease. --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction 03:05 - The Birth of the Percutaneous AV Fistula Creation 15:04 - First-in-Human Cases 17:58 - Navigating the Startup Journey 21:52 - Identifying Mentors and Investors 27:33 - Competition and Criticism 36:43 - Regulatory Hurdles 44:45 - Acquisition by Medtronic 49:14 - Deep Vein Arterialization for Peripheral Arterial Disease 54:40 - Final Thoughts and Advice --- RESOURCES Avenu Medical: https://avenumedical.com/ Gracz KC et al. Proximal forearm fistula for maintenance hemodialysis (1977): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/839655/ Hull JE et al. The Pivotal Multicenter Trial of Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Arteriovenous Fistula Creation for Hemodialysis Access (2018): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29275056/ Endovascular Today- Update on Percutaneous AV Fistula Creation (2015): https://evtoday.com/articles/2015-june/update-on-percutaneous-av-fistula-creation Mallios A, Jennings WC. Percutaneous arteriovenous fistula creation with the Ellipsys Vascular Access System-the state of the art (2020): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8353338/

In a society where discussions about medical malpractice are often concealed from the public eye, this episode of BackTable shines a spotlight on the powerful documentary ‘A World of Hurt: How Medical Malpractice Fails Everyone,’ produced by Viknesh Kasthuri, a fourth-year medical student at Brown University. Released earlier this year, the film explores how the American medical malpractice system harms and disconnects patients and providers through three compelling case studies. --- SYNPOSIS We delve into Viknesh’s motivations and the process behind creating the documentary, discussing the need for improved provider education on lawsuits, effective communication with patients and legal teams, and strategies for coping mentally and emotionally throughout this intensive process. Additionally, Viknesh provides a behind-the-scenes look at documentary production, including filming during the COVID pandemic, creating environments for patients and providers to share their stories, and submitting the documentary to film festivals. --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction 02:40 - Inspiration Behind the Documentary 06:10 - Technical and Legal Aspects of Documentary Production 14:34 - Releasing the Documentary 17:04 - Physician and Patient Responses to Medical Errors 20:27 - Highlighting Communication Resolution Programs 23:04 - Educational Gaps in Medical Training 26:43 - Exploring Systemic Solutions to Management of Medical Errors 30:16 - Final Thoughts and Future Projects --- RESOURCES A World of Hurt Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09IVcL6pACU BackTable VI Ep. 77- Doctors and Litigation: The L Word, with Dr. Gita Pensa: https://www.backtable.com/shows/vi/podcasts/177/doctors-litigation-the-l-word The L Word Podcast with Dr. Gita Pensa: https://doctorsandlitigation.com/podcast-2 BackTable ENT Ep. 90- Coaching Physicians Through the Stress of Malpractice Litigation, with Dr. Gita Pensa: https://www.backtable.com/shows/ent/podcasts/90/coaching-physicians-through-the-stress-of-malpractice-litigation Michigan Model Communication and Resolution Program: https://www.uofmhealth.org/michigan-model-medical-malpractice-and-patient-safety-umhs

In this episode of the BackTable Podcast, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews guest Dr. John Qiao about exploration of physicians’ role in medical innovation, particularly among interventional radiologists. Dr. Qiao shares insightful information about the origin of RadioClash and details his journey as an entrepreneur. Through this discussion, Dr. Qiao covers the challenges encountered during the startup phase, the invention of a single-probe electroporation device, and the future applications of this novel medical technology. The episode concludes with broader advice on how to manage the demands of professional work, entrepreneurship, and personal life. --- SHOW NOTES 00:00 - Introduction 02:39 - Dr. Qiao’s Journey into Medicine and Entrepreneurship 11:40 - Birth of Radioclash: A Unique Solution for Cancer Treatment 17:58 - Future of RadioClash: Targeting Metastatic Cancer 25:20 - Future of Electroporation Therapy 35:21 - Challenges of Building a Company 44:37 - Path to Market and Future Plans 47:28 - Balancing Clinical Practice and Entrepreneurship --- RESOURCES RadioClash website: https://www.radioclash.co/ News Article on Dr. John Qiao: https://voyagehouston.com/interview/meet-john-qiao-m-d-of-radioclash-ltd-co/ Radiation Therapy as a Modality to Create Abscopal Effects: Current and Future Practices: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7086111/ The Abscopal Effect: A Reemerging Field of Interest: https://ascopost.com/issues/november-25-2018/the-abscopal-effect-a-reemerging-field-of-interest/ BackTable VI Episode #402 - Immunotherapy in HCC: Evolving Treatment Paradigms: https://www.backtable.com/shows/vi/podcasts/402/immunotherapy-in-hcc-evolving-treatment-paradigms Tavo and Pembrolizumab in Patients With Stage III/​IV Melanoma Progressing on Either Pembrolizumab or Nivolumab Treatment (Keynote-695): https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03132675 PANFIRE-3 Trial: Assessing Safety and Efficacy of Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) + Nivolumab + CpG for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04612530 Radiofrequency Ablation for the Palliative Treatment of Bone Metastases: Outcomes from the Multicenter OsteoCool Tumor Ablation Post-Market Study (OPuS One Study) in 100 Patients: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33129427/ The improvement of irreversible electroporation therapy using saline-irrigated electrodes: a theoretical study (Northwestern study): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21728392/ Irreversible electroporation reverses resistance to immune checkpoint blockade in pancreatic cancer: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08782-1

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dr. Patrick Neville, a vascular surgeon and entrepreneur. Dr. Neville shares his journey of identifying a clinical problem and developing a solution, which culminated in the innovation of Wire Watch, a tool designed for efficient wire management during endovascular cases. Dr. Neville discusses the importance of believing in your solutions, the need for persistence, and the value of strategic partnerships in navigating the startup process. His partnership with the engineering firm BioTex led to the development of a simple product that is now used in cases by interventionalists across multiple specialties. --- SHOW NOTES 00:00 - Introduction 02:12 - Recognizing the Importance of Wire Management 06:42 - Partnership in Product Development 09:14 - Wire Watch in Action: User Experience 16:15 - Cost Savings and Clinical Adoption 22:44 - Mindset for Approaching Device Innovation --- RESOURCES Wire Watch: https://www.biotexmedical.com/wirewatch/ BioTex Medical: https://www.biotexmedical.com/

In this episode of the Back Table Innovation Podcast, host Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel, a radiologist and biomedical engineer, chats with Dr. Alim Mitha about the novel idea of biodegradable flow diverters and the future of interventional neuroradiology. Dr. Mitha is a cerebrovascular, endovascular, and skull base neurosurgeon and biomedical engineer at the University of Calgary. During his neurosurgery residency, Dr. Mitha also completed a master’s degree in biomedical engineering. Afterwards, he pursued additional fellowships in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery, as well as endovascular neurosurgery. Since then, he has started a research lab focused on tissue engineering and biomedical device development. He explains the role of flow diverters and how they are used to guide blood flow away from the intracranial aneurysms. While flow diverters have been applied to treatment of many different types of aneurysms, Dr. Mitha notes that these devices carry thrombogenic risks. During his training, he saw that it was not preferable to deploy a flow diverter in a young patient who would have to remain on antiplatelet therapy for the rest of their life. As a result, Dr. Mitha began to develop a polymer-based biodegradable flow diverter that could be absorbed by the body after the aneurysm had been occluded, in addition to being visible on non-invasive imaging. He explains the process of building a prototype, incorporating a company, joining a start-up incubator, and now performing first in-human-clinical trials. --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR RADPAD® Radiation Protection https://www.radpad.com/ --- SHOW NOTES 00:00 Introduction 03:05 Understanding the Role of Flow Diverters 08:17 The Conception of a Biodegradable Flow Diverter 11:35 The Challenges and Successes in Prototyping 13:53 A Path Towards Commercialization 16:10 Considerations for Clinical Adoption 24:00 Developing Skills for Engineering and Entrepreneurship 27:29 First-In-Human Trials and Early Feedback 30:36 Innovating Within the University of Calgary --- RESOURCES University of Calgary Creative Destruction Lab: https://creativedestructionlab.com/locations/calgary/ The Brain Conferences: https://www.fens.org/meetings/the-brain-conferences

In this episode, interventional radiologist Dr. Bryan Hartley interviews Dr. Woojin Kim, a musculoskeletal radiologist and serial entrepreneur. Dr. Kim is a musculoskeletal (MSK) radiologist with a background in imaging informatics and a founder of three companies. He outlines his journey, from his early life as an immigrant in the US to his entrepreneurial successes in the field of radiology. Dr. Kim shares the processes, challenges, and lessons learned from founding and exiting three different startups. As an MSK fellow, he developed Yottalook, a search engine for radiology images, which eventually became his first company, iVirtual. After a brief time working in private practice, he returned to academia and co-founded his second company, Montage, a radiology search and data mining tool that offers clinical and operational analytics. Later on, he entered the artificial intelligence (AI) space and co-founded Equium, an application for radiology resource and staffing optimization. In recent years, Dr. Kim has shifted his focus to non-interpretive AI, a field that is centered around streamlining the radiologist’s workflow and improving work-life balance. Throughout the episode, Dr. Kim shares advice for other entrepreneurs. He highlights the importance of building companies with good co-founders whose skills and experiences complement each other. He also encourages listeners to look at other industries and network to gain ideas about how to improve their own fields. Finally, he emphasizes that companies that are looking to be acquired should demonstrate adequate knowledge over return on investment, total cost of ownership, and regulatory requirements. --- SHOW NOTES 00:00 - Introduction 01:35 - Dr. Woojin Kim’s Medical Training 05:11 - Developing an Interest in Informatics 11:04 - Creating Yottalook and iVirtuoso 17:00 - Building Montage Healthcare Solutions 24:45 - Acquisition of Montage and Working for Nuance 27:33 - Leveraging AI for Resource Optimization 32:58 - Rad AI and the Impact of Noninterpretive AI 41:24 - Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs --- RESOURCES Rad AI: https://www.radai.com/ Equium: https://www.equium.io/ Nuance: https://www.nuance.com/index.html

In this episode of Back Table ENT, host Dr. Gopi Shah explores the entrepreneurial journey of Dr. Rohan Walvekar, an otolaryngologist at Louisiana State University-New Orleans and innovator/CEO of nDorse, a team engagement software application. Dr. Walvekar shares his experience in launching ‘nDorse’ — his novel team engagement software designed for healthcare providers. This idea was sparked from his realization that daily contributions and positivity within the healthcare space could be better recognized with real time feedback. He noticed that hospital nursing turnover was high, which could have been attributed to insufficient engagement and connection with coworkers. The nDorse software application can be used by anyone in an organization and allows users to post meaningful recognitions (via messages, emojis, pictures, GIFs) for their coworkers, with the ability to tag recognitions to the organization’s specific mission and values. Since its implementation, nDorse has been adopted even in various educational and financial institutional settings. Dr. Walvekar describes his journey to creating the application, including the software building process, initial sales, mentors, and the nDorse team. He also offers advice for physician entrepreneurs about being thoughtful with innovation and resilience in the startup sphere. --- SHOW NOTES 00:00 Introduction to the Podcast 02:46 A Focus on Real Time Recognition for Coworkers 04:48 Introduction to nDorse: A Team Engagement Software 13:06 Market Research and a Minimum Viable Product 20:16 Product Launch and First Customers 23:04 Financing the Project 26:03 Pitching to New Clients 29:00 Team Members and Mentors 31:44 Balancing Innovation with Clinical Practice 36:20 Challenges During the Entrepreneurship Journey --- RESOURCES nDorse: https://www.ndorse.net/ BackTable ENT Ep. 115- Management of the Plunging Ranula: https://www.backtable.com/shows/ent/podcasts/115/management-of-the-plunging-ranula Healthcare Plus Solutions Group: https://healthcareplussg.com/

