Fogarty Innovation

09/03/2026

Is it possible to flourish in the intense environment of a medtech startup?

While “flourishing” has many definitions, we know instinctively when we’re not – when we’re struggling, stressed, disengaged, or in crisis. In a Lunch & Learn presentation last week, Kalpana Nathan, MD, CPE, DLFAPA, DipABLM, a Stanford psychiatrist and former Chief Medical Director at El Camino Health, taught us about "Flourishing Under Pressure." She shared many ideas worth sitting with – here are just a few:

🍂 Stop trying to "bounce back." The term "resilience" suggests the goal is returning to who you were before trauma. Nathan calls the alternative recalibration – not a one-time fix, but an ongoing practice of adjusting who you are as circumstances shift. Instead of going back, you rebuild in a new direction. For anyone navigating a pivot, a failed trial, a brutal funding environment – that's a fundamentally different way to think about the hard stretch you're in.

🍂 Stress isn't inherently bad – it's just demand outpacing resources. The real risk is chronic depletion without recovery. This shifts the focus from reducing stress to prioritizing refilling the tank. While we all refill differently, core themes include managing energy, not just time, building a safety net of relationships outside of work, and figuring out what restores you and regularly making time for that before things start to go sideways.

🍂 The pressure to decide fast is itself a stress amplifier. Nathan called this "negative capability" – a phrase coined by the poet John Keats that describes the ability to sit in uncertainty and doubt without rushing to premature resolution. While ambiguity can be uncomfortable, some unknowns are substantial and closing the loop too early just moves the problem downstream. Sometimes the most disciplined move a leader can make is to not decide yet.

🍂 Burnout is an environment problem, not a personal failing.
If your team is burning out, look at autonomy, fairness, and control in how the work actually gets structured.

08/27/2026

Congratulations to our officially-graduated, Lefteroff Internship class of 2026! In their final presentations, each intern reflected on the projects they worked on and the lessons they'll carry forward.

Whether they were paired with a startup, Fogarty staff, or El Camino Health in our new hospital track, they made meaningful contributions and got valuable hands-on experience along with a deep introduction to the medtech innovation ecosystem. One theme echoed across every presentation: their experience was defined not only by the work they did, but by the people they met. From Fogarty insiders and industry leaders to their fellow interns, the best part of the summer was the relationships they built.

Our graduation master of ceremonies, Fred St Goar, MD, captured this beautifully in his remarks, noting again and again how close-knit this class was, a group truly full of soul.

We miss them already and can't wait to see what this remarkable class does next!

08/18/2026

One of the Lefteroff Interns' field trips was a visit to The Foundry and Abbott for a firsthand look at the full innovation lifecycle, from an initial idea to a device manufactured at scale and used in patient care.

At the Foundry, interns heard directly from Fred St Goar, MD, Evalve, Inc. co-founder and longtime Fogarty physician leader, about the inception and early development of the MitraClip, gaining insight from the device's inception to its eventual acquisition. Then at Abbott, the interns got to maneuver a MitraClip device themselves and visit the clean room to observe the manufacturing process.

Thank you to all our hosts and to intern Clare Dominique Sanchez for the awesome video!

08/16/2026

The 2026-27 Stanford Biodesign Innovation Fellows visited this week to get to know the "Fogarty Four," the Fogarty Innovation leaders who will serve as resources throughout year:

🩺 Zachary Edmonds, MD, MBA, our chief medical officer, the associate director of hospital medicine at Sutter Health - Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and an associate director at Stanford Biodesign
🔍 Mike Regan, chief innovation officer
🩺Fred St Goar, MD, longtime physician leader, and
💼 Greg Bakan, former director of strategic initiatives

The Fellows can draw on this advisory team for project feedback, 1:1 meetings, and general counsel and advice. The fellows will also spend time doing clinical immersion at our innovation partner, El Camino Health, as they work to identify and screen unmet needs in gastroenterology.

08/14/2026

We were delighted to have Congressman Sam Liccardo join us this week for a candid Lunch & Learn conversation, "From Silicon Valley to Capitol Hill." The discussion was wide-ranging, combining audience questions with prepared topics from moderator-extraordinaire, Fred St. Goar, MD.

One topic that stood out was his challenge to the medtech innovation community to change who tells our story. In the Bay Area, we believe wholeheartedly in the value of innovation — but that doesn't necessarily extend to other parts of the country where advocacy needs to happen. Liccardo's advice was to build real connections with scientific and medical communities in other states and districts, since members of Congress listen to their own constituents more than they listen to outside advocates.

Second, he drew attention to the innovation industry's public representation, noting that a handful of ultra-wealthy figures have become the "face of tech."

