• FAER: Swimming with Sharks
• 1:15-2:15 p.m. Saturday
• West, Room 2002

For the second consecutive year, entrepreneurial anesthesiologists will have the opportunity to pitch their best innovative medical device and drug product ideas to the “Sharks.” The sharks represent a panel of industry experts in the simulated format of “Shark Tank” during the Saturday afternoon session “Swimming with Sharks: How Anesthesiologist Inventors Can Move Their Ideas Forward.”

“Anesthesiologists are uniquely qualified to create new medical products because we’re tinkerers and observers, and we’re right there in the operating room, managing patients’ vital organ function on a minute-to-minute basis. We have the opportunity to see areas where things work and where they may be improved,” said Wendye Robbins, M.D., President and CEO of Blade Therapeutics, Inc. The private San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company advances novel therapies to revolutionize the treatment of fibrotic diseases.

Wendye Robbins, M.D., President and CEO of Blade Therapeutics, Inc. is among the panelist investors.

“Anesthesia training also naturally lends itself to translational science because we’re always taking in lots of data to improve the patient experience,” Dr. Robbins said. “Data is useful when you’re trying to develop life-changing products to intervene in the healing process or speed diagnosis. It helps you see and understand trends and create better algorithms, drugs and devices to solve a problem.”

Dr. Robbins is one of four panelist “investors” who will lead the discussion and provide constructive criticism and support to pre-selected presenters whose product or concept is still in the early development stage.

“These are passionate entrepreneurs who’ve done creative work without a lot of funding,” Dr. Robbins said.

In addition to Dr. Robbins, other “Sharks” in the tank will include:

• Steven L. Shafer, M.D., Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, at the Stanford University Medical Center;
• Orrin Ailloni-Charas, M.D., is a San Francisco-based anesthesiologist who has founded several early-stage venture capital funds.
• Cayce Denton, a Director at Temasek Holdings, a venture capital and private equity firm in the San Francisco Bay area.

The constructive criticism presenters receive during the interactive session will be both entertaining and informative. Although no winner will be selected, everyone — presenters and attendees alike — will gain new monitoring, pharmacology, diagnostic or product development insight. That might include a better idea of the multiple steps necessary to advance a concept beyond the stage of securing intellectual property rights. Entrepreneurial presenters will compete for recognition only.

Last year’s debut of “Swimming with Sharks” was a big hit, resulting in a packed audience. This year’s session promises to be equally popular and compelling.  Presenters and attendees who hope to advance the practice of medicine through innovation will have the opportunity to meet with the Sharks and ask specific questions.

“We’re interested in helping to mentor entrepreneurial anesthesiologists who have great ideas and want to advance care for patients,” Dr. Robbins said.