In this episode, Dr. Eric Gantwerker and Dr. Nilesh Vasan, Founder/CEO of Adroit Surgical and Head & Neck Surgeon at University of Oklahoma (OU Health), discuss the development of Adroit Surgical. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/4Wi8D5 --- SHOW NOTES First, Dr. Vasan describes his surgical training and lifelong passion for invention. Originally from New Zealand, Dr. Vasan completed a head & neck fellowship at OU Health. His surgical experience includes private and academic practice. During his time in private practice, Dr. Vasan worked on interdisciplinary teams to manage difficult airways. He credits this experience with sparking his interest in developing better tools for intubation. Next, Dr. Gantwerker and Dr. Vasan review the development of Adroit Surgical’s first product, the Vie-Scope. The battery-powered Vie-Scope combines superior visualization with portability to facilitate intubation across settings. Hoping to improve visualization during hand-held laryngoscopy, Dr. Vasan sketched a modified anterior commissure laryngoscope that would become the Vie-Scope. He then worked with an experienced patent attorney who helped him develop and notarize his innovation. Then, the surgeons cover advice to building networks. A pitch competition in Oklahoma City connected Dr. Vasan with associates whose complementary expertise helped grow Adroit Surgical. Dr. Vasan then worked alongside a well-connected distributor who raised awareness of the Vie-Scope in his target markets. Today, the Vie-Scope enables successful first-pass intubation in emergent and operating room settings. --- RESOURCES Adroit Surgical: https://adroitsurgical.com/ “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986 “Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Innovation” Ed Catmull & Amy Wallace https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012

In this episode, host Dr. Dana Dunleavy interviews NFL player Taylor Rapp and neurointerventional radiologist Dr. Wayne Olan about the role of the Q collar in safeguarding the brain from impact. --- SHOW NOTES Taylor Rapp, a native of Washington state, pursued his college education at the University of Washington, where he also played football. He was later drafted by the LA Rams and played for them for a few years. Recently, Taylor made a move to Buffalo, NY, and now plays safety for the Buffalo Bills. He recounts his brain injury and severe concussion in 2021 while he was playing for the LA Rams. Later on, he heard about the Q collar from his agent and subsequently incorporated it into his gear in the following season. Dr. Olan discusses the origin of the Q collar, which was initially developed in the military to protect and minimize brain movement. He highlights a study from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where the role of the Q collar was examined utilizing Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), a type of MRI technique that specifically examines the white matter tract. Within a cohort of 500 athletes, 77% of athletes who wore the Q collage showed no evidence of shear injury whereas 73% of athletes who did not wear the collar showed gray-white matter shearing injury. He further discusses the mechanism by which the Q collar protects the brain from injury. It stabilizes the brain and minimizes movement by decreasing venous return to the brain by 30%, which he compares to wearing a necktie. He makes an important distinction that the Q collar does not occlude venous return, therefore, does not have significant clinical adverse effects. They end the episode by advocating for the significance of educating younger athletes about the risks of contact sports and enhancing safety across all sports. --- RESOURCES Neck Collar with Mild Jugular Vein Compression Study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28437225/

In this episode, host Dr. Jose Silva speaks with Dr. Duke Herrell, CEO and CMO of Virtuoso Surgical, a robotic surgery tool known for its exceptional dexterity and precision. --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Duke Herrell is a minimally invasive urologic surgeon and professor at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Herrell came to Vanderbilt for his surgical fellowship, where he met Bob Webster, a mechanical engineer who had developed concentric tube robots made out of an elastic metal. Together, they worked to form the metal into curves that could create a tentacle-like motion for clinical applications. Over the next 15 years, Dr. Herrell and three co-founders started their company, Virtuoso Surgical, and received grant funding to move forward with their startup. The surgical device features two 1-millimeter dextrous tools inserted through a rigid scope that is capable of carrying a versatile array of instruments. The device is currently intended for the urologic procedures including removal and enucleation of prostate tissue, bladder lesion removal and sampling, and transurethral resection of bladder tumors (TURBT). Notably, the device addresses a critical issue in tumor staging by improving the accuracy of margin determination, which is a game-changer for the 50% of TURBT procedures that yield specimens lacking muscle or clear margin information. Beyond urology, the device has the potential to improve other surgical procedures that utilize a rigid scope in a constrained environment including pulmonology, neurosurgery, and ENT interventions. Dr. Herrell and his team are also developing EndoTheia, a micromachine instrument that functions as a steerable catheter, specifically designed for flexible ureteroscopy. This device is currently in the verification and validation phase. --- RESOURCES Virtuoso Surgical: https://virtuososurgical.net/

In this episode, hosts Dr. Aaron Fritts and Dr. Bryan Hartley interview Scott Becker, founder and publisher of Becker’s Healthcare, a media company dedicated to serving the specialized interests of healthcare leaders. --- SHOW NOTES Scott's background consists of a blend between healthcare law and media. He attended Harvard Law School, where he served as a teaching assistant for many students, including young President Obama, a third year law student at the time. In his twenties, Scott worked at a large firm and specialized in healthcare law, representing surgeons and surgical centers. While working within a large law firm, he realized that he wanted to take control of his own career and subsequently transitioned to a healthcare media focus in his 30s. He brought on Jessica Cole, a college student at the time, to handle team organization and commercialization for his small newsletter. Together, they expanded into websites, newsletters, and organized conferences in Chicago. Recognizing the growing interest in these conferences, Scott expanded his team to cater to a wider customer base. Due to higher demand and larger hospital budgets, hospitals and health systems ultimately became their primary focus. After talking to target customers, they developed separate media service lines including reading and audio content. Scott talks about the transition from brand advertising to lead generation advertising, a strategy focused on reaching the target customer and generating profits from those leads. The journalists at Becker's Healthcare generate these leads by consistently staying updated on healthcare leadership trends, evolving perspectives, and audience engagement to create personalized content and maintain their connection with the audience. Scott and the hosts explore the challenges of artificial intelligence and Chat GPT in engaging with audiences, strategies for distinguishing a business in a media landscape inundated with information, and methods for creating highly engaging and interactive conferences. This year marks the 29th Annual ASC Conference, with hundreds of participants and notable speakers including Rob Gronkowski and Mia Hamm. --- RESOURCES ASC Annual Conference https://conferences.beckershospitalreview.com/beckers-october-asc-annual-conference-2023 Becker’s Hospital Review https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/ Good to Great by Jim Collins https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996 Peter Attia https://peterattiamd.com/

In this episode, Dr. Gopi Shah interviews Dr. Krishan Ramdoo, CEO and founder of TympaHealth, a London-based startup that has developed an all-in-one device for hearing health assessment which incorporates otoscopy and microsuction functionalities. --- SHOW NOTES Krishan is an ENT surgeon with a Ph.D. in global hearing health. In the early years of his career, while serving as a junior resident on the geriatric service, Krishan encountered a significant number of patients with undiagnosed hearing loss. He realized that this issue extended beyond just geriatric patients. Recognizing the scarcity of specialists and their lengthy waitlists, Krishan conceived the idea of developing a device to assess prevalent ear conditions such as hearing loss, cerumen impaction, and infections through a more accessible approach for primary care clinicians. The TympaHealth device is a specialized otoscope that connects to a mobile viewing device, enabling high-definition imaging of the tympanic membrane. It also incorporates a spacing mechanism to facilitate cerumen removal with use of a standard suction probe, eliminating the need for a microscope. Additionally, the device is accompanied by headphones for accurate hearing screening assessments. TympaHealth offers a training program for healthcare clinicians to administer the service. In case of uncertainty regarding a finding, clinicians can alert a specialist for remote review and guidance with just one click. TympaHealth recently launched in the US and is currently conducting pilot studies. Then, the hosts discuss the challenges of establishing a startup, including attracting investigators and building a diverse team. For physicians interested in entrepreneurship, Krishan highlights networking events as a way to gain insight into the commercial world and master the art of giving compelling pitches to potential investors. --- RESOURCES AI in Clinical Medicine: Section III Ch. 24 https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/AI+in+Clinical+Medicine:+A+Practical+Guide+for+Healthcare+Professionals-p-9781119790648 Tympa Health https://tympahealth.com/

Superficial venous disease can pose significant management challenges, particularly after patients have exhausted conservative and invasive therapies. This week, our host, Dr. Sabeen Dhand, interviews Dr. Ali Golshan, an interventional radiologist and the founder of SOLVEIN. Dr. Golshan discusses the latest advancements in treating superficial venous disease, highlighting both the benefits and complexities of thermal and non-thermal ablation techniques. --- SYNPOSIS Dr. Golshin introduces SOLVEIN, his innovative medical device designed to address these challenges. The conversation also includes practical tips for managing patients with venous insufficiencies, along with insights into the entrepreneurial journey involved in developing a new medical device. --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction 02:02 - Defining Superficial Venous Disease 05:43 - Diagnostic Techniques and Imaging 08:29 - Current Treatment Options for Venous Insufficiency 20:07 - Introducing SOLVEIN 29:42 - FDA Approval Pathway 33:37 - Advice for Aspiring Medical Entrepreneurs --- RESOURCES Dr. Ali Golshan’s Practice: https://www.beachwellnessmd.com/

In this episode, Dr. Jacob Fleming interviews Dr. William Morrison, the medical director of Trace Orthopedics. Trace Orthopedics is developing a minimally invasive implantable device for tendon repairs. --- SHOW NOTES William's passion for radiology traces back to his early love for art. In the initial stages of his career, he conceived the idea of a curved, steerable needle to navigate this L5-S1 space for discographies. After bringing the needle to market, its adoption was hampered by cost factors and the challenge clinicians faced in transitioning from traditional straight needles to the new design. Despite the initial challenges and disappointment with the needle's limited uptake, the product found a valuable application in celiac plexus blocks for pancreatic cancer and has shown to reduce surgical risks and complications compared to the traditional approach. After taking several years off from his innovation journey, William’s personal experience with a partial rotator cuff tear drove him back into action. At that time, the available treatment options were strictly rehabilitation-focused, severely limiting his activity. He crafted a device in his garage using materials from Home Depot to percutaneously anchor tendons. Taking his prototype to Jefferson, where the idea gained endorsement, he proceeded to obtain a patent and established the Trace Orthopedics company. The implanted device has the ability to withstand greater force compared to commonly used suture anchors and is a minimally invasive procedure that is both efficient and single-step. William's invention has garnered interest from various medical specialties. With FDA approval in sight, the device is expected to hit the market within the next year. During their last remarks, William addresses the persistent challenge of public awareness regarding the full scope of minimally invasive interventional practices within radiology when discussing potential investments. According to William, radiology currently stands at a critical juncture where the significance of imaging and research in driving product development has never been more crucial. --- RESOURCES Trace Orthopedics: https://www.traceorthopedics.com/

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dr. Mehdi Razavi about his journey to entrepreneurship and in developing Saranas Early Bird, a vascular device that allows for early detection of perioperative bleeding. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/8OyLFJ --- SHOW NOTES Before venturing into entrepreneurship, Mehdi was a dedicated EP cardiologist with limited exposure to entrepreneurship. After his fellowship, Mehdi took part in a Medtronic project. This experience energized him and ignited a desire to explore more opportunities for entrepreneurship. Mehdi conceived the idea for Early Bird when he suspected a hematoma in one of his patients following an atrial ablation procedure. Recognizing the risk of postoperative bleeding in such procedures, he envisioned a solution for early hematoma detection. The device that he developed is a specialized venous axis sheath equipped with ringed electrodes. These electrodes continuously emit sub-physiologic electrical signals both throughout and after a medical procedure, enabling real-time monitoring of the sheath's impedance or resistance. This technology can detect a drop in impedance, indicating potential bleeding, as blood exhibits the lowest impedance in the body. Because their technology works as a warning system, Mehdi and his co-founder Alex Arevalos decided to name their company after the early bird genus, Serenus. Despite working for 5-6 years to secure a patent for the idea, Mehdi remained persistent in his preclinical studies, understanding the significant impact his innovation could have on his medical specialty and the potential benefit for patients. For physicians transitioning into entrepreneurship, Mehdi suggests initiating the process of establishing a company early on to introduce more organization and delegate specific roles effectively, which allows for more time to continue working as a clinician. --- RESOURCES Saranas Early Bird: https://saranas.com/

