How did your career pathway lead you to working at a health tech startup?
I’ve always had an interest in technology – in fact, it was part of the reason I chose gastroenterology. When I finished GI fellowship, I decided to stay in academics because of an opportunity to lead clinical innovation efforts at my institution’s patient safety institute. This role provided protected time to foster external and internal partnerships around technology. It also gave me an opportunity to pursue clinical research and administrative experiences. While I enjoyed all three paths, it became clear that health technology was my passion. While the opportunity to join a startup was largely serendipitous – I met the founder of the company after presenting at a digital medicine conference – it also happened as a result of the steps outlined in a subsequent question. Not long after learning about the company, I made the transition to part-time faculty/clinical status and full-time chief medical officer (CMO).
What do you do as CMO?
Dr. Simon C. Mathews
There is no one answer to this question. It will depend on a number of variables, especially the type of business (for example, diagnostic, drug, digital, direct care management, and so on), stage of company (for example, concept, seed, series A/B/C, public), and the existing background of company founders (for example, technical, clinical, operations, and so on). Generally speaking, the earlier the stage of the company, the more hats you’ll wear (though this also means more risk; more on that later). An early-stage company was appealing to me because it gave me an opportunity to apply many of the same critical-thinking and problem-solving skills in clinical medicine to a host of other challenges. For example, as a practicing gastroenterologist, I know the pain points in the delivery of GI care and the challenges that my patients encounter. I then ask how can I develop our technology and product platform to address these issues. Also understanding how value and quality are measured in GI practice makes it easier to convey the effect of the solutions that are built and prioritize their development. In my current role I contribute to the following areas:
- Clinical strategy and vision. This means understanding the clinical need the company is trying to address at a fundamental level and designing how the technology or solution can address that need in a meaningful way. This includes working directly with technology and product teams to create a roadmap for how the technology/solution will continue to drive impact.
- Clinical care leadership. If the company employs or works with health professionals in any capacity, this usually involves developing clinical protocols and providing clinical direction.
- Clinical outcomes. This means being responsible for understanding and/or developing the metrics that will be used to demonstrate impact of the technology/solution. This includes designing clinical studies and being responsible for their execution.
- Stakeholder engagement. This means interfacing internally with nearly every aspect of the company and interacting externally with customers (usually medical peers and executives), investors, other companies, and key opinion leaders in the field.
- Regulatory. For companies pursuing Food and Drug Administration clearance or approval for their product, this entails developing a strategy and executing it.
- Research & development. This involves creating and executing a roadmap for integrating new technologies/ideas that generally complement the initial problem you are trying to solve.
