Mount Sinai BioDesign

As neurosurgeons, facing very complicated diseases with very complex anatomy, rarely a day goes by when we don’t wish for a better tool or process in the operating room. By nature, front-line surgeons and clinicians are problem solvers. Mount Sinai BioDesign was born out of the realization that there is vast, untapped potential in the insights of physician-scientists working in the real world to create better devices and techniques to solve clinical problems.

What we realized early on was that if we brought engineers into Mount Sinai to collaborate with clinicians and paired that with a technology transfer office like Mount Sinai Innovation Partners, we could potentially bring all those solutions in-house. And thus, the concept of Mount Sinai BioDesign was created to become a MedTech device incubator.

This has evolved over time and taken root in a greatly expanded program. We have a mission to create technological solutions that not only solve our patients’ problems, but also bring value to Mount Sinai. We are now training the next generation of engineers in a culture of innovation and collaboration that creates technologies that are either patented and licensed, or used as the foundation to create a company—thereby bringing not only medical value but financial value to Mount Sinai.

As we’ve expanded beyond neurosciences and neurosurgery, our focus is still device-oriented. But now we’re working with ENT, cardiology, dermatology, pediatrics, and radiology.

Still, our mission is clear.

First, to create technological solutions that turn into intellectual property, devices, licenses, and companies.

Second, to remember that everything we do is in service of our patients, to solve their problems and simultaneously create value for Mount Sinai.

We are exploring and redefining what it is to be to be an entrepreneur in an academic environment like Mount Sinai. At Mount Sinai BioDesign, there is the opportunity for almost anyone to become a collaborator, an inventor, or a tech entrepreneur. The roles are abundant on our team; visionaries have the potential to become a co-inventor, a co-sponsor, or perhaps an owner or employee of a new company.

As we prototype not just devices, but new methods, we are attracting and retaining some of the most creative faculty in the world. The traditional model of a scientist-entrepreneur often requires that you leave your academic institution once you become successful as an entrepreneur. But at Mount Sinai BioDesign, you become part of an incredibly vital team of collaborators and innovators who continue to work in their fields of expertise.

Our spirit of collaboration extends beyond Mount Sinai. We serve as a collaborative testing ground for outside companies to vet, test, and improve their technology. If a company wants to demonstrate the value of their technology to physicians and clinicians around the world, Mount Sinai BioDesign serves as a hub for that. Our robust Clinical Trials Office allows our own tech and other companies’ tech to be trialed in a way that leads to FDA approval. Plus, we are not only the testing grounds for new ideas and technological solutions, but a place to develop a practical business model, as well.

Sometimes we will share in the intellectual property that results, and other times we contract with the inventor to help them evaluate it. When we invent something, for it to be successful, it will eventually be licensed to a company, or the company we create will be bought. To be sure, many companies are doing this on their own, but they don't have a way to work with clinicians who are the end users.

At our core, Mount Sinai BioDesign is a powerful educational initiative that teaches people how to become entrepreneurs—as well as engineers or physician-scientists. We bring value to Mount Sinai by creating new devices, intellectual property, and ultimately, companies that contribute to Mount Sinai’s ecosystem.

Joshua B. Bederson, MD
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Mount Sinai BioDesign
Leonard I. Malis, MD/Corinne and Joseph Graber Professor of Neurosurgery System Chair, Department of Neurosurgery Mount Sinai Health System

Benjamin I. Rapoport, MD, PhD
Scientific Director, BioDesign
Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery