Stanford Medicine Catalyst

Public description

About the program

Stanford Medicine Catalyst is a joint strategic effort of the Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford Health Care and Stanford Medicine Children's Health that acts as the institutional hub for Stanford health care innovations. It funds and incubates promising projects from Stanford faculty, staff, clinicians and students, providing capital of up to $1 million per project along with operational support, mentorship, regulatory guidance and intellectual property support. Projects must be beyond pure concept, typically with an early working prototype or feasibility data, and applications are reviewed by the Catalyst team plus outside industry entrepreneurs and investors through successive evaluation stages. Outside companies and investors engage as reviewers, mentors and downstream partners, since Catalyst expects projects to translate onward through incorporation, investor funding, industry partnerships, licensing or clinical integration. IP protection is handled with Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing.

What the program publicly emphasizes

Focus areas and features

• •Category: Health system accelerator

Publicly documented people and network

Program leadership and alumni

Program leader

Kevin Wasserstein — Executive Director, Stanford Medicine Catalyst

Notable alumni named in public materials

Over five years reviewed more than 500 applications, selected more than 30 projects, engaged over 200 Stanford innovators, completed 12 clinical pilots and translated 13 projects into companies, licenses or partnerships (Stanford Medicine magazine); AVATAR, a projection device used during pediatric radiation therapy, helped 78% of children avoid anesthesia and has been deployed in more than 12 countries (Stanford Medicine magazine); A Catalyst-backed radiopharmaceutical team secured a $35 million ARPA-H contract (Stanford Medicine magazine); Provides capital of up to $1 million per project (Stanford Medicine Catalyst FAQ)