Innovations Profile Series: Bernardo Perez-Villa, MD, MSc, Senior Engagement Partner, Florida

In the Cleveland Clinic Innovations profile series, members of the Innovations team share their journey to joining the Innovations department at Cleveland Clinic, what they find inspiring about their role and advice for potential inventors. In this profile, Bernardo Perez-Villa, MD, MSc, Senior Engagement Partner, Florida, discusses what brought him to Cleveland Clinic, his transition from the clinical side to Innovations, and offers insight into what innovation means to him as well as advice for potential inventors.

Q: Tell us your story – what brought you to Cleveland Clinic, and how did you transition from the clinical side?

A: I was born and raised in Argentina. I went to medical school there and then I moved to Spain. I did my residency as a cardiologist in Spain and then worked as a heart failure specialist. During my time in Spain, I noticed that my drive wasn’t just taking care of patients, it was more about trying to solve problems and saying that this is a problem of the clinician, or, this is how we can modify. Unfortunately, that’s very complicated for physicians because you need to take care of patients. However, I transitioned from my clinical practice to research.

I did study statistics and got a Master of Health Economics and Outcomes, so I had the clinical side and the research side. I wanted to change healthcare and solve problems, so I started moving toward being an entrepreneur. One of my classmates worked Weston Hospital at Cleveland Clinic Florida, and he is also a cardiologist specializing in heart transplants. He said, “Hey, I need help to create the research department here in Florida. Are you willing to interview for that position?”, and I said, “Of course!”.

I got hired at the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic, Weston, to help him create the research department. So, I moved from my clinical side to my research side. At that time, I was doing an Innovation fellowship with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Health in Europe following the Biodesign Stanford program of identifying unmet clinical needs and conceptualizing the solution.

My training was already moving toward innovations, and when I joined Cleveland Clinic after four or five months, the Innovation fellowship appeared with the Proof-of-Concept team, and I joined the team. Then, the position opened here in Florida for the Engagement Partner; I applied for that position, and that’s how I got to innovation from clinical research.

Q: It’s exciting that you can bring your clinical experience into your role! How long were you on the clinical side, and how long have you been with the Engagement team now?

A: I started practicing and doing my residency in 2011. I finished it in 2016, so that’s five years of cardiology during my residency. Then, I did three years of heart failure specialization. So, that’s eight years in total, and around 2018, 2019, I quit my clinical practice and then I have been with the Engagement team for two years.

Q: What do you find most inspiring about your job with Innovations?

A: Every day is different, and every day is something new in the sense that you are constantly having this surprise factor and talking to people and helping them to realize that they know more than they believe – they have great ideas that can turn into innovations.

The Engagement team has a 30,000-foot view of healthcare, then narrowed down to 20,000 feet, and 10,000 feet. We can zoom in and out of the big picture, which is hard to do when you’re just focused on the patient on the clinical side; we have the time and ability to zoom out and consider more significant opportunities in the healthcare space.

Q: How does your unique position differentiate you being able to communicate with someone who might have an idea that could form into an invention?

A: I understand the language and what they’re trying to say from a physician’s standpoint. My clinical side helps me to understand the innovation being proposed faster and then challenge those people with a different perspective. Even so, l always tell the inventors to explain their ideas to me as if I were in high school and keep it simple.

Q: What does innovation, in a broad sense, mean to you?

A: Innovation is two things – First, return on investment with generated revenues and second, scalability.

You must ask, “How many people will benefit from what I created?”, and that definition of innovation is more of a commercial perspective that we use in this office because it focuses on patient impact. It’s a process you follow, you will fail thousands of times, and you will iterate around that while you will learn from that process to create a return on investment and improve the lives of millions of patients rather than just a small number of people.

Q: Tell us a little bit about the DEDICARE program.

A: I believe you can teach a nurse, a receptionist, and anyone in health to practice innovation – not just clinicians. DEDICARE, which stands for DEsigning Disruptive Innovations in HealthCARE, aims to demystify that innovation is a sudden inspiration and it is a process that can be taught. DEDICARE equips any caregiver with the tools to identify an unmet clinical need, conceptualize a commercially viable solution, and write a clear value proposition. The program brings people together from all different backgrounds and areas of expertise because everyone has a different viewpoint and challenging one another helps create a more robust idea. It’s about practice and dedicating time to practice innovation because you get better at it the more you practice.

Q: Are there any innovative trends you’re following closely in healthcare?

A: Clayton Christensen, the father of “disruptive innovation”, is a big inspiration. I am currently reading the Blue Ocean Strategy, which dives into tactics for recognizing and tackling unexplored new market areas.

Q: Any advice for potential inventors?

A: In research and your career, as well as your family and personal life, you need to keep trying new things, read more, and continue learning. Keep learning every day. You don’t have to be afraid of failing because it’s not failing. I call them results, and you need to learn from your results. A result can be positive, negative, or neutral. You can learn from results and use that to iterate and inform your ideal outcome. Just start! Don’t let fear paralyze you.