Morning tea with IHealthE

The 2023 Morning Tea with IHealthE series began on Tuesday 28th February. Attendees were invited to explore different pathways and funding opportunities during the early stage of healthcare innovation translation.

The event featured Dr David Cardoso, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, nuroflux, and Dr Eric Wei, Senior Business Development Manager, Knowledge Exchange, UNSW. They shared insights into non-academic pathways, opportunities across the broader healthcare ecosystem, and what it takes to be an entrepreneur. The discussion also covered opportunities and supports available through UNSW for early-stage healthcare innovators. The panel was facilitated by Dr Ian Goon, Tyree IHealthE, with plenty of time allocated for questions and networking.

Dr. Cardoso is a medical scientist by training, having undertaken a research doctorate at University of Sydney investigating the development of new drugs for epilepsy; spurred on by his mother’s own diagnosis. Following graduation, he shifted focus toward the business world, working as a Project Manager at Westmead Research Hub, and then as an Innovation and Commercialisation Associate at Children's Medical Research Institute, while studying a Master of Business Administration at Macquarie University. During this time, he also became Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of nuroflux, a start-up company seeking to develop a wearable medical device for the continuous monitoring of brain activity and blood flow in stroke patients, where he continues to drive all aspects of operations, business and strategy. Most recently, Dr. Cardoso was recruited as the first business-dedicated employee of Pending.AI, a venture capital-backed scale-up company leveraging artificial intelligence to improve drug discovery. Above all else, he is passionate about the betterment of the human condition through innovation.

Dr Eric Wei leads the Life Sciences Team at UNSW Knowledge Exchange for IP management, commercialisation and external engagement. Eric is a biochemist by training, worked in clinical ophthalmology for 10 years prior moved into research commercialisation. He has worked at Universities, university-affiliated medical research institutes and spin-off commercial subsidiaries for 20 years. He has extensive experience in strategic planning of product R&D and commercialisation for pharmaceuticals, medical devices, clinical trials, medical software, novel clinical services and regulatory pathways.

Ian has a background in scientific research, developing nano-materials for biosensing applications and subsequently spent 4 years in a commercially focused-role as a strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in Southeast Asia. Ian co-founded a health technology startup focused on building digital tools for healthcare research projects, prior to joining Tyree IHealthE. His work included leading the development and implementation of technology platforms for the South Asia Biobank (South Asia and UK) and the SG100K population health study in Singapore. Ian holds a BEng (Chemical) and Ph.D from UNSW and obtained an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge as a Chevening scholar.