Health tech companies often flop. But this researcher’s track record suggests there’s a strategy for success
Of the 50 companies founded out of Stanford’s Biodesign center, just two have folded. Six were acquired; the rest are "alive and well." The program director shares the secrets behind…
PALO ALTO, Calif. — A series of glass cabinets lines the back wall of this Stanford building, the shelves crowded with health technologies dreamed up here. There’s a bottle of thick blue gel that helps drugs stick inside the colon, a heartbeat-tracking patch, an under-the-sheets sensor that buzzes to prevent night terrors, and a baby doll with a dozen redesigned versions of an umbilical catheter lying next to its blanket.
“My favorite thing is just looking at some of the technologies that have come out,” said Dr. Paul Yock, pointing to a low-cost substitute for the pricey ventilators found in the intensive care unit.
The shelves are a hall of fame of sorts for Yock, a cardiologist and bioengineer who runs Stanford’s
