Today I was joined by Dr. Alexei Mlodinow, founding CEO of Surgical Innovations Associates (SIA), a med tech company spun out of Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and Kellogg School of Management in 2016, and acquired by Integra LifeSciences in 2022. Alexei’s career began at UC Santa Barbara where he studied business economics and Japanese language and culture. You might be asking yourself at this point: I thought he was a doctor, where was his premed? I was wondering the same thing, so I asked him: he took the necessary medical courses on the side. Ever get the impression that the higher education system is trying to bottleneck your career before it even begins? It was refreshing to learn some academic freedom is allowed; if you’re considering medicine, you don’t necessarily pigeonhole yourself by initially studying something else. Enrolling in Northwestern Medical School in 2012, Mlodinow was recruited by his research mentor to work on a device designed to enhance soft tissue support in surgical procedures. This was the genesis for SIA: Mlodinow would grow the company to 25+ employees, raise $23 million in equity funding and NIH grants, and lead the sale to Integra in 2022. If you think there are 24 hours in a day, I’ll direct you to Dr. Mlodinow at this time. In 2020, while pursuing his MD and running SIA, Mlodinow also co-founded RapidRona (acquired 2021), a Covid testing platform. Mlodinow began his plastic surgery residency in 2021 and ultimately left to take a sabbatical recently, after deciding he prefers medical innovation to clinical practice.