“The team is the number one component of any good invention, any good company.”

People use the phrase “changing the world” all too often, but Leor Perl, chief innovation officer at Rabin Medical Center, believes he works with a group who can really do it. The Innovation Lab welcomes anyone at the medical center who recognizes an unmet clinical need and has a desire to fix it. They then help those clinicians with the process of characterizing the need and brainstorming and creating an invention to solve the problem. This includes coaching them through giving a pitch that can build a compelling story and explain the issue to laypeople. Perl says many of the ideas end up not being viable because of finances, patents, or competition, but each year, a few make it all the way through the lab’s process. He says it is exciting to be building the bridge between medical needs and the world of entrepreneurship and startups.

 

 

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Tell me about your entrance into the medical world and how you shifted towards thinking more about innovation.

I wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. I specifically remember drawing a fake heart for my grandmother, trying to prove to her that I understand cardiology already at the age of six or seven. I later became a paramedic. Then I really saw what things are like in the military, and I decided medicine is definitely something that I want to take part in, specifically, interventional cardiology, making a difference in patients who are in extreme situations. That's really a privilege.

I think my background goes back to my parents. My father had a strong academic background that really influenced me. My mother is a brilliant creative artist who sees the worlds in colors, shapes, sounds, and emotions in a way that really affected all of us. During my training, I took part in several innovative processes. Israel is an amazing startup state, a small empire of innovation and creativity. I was very fortunate to come across a few projects. I discovered how impactful medical startups are. I trained in interventional cardiology at Stanford. Then I moved on to another training program, Biodesign, that really teaches the way you can propagate innovations within the healthcare system.

In Clalit or the Rabin Medical Center, what does it mean to even consider innovation? How does that fit into your role as chief innovation officer?

I think that innovation is a lot of things. It's in the classical pathway of research. It's in the implementation of new technologies into your work. It is "intra"-preneurship, innovation in the organizational process and the way that things work.

The part that I focus on is the invention of new things. That sometimes is the hardest thing to do. What we're focused on is finding new opportunities for inventions for large unmet clinical needs, unmet needs within the healthcare system. We research the need, and we look at the process, we look at the problem and judge it from different angles. We try to see if this is something we can and should invent a new technology for. Then we move on to actually brainstorming and inventing.

To me, the epicenter of innovation is the part that has to do with inventions. A part that has to do finding new technologies, new solutions to large unmet needs. Within the Clalit and the Rabin Medical Center, we focus on all of these things. The core essence is the Innovation Lab, which works to recognize unmet needs, to characterize them, to see the opportunity, to collaborate on finding new technologies, to brainstorm, and to invent.

Within research, specifically in the big data and AI world, it's really a spectrum. We start with research with these large ideas and based on data. They sometimes translate into actual solutions and actual implementation. But in many cases, they remain research.

Can you give me specific examples of how you come as an integrator and test out these new technologies and opportunities, and one that made an impact?

Actually, last week with our second anniversary at the Innovation Lab, we presented six wonderful projects at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. We are open to anyone coming in here, whether it be physicians, nurses, or technicians. Anyone who recognizes a problem and they have a burning desire to solve that problem because they're going to work for it. We'll actually mentor them and do this process of needs characterization, needs finding, and move on to brainstorming and invention.

A resident in training in neurology came in with the problem of strokes during surgeries. It's easier to diagnose it when a patient is wide awake and we can judge if there are any neurological deficits. But when the patient is undergoing surgery under anesthesia, they are at risk of having this event only to be diagnosed too late. We (are testing) algorithms to look at a patient and test their motor or muscle reactions, as well as their facial recognition patterns and to actually be able to diagnose the case of stroke in a timely manner during the surgery. If you're able to do that, you'll finish quickly and you probably will be able to treat that patient who is in the hospital to begin with. I think we have something running that's very promising and we're already testing it.

Each year, we're running tens of projects. Out of which a few make it all the way to the end and are composed of a good team because the team is the number one component of any good invention, any good company.

After you've been working with them, you're presenting them, what happens from that moment forward?

It really changes between one inventor and the other. Some might want to...become founders. But there are full-time hospital employees, doctors, nurses, technicians, and so on, they will want to maintain their full-time job. They will become consultants. Collaboration is really an important part of this process.

Are the physicians and clinicians receptive to these new innovations? Are they excited about their presentations?

They're used to presenting. At least the physicians, they know how to present medical research. But when it comes to a pitch for a new startup, which is what we teach them to do, we actually work on a logo, brand, and the name. They have to make a case of what they're presenting. You actually give a pitch to a crowd. It's a different experience. It's one of the things that we want to teach, and we want these folks to experience the world of entrepreneurship. They are drawn to that, and we give them the opportunity to try it for real.

They're excited. They sometimes start with a terrible pitch, a good scientific description of their medical field but it does not speak to the crowd. We’ll say, “Let's be more obvious and make us understand why this is important. Don't use scientific terms. But use layman language, and build a story.” The presentation itself is a skill. The real exciting part is the fact that we help them translate their medical needs into a language that someone can actually identify with and potentially solve. That's exactly the bridge that we're trying to work on.

What really sparks your curiosity about this segment? Where does the fascination come from?

It was people. These real clinicians who ...are experts in their field and have the will and the desire to change the world. People use that phrase, but these are the folks who can actually change it. They come in with a dream; most of these are non-viable needs in terms of a financial market size. It's just the way it is. Or there are patents that block them, or there's companies that exist that are kind of competing.

But the process of looking at these people coming in with ideas, with needs, and actually trying to make it happen, it's the best reality TV show that I've ever seen. And it's live for us. They've gone through the process with us, and they actually came out at the other end with a mock-up or a prototype of a solution: it's mind blowing. It's exciting every time. I think that's what I'm drawn to.

What are three words you would use to describe yourself?

I'm critical. I'm full of excitement and motivation. And I always listen to my wife. Is that a word?

I'll take it as a word.

Michael Matias, Forbes 30 Under 30, is the author of Age is Only an Int: Lessons I Learned as a Young Entrepreneur. He studies Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University, while working as a software engineer at Hippo Insurance and as a Senior Associate at J-Ventures. Matias previously served as an officer in the 8200 unit. 20MinuteLeaders is a tech entrepreneurship interview series featuring one-on-one interviews with fascinating founders, innovators and thought leaders sharing their journeys and experiences.

 

Contributing editors: Michael Matias, Megan Ryan