New 2025 Biomedical Innovation Fireside Chat Series

Session 1: Women in Life Science and Healthcare Entrepreneurship

Thursday, January 16, 2:00–3:00pm PST

We are delighted to kick off our ITHS Fireside Chat series with a panel discussion featuring three dynamic women who are changemakers in their fields. Join us as we hear about the potential of their current innovative endeavors and take away some inspiration for ourselves!

• Ruchi Thanawala, MD, MS is a surgeon and informatics expert who co-founded Firefly Lab, a start-up that is helping to reshape surgical education in the US by building a system that is geared toward surgeon and surgical resident workflow.
• Cathy Robinson, PhD is a researcher at the University of Oregon who has co-founded Keybiome, LLC, a microbiome company that aims to treat diseases of chronic inflammation such as inflammatory bowel disease.
• Ashley Whitley oversees the Washington Center for Women in Business based in Thurston County, Washington. She invites all to the statewide INSPIRE Women’s Business Conference at the Great Wolf Lodge on May 22, 2025.
• Moderated by Melissa Mudd, MPH, Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Alliance Manager at Oregon Health & Science University.

Session 2: Product Market Fit – Tips and Tricks 

Thursday, January 30, 2:00–3:00pm PST

Everyone gets excited about new biomedical innovations, but how do we make sure they fit in healthcare workflows and patient health tech systems? How do we know if the payor’s interest is aligned with the innovation user? Come to this session to align your innovation compass with the roadmap to market success.

• Melinda Yormick, RN, MBA is founder and CEO of CLARA a “traffic control” system inside hospitals, orchestrating operations to get teams and equipment to patients when they need it most.
• Eric Larsen is an experienced entrepreneur and angel investor who also serves as Board Chair at Alliance of Angels. He has helped several startup companies raise financing rounds.
• Moderated by Teddy Johnson, MBA, Director of the Technology Development Center at the Institute of Translational Health Science at University of Washington.

Session 3: Community-Driven Innovation

Thursday, February 13, 2:00–3:00pm PST

Join us to hear about the importance of connecting communities, researchers, and entrepreneurial innovators to address the unmet health needs of communities across our region. Learn about the success stories from programs across the Pacific Northwest, with a focus here on Montana, and discover how these collaborations are driving health innovations with more voices contributing to the conversation.

• LeeAnna Muzquiz, MD, FAAFP, Associate Dean for Admissions at UW School of Medicine and a family practitioner with the Tribal Health department for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She specializes in adolescent medicine, women’s health, and diabetes and is active in health policy and advocacy issues.
• Niki Graham, MPH, Community Research Navigator and Tribal Liaison at the University of Montana. She is known in her community (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) for her ability to motivate, empower and energize audiences while maintaining the utmost level of respect for the community.
• Maja Pedersen, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, University of Montana, studies behavioral medicine with a focus on social connectedness, health, and physical activity in rural and tribal communities.
• Elizabeth Johnson, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, Montana State University, focuses on technology innovation, specifically relating to human research subject protections and integration of clinical trial information within the electronic health record.
• Moderated by Karen Brown, PharmD, Principal Investigator of Rocky Mountain REACH at the University of Montana. Karen builds infrastructure for health innovation aimed at improving patient outcomes and building healthy communities.

Session 4: Transitioning from Research to Commercialization

Thursday, February 27, 2:00–3:00pm PST

Many healthcare innovations can only reach patients if they are delivered as medical products such as therapeutics or medical devices. By necessity, to get there from bench discovery, a product concept needs to go through the commercialization process. This can be daunting. Few researchers have experience in the full range of steps that are required to create a product that will fit clinical needs and meet FDA requirements. This panel will highlight the differences in goals, activities, and personnel that are needed as a new discovery moves toward a commercialization process.

• Ayo Olanrewaju, PhD, Assistant Professor, Bioengineering, U Washington, is developing microfluidic devices for automating molecular tests that will enhance point-of-care diagnostics.
• Janina Malone, JD, Patent Attorney with Lee & Hayes in Portland, Oregon, specializing in life sciences. She assists clients in portfolio development and advises in relation to patentability and freedom to operate.
• David Katz, PhD, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Sparrow Therapeutics, an emerging clinical-stage company addressing disorders of corticosteroid excess. He is an entrepreneur-in-residence at OHSU where he draws on his career experience at Abbot and AbbVie to mentor the next generation of life science leaders.
• Moderated by Jonathan Jubera, MBA, Senior Project Manager, Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute at OHSU. Jonathan manages the Biomedical Innovation Program which supports early-stage technology development for discoveries that show promise for improving human health.

