A New Generation of Innovators

— David Nash, MD, MBA, spotlights one medical student who is already an innovator.

by David Nash, MD, MBA, FACP, Contributing Writer, ľ��ֱ�� May 21, 2015

David Nash is the Founding Dean Emeritus and Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor of Health Policy at the Jefferson College of Population Health. He is a board-certified internist. Follow

I am always on the lookout for people with new ideas and fresh approaches to common problems in healthcare.

A couple years ago, a by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic caught my eye. A professor of Business Psychology at University College London (UCL) and Columbia University, he distilled the research evidence and proposed five key characteristics of innovators (in addition to creativity):

An opportunistic mindset that helps them notice gaps in a market, and a craving for new and complex experiences.
Formal education or training that is essential for understanding what is relevant and what is not (even though this may be contrary to conventional wisdom).
Proactivity and a high degree of persistence.
A keen sense of when to proceed with caution.
Social capital that enables them to use connections and networks to mobilize resources and build alliances.

Scanning this list, my natural inclination was to think of larger-than-life innovators like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg -- but since that time I've come to realize that there are students on campuses across the country with these very characteristics.

A young man named Nicholas (Niko) Kurtzman is symbolic of this new wave of student-led innovation. Niko is a 27-year-old second-year medical student at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College who is studying for exams; he is also a co-founder of two companies:

, a company that offers a mobile app for physicians to "crowdsource" informal, cross-specialty consultations on complex patient issues.
, a free, massive online course for medical students that addresses 30 topics that are essential to physician practice but not taught in medical school (e.g., pay-for-performance, work-life balance).

Not surprisingly, Niko describes himself as a very high-energy "people person" who thrives on multitasking and complex problem-solving.

When asked, "Why medical school?" he posits that knowledge of business, product design, and development -- in addition to medicine -- will enable him to help patients on a broader scale.

Unlike his father, a physician-innovator who ultimately opted to work full-time in a successful business he founded, Niko plans a career that encompasses both innovation and emergency medicine.

One remarkable thing that distinguishes the new generation of student innovators from their elders is that they are changing the competition paradigm; rather than working secretly and erecting barriers against competitors, they are sharing experiences and learning from one another what works and what doesn't.

Today, student-led innovation centers are beginning to crop up on campuses across the country, from the University of Central Florida (Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership) to Stanford University in California to Massachusetts General Hospital to the University of Pennsylvania.

And, right around the corner from my office, the new is part of an overall strategic vision for Thomas Jefferson University.