In this episode, Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimental and Dr. Eric Keller interview Dr. Dafydd Loughran, CEO and founder of Concentric Health, a digital health solution that's revolutionizing the process of consent and facilitating informed decisions through digital tools. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/B39384 --- SHOW NOTES Dafydd’s idea for Concentric originated from his experiences at an orthopedic clinic in his second postgraduate year. At that time, he found himself faced with the challenge of obtaining patient consent, all while still developing his knowledge and skills as a recent medical school graduate. He developed an aid memoir of the risks and benefits of different procedures to add value to the conversations with his patients. Dafydd continued to add to his resource, digitalize it, and before long, his colleagues began requesting access and utilization of it. Dafydd built a team and applied for a grant which was accepted. Concentric is a platform that supports conversations on shared decision making between clinicians and patients. It allows patients to better understand procedures by providing clear and detailed information from written information to videos and animations. Clinicians can select a procedure and personalize the content to their patient to make a template that includes indications for the procedure, alternatives therapies, and risk profiles. Patients can view this information before their scheduled consultations with their provider, allowing a more meaningful conversation and for the patient to have more time with the information given. As shown in Dafydd’s research studies, 28% of patients reported gold standard shared decision-making using the old paper process compared to 72% with the Concentric digitalized form, highlighting the impact of collaboration used in this technology. Concentric services have been utilized across many medical specialties, with a central focus on actively engaging patients in the decision-making process by delivering relevant and well-informed information. --- RESOURCES Concentric Health: https://concentric.health/ Imperial article on shared decision making using Concentric: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35697552/

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dr. David Grew, the creator of PRIMR. PRIMR is an online video library that serves the dual purpose of aiding patients in comprehending their cancer diagnosis and treatment choices while also assisting clinical research teams in enhancing their trials with IRB-approved digital content. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/wNStIo --- SHOW NOTES David is a radiation oncologist at St. Francis Hospital, a Yale-affiliated cancer center in Hartford, Connecticut. Five years into his practice, he noticed that due to the COVID pandemic, patients were attending their initial consultations alone. To enhance patient understanding, he started drawing illustrations to simplify complex cases. Patients appreciated these drawings and wanted to share them with their families. David seized this opportunity to create a library of narrated whiteboard videos, which he shared with patients to facilitate communication with their loved ones. David initially shared this platform with fellow clinicians, but they struggled to find the time to create content or share links with their patients, leading to underutilization. However, during a conversation with a researcher friend, he recognized the platform's potential to convert a lengthy 40-page informed consent form into a concise two-minute video for patients participating in clinical trials. As he leveraged this model, his business grew significantly and expanded to become a multidisciplinary international team. With his team, he curated a platform aimed at helping interested patients to learn more about treatment options through a library of IRB-approved content for clinical trials. Towards the end of their discussion, the hosts delve into the advantages and drawbacks of being a clinician-entrepreneur. They explore topics such as facing the fear of failure, enjoying a creative outlet, achieving a better work-life balance, and fostering a stronger connection with their medical specialty. --- RESOURCES PRIMR: https://www.primrmed.com/ Dr. Grew’s Twitter: @DoctorGrew PRIMR Twitter: @PRIMR_MED

In this episode, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dr. Anthony Chang, delving into the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to enhance the efficiency of clinicians’ workflow and diagnostic processes. --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Chang is the founder of AI Medicine and chair of the American Board of AI in Medicine. Driven by his fascination with mathematics and computer science, he took the leap to join Stanford's AI and data science program after dedicating 25 years to the practice of pediatric cardiology. Following four years of intensive education, he conceived AI Medicine—an innovative interface bridging the realms of clinicians and artificial intelligence. Dr. Chang envisions AI making a significant impact on clinicians through various avenues, such as revolutionizing medical imaging and devices, harnessing the power of deep learning, and integrating robotic process automation to alleviate the administrative load on clinicians and to enhance their efficiency. Within his own clinical practice, Dr. Chang employs ChatGPT as a checklist and a safety measure, especially when navigating complex decisions and intricate diagnoses. Dr. Chang advises clinicians who wish to integrate AI into their practices to begin by becoming proficient in "AI conversation," which involves familiarizing themselves with the vocabulary and principles of artificial intelligence. As a medical school professor, Dr. Chang integrates AI education into the curricula of his medical students and endorses the use of ChatGPT, allowing students to formulate advanced queries and assessing ChatGPT’s responses by critiquing the generated answers. Along with writing the second edition to his book, Dr. Chang is currently planning the next AI Med Global Summit. This global gathering attracts clinicians spanning various subspecialties and is slated to take place in Florida in 2024. He also invites any interested clinicians to join the Alliance of Centers of AI Medicine (ACAM), a growing group of 77 healthcare centers that virtually meet monthly to discuss their uses of AI. --- RESOURCES Intelligence-Based Medicine Book: https://ai-med.io/resources/intelligence-based-medicine-by-anthony-c-chang/ AI Med Global Summit: https://gs24.ai-med.io/

In this episode, host Dr. Eric Gantwerker interviews Adam Block, a health economist, public health professor, and founder of Charm Economics, an economic consulting company for medical technology businesses. --- SHOW NOTES Adam originally intended to go to medical school; however, his true passion for economics emerged during college. He served as a consultant at Blue Cross Blue Shield and pursued a PhD in Health Economics during the 2008 recession and the Obama administration’s healthcare reform. Adam then headed to Capitol Hill, where he contributed to the drafting of sections of the Affordable Care Act. He has also worked within a variety of healthcare companies such as Fidelis, a Medicaid managed care organization, and Montefiore, a leading force in transforming Medicaid into a value-based care model. Adam provides some background into the new wave of healthcare technologies. During the COVID pandemic, Telehealth technologies experienced significant progress and development. Medicare's decision to cover virtual visits proved highly successful, since it offered patients who faced challenges with transportation or childcare the opportunity to receive necessary care. As the pandemic unfolded, Telehealth evolved into a versatile solution that could be accessed at any time and location. It also brought exciting opportunities for those serving in healthcare quality improvement roles, as well as tech companies seeking to create new devices and services. Finally, Adam speaks about founding Charm Economics, a company that specializes in development of financial models for digital health firms. Their expertise lies in identifying value propositions and strategies to reduce care costs and enhance turnover within these propositions. For startups seeking venture capitalist funds, Block advises them to first identify who their target investor is and to showcase a clear and focused path to the desired outcome of creating value. He also emphasizes the importance of maintaining communication with mid-level managers who can advocate for the product and help sell it to target buyers. --- RESOURCES Charm Economics: https://www.charmeconomics.com/ Healthcare Dive: https://www.healthcaredive.com/ Healthcare Payer Intelligence: https://healthpayerintelligence.com/ Becker’s Newsletter: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/e-weeklies/beckers-hospital-review-e-weekly.html Modern Healthcare: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/ The Physician’s Guide to Doctoring podcast: https://www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com/

In this episode, host Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel interviews emergency medicine doctor-entrepreneur Dr. Robbie Huddleston about the process of building Surgery Hero, a digital health clinic that helps patients prepare for and recover from elective surgery. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/S1CISd --- SHOW NOTES First, Dr. Huddleston explains the process of “pre-habilitation,” in which patients actively prepare for a medical intervention ahead of time. This concept was first introduced in the oncology world. Where patients were encouraged to improve functional capacity and physiological reserve prior to starting chemotherapy. Surgery Hero recognizes that there are physiological and mental ways to prepare its members. The company offers one-on-one health coaching to help optimize lifestyle behaviors, as well as a digital platform for member education over the surgical procedures and recovery processes. Surgery Hero has partnered with the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK to receive patient referrals and work towards improving perioperative outcomes. Dr. Huddleston emphasizes the need to collect data over quantitative hospital measures, such as length of stay, but also patient-reported improvements in health literacy. Surgery Hero is currently running a clinical trial over the effects of preoperative health coaching to support patients undergoing lower limb arthroplasties. Finally, they discuss the challenges of product adoption. To make the digital platform as easy for patients to understand as possible, all education materials are written in a clear and non-complex manner. Additionally, there is flexibility built into the system so that different institutions can enroll patients in the way that works best for them. On the horizon, Dr. Huddleston would like to expand Surgery Hero to cover nonelective surgeries and new modalities of health coaching. --- RESOURCES Surgery Hero: https://www.surgeryhero.com/ Robbie@SurgeryHero.com Phreesia Patient Activation Measure: https://www.phreesia.com/patient-activation-measure/ Center for Perioperative Care (CPOC): https://cpoc.org.uk/ Evidence-Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM): https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-london-world-congress-2023/ Coaching for Health by Arti Maini and Jenny Rogers: https://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Health-Education-Humanities-Counselling/dp/0335262309

In this episode, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews interventional radiologist Dr. Gregg Khodorov about design thinking to improve healthcare outcomes, getting involved with innovation as a trainee, and ways to successfully advocate for idea implementation. --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR RADPAD® Radiation Protection https://www.radpad.com/ --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/88AWhz --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Khodorov was introduced to design thinking when he was pursuing his MBA before medical school. Design thinking revolves around the idea of human-centered design, and it is useful when thinking about healthcare outcomes. The process involves a combination of the scientific process and creative elements. In medical school, Dr. Khodorov led a student organization that taught innovation concepts and encouraged his classmates to explore the entrepreneurship space. The doctors review examples of good and bad designs, such as pill packs instead of orange pill bottles, the confusing EpiPen drug delivery system, the automated voice system on AEDs, and instructions for scrub machines. Then, they focus on design projects that Dr. Khodorov has been working on during his residency. During his intern year, he introduced design thinking to surgical didactic conferences. As an IR resident, he has embarked on collaboration projects with industrial design students to improve the angio suite. One of these improvements was ceiling-mounted lighting that improves visibility during procedures. Dr. Khodorov believes that valuable insights can be offered by people outside of medicine, since they often question the status quo of healthcare and can generate ideas to solve efficiency and safety problems. He notes that it is important to judge two specific characteristics of each idea– effort and impact. The best ideas are the ones with the lowest effort and the highest impact. The next step is to convince stakeholders to accept and invest in the idea. It is helpful to find key performance indicators, forecast numerical outcomes, and identify mentors who will champion the idea. Pitching an idea as a quality improvement initiative is a great way to get dedicated time to work on the project, although it is important to pay attention to institutional policies about intellectual property. Throughout the episode, Dr. Khodorov shares some of his favorite innovation resources, including conferences, workshops and books. --- RESOURCES Health Design Lab: https://www.healthdesignlab.com/ Health Design Thinking: https://www.amazon.com/Health-Design-Thinking-Creating-Products/dp/0262539136 Google Ventures: https://www.gv.com/ This is Service Design Doing: https://www.thisisservicedesigndoing.com/

