In this episode, Dr. Brinton tells us how he started as a biomedical engineer and why he eventually went to medical school. We discuss how important mentorship can be, and we talk about how he was able to balance residency with building a company.

Dr. Brinton shares some of the biggest lessons he has learned while being an innovator, and he discusses the goals of his company, Shockwave. We talk about the importance of understanding the patient population and some of the technical challenges of creating solutions to healthcare problems. We speak about Dr. Brinton’s position as the Fellowship Director of BioDesign at Stanford, and how he worked to train the next generation of innovators. 

We review the importance of needs driven innovation in medicine and how to keep the patient at the center of the innovation process. We discuss the importance of having a creative, multidisciplinary team behind an invention. We share some advice for physicians wanting to get started in needs driven innovation and explain when to file for intellectual property. Dr. Brinton explains why it can be important to “fail often and fail fast.”