From Personal Experience to a Broader Purpose
My commitment to advancing skin and wound care began with a very personal experience. My husband had what appeared to be a small, uncomplicated cut on his hand, but it developed into a serious MRSA infection. As we navigated that experience, I became increasingly aware of the limitations of the products that were commercially available for protecting and managing wounds. I knew we could develop something better! I began working on a solution that could provide a protective barrier while helping address some of the practical challenges of wound management. That work ultimately led to the development of KeriCure and our spray-on wound dressings.
What has continued to shape my purpose is remembering that wound care isn't just about a product or a formulation. Behind every wound is a person and often a family or healthcare professional trying to manage it. That perspective has stayed with me throughout the development of KeriCure. It continues to drive us to look at real-world challenges in wound care and develop solutions that are practical, accessible and meaningful for the people who use them both at the civilian level and for our warfighters.
Addressing the Unmet Need Across the Continuum of Care
Despite the significant progress we've made in skin and wound care, we believe one of the greatest unmet needs is having effective wound protection that can be practical across the full continuum of care.
A wound doesn't only exist in a hospital. Patients may be managing wounds at home, healthcare professionals may be treating them in clinical settings and our military personnel and first responders may have to manage wounds in environments where resources, time and ideal conditions simply aren't available. Those situations create very different challenges, but the need for effective wound protection remains the same.
At KeriCure, that has been an important part of our thinking. We wanted to develop a solution that could be useful across those different environments—from a patient managing a wound at home, to a clinician in a hospital, to a warfighter or first responder working in an austere environment. The ability to provide protection without requiring a highly complex application or setting is an important part of addressing that gap.
Closing that gap will take continued collaboration between scientists, clinicians, caregivers, military and emergency professionals and innovators. Most importantly, we need to keep listening to the people who are actually dealing with wounds and understand what they need in the environments where care is really taking place. Innovation should ultimately make wound care more practical, more adaptable and more effective for the patient.
Leading With the Problem, Not the Product
One of the most important principles that has guided me is to start with the problem, not the product. If we're going to bring a new approach to wound care forward, it needs to address a real need and ultimately provide value to the patient, caregiver or healthcare professional. Innovation doesn't happen in isolation. Clinicians, researchers, patients, caregivers, first responders and military personnel all experience wound care differently and their perspectives can challenge you to think about a solution in ways you may not have considered.
Persistence has been equally important. Developing something new, particularly in healthcare, requires patience and the willingness to keep working through scientific, regulatory, manufacturing and real-world challenges. There are always obstacles and we've learned not to lose sight of why we started the journey. You have to believe strongly enough in an idea to pursue it, while remaining open to what you learn along the way. You have to be willing to listen, evaluate the evidence, acknowledge what you don't know and change direction when necessary. At the end of the day, it all comes back to why we're doing it. We're not developing products simply to put something new on the market; we're trying to solve problems that matter to people.
Making Advanced Science More Practical
I think some of the most meaningful advances in wound care will come from combining new materials and technologies with solutions that address multiple needs at the same time. Advanced biomaterials and polymer technologies, improved antimicrobial approaches, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering all have the potential to change how wounds are managed.
At KeriCure, we've focused on developing wound dressings that can provide multiple benefits in a single application, including wound protection, antimicrobial properties and pain relief. We believe there is tremendous value in addressing a wound early and creating an environment that supports healing rather than waiting until a wound becomes more difficult to manage.
We also see an important role for digital imaging and artificial intelligence in the future of wound care, particularly in monitoring wounds and helping clinicians identify changes earlier. But technology should complement good wound management, not replace it. If we can protect and manage a wound effectively from the beginning—or intervene when a wound has become difficult—we may be able to help it progress toward healing without requiring increasingly complex treatments. Ultimately, I think the future of wound care will be about making advanced science more practical and accessible. Whether the patient is at home, in a hospital or in a military or austere environment, the goal should be to provide effective care as early as possible and give the wound the best opportunity to heal.
Designing Innovation for the Real World
I would encourage scientists and healthcare innovators to start with the problem, not the technology. It's easy to become excited about what a new material, device or scientific discovery can do, but the more important question is whether it solves a problem that truly matters to the patient and the people providing their care.
Spend time listening to patients, clinicians, caregivers, medics, first responders and others who are actually experiencing the challenges you're trying to solve. Understand what isn't working today and why. Sometimes the most meaningful innovation isn't the most complicated solution; it's finding a better, simpler or more practical way to address an existing problem. And in some environments, particularly austere or combat environments, there may not even be an established standard of care readily available. In those situations, having a simple, effective intervention that can be used early may make an enormous difference.
I would encourage innovators to think about how their solution will actually be used in the real world. Can it be carried into the field? Can it be applied quickly? Can it be used when resources are limited? If a simple intervention can help prevent a wound from becoming more serious, preserve a limb, save a life or help a warfighter or first responder return to service sooner, that can be a meaningful advancement in patient care.
For me, meaningful innovation is about making a real difference in what happens to a patient. That's what has guided us at KeriCure from the beginning and I believe it is what should continue to guide the future of healthcare innovation.
