#230: Dr. Nick Medendorp, Jr: The New Wave of Disinfection for Eliminating Bacteria & Viruses

OVERVIEW:

Jason A. Duprat, Entrepreneur, Healthcare Practitioner, and Host of the Healthcare Entrepreneur Academy podcast, speaks with Dr. Nick Medendorp, PhD, Co-Founder, and CEO of UV Innovators. Nick talks about the importance of combating pathogens that cause hospital-acquired infections. He shares his journey in medical engineering and how this led him to launch his own medical company.

 

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 

• Nick’s father worked for GE so they moved around a lot. His father had a strong work ethic and Nick learned early on to power through problems. 
  
• His basis for success is twofold: how to solve problems and why things break. 
  
• Nick believes it’s important to get out of your comfort zone to get a different perspective to advance your knowledge base. 
  
• Early in his career, Nick took a position with Phoenix Corp lab in tech development. While there, he realized the challenges large organizations faced. 
  
• Nick was at a crossroads when it came to his career. Choose tech or business. He went to work for CREE, a startup in Santa Barbara that jump-started his entrepreneurial journey. 
  
• As an entrepreneur, if you can’t find a partner, find a mentor. The CFO of CREE became Nick’s mentor and helped him develop a network with bankers, venture capitalists, and other entrepreneurs. 
  
• While he worked at the startup, he opened his eyes and ears and learned from his interactions, which eventually helped him start his own business. 
  
• UV Innovators was founded in 2020 with two partners who had backgrounds in medical technology and medical devices. NuvaWave is a portable disinfection technology that eradicates pathogens on the surface by eliminating bacteria and viruses, including those caused by the Coronavirus.  
  
• One out of every 31 patients who are hospitalized gets a hospital-acquired infection.
  
• In the healthcare industry, there’s about $45 billion of additional expense from hospital-acquired infections.
  
• The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges of making what's invisible visible.
  
• WellAir acquired UV Innovators and Nick believes it’s the perfect marriage. 
  
• Based on feedback from clinicians, Nick and his team are continuing to explore medical technology innovation. Currently, they’re working on a tool that’s cordless, simple to use access verticals, and can easily integrate into workflows. 
  

 

3 KEY POINTS:

1. UV Innovators focuses on portable, handheld disinfection technologies that eradicate pathogens on the surface. Nick’s mission is to protect clinicians and nurses, as well as patients and their family members. 
   
2. Be open to the idea of a company acquisition. Sometimes, merging with another innovative entity is the best way to scale and leverage your product and business.
   
3. Throughout the development process, Nick continues to focus on key attributes to solve problems including making products cordless so healthcare workers can integrate them into a workflow.
   

 

TWEETABLE QUOTES:

“Curiosity is an important part of being successful in business and in things you do in life.” -  Dr. Nick Medendorp, Jr. 

 

“The willingness to go outside your comfort zone not only enables you to learn new things but sometimes makes you come out with a different perspective.” - Dr. Nick Medendorp, Jr. 

 

“If you want to make a billion dollars, you’ve got to solve a problem for a billion people.” -  Dr. Nick Medendorp, Jr. 

 

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