Dr Erez Shor On How Exero Medical’s Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness
Source:
Authority Magazine
Date:
June 13, 2022
Original Article:
Tackle a problem that applies to a big group of people. In our case, to begin, it is the need to save a large fraction of the millions undergoing gastrointestinal surgery.
Inrecent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Erez Shor.
Dr. Erez Shor is the CEO of Exero Medical, developer of a resorbable, post-operation, tissue-healing monitoring system. He has 25 years of experience in academia and the start-up ecosystem. Prior to Exero Medical, Erez led the development of multidisciplinary applications including digital mapping systems, neural implants to treat spinal cord injury and chemical detection using brain-computer interfaces. Erez holds a BSc. and MSc in Electrical Engineering, a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience. He is also a graduate of the Merage Institute Lean Startup Executive Program.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
Curiosity was a major driver in my childhood. My parents encouraged my brother and I to ask questions. They also encouraged us to read. Reading a lot led to reading fast and it wasn’t uncommon for us to take out a library book and to finish reading it by the time it took me to wander back home. Our parents also encouraged us to ‘look around!’, to be observant and notice what was going on around us. Developing our sense of curiosity, a love for reading and the ability to be in tune with our surroundings are practices that I use until today as a technologist.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
When I was studying for my PhD, I went to an intriguing lecture about the olfactory code given by Professor Dmitry Rinberg, on the connection between odors and the brain.
After the lecture I approached Professor Rinberg with a couple questions. Our conversation was lively, and we continued it over dinner.
A few months later, our paths crossed again at a conference, after which I had an opportunity to visit Professor Rinberg’s lab. There, he told me about a new electrode designed to pick up neural signals from the surface of the brain.
I instinctively reacted (remember, I learned early to be curious), “Have you got any idea how many applications can be derived from this if we put it on the olfactory bulb and hack into the olfactory data?”
Professor Rinberg snapped back, “Applications? I don’t do applications. I do science.”
Animals are widely used to detect objects — you see dogs every time you go to the airport. But training these dogs is tedious, takes time and is very limited due to the extremely basic communications one can establish with the animal.
Professor Rinberg and I discussed if we could hack into the interface between the nose and the brain, and then we talked about making a bio-electronic nose — a chemical detector based on mammalian sensitivity, but without having to train animals to report what they are smelling.
Science fiction? Not to us. We started working together on something that matured into an applied neural interfacing technology. A similar process of interfacing with a complicated organ is being used to develop our new post-surgical tissue- healing monitoring and analysis system at Exero Medical. It’s a marriage of science and application.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I owe my success to many of the colleagues and mentors I have worked with over the years, but the person who stands out the most would be my wife Tami. Her support has been life changing. Being a true adventurer, she encouraged me to take the illogical (and expensive) decision to pause a successful career and go back to school to pursue new horizons. And so far, so good. She had the foresight to know it would prove to be a very good decision.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“This is nothing compared to infinity.” Attribution: My 9th grade math teacher.
I learned about the concept of infinity and how the sky is the limit to our imagination early on. My 9th grade math teacher was a real character.
On the second day of class, he walked in, stood in front of us and wrote on the blackboard
For perspective, this is a really, REALLY large number.
Then, for the next two hours, he proceeded to try to calculate the volume of ink that would be necessary to write out this number in full detail. Turns out, it was something in the order of magnitude of the volume of our solar system. That’s a lot of ink!
He also offered another visual for the class to consider: a tower of stacked bank notes. That would be one tall, Jack and the Beanstalk tower.
Then, he turned to face the class and, following a dramatic pause, declared, “And this is nothing when compared to infinity.”
Thereafter, he immediately exited the classroom.
I’ll never forget it or the concept and promise of infinity.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Curiosity — The Professor Rinberg story is a perfect example of this.
Persistence — Typically, Murphy’s Law is a constant — if it can go wrong, it does go wrong, and a good bit of the time. Whether it is a complicated technical setup, raising funds or coordinating a complicated project with people and components arriving from all over the world — it’s never a smooth ride. So, you need to be persistent, eyes always fixed on the endpoint, and eventually you will get there. Perhaps slightly weary, but you’ll get there with patience and persistence.
Balance. There are always plenty of things on your plate and putting too much onto one may be detrimental to others, especially when it comes to the work/life balance.
It’s important to know when to stop and take a break, so that you not only have the time you need for work, but also for family, and let’s not forget about personal time.
It doesn’t need to be perfect, but good enough so that you can maintain harmony in all parts of your life — or at least as much harmony as you can muster.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?
