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

How do you staff 15+ operating rooms a day without burning out your best nurses? OHSU's Dio Sumagaysay and Taryn Tomlinson explain how an AI-powered staffing optimization tool ended "hero staffing," cut hours of manual scheduling, and lifted care consistency across their perioperative teams.

In this episode:

• How OHSU's perioperative team moved beyond "hero staffing" and siloed scheduling knowledge held by individual service coordinators
• Inside IQ Staff Planner: the AI tool that auto-assigns OR staff by case history and competency, built in partnership with LeanTaaS
• Real outcomes: 25 hours a week of service coordinator time redirected to patient care, a 5-minute average drop in case duration, and a 30% increase in care consistency
• How OHSU built staff trust in AI by co-designing the tool with frontline service coordinators and charge nurses instead of imposing it top-down

Guests: Dio Sumagaysay, Vice President of Perioperative Services at OHSU (overseeing multi-specialty procedural areas including cath lab, IR, and endoscopy), with the organization for almost 17 years. Taryn Tomlinson, Assistant Nurse Manager for the operating rooms at OHSU Center for Health and Healing, with OHSU since 2019.

Topics covered: AI staffing optimization, operating room scheduling, perioperative workforce management, healthcare AI adoption, OR staffing shortages, LeanTaaS IQ Staff Planner

Timestamps:

[00:00] Welcome to Innovate Health: meet Dio Sumagaysay and Taryn Tomlinson

[04:02] The old way: "hero staffing" and siloed OR knowledge

[07:51] Why OHSU piloted IQ Staff Planner

[12:39] Inside the 8-year LeanTaaS partnership

[16:14] How the tool works: case-history "signal bars"

[19:41] Inside auto-assign: AI-matched daily staffing

[23:02] Addressing fears: will AI replace OR staff?

[25:50] The results: 25 hours reclaimed, 30% more consistency

[28:17] Culture change: from paper whiteboards to AI dashboards

[34:24] What's next: main OR, anesthesia, and surgeon optimization

Links & Resources Mentioned

• OHSU Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine — Services
• OHSU Center for Health and Healing, South Waterfront Campus
• OHSU's Approach to AI in Patient Care
• Lean Enterprise Institute
• John Shook, Lean Enterprise Institute
• Back to the Patient - How AI Scribe is Changing the Visit