MEDICAL INNOVATIONS
Supporting San Antonio’s Expansion in Medical Technology Innovation By Gabriel Bietz, MD, RPVI
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an Antonio is home to over 100 early-stage medical technology and bioscience startups, all of whom are developing innovative new approaches designed to improve patient outcomes. As members of the local medical community, we have an opportunity to support these companies and colleagues by providing our input during various stages of product and clinical development. This insight is valuable to such organizations, in order to assist with moving their efforts forward through the product development phase, regulatory process and eventually, product commercialization. 12
SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • May 2022
Many ideas for new medical technologies are originally conceived by physicians. When I was a vascular surgery fellow at the University of Kentucky, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. John Gurley, an interventional cardiologist who was the Director of their Structural Health Program. Dr. Gurley had invented an innovative new approach to achieving central venous access in patients who had obstructions of their thoracic veins, a condition which prevented the ability to place catheters or cardiac leads. He called this procedure the “inside-out” approach. To perform the procedure, Dr. Gurley used a variety of different
