Protecting Device Innovation: An Interview With Tom Fogarty

It’s hard to imagine Thomas J. Fogarty, MD, wearing still another hat and playing yet a different role in the medical device industry. You would think that by now, having spent nearly 50 years in the business, he has pretty much done it all – surgeon, inventor, entrepreneur, investor, and mentor ( and certainly earned the right to relax and enjoy his winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. But even with all that Tom Fogarty has accomplished – he was recently named the first Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors ( that assumption sells him short. His new mission is focused on protecting the innovation ecosystem that has produced the device technology revolution that he has helped lead.

Fogarty’s efforts have resulted in more than 100 inventions. He has more than 70 patents to his credit and has started more than 30 companies. But over the last few years, Fogarty has expanded his focus to concentrate on threats he sees to device innovation, in particular the decline in early-stage deal financing and a burdensome U.S. regulatory system. A vocal critic of both the traditional venture capital model and FDA, Fogarty is addressing the former by starting a new investment company, Emergent Medical Partners, and the latter by serving as an entrepreneur-in-residence for FDA’s device center. (See Also see "Inventor Thomas Fogarty’s Newfound Optimism About FDA" - Medtech Insight, 26 March, 2012..) He also recently launched the Fogarty Institute for Innovation, which helps spur the growth of early-stage device start-ups