The Journey to Impact: Extending Care and Therapy for Stroke Patients
As part of our series of discussions with faculty innovators, I speak with Professor Swathi Kiran, James and Cecilia Tse Ying Professor of Neurorehabilitation, Sargent College. Professor Kiraan has led a successful journey from research to the creation of a company that helps people build back cognitive, speech, and language abilities after having a stroke.
Rana Gupta [RG]: What is your project or idea?
Swathi Kiran [SK]: I helped to develop a digital platform for people who have had a stroke; it helps people to get rehabilitation once they are discharged from the hospital.
RG: What is your main objective with this work?
SK: To take my research and expertise and convert it into something practical and useful.
RG: What is the need that you’ve identified, and the path you’ve chosen to address the need?
SK: Many people who are released from hospital care after having a stroke are not getting therapy. About 750,000 strokes occur each year in the US, and approximately one-third of them (225,000) result in aphasia, which robs the patient of their ability to communicate. The platform we developed can be sold to millions of users via a subscription model, reaching patients at their homes. The patient is the customer.
The path we chose was a startup. I started the company in 2013 with an entrepreneur, and licensed the technology from BU. The company thrived and was sold in 2017. But then in 2020, it was sold back to the original entrepreneur and is now called Constant Therapy Health. I serve as a consultant now and we bring rich data back to BU for scientific exploration of digital health and precision medicine.
You can read about the company at https://constanttherapyhealth.com/; and see our progression timeline from 2013 to the present on the About Us page.
RG: What did you find most uncomfortable or different about the process compared to research work?
SK: In the early stages in 2012, I would go to the fundraising meetings. I had equity. But I was uncomfortable talking with people who wanted to know how this would impact their bottom line (“If I invest, how will I make money?”). Over time this became easier. I was there to talk about the science and if there were business questions, there were others in the room who could help them. I can answer the science questions and feel comfortable about it.
When you actually do hand your company over to someone else, which is a desired result, that’s difficult. It’s your science and effort; and you hand it over hoping that they keep the same values. I did not agree with all decisions but I was a consultant; if they took my opinion, fine, but that was my role.
My advice to people: make careful decisions about how much you want to be involved and engaged.
RG: What’s the next step?
SK: I will continue to support the entrepreneur. I want to take this to an everyday-use application. This is the best contribution I can give to my field. My work with the data is a huge opportunity to teach and contribute.
RG: What is your reaction to the invention versus innovation definitions?
SK: In my space, market adoption is everything. If the customer does not adopt it, you’ve wasted your time. I can see how this is not important in basic sciences.
RG: What would you like to say to the BU community?
SK: A few things. We need a cultural shift. It’s a slow process at BU. We need a recognition of the slow process and some incentives around that. Also, understand that the process of taking an idea to people requires a lot of input; utilize Technology Development and other support systems. The university is set up very well to help faculty with conflicts while you bring ideas.
The following section includes questions for Dr. Kiran from members of BU’s research community:
Please comment on how you managed the beginning of the transition from your research in the lab, to adding business partners, to pursuing commercialization. What role did Technology Development play in supporting you through that transition? How did you find your cofounders?
SK: From the beginning, I created a virtual firewall between my research lab and my cofounders, who were acquaintances. Technology Development (OTD) played a significant role in licensing the content from my lab over to the company. OTD was critical, as I did not know what to do.
Can you speak to how you went about building your business expertise? How did you manage concurrently spinning out a company and remaining in your full-time BU position?
SK: The only business expertise I learned and built was “on the job.” Since I had cofounders who were well-versed in the business aspects of the company, I was asked to come to meeting and make decisions about the science. In general, I was always part of a larger team of people involved with the Constant Therapy startup, so my role was fairly focused and narrow. For those reasons, I was able to maintain my full time BU position without issues, although I paid very close attention to managing my conflicts of interests through the BU FCOI process.
What do you predict will be the most important innovations in your field in the next five years? What will be the most valuable job titles or new jobs that will be created?
SK: Since I am in healthcare, I predict innovations in healthcare will be smart/wearable sensors and continuous data collection and monitoring, leading to precision medicine. Most of the jobs will be in data mining/AI, as all the data that are collected by these sensors will need to be analyzed and converted and translated into meaningful services/products.
How did you handle de-prioritizing current work for the sake of your invention?
SK: I don’t understand this question! You don’t de-prioritize anything. You just sort of figure out how to juggle all of the balls that you have in the air.
RG: Thank you, Professor Kiran.
Rana K. Gupta formerly served as director of faculty entrepreneurship at Boston University. He helped BU researchers bring technology and other research breakthroughs to the marketplace to increase their impact through programs and workshops, one-on-one consulting with faculty, educational resources, and community building among BU innovators.