Session 5: Strategies for Broadening Participation in Clinical Trials

Thursday, March 13, 2:00–3:00pm PDT

New innovations must meet the needs of a significant number of patients if they are to have a meaningful health impact. To broaden the populations served means reaching more people in need. Yet researchers often find recruiting a wide range of participants for trials can pose a significant challenge. Hear from our panel of experts as we explore strategies for outreach and successful approaches for connecting with more populations in clinical trials which can later smooth adoption of new innovations and lead to greater community impact.

• Abdul Sharif is CEO of Sonix Media, a lead-generation performance advertising agency based in Seattle that helps brands improve strategy and execution through technology. Abdul has worked with clinical researchers to increase response-rate in their recruiting processes.
• Teresa Jewell, Health Sciences Librarian, University of Washington, Teresa will describe how she can assist research teams with locating literature to identify underrepresented groups in PubMed and the ClinicalTrials.gov registry so help with clinical trial planning.
• Charlie Gregor, MPH, Program Director, Institute of Translational Health Sciences, University of Washington, provides consultation services for the design and management of clinical studies.
• Elliott Weiss, MD, MSME, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington, is a bioethics and health policy expert.
• Moderated by Terri Butler, PhD, Associate Director of Innovation and Commercialization, Institute of Translational Health Sciences, University of Washington

Resources

Key contacts:

• UW Health Sciences Library: Teresa E Jewell (tejewell@uw.edu)
• Sonic X Media: Abdul Sharif (abdul@sonicxmedia.com)
• ITHS: Charlie Gregor (cgregor2@uw.edu) and Elliott Weiss, MD (mweiss@uw.edu)

Sites for recruitment information:

• ITHS Participate in Research site
• ITHS Recruitment Resources
• Research Match site
• ClinicalTrials.gov

Session 1: Biomedical Entrepreneurship and its Unique Challenges (01.25.24)

Speakers:  Sahil Diwan (SafKan Health), Kelly Drew, PhD (Be Cool Pharmaceutics), Alex Federation, PhD (Talus Bioscience)
Moderator: Terri Butler, PhD, University of Washington ITHS

Clinical Need | Workflow Integration | Patient vs Purchaser | Safety & Efficacy

Session 2: Biomedical Business Models and Funding Sources (02.08.24)

Speakers: Sandra Shotwell, PhD (Elex Biotech), Ben Nahir, PhD, MBA (Elevate Capital & TiE Oregon Angels), Meher Antia, PhD (Washington Research Foundation)
Moderator: Melissa Mudd, MPH, Oregon Clinical & Translational Research Institute

Sales Channels | Partners & Distributors | Payor vs. Purchaser | Grants, Investors

Session 3: Legal Issues and Intellectual Property (02.22.24)

Speakers: Phil Barish, PhD (OHSU Alliance), Michael Phillips, JD (Davis Wright Tremaine), Tanya Harding, PhD, JD (Lee & Hayes), Anne Carlson, PhD (OHSU Technology Transfer)
Moderator: Jonathan Jubera, MBA, Oregon Clinical & Translational Research Institute

Patents & Trademarks | Company Formation | Legal Advisors | Board Members | Equity Distribution

Session 4: Pacific Northwest Regional Resources for Biomedical Entrepreneurs (03.07.24)

Speakers: Karen Brown, PharmD (SIHI Reach, U Montana), Teddy Johnson, MBA (ITHS Technology Development Center), Rene Miller, MS (OTRADI and Oregon Bioscience Incubator), Elizabeth Cross Nichol, MBA (Life Science Washington Institute)
Moderator: Michaele Armstrong, PhD, Washington State University, sp3nw Incubator

Academic Programs | Accelerators & Incubators | Advisors | Competitions

Session Resources

Click to download a PDF of the NW startup ecosystem map provided by session moderator Michaele Armstrong of the sp3nw Incubator.

Session 5: Regulatory Strategy

Speakers: Mike Willingham (Google Health), Jill Herendeen, RAC (Orca Bio), Jennifer Grodberg, PhD, RAC-US (Grodberg Consulting), Kristen Mittal, RAC, PMP (Mittal Consulting)
Moderator: Josh Kim, MS, University of Washington, School of Pharmacy

FDA Regulations | Devices, Therapeutics, Diagnostics, & Digital Health Tools | Safety & Efficacy

Session 6: Medical Device Product Development (04.18.24)

Speakers: Evan Anderson (Teladoc), James Mitchell, MD (Veris Health), Jessica Urban (Consultant)
Moderator: Teddy Johnson, PE, MBA, University of Washington ITHS

Medical Devices | Intended Use | FDA Classes | GMP Manufacturing and Quality Systems

Session 7: Therapeutic Product Development (05.02.24)

Speakers: Bonnie Ramsey, MD (Seattle Children’s), Katie Sprugel, PhD (Industry Expert), Mike Dey (Scientific Advisor)
Moderator: Lynn Rose, PhD, University of Washington, School of Pharmacy

Target Product Profile | Preclinical Requirements | Clinical Study Design | GMP Manufacturing