How did VentureWell contribute to your leadership development and your professional trajectory?

VentureWell helped me strengthen my strategic leadership skills and see my work not only from a scientific perspective, but also from the perspective of its real impact on patients and communities. The experience gave me more confidence to lead multidisciplinary teams and communicate a clear vision to investors and partners.

What’s a key learning or takeaway from the VentureWell program you participated in, and how did it impact your journey?

The most valuable lesson was understanding the importance of actively listening to end users and strategic partners from the early stages. This approach, focused on real needs, allowed me to guide product development and business decisions with greater clarity, accelerating our ability to validate the product clinically and attract partners.

What’s the biggest change or milestone your institution or venture has experienced since participating in VentureWell programming?

Since our participation, Samay has gone from an initial prototype to third-generation hardware and clinical validations with more than 450 patients, secured strategic agreements with a pharmaceutical company and an insurance company, and secured more than $6.7 million in dilutive, non-dilutive, and strategic capital.

Looking back, what advice would you give yourself at the start of your journey?

I would say that resilience is just as important as innovation: Every obstacle—regulatory, financial, or technical—is a learning opportunity, and trusting your team and asking for support early on makes all the difference.

Read more about Maria’s innovation journey.

How did VentureWell contribute to your leadership development and your professional trajectory?

VentureWell pushed me to think like both a scientist and an entrepreneur. It gave me the tools to translate research into impact and taught me how to build a team, validate a market, and communicate with stakeholders outside of academia. Just as importantly, it connected me with a community of founders tackling tough problems in healthcare, which shaped how I lead medara^™️ today, with a focus on collaboration, resilience, and long-term impact.

Looking back, what advice would you give yourself at the start of your journey?

I’d remind myself to focus early on building the right partnerships. In healthcare, credibility and access come from trusted collaborations with clinicians, researchers, and health systems. I’d also tell myself not to underestimate the importance of patience. Innovation in medicine takes time, but if you stay close to patients’ needs and keep the long view in mind, the impact is worth it.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

I see medara^™️’s technology integrated into routine care, helping clinicians identify cancer risk early and giving patients the clarity they need to take action sooner. Personally, I hope to still be building at the intersection of science, technology, and healthcare and continuing to turn breakthroughs into tools that make a real difference in people’s lives.

How did VentureWell contribute to your leadership development and your professional trajectory?

The VentureWell community has had an outsized impact on so many aspects of how I work, how I teach, and how I strive to lead. Whether it’s the exceptional colleagues I meet and learn from at VentureWell conferences and workshops, the NSF I-Corps™ National Faculty Training I went through, or the inspirational mix of professionalism, fun, and camaraderie I’ve witnessed with so many VentureWell team members, these are all formative pieces I’ve gleaned and incorporated into my life today!

What’s the biggest change or milestone your institution or venture has experienced since participating in VentureWell programming?

At VentureWell conferences, I found myself fully engaged in sessions that actively got me up and about and that were truly interactive, collaborative, and all about maximizing everyone’s sharing and learning. That drastically better conference experience started me on an ongoing journey to continually strive to find ways to raise the bar even higher for collaborative gatherings by constantly listening and observing and by constantly experimenting and iterating.

Looking back, what advice would you give yourself at the start of your journey?

In 2003, David Barbe made University of Maryland (UMD) one of the original partners in VentureWell’s Invention to Venture workshops for students, faculty, and regional entrepreneurs and investors. From that fruitful collaboration, UMD steadily grew its innovation & entrepreneurship (I&E) ecosystem with campus-wide programs. Today, half of all undergraduates enroll in an I&E course each year, and UMD has been a Top 10 College for Entrepreneurship for 10 straight years.

What’s a key learning or takeaway from the VentureWell program you participated in, and how did it impact your journey?

The biggest takeaway for me was the community. [During the Ecosystem Futures Fellowship workshop], VentureWell put me in a room with people asking the same kinds of questions and testing new ideas at their schools. It showed me different ways of approaching things, and I brought a lot of that energy back to Old Dominion University. Even now, I find myself drawing on those conversations when I’m building something new.

Looking back, what advice would you give yourself at the start of your journey?

I’d tell myself not to hold back waiting for everything to line up perfectly. At the start, I was hesitant to put ideas out there because I thought they weren’t “ready enough.” What I’ve learned is that the act of sharing an idea—whether in a grant proposal, a pilot project, or even a classroom activity—creates momentum and brings people alongside you. I’d remind myself that progress comes from taking small, imperfect steps and building on them.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

In 10 years, I see myself leading major initiatives that shape how engineering education integrates sustainability, innovation, and entrepreneurship. My goal is to drive change at a national scale, working across universities and with partners in industry and government to make these approaches the norm rather than the exception.

Learn more about Dalya’s innovation journey.

What’s the biggest change or milestone your institution or venture has experienced since participating in VentureWell programming?

The biggest milestone since participating in VentureWell programming has been moving from a research concept into a fully validated device platform, with T33 Dental’s first commercial product scheduled for launch this fall. VentureWell’s support helped us clarify our regulatory pathway, strengthen our technical validation, and accelerate toward manufacturing readiness.

Looking back, what advice would you give yourself at the start of your journey?

I would remind myself to stay focused on the core problem we’re solving and not get distracted by side opportunities. Clarity of purpose makes it easier to make tough decisions and keep momentum.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

In 10 years, my team and I see ourselves leading a thriving company that has set new standards of preventive and restorative care to dentistry, while continuing to mentor other founders building impactful health technologies.

Read more about Daniel’s innovation journey.

How did VentureWell contribute to your leadership development and your professional trajectory?

As first-time founders, it gave us access to an amazing network of mentors who helped us confidently make strategic decisions. It is easy to get distracted by things that don’t push the business forward. VentureWell helped us ask hard questions and make key pivots, which ultimately led to TRIC Robotics’ success with early customers.

What’s the biggest change or milestone your institution or venture has experienced since participating in VentureWell programming?

The team at VentureWell helped us understand how to articulate our messaging to different stakeholders, pick the right early customers, and even how to raise funding from the right kind of investors. Knowing some of the challenges we would encounter beforehand made it much easier when we ran into them along the way. Some examples include: how to talk about value-based pricing with customers, how to understand the negotiation dials you can turn during your fundraising rounds, and even how to build out a data room for investors.

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

I hope that I have learned enough to help other founders achieve amazing things.

Learn more about Adam’s innovation journey.