In this episode, host Dr. Bryan Hartley interviews Rishi Nayyar, co-founder and CEO of PocketHealth, the first patient-centered medical image exchange platform. --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR RADPAD® Radiation Protection https://www.radpad.com/ --- SHOW NOTES PocketHealth is a subscription-based image sharing service that allows patients to store, access, and share their medical imaging with providers across different health systems. Rishi and his brother Harsh developed the idea for this service after realizing how antiquated and frustrating it was for patients to physically carry their CDs to different physician offices. Additionally, with the sheer volume of medical images ordered today and the cost of data storage, hospitals usually delete images after a certain period of time. First, the Nayyar brothers conducted their own market research by calling hundreds of local hospitals and clinics and asking them about their image exchange process. This process confirmed that the status quo of image exchange was a burdensome process for patients and inspired them to configure a patient-centered service. The second stage of their entrepreneurial pursuit was to figure out how the service would be paid for. The founders realized that patients were willing to pay a small subscription fee (instead of paying for CDs) to safely indefinitely store and virtually send their own and their family members’ images to healthcare providers using a link or QR code. Overtime, insurance companies have become willing to reimburse this subscription fee. This payment model allows hospitals and clinics to participate in image exchange at no cost, and has been a key factor in encouraging widespread adoption as well as enabling the growth of their enterprise image sharing business. Rishi highlights the fact that he had the advantage of being an outsider to healthcare when he first started the company, which helped him recognize issues with the current system instead of just accepting the standard processes. He shared the same perspectives as patients who were interacting with the system as non-health experts. PocketHealth’s success in the last eight years has propelled it to take on new challenges, such as patient education within radiology reports. Finally, Rishi gives advice to budding entrepreneurs. He encourages them to pick a problem that they don’t mind grinding at, since there is a large initial time and effort requirement needed to convince people to adopt their product. Additionally, the innovation journey is long, so to manage one’s psyche, it is wise to set short term achievable benchmarks and reflect on day-to-day progress. --- RESOURCES PocketHealth: https://www.pockethealth.com/

In this episode, host Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel interviews Georgia Näder, Vice President of Futuring and Business Transition at Ottobock, a German prosthetics and orthotics company, on the history of the company, their innovation process, and what to look for in the future of Ottobock. --- SHOW NOTES Ottobock was started by Georgia’s great grandfather, Otto Bock, in 1919. He began the company after World War I to help people who needed prosthetic limbs after sustaining amputations in war. The company began in Berlin, where they started by making fabrication components. They had to relocate due to social unrest, and their headquarters is now in Duderstadt, Germany. In the 1950s, the company began to work internationally, and opened a subsidiary in Minneapolis. Georgia’s father led the business for 30 years, and now it is her turn. After finishing her MBA last year, she took on the position of CEO, and works from France in organizational setup, market research, and prepares the company for generational change. Ottobock has been a world leader in prosthetics since their start. They were the first to make a knee joint with a brake mechanism. They have also created hands that allow grasping, and heavy lifting. More recently, they have created a microprocessor knee, which has software that allows it to locate the knee in space and modify it’s position in real time. This allows the user to move more naturally, walk backwards, walk up and down stairs, and climb over objects with ease and safety. Ottobock also makes orthotics and neuroplasticity suits, used by patients with neuromuscular disorders such as multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. These suits are personalized to each individual's needs, and need only be worn for one hour per day to provide all day symptom relief. One of Ottobock's most recent innovations came from an idea by one of their engineers in the Research & Development department, who is an amputee himself. It allows the user to change their own prosthetic for different uses within seconds, rather than going to a clinician. This quick change adapter allows people to easily change from their daily use arm or leg to one specialized for sports or other specific activities. Georgia works with the market access team to improve accessibility and reimbursement for patients. She says that Ottobock’s future involves developing closer relationships with clinicians, patients and research centers to continue to be a leader in prosthetics and orthotics. --- RESOURCES Ottobock https://www.ottobock.com/en-us/home Instagram: @ottobock

Dr. Samir Shah and our host, Dr. Aaron Fritts, discuss upcoming disruptions in radiology due to artificial intelligence (AI), including AI's role in making healthcare more accessible and affordable. --- SYNPOSIS Dr. Shah outlines his career trajectory, from his interventional radiology (IR) training to his entry into teleradiology. He describes his first encounter with AI through natural language processing for encoding radiology reports. Currently, he serves as the Chief Medical Officer of Qure AI, a platform that utilizes deep learning to aid in diagnosing medical conditions from pathology and radiology imaging. He emphasizes that AI will streamline medical workflows by automating patient summaries, image recognition, and cancer detection. These changes are particularly crucial in today's healthcare environment, which emphasizes productivity. The discussion also explores the benefits and challenges of integrating AI into modern radiology workflows and the learning opportunities it presents for trainees. --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast 03:12 - Dr. Shah’s Professional Journey 17:59 - Starting the CMO Role at Qure AI 20:42 - Mainstream Integration of AI 30:39 - Qure’s Mission and Global Impact 37:20 - Early Cancer Detection 46:18 - Training Radiologists in AI --- RESOURCES BackTable Innovation Ep. 7- Viz.AI: Improving Access to Stroke Care using AI with Dr. Chris Mansi: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/7/vizai-improving-access-to-stroke-care-using-ai BackTable Innovation Ep. 29- Artificial Intelligence & Imaging: Present & Future with Aidoc Founder Elad Walach: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/29/artificial-intelligence-imaging-present-future-with-aidoc-founder-elad-walach BackTable Innovation Ep. 68- Transforming Radiology with Workflow Solutions with Dr. Woojin Kim: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/68/transforming-radiology-with-workflow-solutions BackTable Innovation Ep. 73- AI in Medicine: Navigating the New Frontier with Confidence with Dr. Matthew Lungren: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/73/ai-in-medicine-navigating-the-new-frontier-with-confidence Qure AI: https://www.qure.ai/ Dr. Samir Shah’s email: Samir.Shah@qure.ai NightHawk Radiology: https://www.nighthawkradiology.com/ vRad Teleradiology: https://www.vrad.com/ Radiology Partners: https://www.radpartners.com/ AI Doc: https://www.aidoc.com/ Subtle Medical: https://subtlemedical.com/

In this episode, host Dr. Bryan Hartley interviews head and neck surgeon and entrepreneur Dr. Alex Langerman about the story of his startup, ExplORer Surgical and his idea generation advice for physician-innovators. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/5yb4nD --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Langerman starts by describing his journey into head and neck surgery and his University of Chicago research lab, where he conducted research over improvements in the operating room (OR) setting. The idea to make the OR more efficient stemmed from a conversation with a medical student who wondered why so many operating tools were opened and laid out, but never used. This question led him on a tour of different ORs around the country, where he learned that a lot of his colleagues shared the same frustrations about inefficiencies in the OR. When he returned to his institution, he visited different surgical departments and integrated their concerns into a roadmap of aspects that could be improved upon. We also discuss the value of bringing in non-physicians who have fresh perspectives. Dr. Langerman sought feedback and help from business and design students, which eventually led to the incorporation of his company, ExplORer Surgical, and a pitch at the New Venture Challenge Competition. While he worked on communication with surgeons about minimizing waste in the OR, his co-founder, Jennifer Fried, led the effort to find investors. The company’s inflection point occurred when they shifted the focus away from healthcare institutions and towards medical device companies. The ExplORer Surgical app became a playbook that device companies could use to educate operators and ensure that their devices were being implemented in the exact way that they were intended to be used, thus ensuring consistent outcomes and minimizing complications. It also offers a way for sales representatives to virtually teleconference into the OR and guide operators through the procedure. During COVID, this technology became incredibly useful to ensure that collaboration between the OR and medical device companies could still continue. The company was eventually acquired by GHX Medical in 2021. Dr. Langerman encourages physician entrepreneurs to try “idea harvesting,” defined as pitching your idea to others, in the effort to see what resonates with them and learn how to improve your pitch. Additionally, finding a team of business professionals that can help run day-to-day operations is a great way to free up time and energy for further idea generation. --- RESOURCES Dr. Alex Langerman Website: https://alexanderlangerman.com/ New Venture Challenge Competition: https://polsky.uchicago.edu/programs-events/new-venture-challenge/ SBIR and STTR Grants: https://www.sbir.gov/about Social Physics by Alex Pentland: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/314230/social-physics-by-alex-pentland/

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews CEO and founder of Medisetter, Anirban Lahiri, about his experience with digital health innovation within developing countries and lessons he’s learned about building sustainable physician communities. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/mWawIv --- SHOW NOTES Anirban starts by describing his journey into entrepreneurship and the digital health space. Due to frequent international moves during his childhood, he grew interested in different countries and was open to the idea of being a global citizen. During business school, he explored Southeast Asia and recognized that this was a sector that had tremendous potential for economic growth. After graduation, he joined a Scandinavian private equity fund and moved to Vietnam where he learned about the economic landscape there. The idea behind Medisetter spawned from a personal injury that he suffered while playing football in Vietnam. He experienced an arduous and frustrating search for medical specialists who could accurately treat his condition, and he ended up receiving differing opinions and multiple procedures from doctors in different countries. This experience sparked an idea in him: Anirban wanted to create a platform to facilitate patient travel to doctors and centers of excellence, especially when the patient’s immediate local area did not have these specialists. However, these plans were halted when the COVID pandemic presented challenges to medical care and travel. Anirban pivoted Medisetter’s focus towards helping pharmaceutical and device companies create high-quality medical educational content for physicians in developing countries. By addressing the physician side of the supply-demand mismatch for medical care, there is an opportunity to build up medical knowledge and networks in under-resourced settings. The market research behind this idea was mainly built on interviews with individual physicians about their unmet needs and behaviors. The pandemic turned out to be a major catalyst towards webinar education, which was well-received by both physicians and companies. As for advice regarding digital health innovation, Anirban encourages entrepreneurs to learn about the regulatory landscape before diving in. In developing countries, it is common for regulatory guidelines to be catching up with new innovations instead of outlining their path. Additionally, he notes that simply copying and pasting models across different locales is not advisable. It is important to strike a balance between local patient/provider nuances and exposure to global medical advances. --- RESOURCES Medisetter: https://medisetter.com/ Ep. 2- Why Rusty Hofmann Built an Innovative Digital Health Company: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/2/why-dr-rusty-hofmann-built-an-innovative-digital-health-company

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dr. Nisha Mehta, a radiologist and founder of the Physician Side Gigs online community. --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Mehta traces her journey from being a radiologist between jobs to managing and advocating for one of the largest grassroots physician communities, with more than 162,000 online members. She started Physician Side Gigs as a private Facebook group with a few doctors to get advice on managing finances for her paid writing and speaking engagements. Overtime, the size and scope of the group grew so much that there was a branch point where a separate group, Physician Community, formed. Both groups remain active today– while Physician Side Gig still centers around business and personal finance education, Physician Community is more free flowing and fosters a variety of conversations about the healthcare environment, clinical practice, and physician advocacy. This advocacy really came into the spotlight during the peak of COVID-19, when members of the online community collaborated to create a list of physician demands for the federal government and were successful in securing $70 billion for physicians in a stimulus package. Dr. Mehta cites the lack of bureaucracy in the group as factors that helped contribute to this outcome. The groups’ goals are to provide members with peer support and bridge them to opportunities to pursue other interests and revenue streams. We also discuss Dr. Mehta’s personal career trajectory and how her priorities shifted throughout the years. In the beginning stages of Physician Side Gigs, she was able to balance a full time clinical practice and manage the online group in her free time. However, as the group grew in audience and partnerships, she re-evaluated her priorities and saw that fostering the community gave her more energy and allowed her to make more impact than her clinical practice did. She now practices radiology on a per diem basis and devotes most of her time to Physician Side Gigs and physician advocacy. She has also hired staff members to help moderate the group and ensure that it remains a safe and supportive environment. Finally, Dr. Mehta speaks about physician autonomy. The decision to pursue a side gig is not always based on revenue maximization. Instead, side gigs can be a way for physicians to dedicate time to pursuing their non-clinical interests and prevent burnout. Her biggest advice for doctors is to be intentional about what they want their lives to look like, and to not get caught up in others’ expectations for them. In the long run, having career autonomy can extend career longevity and allow physicians to navigate their lives on their own terms. --- RESOURCES Physician Side Gigs Website: https://www.physiciansidegigs.com/ Ep. 194 (VI)- Financial Basics with the White Coat Investor: https://www.backtable.com/shows/vi/podcasts/194/financial-basics-from-the-white-coat-investor Ep. 277 (VI)- Private Equity and the Radiology Job Environment with Ben White: https://www.backtable.com/shows/vi/podcasts/277/private-equity-the-radiology-job-environment Ep. 27 (INN)- Physician Underdog with LOUD Capital Founder Navin Goyal: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/27/physician-underdog

