Helping inventors and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into products and services that scale into businesses that help patients lead healthier, more productive lives
Episode 13
Jeffrey Roh is a board-certified, award-winning specialist in minimally invasive spine surgery. Dr. Roh is Chair of the Arthritis Foundation’s Leadership Board of Directors in Washington state, Board Member of ProOrtho, Division of Proliance Surgeons and Chairman of Swedish Hospital’s Integrated Spine Program. He is actively involved in key strategic initiatives centered on excellence in clinical care, optimization of patient satisfaction, and value-based healthcare delivery.
Dr. Roh has over fifteen years of experience as an inventor, angel investor, and serial entrepreneur and holds multiple patents through the USPTO. He is one of the co-founders of Intuitive IP, an intellectual property firm created to help inventors and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into products and services that scale into businesses that help patients lead healthier, more productive lives. He also serves as a consultant on Stryker corporation’s surgical design and innovation team as well as on Providence Venture’s Strategy & Innovation team.
He completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Case Western Reserve University and his spine surgery fellowship at Weill Cornell Medicine’s world-renowned Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC. He is a graduate of the Michael G. Foster School of Business Executive MBA program at the University of Washington and is currently enrolled at Columbia University’s Executive Masters of Science in Technology Management program in NYC.
Why Healthcare? I had influential mentors along the way. When I was an undergrad, I thought about going to Physical Therapy. I ended up doing a shadowing at a local Physical Therapy clinic here and I realized that it wasn’t probably for me. I volunteered in University of Washington Medical Center, by chance they hook me up with the chairman of the department of Orthopaedic Surgery. I was able to shadow and did some research and watch his first shoulder case and I was mesmerized. During medical school, I got invited by Dr. Howard, one of the best-known spines surgeons and invited me to do research between my first and second year. And the first case I scrubbed in was an eight-hour long scoliosis case and I fell in love with it. I knew that I wanted to become a spine surgeon at that moment.
What are we doing as leaders to raise our level in your circle of five? I’ve learned about that it’s not doing it on your own, it’s about creating a team of really smart and motivated people to help you. When I started as an entrepreneur by myself it’s a lonely road. If you don’t have people around you to give you encouragement and support, I think it’s defeating.
Hot Topic that should healthcare leaders agenda: We don’t realize the power that machine learning and artificial intelligence is gonna have in our day to day practices.
Have you identified a healthcare model that perhaps we could learn from in the US? You can take a model that already succeeded in the tech industry and overlay them onto healthcare and that’s automatically a great idea for a system or process it’s gonna be efficient.
Setbacks that you learned from: When I first applied in medical school, I didn’t get in. It was so humbling. It makes you much stronger. The next year, I applied to multiple medical schools and got in.
Exciting Project: Intuitive IP and Intuitive IQ. IQ is focusing on medical and surgical devices. Focusing specifically on minimally invasive endoscopic approaches for outpatient surgery.
Jeffrey 101 Course on Outcomes Improvement:
1. What is the best way to improve healthcare outcomes?
Always put the patient at the center in every decision that we make. Treat every patient as if they were your family member.
2. What is the biggest mistake or pitfall to avoid?
Not to recognize the blind spots. If we ignore things that will lead to negative patient outcome, if we ignore a developing complication, then clearly that is a blind spot that will have a negative influence on patient outcome.
3. How do you stay relevant as an organization despite constant change?
Maintain relevance by staying on the forefront, by staying on the cutting edge of what’s coming out there.
4. One area of focus that should drive everything else is:
Keep the patient at the center of every discussion and decision. We have to be better at addressing the needs of the customer.
Closing Thought: I really think our future is so bright, I think we have an opportunity such unbelievable impact in millions of lives that we can positively influence with technology.
The Best Way To Contact Jeffrey:
Resources:
Healthcare 2.0 Fall Conference
