As Innovators Unwrap Key Insights, Texas Health Catalyst Wraps Up Consulting Phase

Oct. 25, 2018

Texas Health Catalyst at Dell Medical School, UT Austin supports researchers and inventors in accelerating the translation of innovations to health products. Of the 80 proposals submitted to the program this year, a select number of finalists were invited to participate in the consulting award phase where teams received customized guidance from clinicians and industry experts. Thanks to her role in managing the consulting phase, Itzel Torres program associate at Texas Health Catalyst, had a front seat at the consulting and review sessions where she believes most of the magic happens. She shares some interesting observations about this phase of the program.

Throughout my career, I’ve had my share of bootcamps and “drinking out of a firehose” moments where there is a lot to learn and not enough time to quite catch up, so I empathize with the teams that participate in the Texas Health Catalyst program. I’m always impressed by the cutting-edge innovation and passion that applicant teams bring to the program. It is also amazing how the program manages to provide value to each team despite the varied disciplines and project stages.

During this phase, the program under the leadership of director Nishi Viswanathan, takes great care matching each project with clinical and industry advisors that have extensive experience in the relevant technology area. I have seen several examples during this cycle of how this customized approach enhances the quality of every discussion between advisors and innovators. As one finalist commented, the program is extremely “thoughtful and intentional” about the connections made.

Unlike a bootcamp or a crash course, these advisor meetings flow more like a conversation that is enriched by very different perspectives. Clinical advisors make sure that the intricacies of their workflow are considered; there is always some insight that comes from having an insider’s view into a typical day in their lives. Industry experts and investors help assess the commercial viability of projects and more importantly, offer ways to mitigate downstream challenges. Depending on the project stage, intellectual property attorneys and regulatory consultants are also part of the advisory team. The ability to provide this holistic perspective is unique to programs like Texas Health Catalyst that straddle the clinical and business worlds.

One of the program finalists Sina Haeri, assistant professor of women’s health at Dell Med confirms the value of these interactions, “Texas Health Catalyst put me in touch with several experts and I learned something from every advisor. The one-on-one consultation meeting with Omar Hakim, angel investor and vice president of client strategy at Michael Best also proved to be extremely high-yield. His advice gave me a lot of clarity in terms of how exactly to move this project forward.”

There is an aspect of the technology or an application that hadn’t been considered by the team that gives them the insights to adjust or completely pivot from their initial proposal. It is these pivots and new opportunities that add maximum value, although they are hard to quantify. In one particular case, I realized that it would have taken the team months to get to the insights that they received in one hour from our clinical advisor. It was rewarding to watch teams take in the advice provided to make big changes to their target markets, product designs, revenue models and in some cases their entire commercialization plans.

On behalf of the program, I would like to express my gratitude to all the advisors and reviewers who generously volunteered their time to provide feedback and guide our project teams over the past few months. It was certainly challenging to coordinate these meetings considering the busy schedules of those involved but I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of a unique program and imbibe a bit of wisdom from each of these encounters.