Reporter’s Notebook: Excerpts from an interview with Myron “Mike” Weisfeldt, Senior Medical Director, Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures

Only a small (but growing) percentage of faculty understand that entrepreneurship is part of academic life today at Johns Hopkins. This is a new aspect to our culture, and it brings different expectations and different ways of going about successful academic advancement. If you are a faculty member who wants to do this as part, if not a major part, of your career, you need to learn and understand how to get started and how to make an impact. There’s a huge education, almost a new language you need to learn.

When an inventor presents their program for a grant or to a potential investor, there’s a format for the presentation they need to understand. It’s not like a 10-minute talk at the American Heart Association meetings. There’s the science. The unmet need. How big is the market? How much money is being spent on this? What is your discovery and who’s competing with you? Why is your idea or solution better than others? What’s the next step? That’s a very different talk.

Johns Hopkins has always had the potential for a competitive advantage—it’s just never been a focus. Academic promotion criteria have really stifled people. They thought about their commercial idea, but on many occasions they said I’m not going to pursue this because it’s not going to help me with my career.

Patents and commercially oriented research and accomplishment were not endorsed by the institution as academic activities worthy of recognition by promotion. JHU institutional leaders and others have changed that and it is a big cultural shift that has happened incredibly fast. Research, creative education and being an outstanding clinician have always been the paths to promotion. We now have innovation as a path to advancement. The number and types of patents on the CVs have become incredibly important. But even more important is the impact of the commercial ideas on human health.

With the Fast Forward 1812 building, we have a group of business professionals next to startup businesses with fully equipped laboratory spaces at a reasonable cost underwritten by the institution. This proximity of people and purpose and vision, and the ability of the entrepreneurs to walk in and talk with the person who’s handling their intellectual property and patents, makes this a truly entrepreneurial community.