In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Aaron Fritts and Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel interview Dr. Phil Haslam, founder of Which Medical Device and current president of BSIR, about the process of creating a resource bank of medical devices that spans multiple specialties. --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR RADPAD® Radiation Protection https://www.radpad.com/ --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/SfFu13 --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Haslam began his career as a clinician in medicine, but always knew he wanted to do radiology, specifically interventional radiology. In the UK, you have to train in either medicine or surgery before subspecialty training. He had been an IR consultant for around 8 years when he suddenly couldn’t find the right t-fasteners for a gastrostomy tube placement. He searched the internet for alternatives, but realized it was very cumbersome to complete such a search. Around this same time, he was getting into photography and frequented the website DP Review, which was a way to browse different lenses and parts for cameras, with ratings and information about the pieces. Inspired by this website, he thought a similar website for IR devices would be helpful to clinicians who practice in different environments and are required to know different devices. He began by finding a local web developer and used his own money to pay for the initial website development. He then began loading products he had used, specifically devices he liked or didn’t like. He started telling colleagues about the website, and the word spread fast. What he found difficult was not traction to the website, but getting members to contribute to content, such as writing device ratings or uploading instructional videos. After a couple years, he decided to branch outside of IR into other device heavy specialties like cardiothoracics and orthopedics. He asked colleagues from other specialties to contribute as editors. Dr. Haslam believes the high traction in the IR device section is due to his frequent attendance of conferences, as well as his relationships with industry. Finally, we discuss future goals for Which Medical Device. Dr. Haslam hopes to upload more instructional videos to the website and the YouTube page. Additionally, he plans to bolster his editorial board to include even more specialties. He encourages people to engage by suggesting new devices for the website; they can do so via the home page of the website. He will add more in-depth reviews and device comparisons, as well as launch a device of the month column. --- RESOURCES Website: https://www.whichmedicaldevice.com YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYnn3mCZGfgbUJmmehopcnw Email: phil@whichmedicaldevice.com British Society of Interventional Radiology: https://www.bsir.org

In this episode, host Aaron Fritts interviews engineer Lucien Blondel, co-founder and CTO of Quantum Surgical. We discuss robotic applications for interventional oncology procedures and the Epione robot’s impacts on workflow and accuracy. --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR RADPAD® Radiation Protection https://www.radpad.com/ --- SHOW NOTES Lucien first started innovating with robotics in the orthopedics, then neurosurgery fields. He has worked in startups and large corporations. Now, he is focused on interventional oncology. The catalyst for his idea came when his former startup was acquired. Lucien chose to create a company with three other co-founders and then explore. Quantum Surgical’s mission is to democratize minimally invasive cancer treatment through pre-planning, advanced robotic assistance, and tumor ablation confirmation. Lucien started by obtaining the broad vision of the market. He noticed a clear unmet need: There was a proven clinical technique, but outcomes were very operator-dependent. Quantum Surgical’s Epione robot could help alleviate this gap. Higher accuracy can lead to decreased invasiveness and more patient comfort in the outpatient setting. The first application for Quantum Surgical was pre planning software for interventional oncology procedures. He noticed that operators had difficulty visualizing masses for ablation. The robotic image vision software allows merging of CT and MRI images. Additionally, it can provide 3D modeling of ablation zones, map out needle trajectories, and confirm ablation by comparing pre-procedure and post-procedure imaging. Lucien emphasizes that the Epione robot can provide multiple functionalities for the same procedure, reducing the need to utilize different devices. The built-in features are programmed to adjust to patient movements and allow the physician to choose the safest path for needle placement. Finally, we discuss implications of robotics for workflow. Doctors can be more efficient in reviewing images, placing needles, and confirming ablation zones. Epione also reduces the need to obtain images during the procedure. At the moment, Epione is primarily focused on ablation of liver and kidney tumors. However, Lucien envisions the technology expanding to tumor biopsies, especially those that are located in high risk areas. Quantum Surgical is also looking into machine learning and prediction of local tumor progression. --- RESOURCES Quantum Surgical: https://www.quantumsurgical.com/epione/ Less Invasive Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/less-invasive/id1604673690 ROSA One Robot: https://www.zimmerbiomet.com/en/products-and-solutions/zb-edge/robotics/rosa-brain.html

In this episode, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews FLOW Medical cofounders Dr. Osman Ahmed and Dr. Jonathan Paul about how they built a company with the goal of designing a data-driven thrombolytic device that can deliver personalized care for patients with pulmonary embolism. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/KikSeM --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Paul, interventional cardiologist, begins by explaining how he and Dr. Ahmed, interventional radiologist, came to work together. Dr. Ahmed came to the University of Chicago shortly after Dr. Paul started a pulmonary embolism response team (PERT) program. Dr. Ahmed, through his IR training, had experience with PE/VTE. They met and decided to combine their knowledge to build the program together. They both saw a need for new catheter directed thrombolytic (CDT) devices in their respective fields. The landscape of thrombectomy device innovation was booming, but they did not see the same innovation happening for CDT. After they both received the COVID vaccine, they were eating at Panera and drew out the idea for their device on a napkin. Neither of them had prior engineering experience and didn’t know how to proceed after this, so they relied on the University of Chicago’s entrepreneurial programs as a starting place. They then did market research and used their own internal research funding to subcontract with an engineering firm. They have been working on the design prototype since, and are conducting animal studies to trial the device. Once they reach design freeze, they will start the regulatory process and NIH 510(k) submission. They also have an NIH SBIR grant for small businesses doing innovative research. They plan to have the device on market in mid 2024. The goal for their device is to make it a catheter that can provide real-time feedback to minimize the complications of both too little or too much thrombolytic therapy. They are installing a sensor on the device that displays how much of the clot is lysed and allows for personalized PE treatment. They hope to incorporate AI into their data management, which they will use to tailor treatment in future patients. --- RESOURCES FLOW Medical: https://www.flowmedical.co

In this episode, Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel interviews plastic surgeon and Plexaa founder Dr. Saahil Mehta. They discuss the novel concept of preconditioning the skin before reconstructive breast surgery and Plexaa’s product solution for reducing wound healing complications. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn free AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/L2pwLc --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Mehta first started exploring the topic of preconditioning the body for healing when he learned about skin-sparing mastectomy. He realized that while this procedure provided great benefit for reconstruction outcomes, it left behind thin, poorly perfused skin that was vulnerable to necrosis. Dr. Mehta started a clinical research project over heat stress and the subsequent chaperone protein and endogenous carbon monoxide release that allows for vasodilation and improved perfusion. His early studies involved mouse models and human patients who used hot water bottles over their skin on the day before surgery. The promising data led Dr. Mehta to apply for and win an NIHR grant to run a full clinical trial with heated water bottles. He found that preconditioning and applying supraphysiological heat stress to the skin prior to operation resulted in reductions in rates of skin necrosis, re-operation, and need for outpatient follow up. Today, Plexaa is a bra insert that can be heated to an exact temperature using a phone app. The technology is made possible by a principal circuit board that ensures a safe and accurate heat delivery to breast cancer patients who may have altered sensation to skin sensation from prior radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Plexaa has partnered with institutions and is planning to help doctors and nurses incorporate the product into their pre-operative planning and send Plexaa directly to patients’ homes. In the future, Plexaa aims to bring its technology to other surgical specialties such as orthopedics and ENT. --- RESOURCES Preconditioning preHEAT Clinical Trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30656059/ Future Surgery Conference: https://www.futuresurgeryshow.com/ Plexaa: https://plexaa.com/ Email: saahil@plexaa.com

In this episode, Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel interviews Dr. Nick de Pennington, former neurosurgeon of the National Health Service (NHS) and founder of Ufonia, an automated telemedicine platform that seeks to expedite delivery of routine, uncomplicated clinic visits. --- SHOW NOTES Dr. de Pennington saw the clinical need for this product when he realized that clinicians were spending large amounts of time performing routine clinical activities instead of providing complex care where it is most needed. Automated routine visits for uncomplicated encounters could free up clinicians’ time, provide greater convenience to patients, and reduce the cost of healthcare services. Ufonia’s first product was focused on follow up appointments for cataract surgery, one of the most common, straightforward, and safe procedures in the world. The telemedicine system converses with patients, takes a relevant history, and then recommends the next steps of care for the patient. The system also captures feedback about the patient experience, which helps clinical teams identify areas of satisfaction and improvement. From a flexibility standpoint, patients are able to call at any time and spend as much time as they would like on the call. Natural language processing allows the platform to process the patient’s audio into text, run it through a conversation engine to generate a response, and then feed it back to the patient in audio format. The system was tested with the target demographic of the elderly patients, who are the highest utilizers of healthcare services. Dr. de Pennington also describes the process of this technology’s adoption by physicians. On one hand, they can see that this technology could help them reduce burnout-inducing activities. On the other hand, product implementation is extremely difficult if it requires physicians to change their clinical pathways. Therefore, Ufonia seeks to integrate into existing pathways, such as their goal to help triage the Two Week Wait appointment system that the NHS has implemented for patients with symptoms that might indicate cancer. Finally, Dr. de Pennington gives advice to physician-entrepreneurs. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on specific skills, identifying paying customers, and networking outside of your usual clinician circles. --- RESOURCES Ufonia: https://www.ufonia.co/ Getting it Right the First Time (GRIFT): https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/

In this crossover episode of BackTable, Dr. Eric Gantwerker interviews Dr. Chris Kaufmann and Dr. Marlan Hansen from the University of Iowa about their startup company, iotaMotion, which has developed the first FDA-approved robotic cochlear implant insertion system. --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR iotaMotion https://iotamotion.com/ --- SHOW NOTES First, Dr. Kaufmann and Dr. Hansen speak about their backgrounds and interests in entrepreneurship and engineering along with their medical focus. As otolaryngologists, both wanted to find a way to improve cochlear implant insertion in order to preserve cochlea function and structure. Their device, iotaSOFT, robotically assists surgeons during implantation and minimizes the risk of advancing the implant too far within the cochlea. They emphasize that this is a tool to assist surgeons, not change the technique with which they operate. They also note that their primary motivation was to help patients, so they were more concerned about safety and effectiveness rather than market competition and monetization. Then, they speak about the development path of their product and start up company. They filed for intellectual property rights under the University of Iowa and then formed a startup company that licensed the technology in order to commercialize the device. They discuss how they slowly added more employees and consultants to their company and set phases and goals for hiring and fundraising. Next, they explain challenges they had to overcome, such as the FDA approval process and COVID-19 setbacks on their clinical studies. They noted that iotaSOFT has received support from many surgeons once they understood that the robotic system merely assisted their surgeries without taking any control away from them. Finally, they discuss future plans for iotaSOFT such as integrating it with other devices and developing it further to be able to reside in the cochlea with the implant.

