The MedTech Startup Journey Series Talk by Dr. Saurav Paul @3pm

Location: MMCR, CPDM


Title: “Converting Clinical Observations into Healthcare Innovation – A Minnesota Story”

Date: 20thJanuary 2023
Time: 3 PM – 5 PM
Venue: MMCR, CPDM, IISc

Speaker: Dr. Saurav Paul – Former Director of Medical Device Innovation at the University of Minnesota (UMN), Minneapolis, MN, USA
Dr. Smita Kayal – Head of Medical Oncology at JIPMER, Pondicherry.

Abstract: In the US, Minnesota is #1 in the medical device sector. The talk would take a page from history that started Minnesota’s journey in that space, and generally walk through the medical device innovation process using an example of Prof Saurav Paul’s contribution to medical device innovation, and Dr. Smita Kayal’s endeavour in Oncology treating the patients as well as research in the design and development of a number of minimally-invasive medical technologies for diagnosing and treating cancer and other disease conditions.

About Speaker: Dr. Saurav Paul, Ph.D., J.D., is a medtech innovator from Minneapolis, MN, USA. He is the former Director of Medical Device Innovation at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA, and a top inventor at St. Jude Medical (now Abbott), St. Paul, USA. He received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN, USA and his J.D. (doctorate in law) from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN, USA with emphasis on Intellectual Property (IP) law and Medical Devices Act. He is an alumnus of IISc, Bangalore, where he did his MS in Mechanical Engineering.

Dr. Paul has over 25 years of experience in healthcare innovation, clinical research, and technology development. He is an innovator in cardiovascular, oncology, drug delivery, and 20+ clinical areas (with 40+ scientific and 340+ patent publications). His research in the U.S. has been funded by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NASA, Office of Naval Research (ONR), Minnesota Medical Foundation (MMF), Research to Prevent Blindness, and organizations such as Medtronic, St. Jude Medical (Abbott), Boston Scientific Corporation, U.S. Surgical, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

Dr. Paul is a leader in medtech innovation strategy, technology incubation, product development & biodesign processes. He has created several opportunities for medtech innovation and commercialization with multibillion dollar market potential in corporate, institutional, and entrepreneurial settings. With his diverse background & experience in technology, medicine, law, business management, and administration, Dr. Paul has established interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, and global partnerships in education and innovation, notably award-winning academia-industry innovation partnership at the University of Minnesota, MN, USA. Dr. Paul has organized, chaired, and hosted a number of biomedical and medical device innovation conferences and sessions, such as the Design of Medical Devices (DMD) Conference in Minneapolis, USA, and has been an invited speaker at several medtech innovation forums.

Dr. Smita Kayal, M.D., D.M., is Additional Professor and Head of Medical Oncology at Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry. She did her M.B.B.S. and M.D”Converting Clinical Observations into Healthcare Innovation – A Minnesota Story”. (Internal Medicine) at Guwahati Medical College, Assam, and her D.M. in Medical Oncology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

Dr. Smita has an illustrious record of academic excellence throughout her education and research. She received Academic Gold Medal for first rank in M.B.B.S. from Gauhati University, Dr. D. C. Choudhry Award for best medical graduate from Guwahati Medical College, and Gold Medal (Smt. Shakuntala Jolly Memorial Award) for the best D.M. student in Medical Oncology from AIIMS. She did her fellowship and professional training at some of world’s renowned institutions and cancer centers, including MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, in the USA, and University of Oxford in UK.

Dr. Smita’s clinical & research interest includes hemato-oncology & stem cell transplant, pediatric oncology, colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal (GI) tumors, sarcomas, supportive care, and cancer immunology including integrated multi-omics research and bioinformatics. She is dedicated to making healthcare accessible to the low-income and underprivileged population. She established a bone marrow transplant (BMT) facility at RCC, JIPMER, that requires minimal out-of-pocket treatment expense.

Dr. Smita has served as a research guide for 40 postgraduate students in M.D., D.M, M.Ch., Ph.D., and Post-Doctoral Fellowship medical education programs. Dr. Smita has authored 74 journal publications and 2 book chapters. She is a co-inventor on a medical device patent application and is actively engaged in the design and development of a number of minimally-invasive medical technologies for diagnosing and treating cancer and other disease conditions. As a clinician, Dr. Smita has treated more than 1 lakh cancer patients, and has conducted over 200 transplants.