For almost a decade the Texas Medical Center has been cultivating health tech innovation by accelerating life science startups. As it has evolved to meet the needs of both its early-stage companies and its member institutions, TMC Innovation has re-evaluated existing programming, introduced new initiatives, and on boarded leaders to represent the organization's mission — the latest of whom, is Devin Dunn.

Earlier this year, Dunn joined TMC Innovation as head of TMC's HealthTech Accelerator, a career move that represented Dunn's move to a different side of the startup world. As an early employee at London-based Huma, Dunn was instrumental in growing the health tech company from its early stages to international market expansion.

"I really like working with the dreamers and helping them work backwards to (figure out) what are the milestones we can work toward to make the grand vision come true in the future," Dunn says on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. "The opportunity to work with different founders on that same journey that we had been through was really appealing."

Dunn oversees the accelerator, which has evolved from TMCx. The program offers health tech acceleration to two cohorts a year. Each group of startups is selected from around the world and invited to join the program — first at a bootcamp, a week long itinerary of meeting leadership from within TMC Innovation as well as its member institutions, before a smaller group of companies in invited to return to the TMC for six months of hands-on acceleration from the TMC.

Earlier this month, TMC Innovation hosted nine health tech companies at its fall bootcamp. Now, as Dunn explains, the team is extending invites to a select number of those companies and working on a set of objectives for each company to work on when they return to the TMC in January.

"We've had a week to learn about the companies, and they've had a week to learn about us and about Houston, and we'll come back to the table to see if it's a match," Dunn says. "Part of that process is developing a prescription, which is three to four key objectives we co-develop with the founders."

The selected companies will work with TMC Innovation as well as the greater TMC community on these objectives until May, when the whole process starts over with another set of companies in bootcamp. Across the board, Dunn says TMC Innovation is focused on providing support for startups looking for clinical validation — something all companies are challenged with at some point.

"One of the things our program focuses on a lot is opportunities for that clinical validation. How can you work with clinical champions, health systems, and various providers to get the clinical and efficacy data you need to show that your solution really does add value," Dunn says. "That's one of the hallmarks of our program."

Over the past few years, TMC Innovation has expanded its global presence by attracting international cohorts and forming relationships with other countries through what TMC calls their Biobridges. Dunn shares on the show about TMC's latest international initiative with InnovateUK on the show. Listen to the interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.