The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Dell Medical School supports the people, programs and opportunities that accelerate the translation of medical innovation to health care at scale. The office develops key programmatic initiatives and innovative entrepreneurial training within Dell Med and collaboratively across The University of Texas at Austin and Central Texas.
The office also serves as an integral part of Health Starts Here, the strategic plan for The University of Texas Medical Center, anchored by Dell Med. The office empowers opportunities across research, education and clinical care to accelerate transformative innovation and entrepreneurship.
Areas of Focus
Through the Texas Health Catalyst program, the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship supports UT researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs who are interested in translating promising health innovations into products with real-world impact. The program provides researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs customized guidance on product development from industry and clinical experts — as well as milestone-based seed funding.
The office also holds painstorming workshops, where diverse stakeholders — including physicians, scientists, community members and patients — come together to uncover unmet needs and create well-defined health challenges.
Additionally, partnership and commercialization efforts within the office apply expertise and seed funds to promising university innovations that address real market needs but require further support to develop and validate a commercialization strategy.
The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship advances educational and talent empowerment programs in innovation, translation and entrepreneurship both within the medical school and partnerships across campus.
- The NEXXUS Program — a collaboration between Dell Med, the College of Pharmacy and the McCombs School of Business — provides experiential bioscience product development learning to a select cohort of graduate-level students.
- The Texas Health Catalyst Associate Program provides UT students hands-on experience in health care technology commercialization, industry networking opportunities, marketable skills in project management and industry research, and more.
- As part of their medical education curriculum, Dell Med students in their third year can pursue a distinction project in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Contact the Team
For prospective industry and academic partners interested in engaging with the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, email Ruben Rathnasingham. To learn more about the office’s talent and empowerment opportunities, email Maarten Rotman.