At this year’s CU Anschutz Innovations Forum, one theme surfaced again and again:
Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation; it happens at the intersection.
The convergence of disciplines, industry and academia, data and care delivery; where speed to patient meets research rigor.
Science is poised to solve many real-world problems, but not alone.
With over 400 RSVPs from across internal CU audiences and external investors and industry, it’s clear this is top-of-mind for leaders across healthcare.
Convergence in Action
Vice Chancellor Kimberly Muller’s State of Innovation framed the day, underscoring CU Anschutz’s position as a research powerhouse with $756M in annual research funding with over 3,800 active studies.
Kim’s message was backed up throughout the day with various faculty stories of the unique position CU is in to allow risks and create an environment conducive for innovation to work—not something inherent at every institution.
Yet, despite unprecedented discovery, U.S. life expectancy has stagnated for over a decade. And while tools like data are abundant and hold promise, they remain fragmented and underutilized in silos.
Closing these gaps requires a shift from siloed expertise to integrated collaboration.
That shift came to life throughout the Forum.
The Verily keynote pointed to a future where data, AI, and simulation move healthcare from reactive to predictive, testing therapies faster and tailoring care with greater precision. But no single organization can do that alone.
Vindell Washington, MD, Chief Clinical Officer at Verily, joined Kim and Richard Zane, MD, Chief Medical and Innovation Officer at UCHealth, to highlight what’s possible through partnerships like Verily and CU: simulating care through rapid sequencing and computational validation. This work drives the ability to test therapies first in organoids to tangibly advance more precise, personalized treatment.
Across panels and conversations, the pattern was clear:
Breakthroughs don’t come from staying in your lane. They come from expanding it.
The Fast Pitch competition brought this to life with four CU faculty-led teams converging with industry and investor judges, receiving live feedback on their innovations from diverse perspectives. A final audience vote drove the outcome: a $10,000 prize.
Two teams, NeuroVesica and Parley Neurotech, walked away with funding, tackling challenges from precision psychiatry to reversing hearing loss.
Pictured left to right: Gali Baler, PhD; Neill Epperson, MD and Tracy Bale, PhD of NeuroVesica (building a biomarker platform for precision psychiatry). Achim Klug, PhD and Sam Budoff, PhD of Parley Neurotech (developing the first-ever treatment that reverses central hearing loss)
Success Breeds Success
Another facet of convergence: success is not random— it leaves clues and patterns that can be learned from.
From faculty pioneers to seasoned entrepreneurs, the Forum highlighted the role of mentorship, pattern recognition, and proximity to others who have done it before.
In academia, success is often measured by publications and follows a relatively linear path. Innovation does not. It requires iteration, failure, and the willingness to pivot. This was clear during the Pathways & Pivots Panel.
Malik Kahook, MD, Professor at CU Anschutz and UCHealth and serial entrepreneur and founder, recently had a successful IPO for his startup SpyGlass Pharma. Malik described his early learnings on the innovation journey:
“You’re starting out, throwing darts, you don’t know what will work... ‘Is this a product or a company? Should I partner with somebody?’ And this is where CU Anschutz Innovations and all of the resources available to us is just a godsend. You can actually sit down with people who know the lingo, know the business and they help you decide which way to go.” - Malik Kahook, MD
Jerome Fox, PhD, CEO at Think Bioscience and Associate Professor at CU Boulder, shared a similar approach: he actively sought out the most critical voices in his network to pressure-test his ideas early.
Robin Deterding, MD, Professor at CU Anschutz and Children’s Hospital of Colorado, who has founded three startups, emphasized the importance of surrounding yourself with expertise beyond your own: “You need to know what you don’t know, and ask, and ask, and ask. Making mistakes takes you to a different place... the company of Robin Deterding alone is not a great company.”
And for many, the hardest shift is letting go of control. As Terry Fry, MD, Professor at CU Anschutz, Executive Director at the Gates Institute, and Head of T Cell Therapeutics at Sana Biotechnology, noted, learning to incorporate perspectives beyond your own is essential to moving therapies forward effectively.
The Women’s Health panel was no different. Pushing through adversity was a core theme throughout the discussion, with many of the leaders and entrepreneurs fighting uphill battles for the advancement of often overlooked and underfunded patient needs. The ability to communicate, collaborate and influence stood out as core skills to succeed.
“Data doesn't speak for itself,” noted Anna Jeter, co-founder of AOADx. “You have to show and tell and make people feel why it matters. Learn sales, lean into sales. It teaches you to understand the individual’s need and how to tell a compelling story.”
Kim echoed this sentiment from the investor perspective: “Academia is very different from industry, which are both different from investment. When I think about the people who are successful, it's the people who can traverse those boundaries, who have the ability to communicate in the language of each of those different cultures and find the mentorship to translate.”
Looking for mentorship or support? HIE Impact Champions are embedded across departments and ready to help you navigate your next step.
What Comes Next
CU Anschutz Innovations fuels audacity - equipping researchers and innovators with the people, pathways, and partnerships to turn bold ideas into patient impact.
Virginia Borges, MD, MMSc, Professor of Medicine-Medical Oncology and Co-Founder of Pearl Scientific put it best:
“Fearless means it doesn’t matter if I’m individually successful. What’s the worst that happens if I fail? But what’s the prize if I succeed?
When I lay down in my grave, I’m not going to care about whether it was 215 or 315 papers, or how many times I got invited to give a talk, or how many grants I got. What I’m going to care about is who did I train? And are they successful? And did I do anything that improved the lives of the people who trusted me to take care of them?” - Virginia Borges, MD, MMSc
The CU Anschutz innovation ecosystem is already in motion with:
- a powerful research engine
- a growing portfolio of startups and partnerships
- and multiple pathways for translating discovery into patient impact
Through the HIE Impact Initiative (Healthcare Innovation & Entrepreneurship (HIE) Initiative) CU Anschutz is expanding access to funding, mentorship and education. Thanks to the generous support of Chancellor Elliman, Dean Sampson, and leaders across the Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, HIE is a campus-wide effort to guide innovators through the Business of Science at any stage.
This fiscal year, the team plans to expand HIE support by increasing connectivity.
Planned tools and resources to come include:
- A new Amplifire educational tool to learn the business side of science
- Continued funding support (SPARK, Toolbox, MindFund...)
- A collaboration with Grant Engine to support researchers seeking funding
- New mentorship and support with the launch of the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Program and VMS Mentor Program
- More awareness and visibility for researcher and innovator stories
- Continued support from cross-department HIE Impact Champions
The future of healthcare happens in convergence.
