How does a promising discovery in a research lab actually become a company, a licensed product, or a clinical tool patients can use? In this episode of Innovate Health, Dr. Aditi Martin, Senior Director for Collaborations and Entrepreneurship at OHSU, breaks down how OHSU Innovates helps researchers, clinicians, and students turn early-stage ideas into partnerships, startups, and market-ready innovations — and why entrepreneurship doesn't have to be a lonely journey.

In this episode:

• Inside OHSU Innovates: how partnership development, startup formation, and gap funding work together to support academic entrepreneurship

• Real success stories — from a nerve-imaging surgical technology (Trace Biosciences) to a biodegradable neurosurgical clip (NeuraMedica)

• How the Biomedical Innovation Program and the I-Corps-based Commercialization Readiness Program de-risk the path from idea to market

• Why "the earlier, the better" is the golden rule for connecting with OHSU's innovation and technology transfer teams

• Guest credential: Dr. Martin is a pharmacologist by training who spent seven years at Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures before joining OHSU in 2015 to lead its growing innovation ecosystem

Guest: Dr. Aditi Martin, Senior Director for Collaborations and Entrepreneurship at OHSU. A pharmacologist by training (Virginia Commonwealth University), Dr. Martin spent seven years at Johns Hopkins Tech Ventures in business development, licensing, and patent analysis before joining OHSU in 2015 to help build out its innovation and entrepreneurship programming.

Topics covered: academic entrepreneurship, technology transfer, biomedical innovation funding, healthcare startups, industry-academia partnerships, commercialization readiness

Timestamps:

02:05 Dr. Martin's path to OHSU and what OHSU Innovates is

05:14 Partnership development — the first pillar of Collaborations & Entrepreneurship

07:07 Cultivating startups from university IP — the second pillar

08:53 The Biomedical Innovation Program: gap funding for early-stage ideas

09:50 The I-Corps-based Commercialization Readiness Program

11:59 Push vs. pull — how researchers and innovators connect with the program

13:58 Success story: Trace Biosciences' nerve-imaging technology

15:42 Success story: NeuraMedica's bioabsorbable surgical clip

17:16 When to reach out — "the earlier, the better"

20:03 How OHSU Innovates defines success: metrics, ROI, and repeat innovators

24:07 Navigating risk and the culture shift toward innovation at OHSU

26:41 Coaching researchers through commercialization anxiety

30:56 Overcoming early resistance through relationship building

34:49 What's next: on-campus startup space and expanded ecosystem partnerships

36:51 How to get started — contact info, newsletter, and the annual impact report

Links & Resources Mentioned:

OHSU Innovates — https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates

OHSU Collaborations and Entrepreneurship — https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates/collaborations-and-entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial Education Programs — https://www.ohsu.edu/innovates/entrepreneurial-education-programs

OHSU Startup Companies — https://www.ohsu.edu/collaborations-and-entrepreneurship/ohsu-startups

Contact Dr. Martin's team: oce@ohsu.edu