In this episode, Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel interviews Dominik Burziwoda and Dr. Torsten Schröder about their experience with starting Perfood, a digital therapeutics company that focuses on individualized nutrition changes as a means to treat chronic disease. The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/oFXIHs --- SHOW NOTES The co-founders discuss their backgrounds and interests. For Dr. Schröder, this was clinical medicine and biomedical research. On the other hand, Dominik had prior experience with finance, law and e-commerce. Their combination of skills made it possible to establish Perfood as a startup and run successful clinical trials. Perfood seeks to empower consumers to learn more about their own glycemic reactions that result from different types of foods in their diet. The components of the product include a continuous glucose monitor and access to an app that will make dietary recommendations with the goal of lowering a patient’s glycemic index. This idea was spurred by the recognition of a link between blood glucose and various chronic diseases, as well as a lack of access to nutritional therapy. We discuss the true meaning of a “digital therapeutic,” which is a software (which has been clinically evaluated and regulated) that can induce a treatment effect. With Perfood, the intended treatment effect is to help patients modify their lifestyle and lower blood glucose levels. Due to Germany’s centralized healthcare system, Perfood can be prescribed by any physician and patients will be fully reimbursed for the cost. So far, it has been approved in Germany for treatment and prevention of migraines. Dr. Schröder emphasizes that patients who experience the most success with Perfood are people who are motivated and able to make changes to their diet. The company aims to conduct more clinical trials that explore nutrition as a treatment for diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, chronic inflammatory diseases, and malignancy. Perfood takes a patient-first approach by collaborating with patient advocacy groups and soliciting feedback from early users. Perfood is also exploring new markets in the United States and looking to partner with institutions to start pilot projects. --- RESOURCES Perfood: https://perfood.de/ Email: dominik.burziwoda@perfood.com A Digital Health Application Allowing a Personalized Low-Glycemic Nutrition for the Prophylaxis of Migraine: Proof-of-Concept Data from a Retrospective Cohort Study: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/11/4/1117 Mobi Health News: https://www.mobihealthnews.com/ Exit and Outcomes: https://exitsandoutcomes.com/ Digital Therapeutics Alliance: https://dtxalliance.org/ HLTH 2022: https://www.hlth.com/2022event

Dr. Aditya Bagrodia sits down with Elie Toubiana, founder and CEO of ScribeMD.ai, to discuss the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical documentation. --- SYNPOSIS Their conversation covers the capabilities and benefits of using an AI-driven medical scribe that ensures HIPAA compliance, reduces physician burnout, and enhances patient interactions. Elie also shares his insights about the technology’s adaptability across various medical fields. Finally, Dr. Bagrodia and Elie discuss ethical considerations surrounding applications of AI in other aspects of healthcare, such as medical workup and diagnosis. --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction 06:00 - How ScribeMD AI Works 14:14 - Integration with EMR 20:31 - Legal Considerations with AI Technology 26:34 - Cost Implications of AI Scribes 38:46 - Future of AI in Medical Diagnosis 41:45 - Conclusion and Final Thoughts --- RESOURCES ScribeMD.ai https://www.scribemd.ai/

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dr. Danny Goel, orthopedic surgeon and CEO / co-founder of PrecisionOS, a virtual reality (VR) education company aimed at creating valuable opportunities for orthopedic surgery trainees to build their skillsets. The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/P2tgkL --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Goel shares his story, from his residency, to his MBA years, and the eventual idea for his company. PrecisionOS emerged as an idea when he was searching for training opportunities in shoulder reconstruction surgery. As a proceduralist, he realized that most new skills were acquired by traveling to courses and workshops hosted by professional societies and medical device companies. He wanted to find a way to make training more accessible by integrating virtual reality. Virtual reality is popular in the orthopedics space since there is a direct application for it. For example, understanding which implant to use in each clinical problem can be training via virtual reality. Dr. Goel emphasizes that the use of VR for mindless repetition will be fruitless. It is rather the deliberate, systematic, and data-driven approach to practice that allows for skill attainment and refinement. The doctors also speak about the evolution of VR hardware and how the headset must evolve to become sleeker and more user friendly. The headset cost has decreased, making it more scalable for distribution around the world. Additionally, tactile sensation has been integrated through manual controllers. These haptics are improving in the same way that visual optics did in the last iteration. Dr. Goel highlights data showing that haptics are extremely important for new trainees, while visual cues are more important to experienced surgeons. Finally, Dr. Goel describes how he met his co-founders, the different areas of expertise that they contribute to the company, and the team dynamic that allows him to practice medicine full time while also serving as CEO. This balance allows him to maintain perspective on clinical challenges and fit his product accordingly. --- RESOURCES PrecisionOS: https://www.precisionostech.com/ The Future of Surgery Training and Education: https://www.precisionostech.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/The-Future-of-Surgery-Training-and-Education-Whitepaper.pdf Immersive Virtual Reality for Surgical Training: A Systematic Review: https://www.journalofsurgicalresearch.com/article/S0022-4804(21)00416-9/fulltext The Metaverse by Matthew Ball: https://www.matthewball.vc/metaversebook Prediction Machines by Ajay Agarwal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb: https://www.predictionmachines.ai/

In this crossover episode between BackTable VI and BackTable Innovation, Dr. Chris Beck interviews Dr. Riad Salem (Chief of Interventional Radiology at Northwestern University) and Peter Pattison (President of Interventional Oncology at Boston Scientific) about how TheraSpheres for Y90 radioembolization became a mainstay in the IR toolkit for HCC and where the technology is heading next. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/PvWJlD --- SHOW NOTES To begin, Peter outlines how the original concept of TheraSpheres began at the University of Missouri, as a collaboration between Drs. Delbert Day and Gary Ehrhardt, who combined their ceramic and nuclear chemistry expertises to create radioactive glass beads and published a paper in 1987. After animal and human testing, the product was licensed to the company Nordion, where Peter worked. The product was given a humanitarian device exemption (HDE) from the FDA, which allowed TheraSpheres to be used for investigational purposes. In the late 1990s, Dr. Salem was in his early interventional oncology career and heard about TheraSpheres. He recognized the enormous potential that this technology had to ensure known amounts of radioactive doses were delivered to the tumor and minimize adverse effects. In fact, he noticed that his Y90 patients had less pain, post-embolization syndrome, and hospitalization than his transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) patients. In the mid 2000s, he collected and submitted data to various conferences and journals, but he was met with criticism from the IR world, which was more comfortable with TACE, since it was the current standard of care. In 2011, Nordion decided to run a clinical trial, EPOCH, which eventually showed that the addition of TARE to systemic therapy for colorectal metastases to the liver led to longer progression free survival. Dr. Riad has focused his efforts on training more IRs on the methodology of Y90, since this was an important step to increasing adoption and minimizing missteps with the new technology. He believes that the advent of Y90 has resulted in better angiography, since IRs are more cognizant of off-target embolization. Dr. Salem also petitioned at the US Nuclear Regulatory Committee to allow IRs to become the authorized users for Y90 injection and advocated to add TARE to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for liver cancer. Both of these developments allowed TARE to become more widely adopted. Both of our guests highlight the importance of focusing on patient outcomes and letting long term data prove efficacy. Finally, Peter discusses the competition that TheraSpheres has faced from TACE and SIRSpheres (resin-based radioembolization). He shares exciting new developments that have occurred since acquisition by Boston Scientific. These include exploration for the extra-hepatic use of TheraSpheres in glioblastoma and prostate cancer. --- RESOURCES BackTable Ep. 223- Portal Vein Recan #ReCanDoIt with Dr. Riad Salem: https://www.backtable.com/shows/vi/podcasts/223/portal-vein-recan-recandoit Therapeutic Use of 90Y Microspheres: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3667306/ A phase I dose escalation trial of yttrium-90 microspheres in the treatment of primary hepatocellular carcinoma: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1327493/ Hepatic radioembolization with yttrium-90 containing glass microspheres: preliminary results and clinical follow-up: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7931662/ Humanitarian Device Exemption: https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/premarket-submissions-selecting-and-preparing-correct-submission/humanitarian-device-exemption EPOCH Trial: https://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.1200/JCO.21.01839 Radioembolization with 90Yttrium Microspheres: A State-of-the-Art Brachytherapy Treatment for Primary and Secondary Liver Malignancies: https://www.jvir.org/article/S1051-0443(07)60901-4/fulltext

In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Aaron Fritts and Dr. Diana Velazquez-Pimentel interview Dr. Elliot Street, co-founder of Inovus Medical, a medtech company whose goal is to revolutionize surgical training through headset-free, accessible augmented reality. The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/EzNnBd --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Street begins by sharing why he founded Inovus. His mission for the company is to become the world’s partner for surgical training. As a tennis player, he sees many similarities between athletic and surgical training, including the hours of muscle memory development required. He wanted to model surgical training in the way athletes are trained, including game intelligence, practice, gameday, and game tape review. At Inovus, surgical simulation training is treated as a continuum of needs. The continuum begins with pre-learning, a time when the learner gains surgical intelligence and understands the steps and anatomy of a surgery. For the next step, physical learning, they offer a portfolio of six laparoscopic simulators that can be used from anywhere in the world. They use natural haptics made of simulated soft tissues which they put into boxes that have laparoscopic ports. These can then be used with any laparoscopic device, including cold-cutting instruments and bipolar energy. They have 28 variants of soft tissue which allows surgeons to get exceptional real-life variety. They don’t use headsets for the virtual reality component, but rather a digital surgery platform that can project onto any laptop. The final two parts of the training continuum include intraoperative decision-making and objective measurement of performance. Inovus has data-capturing technology that allows you to evaluate your performance and use this to improve your approach. Overall, the company wants to deliver on three main objectives: accessibility, natural haptics, and augmented reality. Their technology is available for anyone to buy from their website, though they primarily sell to residency programs and device companies. Dr. Street aims to make Inovus technology a mainstay of surgical training all over the world. --- RESOURCES Inovus Medical: https://inovus.org/about-us

In this episode, guest host Dr. David Canes interviews Dr. Matthew Allaway about PrecisionPoint, his medical device for transperineal prostate biopsy, and his journey towards changing the paradigms of prostate cancer diagnosis. The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: https://earnc.me/0Lmsku --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Allaway starts by outlining his path to medicine. The choice to pursue urology was largely influenced by his personal cancer diagnosis. He cites cancer as the greatest lesson in his life, since it brings an enhanced level of empathy to his patient care and inspires him to contribute to the field of urology. Throughout his career, he has always examined his procedures for logical sense – if a process was inefficient, he tried to devise ways to make improvements for patient care. In 2013, Dr. Allaway decided to switch from the transrectal to transperineal approach for prostate biopsies. With the traditional transrectal approach, he found unacceptably high rates of infection and failure to detect cancers in the anterior prostate region. He started performing transperineal biopsies with a freehand technique, using ultrasound in one hand and a biopsy probe in the other. He built a database of his own patients, which showed an increased cancer detection rate. His technique eventually evolved into the PrecisionPoint transperineal access system. He originally started marketing the device at American Urological Association (AUA) meetings, through booths and video competitions. Although Dr. Allaway works in private practice and not academia, he was able to form connections with institutions and key opinion leaders to encourage adoption of the transperineal approach. PrecisionPoint has been accepted by early adopters, and his team is now working to capture a larger share of the biopsy market. Importantly, they are also marketing the device to patients, since patients can also recognize the safety and diagnostic benefits, and being the ultimate consumers of healthcare, can influence urologists to adopt the device. Dr. Allaway also gives advice for budding entrepreneurs. He highlights the need to link the device to a specific clinical need, research existing devices, check the your device’s feasibility and pricing strategy, and find good mentors who will allow you to learn from their mistakes. In terms of product marketing, he encourages entrepreneurs to look beyond the United States and explore worldwide markets to increase the chances of product adoption. His confidence in PrecisionPoint grew when he received positive feedback from other urologists about the simple elegance of the device. Finally, Dr. Allaway discusses the importance of truly believing in your product. He says that if you are ashamed of your product’s price, you have priced it wrongly. He encourages entrepreneurs to focus on their product’s benefit to society, rather than profitability. --- RESOURCES Precision Point: https://perineologic.com/precisionpoint/ American Urological Association: https://www.auanet.org/ Zero to One by Peter Thiel: https://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296

