GCMI Supports the global medtech ecosystem through the Department of State’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI).

The Epitome of a “Physician Innovator,” Driven by Unmet Clinical Needs

 

Every day the dedicated team of engineers and medtech product development experts at GCMI works to support innovators from every background in the spectrum: from individual clinicians to researchers, faculty and students in engineering spaces, to industry stalwarts and hospitals with high potential centers for medtech innovation. Our mission: direct the development, testing, and commercialization of innovative medical devices that improve quality based outcomes and delivery of healthcare for patients. 

 

In early 2023, GCMI offered to serve as a fellowship placement organization for a YLAI “winning candidate” from underserved global locales with practical application to advance high potential medtech innovations.

 

In their own words, the “YLAI empowers entrepreneurs to strengthen their capacity to launch and advance their entrepreneurial ideas and effectively contribute to social and economic development in their communities. Since the initiative’s launch in 2015, more than 1,750 YLAI Fellows from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada have expanded their leadership and entrepreneurial experience through fellowships at businesses and organizations across the United States. Through the YLAI Entrepreneurial Leadership Curriculum and individualized professional placements, YLAI Fellows have accelerated their commercial and social ventures’ success and developed specific action plans to implement upon return to their home countries.”

 

One Physician’s Medtech Innovation Journey Through YLAI, GCMI Follows On a Strong Family Heritage and Drive to Address Urgent Unmet Clinical Needs

 

Kevin Morales Chamorro, MD is a practicing physician in Nicaragua with a growing catalog of medtech innovations responding to unmet clinical needs to his credit. A winner of the Entrepreneurship World Cup, the National Innovation Award in Nicaragua and recognition by other institutions including MIT, Dr. Kevin recently completed a YLAI sponsored fellowship with GCMI.

 

“Several colleagues, including one of my co-founders who participated five years ago, recommended YLAI,” Dr. Chamorro  told us. “They said it was a great opportunity to learn and grow, matching my curriculum and goals perfectly.

“YLAI placed me with GCMI because it matched my profile and interests. I wanted to learn about medtech manufacturing, regulatory processes, and how to turn ideas into market-ready products.”

 

Matching Interests and Motivation Made for Medtech Innovation

“Since I was a child, I have loved technology,” Dr. Chamorro said. “During my third year of medical school in 2016, I started combining my interest in science with medicine. Initially, I created a device for visually impaired people to detect objects at a distance. Over the years, my passion for technology and medicine grew stronger, inspired by figures like Nikola Tesla and my father Virgilio Morales, who was a doctor.”

 

With co-founder Annabel Chamorro, MBA, mother of Dr. Kevin Chamorro founded MedETechNi in 2018. But prior to the founding in 2016, the nascent enterprise created a holographic imaging device for medical education; in 2017, a bracelet with RFID for visually impaired people; in 2018, a bracelet for emergencies and natural disasters; and in 2019, a device for burnout syndrome with binaural beats.

 

During the pandemic in 2020, Dr. Kevin and the MedETechNi team developed the Tesla UV Rays device to disinfect hospital areas. In 2023, it introduced Virgilio Rays, named in honor of Dr. Chamorro’s father, Virgilio, who passed away due to multi-resistant bacteria. The device uses UV radiation to treat infected wounds and accelerate healing, specifically targeting diabetic foot ulcers.

 

Like GCMI, MedETechNi has grown to become a company dedicated to creating medical devices that improve patient care and safety.

Dr. Chamorro shared more about his experience with us, what he plans to take back to his work immediately and his advice for aspiring medtech innovators in the following Q&A. Spoiler alert: teamwork and process adherence take the lead.

 

What did you hope to learn or achieve in your time with GCMI?

I hoped to learn about the process of bringing a medical device from concept to market, including prototyping, validation, and regulatory requirements. I wanted to understand how a company like GCMI works in detail.

 

What did you actually work on?

I worked on several projects, including a colostomy device for safe and contamination-free fecal material disposal and synthetic matrices for immunotherapy. I also learned about a MEMS device for predicting respiratory diseases through sound and I contributed my knowledge on infection prevention in surgical systems and helped improve device designs to avoid infections.

 

What surprised you?

I was surprised by the teamwork and advanced technology at GCMI. The level of collaboration, the well-organized workflow, and the daily meetings to ensure project success were impressive.

 

What was / were the most valuable thing or things you learned?

The most valuable things I learned were the regulatory processes for FDA approval, the steps needed to create a successful medical device, and the importance of teamwork.

 

What will you take away and put into practice for your work immediately?

I will implement the regulatory knowledge and design processes I learned to improve our products and ensure they meet international standards. I also plan to apply the effective teamwork strategies I observed.

 

What can others learn from your experience?

In medtech innovation it is imperative to have a clear objective, maximize learning opportunities, and understand the cultural differences in teamwork and processes between regions. If you are placed in a company like GCMI [through YLAI or other opportunity], focus on learning their methods and apply them to your work.

 

GCMI thanks Dr. Chamorro for sharing his story and insights with us. We look forward to following his team’s work and supporting it when, where and how we can.

 

Medtech Innovators, get in touch. It’s never too early. 

GCMI is fully committed to our customers’ success and welcomes you to contact us at any point in a technology’s pathway from the ‘back of the napkin’ to the bench, manufacturing, bedside and beyond. Whether you’re an individual innovator, startup or health system with an internal innovation program, initiative or ecosystem, get in touch. It’s never too early.

 

As our client colleague Jud Ready, co-founder and CEO of Hub Hygiene told us, “The earlier you reach out to GCMI for guidance, the easier your journey is going to be. What will your device look like when it gets to the FDA? What’s needed for testing? What regulatory classification should it follow? What about labeling? What about manufacturing at a scale of many millions per year? You’re going to need to know this, and much more, sooner rather than later if you are to be successful. Your investors are going to demand answers and accountability to those questions as well. 

 

“The quicker you ask and answer the most relevant, pressing, potentially costly questions, the more cost and time efficient your work will be, not to mention preventing headaches and heartache down the road. GCMI does medical device development every day. They are agile, responsive and can often solve problems with minimal input given their expertise and experience. They absolutely accelerated our commercialization pathway.”

 

Get in touch with GCMI via the form below. It’s never too early.