My commitment to advancing skin and wound care began with a very personal experience. My husband had what appeared to be a small, uncomplicated cut on his hand, but it developed into a serious MRSA infection. As we navigated that experience, I became increasingly aware of the limitations of the products that were commercially available for protecting and managing wounds. I knew we could develop something better! I began working on a solution that could provide a protective barrier while helping address some of the practical challenges of wound management. That work ultimately led to the development of KeriCure and our spray-on wound dressings.
What has continued to shape my purpose is remembering that wound care isn't just about a product or a formulation. Behind every wound is a person and often a family or healthcare professional trying to manage it. That perspective has stayed with me throughout the development of KeriCure. It continues to drive us to look at real-world challenges in wound care and develop solutions that are practical, accessible and meaningful for the people who use them both at the civilian level and for our warfighters.
Addressing the Unmet Need Across the Continuum of Care
Despite the significant progress we've made in skin and wound care, we believe one of the greatest unmet needs is having effective wound protection that can be practical across the full continuum of care.
A wound doesn't only exist in a hospital. Patients may be managing wounds at home, healthcare professionals may be treating them in clinical settings and our military personnel and first responders may have to manage wounds in environments where resources, time and ideal conditions simply aren't available. Those situations create very different challenges, but the need for effective wound protection remains the same.
At KeriCure, that has been an important part of our thinking. We wanted to develop a solution that could be useful across those different environments—from a patient managing a wound at home, to a clinician in a hospital, to a warfighter or first responder working in an austere environment. The ability to provide protection without requiring a highly complex application or setting is an important part of addressing that gap.
Closing that gap will take continued collaboration between scientists, clinicians, caregivers, military and emergency professionals and innovators. Most importantly, we need to keep listening to the people who are actually dealing with wounds and understand what they need in the environments where care is really taking place. Innovation should ultimately make wound care more practical, more adaptable and more effective for the patient.
Leading With the Problem, Not the Product
One of the most important principles that has guided me is to start with the problem, not the product. If we're going to bring a new approach to wound care forward, it needs to address a real need and ultimately provide value to the patient, caregiver or healthcare professional. Innovation doesn't happen in isolation. Clinicians, researchers, patients, caregivers, first responders and military personnel all experience wound care differently and their perspectives can challenge you to think about a solution in ways you may not have considered.
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Sometimes innovation isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing the right thing early enough to change the outcome. Our goal is to put a simple, effective solution in the hands of the people who need it, when and where it can make the greatest difference.
Persistence has been equally important. Developing something new, particularly in healthcare, requires patience and the willingness to keep working through scientific, regulatory, manufacturing and real-world challenges. There are always obstacles and we've learned not to lose sight of why we started the journey. You have to believe strongly enough in an idea to pursue it, while remaining open to what you learn along the way. You have to be willing to listen, evaluate the evidence, acknowledge what you don't know and change direction when necessary. At the end of the day, it all comes back to why we're doing it. We're not developing products simply to put something new on the market; we're trying to solve problems that matter to people.
Making Advanced Science More Practical
I think some of the most meaningful advances in wound care will come from combining new materials and technologies with solutions that address multiple needs at the same time. Advanced biomaterials and polymer technologies, improved antimicrobial approaches, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering all have the potential to change how wounds are managed.
At KeriCure, we've focused on developing wound dressings that can provide multiple benefits in a single application, including wound protection, antimicrobial properties and pain relief. We believe there is tremendous value in addressing a wound early and creating an environment that supports healing rather than waiting until a wound becomes more difficult to manage.
We also see an important role for digital imaging and artificial intelligence in the future of wound care, particularly in monitoring wounds and helping clinicians identify changes earlier. But technology should complement good wound management, not replace it. If we can protect and manage a wound effectively from the beginning—or intervene when a wound has become difficult—we may be able to help it progress toward healing without requiring increasingly complex treatments. Ultimately, I think the future of wound care will be about making advanced science more practical and accessible. Whether the patient is at home, in a hospital or in a military or austere environment, the goal should be to provide effective care as early as possible and give the wound the best opportunity to heal.
Designing Innovation for the Real World
I would encourage scientists and healthcare innovators to start with the problem, not the technology. It's easy to become excited about what a new material, device or scientific discovery can do, but the more important question is whether it solves a problem that truly matters to the patient and the people providing their care.
Spend time listening to patients, clinicians, caregivers, medics, first responders and others who are actually experiencing the challenges you're trying to solve. Understand what isn't working today and why. Sometimes the most meaningful innovation isn't the most complicated solution; it's finding a better, simpler or more practical way to address an existing problem. And in some environments, particularly austere or combat environments, there may not even be an established standard of care readily available. In those situations, having a simple, effective intervention that can be used early may make an enormous difference.
I would encourage innovators to think about how their solution will actually be used in the real world. Can it be carried into the field? Can it be applied quickly? Can it be used when resources are limited? If a simple intervention can help prevent a wound from becoming more serious, preserve a limb, save a life or help a warfighter or first responder return to service sooner, that can be a meaningful advancement in patient care.
For me, meaningful innovation is about making a real difference in what happens to a patient. That's what has guided us at KeriCure from the beginning and I believe it is what should continue to guide the future of healthcare innovation.
