From Technical.ly
As the University City Science Center has evolved toward supporting commercialization in the healthcare sector, the organization has created a new role — Chief Medical Affairs Officer — and hired healthcare leader Kevin Baumlin.
Baumlin spent three decades in the healthcare field, mostly as a clinician and a professor. His new goal is to help the Science Center’s startups learn about the United States’ healthcare system. He began working with the Science Center a few months back as a consultant after he ran in the 2022 race for US Senate.
“I have a thorough understanding of how decisions are made, ” he told Tecnical.ly. “It surprises me that not many Americans know about the system. It’s confusing to outsiders and insiders.”
Baumlin called 2023 an “exciting time for healthcare innovation,” and hopes to bring his patient-facing expertise to the startups aiming to create healthcare solutions. Two weeks into the role, he said he’s interested in companies that are innovating on new ways to do the things already done in healthcare using AI, methods that reach solutions faster, and platforms that can help patients and providers.
He noted work in the telehealth and hospital-at-home space as being two sectors that are likely to see a lot of new business opportunities. And there’s a lot of work to be done around the older adult space, he said, as a wave of aging adults navigate the healthcare system.
Senior Director of Marketing Kristen Fitch said the Science Center has sharpened its focus in the healthcare tech space, but found the challenges its startups were facing were are less about the technology, and more about commercial adoption.
“Dr. Baumlin’s expertise and network will be a critical in bolstering the Science Center support of healthcare and life sciences startups, strengthening commercialization and market access success, and providing expert opinion and due diligence support on new investment opportunities,” said the org’s president and CEO, Tiffany Wilson, in a statement.
03/16/23 | In the News