"We need to lift up the innovators so people stop just seeing the oligarchs," he said. The people actually building the next generation of life-saving medical technologies aren't chasing headlines. Many are, as he put it, "struggling to pay rent" while doing work that matters. That's the story we need to tell.

We ran out of time before we ran out of questions, and he closed with this commendation to the audience: "Thank you for following your passion. Thank you for the lives that you're saving. Thank you for inspiring those of us who care — and I can tell you, there's more of us than you might think."

Look for a more detailed summary of our conversation with Congressman Liccardo in our upcoming newsletter. You can receive it in your inbox directly by signing up here: https://www.fogartyinnovation.org/get-involved/

08/12/2026

When do you lose track of time? The answer might help you find your superpower.

For Lefteroff Intern Alison Fogelberg, it happens when she’s surfing.
“Sitting on a board in the middle of the ocean is a humbling reminder of how small we are.”

Fogelberg shared this reflection during “Finding Your Superpower,” a two-part discussion the interns have with Fogarty strategic consultant and leadership coach Corinne Landphere BSRN, MA. To help them uncover their own superpowers, Landphere asked the interns to think about what comes naturally, gives them energy, and puts them in a state of flow—when they become so absorbed in something that they lose track of time.

“For me, it's when I'm surfing,” said Fogelberg. “Reflecting on why helped me realize my superpower is a deep curiosity about humanity and the human body.”

Why does knowing your superpower matter? It can help point you toward roles that align with what you’re naturally exceptional at—and toward work that energizes rather than drains you. As Landphere emphasized, a true superpower also creates value for others, so leaning into it benefits everyone.

Importantly, a superpower isn’t simply something you’re good at, like writing for example. “It runs deeper,” said Fogelberg. "It’s part of who you are and stems from a real passion.” Because of that, it doesn’t have to be your job overtly – it will play a role in whatever you do.

For Fogelberg, the idea was reassuring. "There isn’t one right path. Your superpower can create value in any role."

Our interns spend the summer learning about the medtech innovation ecosystem, but through presentations on career trajectories, building confidence, and finding their superpowers, they leave also knowing a bit more about themselves.

08/06/2026

Thank you Aris Gregorian, principal at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner, and summer law clerks Vivian Liu and Sam Kjell, for presenting at our internal IP roundtable on three important lessons for medtech startups:
☑️ Keep records aligned across regulatory, patent, and marketing teams. FDA and patent filings are read together - even years later - and saying different things to different agencies can lead to patent invalidation.
☑️Make sure contractors, consultants, and manufacturers sign clear IP assignment agreements before the work begins. "The best time to negotiate ownership is before the invention becomes valuable," said Gregorian.
☑️Plan strategically for your patent spend - the initial filing is just the beginning.
S
pecial thanks to Fogarty in-house IP expert Denise Demarais for organizing!

07/24/2026

Once again, the Fogarty community showed up big for local students! Led by Fogarty community service leader Julianna Rose, our third annual back-to-school backpack drive on behalf of Family Giving Tree was a huge success. Together, we donated 61 fully stocked backpacks, plus 9 extra backpacks, and bins full of extra supplies to help kids start the year confident and ready to learn. Thank you to all the Fogarty companies and staff who contributed.

07/24/2026

07/18/2026

We recently hosted The Evolution of Med Device: How Investors Choose Winners at Every Stage with HealthTechQuity to discuss what actually creates venture-scale medical device companies. One major theme that emerged: the biggest risk facing a medtech startup isn't necessarily the technology—it's running out of capital.

Our panelists represented different stages: incubator (Mike Regan, Fogarty Innovation), venture capital (Hanson Gifford, Lightstone Ventures), and growth equity (Witney McKiernan, HealthQuest Capital), and came to that conclusion from different perspectives.

McKiernan pointed out that running out of capital is rarely just a fundraising problem. By the time a company reaches the growth stage, investors want to see that management has deployed capital thoughtfully and built a business that won't require a series of emergency financing rounds.

Regan observed that capital shortages usually reflect earlier strategic mistakes. Companies with compelling technologies fail when they underestimate how much capital they'll need, don't build the right investor syndicate, or focus on getting to the next financing milestone instead of planning for the full path to commercialization.

Gifford added perspective by describing how the investment landscape has evolved. Strategic acquirers are increasingly waiting until companies have demonstrated meaningful commercial traction before acquiring them. Accordingly, founders should expect to finance a much longer journey than many would have anticipated even a decade ago.

Thank you to emcee Allie Gregorian, moderator Perrin Joel, and to our panelists for sharing such candid perspectives, and to everyone who joined us for the discussion.