Today I have an amazing guest. His name is Dr. Jeff Karp and he is a Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He is also a Principal Faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and an affiliate faculty member at the Broad Institute and at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
I'm just getting warmed up, wait until you hear the rest of his background. This is a real special guy.
He works in the fields of drug delivery, medical devices, stem cell therapeutics, and tissue adhesives. He has published over 125 peer-reviewed papers, with more than 18,500 citations, and has given over 300 invited lectures. He has over 100 issued or pending national and international patents.
Several technologies developed in his lab have led to multiple products currently being funded, and he's launched seven companies that have raised over $300 million in funding. These technologies include high-tech skincare, tissue adhesives and 3D-printed biomedical devices, immunomodulation with biologically responsive materials. We talked about small molecule regenerative therapeutics with an initial target of hearing loss and other aging therapies; as well as stem cells, cannabinoid therapeutics, biomedical devices to improve child safety, needles that automatically stop when they reach their target, and a bio-engineered luminal coating for controlled GI targeting.
Dr. Karp has received over 50 awards and honors. He has been recognized by Boston Magazine as One of 11 Boston Doctors Making Medical Breakthroughs'; The Boston Business Journal as a Champion in Healthcare Innovation' and by MIT's Technology Review Magazine (TR35) as being one of the Top Innovators In The World - with three members from his laboratory also receiving this award.
I spent a lot of time talking to Jeff about how he builds his teams and how he empowers them to take on these projects. What he's done is - he's bridged academia and entrepreneurship and, that's no small feat! I was interested to know - with the co-founding of six companies, how does he get research out into the world to really impact lives?
We also talked about mentor development. One of the biggest things that he targets is finding - and building mentors. He is always actively meeting people and he talks about this and why the power of meeting new people every 2 weeks. Another thing we talk about is reducing problems to their essence'. What I love is when I hear scientists talk about how they really place a lot of focus on this radical simplicity' and the art and discipline of reducing problems to their essence so they can solve problems in the useful, practical solutions to real-world problems.
This is a really, really fun interview with a world-impact leader in medicine. And bringing cutting edge therapies to market with a team. A team of people really dedicated to changing the world.
So, with this, I want to welcome you to my great conversation with Dr. Jeff Karp.
Here are some Key Concepts from the Podcast:
Simplicity - Why is it so powerful?
Complexity vs. Simplicity – The approach you use affects the entire spectrum of a problem or a project beginning with how the problem is defined - and can alter or otherwise impact innovation. Radical Simplicity – the art and discipline of cutting through the complexity and reducing a problem to its essence so you can solve it quickly and it can be practical in the real world.Environment & Culture – How do you create productive impact for elements of culture - within and beyond your team?
Focus on Empowerment - Create an environment where you really appreciate what others are doing, and try not to limit them, but give them the ability to own their projects and empower them, that way people are more likely to go ‘all in’. Alter your instincts and control knee-jerk reactions. Create habits that are not ego-driven but are self-imposed and controlled to serve the purpose that you define for your life. Choose the environment. Create a community where people are all on the same page, are all helping each other and inspiring each other to take risks in a very safe environment. Remove limitations. Have multiple affiliations with different institutions that can provide access to resources, tools and different technologies.Finding and Developing Mentors -
Inspire and be inspired. Create simple, meaningful mantras that drive the mission in everything you do. They can help you make decisions of how to spend your time, and how to engage the process to really think through the best way of making decisions, such as Maximize Impact. Inspire and be inspired. Develop a passion about finding a mentor. Look for someone whose hindsight becomes your foresight.Academics to Entrepreneurship – How do you translate academic discoveries into entrepreneurship and develop new companies and quickly turn that into products for patients?
Develop and Cultivate Relationships – Commit to meeting someone new every two weeks and continue to cultivate those relationships.Ways to connect with Jeff Karp:
LinkedIn WebsiteResources Discussed in this Interview:
TEDMED Talk - Insight Outside: Harnessing Nature’s Secrets, February 19, 2015. Jeff Karp, bioengineer and Associate Professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, illuminates the art and science of developing medical tools, treatments, and technologies from solutions found in nature.
This episode is sponsored by the CIO Innovation Forum, dedicated to Business Digital Leaders who want to be a part of 20% of the planet and help their businesses win with innovation and transformation.
I hope you enjoyed this interview with Jeff Karp.
You can go to the show notes to get more information about this interview and what we discussed in this episode. You’ll find the show notes at redzonetech.net/podcasts.
If you are interested in learning more about my company, RedZone Technologies, and our security expertise - in particular related to Cloud and Email Security Kill Chain Strategy, Techniques and Tactics you can email cloudkill@redzonetech.net.
Until next time. I’m signing off. Thank you and have a great day!
Credits
Music provided by Ben’s Sound: http://www.bensound.com/
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About Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy is a world renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader.