In this episode, Dr. Bryan Hartley interviews cardiothoracic radiologist Dr. Amit Gupta about his involvement in artificial intelligence (AI), what it takes to build and implement an AI algorithm, and how radiologists can empower themselves to lead the clinical aspects of this revolution. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/kuYlpg --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Gupta first became involved in AI as a neuroradiology fellow, mainly with annotating images. Overtime, he fostered good relations with a biomedical engineering team at Case Western. He found that he was able to provide valuable clinical insights for their algorithm development. Dr. Gupta had always loved testing out new technologies, but he realized that he could actually participate in taking science forward and developing artificial intelligence. We review the basics of AI, starting by defining machine learning, deep learning, and convolutional neural networks. Dr. Gupta speaks about all the steps embedded in an ideal algorithm – it would segment a lesion, integrate clinical information, track past growth, evaluate response criteria, and then ultimately tell you likelihood that a patient will respond to a certain therapy. We also cover radiomics, a subset of AI image analysis that looks beyond what humans can see with naked eye and examines the microenvironment of the image. Dr. Gupta outlines the process of AI algorithm development, which includes definition of a clinical problem, data selection and preparation, annotation, testing, and finally, implementation. Since it is now more and more common for radiologists to be approached by AI vendors, we discuss important considerations when working with them. Dr. Gupta emphasizes that from the very beginning of the vendor relationship, radiologists need to evaluate whether or not the proposed technology would solve a clinically relevant problem and improve radiology workflow. If not, testing the algorithm may not be worth the time or effort. Just because an algorithm has FDA approval does not mean that it is clinically useful for a certain institution or geographic population of patients and radiologists. Next, the vendor and radiologist must come to an agreement on deliverables and compensation for testing team members. This could take the form of monetary compensation or an in-kind transfer of the software after it is built. Throughout the testing process, it is important to involve the institution’s PACS, IT, and security teams to ensure images are properly de-identified and patients are protected. Finally, we look at the potential impact that AI has on the diagnostic radiology workflow. Dr. Gupta believes that AI could be rebranded as “assistive technology,” since it would help, rather than replace radiologists. Despite the remarkable capabilities of this technology, it still requires humans to integrate clinical and prior imaging information to make sense of radiographic findings. At Case Western, he fosters a supportive environment for trainees to learn about AI and collaborate with teams that are building the algorithms. --- RESOURCES RSNA Artificial Intelligence Journal: ​​https://pubs.rsna.org/journal/ai ACR Data Science Institute: https://www.acrdsi.org/ Kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/

In this episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Dan Arnold about building MRI Online, a virtual radiology education platform. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/b6hy2z --- SHOW NOTES Dan describes his past entrepreneurial experience, starting with the time he built an education marketplace within Google. He saw the potential of online education and the democratizing power that results when people are able to connect to experts via the Internet. Alongside Dr. Stephen Pomeranz, Dan was able to connect this vision with radiology education. He first posted videos and case-based simulations online, and this project evolved into a website, MRI Online. A daily email newsletter served as effective advertising for subscription services. MRI Online content can now be used to fulfill CME credits. The process of building educational content included collaboration with medical illustrators and audiovisual technicians. The first courses were centered around MRI, and the team launched them at a conference. Afterwards, they recruited faculty from multiple subspecialties to build a comprehensive curriculum covering musculoskeletal, neurological, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and breast imaging. The team had constructed a filming studio, but they were forced to pivot at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. They established a free online lecture series through Zoom, which garnered large attendance. From this pool, they were able to recruit an advisory board of radiologists, launch campaigns to find educational cases, and develop a robust content library. Dan outlines factors that make MRI Online unique from other medical platforms. First, testing is not limited to multiple choice questions. Learners have the opportunity to dictate their own findings and submit recordings for feedback. This offers a more targeted experience. MRIOnline has also collaborated with institutions to incorporate their online content into their fellowship curricula. He ends the interview by discussing the changing landscape of education, noting that people are learning more through mobile devices and pursuing shorter bursts of daily learning. --- RESOURCES MRI Online: https://mrionline.com/ Teachable: https://teachable.com/ Osmosis: https://www.osmosis.org/ BoardVitals: https://www.boardvitals.com/

In this episode of BackTable Urology, Dr. Aaron Fritts talks with Dr. David Canes, a urologist and founder of WellPrept, a curated patient database that aims to improve and streamline patient education before their clinic visits. The CME experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and unlock credits & more: https://earnc.me/w9ovzr --- SHOW NOTES First, Dr. Canes explains his motivation for starting WellPrept. Because he was always interested in entrepreneurship, he primed himself to look for problems in healthcare. One big problem he noticed that he and his colleagues were experiencing was burnout from explaining the same procedures over and over again to his urology patients. He found himself going through the motions, feeling disconnected from his patients, and not being able to have deeper conversations about their care. This realization motivated him to start sending basic information about procedures and conditions to his patients before their clinic visits. After initial success within his own practice, he decided to create WellPrept, a central hub for patient information from resources curated by individual physicians. Individual physicians or whole departments can pay for a subscription and share information with their own patients. Since its inception, WellPrept has encouraged physicians at a variety of institutions to create their own web pages with trusted content for their patients; some doctors have even created their own videos to explain procedures to patients. Next, Dr. Canes speaks about the future direction of WellPrept. Although it is growing in popularity within the urologic community, he wants to expand WellPrept to other fields of medicine as well. He is also working on developing a shared library, or packages of crowdfunded patient education that every physician can share with their patients. Additionally, he is working with special societies and other databases to share more already published content through WellPrept, which he views as an effective delivery system. He also discusses the adversities he has faced, such as reluctance from some colleagues. However, he has found a great start up community via social media platforms like Twitter and mentorship from venture capitalists and other entrepreneurs. Finally, Dr. Canes shares tips for work-life as a physician-entrepreneur.

In this episode, our host Dr. Aaron Fritts and Dr. Jason Iannuccilli dive into the history, science, and future directions of medical cannabis. We discuss Dr. Iannuccilli’s founding vision for PureVita Labs, a company focused on developing standardized testing for cannabis products and ensuring consumer safety. --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR Athletic Greens https://www.athleticgreens.com/backtablevi --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Iannuccilli starts by describing his former interventional oncology practice in Rhode Island. His interest in medical marijuana grew as he frequently found himself in conversations with terminal cancer patients who sought his medical advice to navigate the variety of products. As he learned more about this craft industry, he realized that there could be significant variations between each product type, brand, and even within each batch. With co-founders Dr. Jonathan Martin and Dr. Stuart Procter, he started the entrepreneurial journey of building a laboratory that uses innovative techniques to test and label products with accuracy. The team hopes to continue growing their services and eventually through artificial intelligence, build a platform that can recommend products to each individual consumer that will ensure them a predictable experience based on their desired therapeutic outcome. Throughout this episode, we discuss social stereotypes and political challenges that the cannabis industry has faced in the past decades. We move past the mistaken idea that active ingredients of marijuana always cause mental dullness and lethargy, and we bring the conversation down to a molecular level to discuss CB1 receptors and anti-inflammatory benefits, and pain relief. Finally, the doctors discuss fundraising for a nontraditional business pursuit. Dr. Iannuccilli shares how the vape crisis was a pivotal point– it served as a wake-up call for consumers and investors, leading to higher recognition of the importance of more stringent and standardized product testing. PureVita Labs has started to fundraise through friends and family with convertible notes, which are structured loans with set interest rates that allow the investor to either pull out their initial investment plus interest, or roll that value into equity once the company has established its valuation. --- RESOURCES Pure Vita Labs: https://purevitalabs.com/ The Bartholomewtown Podcast- Ep. 101, “Inside RI Cannabis” https://btown.buzzsprout.com/163601/11221697-inside-ri-cannabis-presented-by-purevita-labs-cannabis-101-part-1 WHOOP: https://www.whoop.com/ The Peter Attia Drive Podcast: https://peterattiamd.com/podcast/

In this episode, our host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews emergency medicine physician-entrepreneur Dr. Uli Chettipally about starting Sirica Therapeutics, a novel autism therapy technology that combines virtual reality, machine learning, and physical exercise. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/TLHupD --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Chettipally begins by explaining how his daughter Siri was the original inspiration behind the invention. He had observed that routine physical exercise helped Siri cope with her autism and decreased her levels of anxiety and hyperactivity. As a result, the idea of “Cognitive Sensorimotor Therapy” was born— a treatment that combines appropriate mental and physical challenges in a therapeutic context for patients with autism spectrum disorder. Today, the Sirica Therapeutics prototype is a combined exercise machine, virtual reality headset, and machine learning software. All of these elements make the user feel as if they are operating a vehicle that is moving through different terrains. The program also responds to user motion and effort in order to identify and address deficiencies. The ultimate goal is to utilize neuroplasticity to enhance both cognitive and motor function. This device is currently in the pre-seed funding round. Dr. Chettipally shares his vision for this new therapy to be incorporated into clinical practice. Due to initial high costs of production, he expects the device to be first available in clinics where patients are already receiving other forms of therapy for autism. As the technology becomes more widely adopted, costs of production will decrease, making the device more accessible for patients to buy or lease for their own homes. In terms of market size and potential, we discuss the current prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (1/44 births) and the fact that there are few other long-term therapy options for adults. Finally, we discuss Dr. Chettipally’s other entrepreneurial ventures. He is the founder of InnovatorMD, a company that provides a large online community and educational resources for physician innovators. He is also the author of “Punish the Machine: The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare.” --- RESOURCES Sirica Therapeutics Demo Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tSL4o-5cMk Sirica Therapeutics: https://www.siricatherapeutics.com/ Dr. Uli Chettipally’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulichettipally/ InnovatorMD: https://www.innovatormd.com/ Autism Society of America: https://autismsociety.org/ Ep. 11- Blockchain MD: Healthcare Applications with Dr. Leah Houston: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/11/blockchain-md-healthcare-applications

In this episode, Drs. Aaron Fritts and Eric Gantwerker interview Dr. Tamir Wolf, a trauma surgeon and founder of Theator, an artificial intelligence company that links intraoperative decision making with patient outcomes. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/WxyvKG --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Wolf describes how his experience as a trauma surgeon with the Navy SEALs shaped his perspective on high acuity situations and surgical guidance. He realized that augmented decision making in trauma settings could help him and others perform better. Additionally, he had experiences with seeing family and coworkers undergoing the same procedure, but with drastically different outcomes due to variability in surgery and clinical management. With these ideas in mind, he started Theator. The company offers a software that seamlessly integrates into existing operating room video technology in minimally invasive robotic and laparoscopic procedures. The technology captures data over decision points and key milestones that have eventual impacts on patient outcomes. The data is then analyzed to find patterns and translated to best practices. Dr. Wolf hopes that this aggregate of video data from multiple surgeons and institutions can provide evidence-based training for surgeons to operate at a safer level. Dr. Wolf emphasizes that Theator’s overall mission is to increase transparency in the operating room and break out of the traditional surgical apprentice training model. Ideally, trainees who are preparing for surgeries could draw on the experiences of thousands of surgeons in different places. Additionally, hospitals could gain information about their internal processes and address inefficiencies and safety gaps. We discuss challenges in implementation, such as surgeons’ reluctance to be recorded, competition within the artificial intelligence space, and limitations for implementation in fluoroscopic imaging. Dr. Wolf also outlines Theator’s trajectory and the single most important factor to its success— the company culture. He emphasizes the need to hire competent and trustworthy people who can innovate and self-direct. --- RESOURCES Theator: https://theator.io/ Dr. Tamir Wolf LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamirwolf OR Black Box & Trauma Black Box: https://www.surgicalsafety.com/ Disparities in Access to High-Volume Surgeons Within High-Volume Hospitals for Hysterectomy: https://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Abstract/2021/08000/Disparities_in_Access_to_High_Volume_Surgeons.7.aspx No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention: https://www.amazon.com/No-Rules-Netflix-Culture-Reinvention/dp/1984877860 BackTable Innovation Ep. 7: Improving Access to Stroke Care Using AI with Dr. Chris Mansi: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/7/vizai-improving-access-to-stroke-care-using-ai

