From Startup Founder to Cleveland Clinic Innovations: Jerry Wilmink on Building Health Tech That Reaches Patients

Jerry Wilmink, Director of Business Development and Licensing at Cleveland Clinic Innovations, shares his journey from biomedical engineering researcher to digital health entrepreneur and now a key driver of health tech commercialization at one of the world’s leading healthcare institutions. Drawing from his experience founding Wiseware and leading CarePredict, Jerry emphasizes the critical gap between lab-based innovation and real-world patient impact, and how Cleveland Clinic Innovations accelerates this translation through strategic partnerships with startups, co-development, and licensing. He highlights the transformative role of AI in both administrative efficiency—reducing physician burnout through ambient scribing—and clinical advancements, such as augmented reality rehab for Parkinson’s patients and predictive analytics for senior care. Jerry also reflects on the evolving health tech ecosystem, where consumer-grade wearables now rival clinical tools, and calls for early collaboration with institutions like Cleveland Clinic and communities like Startup Health to de-risk innovation and scale faster. The episode closes with a powerful message about the importance of community, mentorship, and ecosystem support in building sustainable health tech ventures. Key takeaways include: 1) Partner early with institutions like Cleveland Clinic to access clinical validation and market pathways; 2) Use AI not just for administrative relief but to enable breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment; 3) Leverage existing ecosystems like Startup Health to gain mentorship, customers, and investor connections; 4) Focus on translational innovation—get ideas from lab to patient faster through collaboration; 5) Consumer-grade sensors and wearables are now powerful tools for clinical-grade insights; 6) Physician burnout is a solvable problem with the right tech; 7) Early-stage founders should seek feedback from clinicians and innovators before building; 8) The future of health tech lies in the marriage of advanced materials, sensors, and AI.