CU Anschutz is proud to announce the Healthcare Innovation & Entrepreneurship (HIE) Initiative at CU Innovations — a campus-built effort designed to support faculty, staff, and students in turning medical ideas into real-world patient impact.
Launching this Fall, HIE marks a new chapter in innovation support at CU Anschutz, expanding beyond traditional tech transfer to include more robust mentorship, support for multiple pathways to commercialization, industry partnerships, and educational resources — tailored to the realities of academic life.
Already a powerhouse in discovery — HIE aims to help translate this momentum into direct patient impact. As a Tier 1 Research Institution, CU Anschutz has published an average of over 3,000 papers a year for the past five years (PubMed), with over 3,500 clinical trials underway with 14,000+ enrollees.
A Sustainable Investment in Healthcare Innovation - By CU Anschutz, For CU Anschutz
“The Healthcare Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative is our campuswide commitment to medical innovation—to turn great science into patient impact, and to support the innovators behind it,” said Chancellor Don Elliman.
As research funding evolves, HIE equips innovators with the connections, resources, and know-how to turn discoveries into patient impact. Funding agencies increasingly expect not just basic research, but clear plans for delivering real-world benefits. HIE helps researchers build and communicate these commercialization strategies — unlocking funding and advancing breakthroughs to the people who need them.
Supported at the highest levels of leadership, HIE is a campuswide resource and a strategic investment in CU Anschutz’s future as a national leader in healthcare innovation and impact with support from founding shareholders across the campus:
- Chancellor’s Office
- School of Medicine
- Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Department of Medicine
- Department of Ophthalmology
- Department of Surgery
- Department of Dermatology
- Department of Emergency Medicine
- Department of Neurosurgery
- Department of Otolaryngology
The initiative will be guided by a Governance Committee composed of the founding shareholders and an Advisory Board composed of faculty champions, external industry and investment leaders.
“We’re building on a legacy of innovation at CU Anschutz—one that puts patient impact at its center,” said Kimberly Muller, Vice Chancellor of Innovation and Biotechnology. “HIE is about giving faculty across the campus the tools, mentorship, and resources to bring life-changing ideas from the lab to the world.”
Built on Faculty Input
The creation of HIE was driven by extensive interviews with department chairs, faculty, staff, students and industry mentors. Key findings included the need for:
- A more coordinated, centralized “front door” to both internal and external support,
- Clearer education and mentorship on commercialization pathways (startup, licensing, consulting, industry collaboration),
- Tailored resources for busy clinical and research faculty,
- Expanded support beyond pharma - including biotech, devices, diagnostics, digital health, and broader technologies,
- A research-driven approach to continually evolve innovation support around people, not just technologies.
“We’re seeing a groundswell of interest in innovation, but faculty need clarity, mentorship, and time to pursue it,” said Dr. Michael Holers, Professor of Medicine, Faculty Ventures Director at CU Innovations and co-founder of Q32 Bio. “This initiative is a direct response to that call.”
CU Innovations will continue providing core tech transfer services — like IP filings, licensing, and protection — as part of a broader, more dynamic system focused on empowering innovators based on their goals and pathways.
A New Front Door for Innovators
Sustainable health innovation doesn’t come from one idea — it comes from the people behind it. HIE is focused on investing in innovators, not just inventions.
“Ideas come and go. Most innovations fail, that is a right of passage. But we have full confidence in our faculty - they’ll keep coming up with better, more creative ideas to meet unmet patient needs. Our thesis is to invest in our people.” - Gali Baler, PhD, Managing Director, Strategy and Operations, CU Innovations
Join Healthcare I&E
HIE officially launches in Fall 2025. Sign up here to be added to the waitlist for our mentor program and to hear about kickoff events and ways to get involved.
Whether you’re exploring your first idea or scaling a venture, Healthcare I&E will provide:
- Mentorship from industry experts to guide your next step
- Personalized learning paths to build entrepreneurial skills at your own pace
- Targeted funding opportunities including SPARK and Startup Toolbox grants
- Connection to strategic partners across venture capital, biotech, and medtech
“As faculty, clinicians and researchers, we see the problems first hand - and we are best positioned to solve them. If we don't do this, no one will.” Dr. Yuri Agrawal, Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, currently developing a medical device with a clinical colleague.