If we look at modern diagnostics we have come a long way in the past 150 years or so, with the X-ray, CT scan, MRI and ultrasound. But to date, there isn’t a reliable technology out there to monitor post-operative tissue healing locally from the surgical site. By post-operative tissue healing, we mean the tissue cut during a surgery, like when removing a cancerous tumor, and stitched back together thereafter.
Because of this lack of intelligence, patients are often diagnosed with complications when they are already in dire straits. The net results are high mortality rates, prolonged hospitalization and several revision surgeries.
This is where Exero Medical’s technology comes in. We are developing a post-operative tissue healing monitoring, analysis and diagnostic system that alerts when trouble is pending so that problems can be fixed early on, circumventing complications and saving lives, time and billions of dollars in healthcare costs.
How do you think your technology can address this?
We developed a tissue sensor that is placed at the surgery site and monitors the healing of the tissues involved in the surgery internally. This internal monitoring converts healing into tangible data that can be processed and indicate if anything is going wrong.
xBar is our first generation, post-op tissue healing monitoring device for GI surgeries. Its healing sensors are embedded in a standard surgical drain. This method provides gastro-intestinal surgeons with post-op monitoring without changing today’s standard surgical procedure.
xBar is currently undergoing clinical validation in Israel and the second-generation product, which will be resorbable by the body, will begin clinical validation testing, if all goes well, sometime in 2023.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
It was incidental — — as usual.
I was at NYU developing and researching brain-machine interfaces. One weekend I went bike riding with a friend, Shai Policker, the CEO of MEDX Xelerator. During the trip he told me the story about anastomotic leaks following major gastro-intestinal surgeries.
It appeared to be a major problem, possibly impacting millions of patients every year, and also a riddle — these complications cannot be detected and treated with still enough time to avoid complication. In fact, up to 10% of the patients develop severe complications, and, once a patient develops a complication, between 20–40% eventually die.
So, there we were, discussing an intriguing problem, with a potential positive impact for millions. Shai mentioned an idea conceived by a surgeon, Dr. Matan BenDavid, and a material engineer, Dr. Amir Kreitzer, to create and develop a resorbable biosensor. It was as if the stars had aligned. We had a potential solution, a group of capable people, and a hint of a solution that quickly led to the founding of Exero Medical.
How do you think this might change the world?
Emerging diagnostic tools have always changed the world. The invention of the X-ray in the late 19th century pretty much eliminated the need for exploratory surgery and revolutionized orthopedy. The EKG changed cardiology enabling accurate diagnostics without risky interventions and the CT scan enabled real time 3D imaging of organs.
Clearly, when a new diagnostic tool emerges it changes the landscape of medicine, and enables new, more efficient and safer treatments. The world of internal, local monitoring of tissue healing is still taking its first baby steps, but reliable monitoring of tissue healing will change the world of post-op care by saving lives, shortening hospitalizations, enabling effective monitoring at home rather than in the hospital ward, and paving the way for new treatments.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Cutting edge therapies and diagnostics can always be exploited negatively, mainly by being available only for a small group of people. However, as the applications of our technology are intended to reduce the cost of treatment in addition to saving lives and shortening hospitalization, we believe its utilizations will be positive and benefit patients across the board.
Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)
I think there is no set recipe for creating a technology that can make a positive social impact. However, the following are crucial in my opinion:
Tackle a problem that applies to a big group of people. In our case, to begin, it is the need to save a large fraction of the millions undergoing gastrointestinal surgery.
Combine vision and pragmatism. The solution should be novel (otherwise someone would have implemented it previously) but doable. We leveraged existing commercialized technology and integrated components related to machine learning, parallel computing, neuroscience applications and emerging bioresorbable materials. This combination made our quest achievable within a few years and with modest seed investment.
Deep dive into the world of all of your stake holders. Not only are the patients and surgeons important to the equation, but so too are the insurance companies, the payers, the providers, and the caregivers. The value proposition should be compelling to all.
Work with passionate people who share the drive to deliver a solution and take pride in the advancements made. It is not unusual for us to exchange emails during the wee hours of the night if a new, exciting idea emerges.
Take a deep breath. The journey towards making a positive impact is long, and sometimes the true impact can only be seen decades after. Plan for a marathon run rather than a sprint.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
When I decided to go into the biomedical field, the drive was to make a positive impact on society through the advancement of medical science. I would tell young people also with an interest in technology and medicine, that medical device creation is truly a fine way not only to add a building block to this field, but also to leave a long-term legacy that you can be proud of, personally and professionally.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Seiji Ogawa is regarded as the father of modern fMRI imaging. As such he is a prime example of how science can make unimaginable diagnostic applications, and I would be honored to hear more about the process of making a pipe dream a reality.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
By visiting www.exeromedical.com or following me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/erez-shor-a977722/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.
