The Emerging Role of the Physician Innovator
People dream of becoming a physician, but I never thought of myself as one of them. I am passionate about medicine, and I know I want to work with patients daily, but I was scared that I would have to give up my engineering background to be a physician. As I got older, I began to see engineering in medicine prevail. I remember seeing teleconsults with neurologists in the ED and first thought it would never catch on. Two years later, the entire healthcare system moved to telemedicine in a week because of COVID-19. I realized that my interests weren’t mutually exclusive. I didn’t need to sacrifice my love for finding new solutions because I wanted to be a physician.
In fact, these two fields complement each other more than they conflict. I have seen my own engineered devices work to advance research about the body and I constantly stumble upon opportunites for innovative treatments in my line of work. As an engineer, I have learned how to take existing pieces to create a new solution. Sometimes these pieces are hardware and devices; other times, the pieces are time, opportunity, and people. I started NKR Solutions in my first year of medical school to begin working with early-stage startups in the medical device field and have thrived filling the role of translator between the clinicians and engineers that suddenly must work together in their new endeavor.
Contact me at koby@nkreid.com to hear more about how I might be able to help your growing team’s needs.
Areas of Expertise
Early Stage Prototyping
Design for Manufacturability
Injection Molding
Prior Grant Experience
NIH Phase I/II SBIR Grant Work
NASA HRP Grant Work