In this episode of the BackTable Innovation Podcast, host Dr. Bryan Hartley interviews Dr. Stephen Pomeranz, founder and CEO of ProScan Imaging, co-founder of Medality (formerly MRI Online), and a pioneering radiologist in MRI technology. This is the second part of a two-episode series on ProScan. --- SYNPOSIS The doctors discuss the growth and evolution of ProScan Imaging, including Dr. Pomeranz’a personal journey to becoming an entrepreneur, as well as business strategies that have led to ProScan’s success. Dr. Pomeranz describes the business’s unique physician-owned structure, which allows physicians to team up and directly invest in tangible assets of technology and real estate. Additionally, a core principle of ProScan’s business has been an emphasis on service excellence, which has been made possible by recruitment of hospitality leaders. Overall, this episode highlights the importance of high-quality patient care, learning from other industries, and the significance of finding mentors and the right business model for aspiring physician entrepreneurs. --- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Introduction to the Podcast 04:58 - Service Excellence and Scaling Up 12:09 - Technology Investment Opportunities for Physicians 21:37 - Teaching within the Private Practice Sphere 27:40 - Job Flexibility and Investment Opportunities Within ProScan 35:14 - Advice for Early Stage Entrepreneurs 38:19 - Future Endeavors for ProScan 43:18 - Episode Summary and Final Thoughts --- RESOURCES BackTable Innovation Episode 75- ProScan’s Path: Medical Expertise to Business Success Part 1: https://www.backtable.com/shows/innovation/podcasts/75/proscans-path-medical-expertise-to-business-success-part-1-with-dr-stephen-j-pomeranz ProScan Imaging: https://proscan.com/ MRI Total Body Atlas by Stephen J. Pomeranz: https://www.amazon.com/Total-Body-Atlas-Stephen-Pomeranz/dp/1882576063 Medality: https://medality.com/

In this episode, host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews radiologist and entrepreneur Dr. Vikram Sobti about how he started his own teleradiology practice, his perspective on learning about fields outside of medicine, and his predictions for the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine. --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR Athletic Greens https://www.athleticgreens.com/backtableinn --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/gohjrA --- SHOW NOTES Dr. Sobti describes the workflow of his current teleradiology practice, Innovative Radiology PC. The company operates in 22 different states and employs 12 radiologists. This collaboration is possible due to a cloud-based PACS system. The radiologists’ efficient same-day throughput and availability for referring doctors makes the company’s services very attractive. Dr. Sobti believes that working from home and having control over one’s own schedule provides net benefits for a radiologist. With AI playing a growing role in diagnostic radiology, Dr. Sobti is constantly learning about how it can be applied to his own practice and how it will change the landscape of his field. We discuss the differences between AI technology in triage versus diagnosis. In the former category, AI can help with initial detection of emergency cases and assist radiologists in prioritizing these cases. On the other hand, Dr. Sobti suspects that AI-automated diagnoses will not be available for at least 20 years, since there is still lots of development to be done on the technological, legal, and organizational aspects. He describes the process of experimenting with Multus Medical’s AI-generated animations to assist his workflow in spine imaging. Finally, Dr. Sobti gives advice on investing in personal development and experiences that can help physicians acquire a deeper understanding of where their fields are heading. He highlights different reasons for pursuing higher education in clinical informatics and business. According to his own experiential learning style, the best source of education has been starting and managing multiple healthcare businesses. --- RESOURCES Dr. Vikram Sobti LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikram-sobti-md-mba-ab0a5568/ Multus Medical: https://www.multusmedical.com/ Aidoc: https://www.aidoc.com/ Viz.ai: https://www.viz.ai/

In this special host episode, Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews the BackTable Innovation co-hosts Eric Gantwerker and Bryan Hartley about their own entrepreneurial journeys, lessons along the way, and what we've learned from our amazing guests thus far. Dr. Gantwerker describes his interest and experiences in gamified learning, and Dr. Hartley shares about his experience in the Stanford Biodesign fellowship. Tune in to hear more about our hosts! The CME experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and unlock credits & more: https://earnc.me/GLzOsk --- CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR Athletic Greens https://www.athleticgreens.com/backtableinn --- SHOW NOTES In this special host episode, our podcast founder Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews BackTable innovation co-hosts Dr. Eric Gantwerker and Dr. Bryan Hartley about their own entrepreneurial journeys, lessons they’ve learned along the way, and how they joined our podcast. Dr. Gantwerker explains his interest in medical education and gamified learning. He describes his decision to pursue a master’s degree in Medical Education at Harvard Medical School after he finished his pediatric ENT fellowship. In Boston, he was able to learn about game-based learning and the evolving landscape of medical education. Upon graduating his program, he was presented with an opportunity to serve as a subject matter expert consultant for his current company, Level Ex. Though it was a tough choice, he decided to split his time between clinical practice and business development for Level Ex. He currently serves as the company’s Medical Director, a role that allows him to be cross-functional and horizontally integrated in all departments. Dr. Hartley shares about his interventional radiology background and why he felt a pull towards entrepreneurship and the Stanford Biodesign fellowship. The program’s structure helped him and his teammates identify a clinical need, innovate solutions, and implement a business plan. His experience in the program has culminated in the founding of Pulmera, a device company focused on innovating novel technologies to improve the diagnosis of early stage lung cancer. All the hosts agree that sufficient clinical experience is key to refining product-market fit. Having subject matter expertise helps physicians develop their ideas and gain confidence in their product. Additionally, building a reputation in their clinical specialty is helpful for fundraising purposes. Finally, we discuss the difference between formal and informal learning. While the former pathway can help entrepreneurs generate ideas and build networks, the latter pathway is ideal for entrepreneurs who already have product ideas and funding. We highlight former podcast guests who pursued each of these strategies. --- RESOURCES Dr. Eric Gantwerker LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drericgant/ Dr. Bryan Hartley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-hartley-md/ Level Ex: https://www.levelex.com/ Pulmera: http://www.pulmera.com/ Brain Lab: https://www.brainlab.com/ Harvard Master’s in Medical Education: https://hms.harvard.edu/education-admissions/masters-degree-programs/master-medical-sciences-medical-education MATTER Healthcare Incubator: https://matter.health/join?gclid=CjwKCAjw-8qVBhANEiwAfjXLrukkmTXIy_pJ1P2vzZfX0Zy9stxvzXCmQwVO2S7f6ni_Z4wBcarxfxoCN3IQAvD_BwE Stanford Biodesign Fellowship: https://biodesign.stanford.edu/programs/fellowships/innovation-fellowships.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw-8qVBhANEiwAfjXLrkzkwkOZmT5YZR3095LeS1WUdNHCHQuqwbzLQu7WXz5L3Tc2ZcqtthoCkQ4QAvD_BwE Biodesign Principles Book: https://www.amazon.com/Biodesign-Process-Innovating-Medical-Technologies/dp/110708735X/ref=asc_df_110708735X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312126345020&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7250507859082880420&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031015&hvtargid=pla-448919250867&psc=1

Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Aidoc cofounder Elad Walach about launching a company in the artificial intelligence (AI) space and applying AI in radiology imaging. The CME experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and unlock credits & more: https://earnc.me/ufTSca --- SHOW NOTES In this episode, our host Dr. Aaron Fritts interviews Aidoc founder Elad Walach about launching a company in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, applying AI in radiology imaging, and his vision to build an AI enterprise system for healthcare institutions. Elad begins by sharing the story of how he met Aidoc cofounders Michael Braginsky and Guy Reiner as roommates when they all served in the Israeli military. All three shared a passion for technology and desired to make a difference in the healthcare sphere. Through brainstorming, they identified a clinical need to process radiology data faster and help radiologists prioritize high risk findings. He emphasizes that the technology is not designed to address a single type of disease. Instead, it is a platform that has received regulatory clearance to detect many different diseases. When hiring other Aidoc team members, Elad describes his perspective on hiring based on potential, rather than experience. He seeks out “superstars” because he believes in their ability to learn and blossom within the company. Next, Elad recounts the difficult fundraising process that the company faced when AI was not widely known yet. He advises entrepreneurs to think of their company’s story as their “first sell,” and have a commitment to debrief, obtain feedback, and reiterate the pitch after every presentation. Finally, Elad shares his vision for the future of AI in healthcare. It is crucial that entrepreneurs display professionalism and responsible practices in order for healthcare systems to entrust them with patient data. On the clinical side, radiologists would benefit from AI exposure and education during their official training pathway. Finally, the growing number of AI healthcare companies will help progress the overall field, since each company can be a trailblazer in different areas such as regulatory standards and reimbursements. --- RESOURCES Aidoc: https://www.aidoc.com/ Your Vital Signs, On Camera (Pulse Camera): https://news.mit.edu/2010/pulse-camera-1004 Deep Medicine by Eric Topol: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Medicine-Artificial-Intelligence-Healthcare/dp/1541644638 Play Bigger by Al Ramadan: https://www.amazon.com/Play-Bigger-Dreamers-Innovators-Dominate/dp/0062407619

Radiation oncologist Dr. James Mitchell joins the BackTable Innovation podcast to discuss the development and acquisition of his medical devices; first, an integrated needle/guidewire system called Redsmith, and then a smart vascular access port called Oncodisc. --- EARN CME Reflect on how this Podcast applies to your day-to-day and earn AMA PRA Category 1 CMEs: https://earnc.me/XfXBqO --- SHOW NOTES In this episode, physician-entrepreneur and radiation oncologist Dr. James Mitchell joins our host Dr. Bryan Hartley to discuss the development and acquisition of his medical devices– first, an integrated needle/guidewire system called Redsmith, and then a smart vascular access port called Oncodisc. Dr. Mitchell first explains how he met his co-founder, interventional radiologist Andy Thoreson, while they were both practicing medicine at the Keesler Air Force base. They connected due to common interests in business and investing. Eventually, they began to discuss clinical needs that they saw in their everyday lives and potential devices to address them. To protect their medical device ideas, they filed IPs and addressed patents to a company, rather than themselves as individuals. Dr. Mitchell emphasizes that this method is highly favorable when there are multiple inventors of a device, since assigning the patent to a separate entity will prevent legal issues and de-risk the business for future acquirers. When forming a new company, Dr. Mitchell believes that good corporate governance is key. This involves asking fundamental questions about the business goals, location of incorporation, type of corporation, and fundraising strategies. Eventually, Drs. Mitchell and Thoreson launched Redsmith, which was purchased by BD. Due to external factors, the purchase took two years. Next, the co-founders embarked on a mission to develop Oncodisc, a port that would automatically notify doctors when cancer patients’ physiological signs indicated high risk for sepsis. Dr. Mitchell described a new mindset for this second product– He wanted to build a business out of this technology instead of selling it to a larger company. Taking a product through commercialization would allow him to have more influence over the final product and result in a larger impact on the healthcare system. Additionally, he wanted to explore applications of Oncodisc beyond cancer care, since ports are utilized in many chronic conditions such as end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure. What started as a simple addition to chemotherapy ports became a larger digital health mission. Finally, Dr. Mitchell discusses the mechanics of his fundraising process. The seed round mainly included friends and colleagues who were clinicians, since they recognized the utility of Oncodisc. Having this network of investors also allowed the co-founders to obtain clinical advice during R&D. The subsequent Series A round presented different challenges, since Dr. Mitchell was presenting to investors from highly specialized business backgrounds, and little clinical expertise. He had to learn how to address extensive questions over regulatory strategy and effectively communicate his clinical ideas during his pitches. Dr. Mitchell ends the episode by advising entrepreneurs to expand their networks to include people of all different professions and valuable, diverse insights. --- RESOURCES PAVmed: http://www.pavmed.com/ Biomerics: https://biomerics.com/ BD: https://www.bd.com/en-us HealthTech Capital: https://healthtechcapital.com/ Society of Physician Entrepreneurs: https://sopenet.org/ Innovator MD: https://www.innovatormd.com/ UCSF Rosenman Institute: https://rosenmaninstitute.org/ MedTech Innovator: https://medtechinnovator.org/