Dr. Jagdish Chaturvedi, Director – Innaccel Technologies Private Limited
Dr. Jagdish is actively practicing Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon who has evolved into a serial medical device Innovator, Author and a standup comedian. Dr. Jagdish Chaturvedi is currently Director, Clinical Innovations and Partnerships at Innaccel Technologies Private Limited. He continues his clinical career by running his private evening ENT clinic and carries out surgical procedures at Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore as Visiting Consultant in Ear nose and throat surgery This evolution is a result of his passion to be a problem solver. Circumstances and limitations faced by him during his professional and personal life have led to his career transformation.
He is passionate about treating patients effectively by contributing both as a clinician and an Innovator. His core expertise lies in the process of identifying and analyzing unmet clinical needs for quick development of low-cost and high quality medical devices, and teaching/ training the Biodesign process. He has co-invented and developed 18 affordable medical devices addressing the unmet needs in the Indian healthcare system, many of which have been taken over by indigenous companies, while some have formed startup companies for further development and commercialization.
He is recognized as one of the 35 innovators under the age of 35 by the MIT technology review 2016. His Comedy YouTube channel is popularized by “The Magaa of small things” and is the author of the bestselling book on medical device innovations called “Inventing Medical Devices – A perspective from India” and ” The benefits of failing successfully”.
Dr. Chaturvedi has performed two stand-up comedy specials – Laughter Therapy (January 2017) and F for Failure (June 2017) in major cities of India and International cities. Here are some more thoughts from the versatile healthcare professional.
Who has inspired you the most and why?
The person who inspired me to become a Doctor and an Actor is my father Dr. Santosh Kumar Chaturvedi, (psychiatrist by profession). Growing up I have seen and heard stories of how he used to balance the two together. This got me acting from a very early age and gave me an inspiration to be a doctor.
My mother Mrs Beena Chaturvedi (teacher by profession), who inspired me to always learn something new regardless of age. I have seen her take up courses and learn new skills (swimming, driving, riding, baking etc) while she was in her 30’s and 40’s, constantly learning new activities and growing her skills.
My mentor and Guru, Dr. Ravi Nayar, an ENT surgeon who was my teacher during my training days, inspired me to take up innovations as he used to be actively involved on research and creating new solutions and lastly my wife, Dr. Soumya Parameshwaran, a psychiatrist who inspired me to multitask and balance multiple activities while maintaining a healthy and simple life.
What parts of your job do you find most challenging?
I have four core jobs and each bring their own challenges. As a Doctor I find it challenging these days to make patients receive definitive care early on in their illness. Most patients at least in India have the mindset to wait till they have an advanced disease or complications before seeking definitive care. There are numerous minimally invasive and non invasive surgical options available today that can benefit patients of they can opt for them early.
As an Innovator it’s quite challenging to form a core team prior to generating the idea. This is critical as it is important for the team to identify the problem and solve it together. This gives a longer runway for development along with vested interest and passion. Individuals who have come up with the idea and try to build a team around them seldom last till the end commercialization and scale up. It’s challenging to get full time motivated team members who are willing to understand and solve a problem together.
As an Author I find it challenging to market and scale a self published book. As a Standup Comedian I find it challenging to generate content in a sustainable manner that relates with a wider audience.
What changes would you like to see in Healthcare Sector in India?
I would like to see the following key changes:
1. Easier access to cross disciplinary professionals such as Doctors, Engineers, Designers, scientists and business experts who are willing to work on newer Healthcare innovations in a greater capacity.
2. Easier access to high risk funds which can be used for early stage proof of concept and product development and licensing partners
3. Better partnerships between academia and industry to help translate new inventions to the industry on reasonable and acceptable terms to ensure widespread usage and scale up of an innovation.
4. More hospitals in semi urban and rural parts of India which can deliver effective and latest care to patients.
Marketing has revolutionized all sectors & industry today. What are your views on marketing Healthcare Services?
I believe Healthcare services have a better and more sustainable future because of the extensive marketing opportunities available today. There are numerous Healthcare platforms being created and there is a way to reach the end user through social media marketing and direct marketing channels. This is a powerful medium and is growing at a rapid rate. Healthcare portals which offer online doctor patient consultations and point of care devices are going to be disruptive in the next 5 years.
If you could start all over again, would you change your career path in any way? Why?
This may sound cliché but I wouldn’t change anything because whatever has happened has gotten me to be what I wanted to be at a fairly early point in my career. It has given me the perfect foundation to enable development of ground breaking medical technologies that can improve Healthcare globally. I think I faced the right circumstances and got the right advice and support from my mentors and well wishers. So if I had to do this all over again I would do it in exactly the same way.
What would you like achieve in coming years
I would like to create and lead a medical technology company that makes affordable, effective and safer therapeutic solutions for unmet needs in low and middle income countries. While maintaining my clinical career of seeing and treating patients and training doctors and engineers on the process of inventing medical devices and to keep my passion of writing and performing standup comedy throughout my journey. Sound like a lot. I have been able to manage so far over the last 7 years of this multifaceted career. I hope to continue as I grow.