The Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship at Memorial University has a new Entrepreneur-in-Residence to encourage its students to pursue their ideas in the med-tech or health innovation sectors.
Mandy Woodland’s official title is Health Innovation Initiative Entrepreneur-in-Residence; a broad-sounding title to which she brings a broad range of experience.
Woodland previously worked for 10 years as a commercial lawyer. She is a former Chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology Industries, a board member at the Newfoundland and Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs. and a board member for Innovate NL. If there is a committee or board for health innovation in Newfoundland, Woodland is on it.
“Anyone who has an idea or identified a problem that they want to solve that in any way involves health innovation, then that’s who I’m here to assist,” said Woodland in an interview.
“A bunch of the companies we work with are made up of people who had experiences in the system and just wanted to see change.”
Showing that anyone is capable of disrupting the health sector is a big part of Woodland’s mission. She works with all students at the university, not just those in medical studies, and exposes those in business or engineering to a clinical setting.
Woodland is also an EIR at Bounce Health Innovation, a community-based mission to accelerate the growth of the province’s expanding health sector. Bounce connects key members of the provincial government, the health authority and university to boost the growth of the province's emerging health technology sector.
“We’re able to work directly with the clinical systems,” said Woodland. “With the health authorities, for example, we sit down and meet with the CEO and executive team of our regional health authority and explain what sort of projects we have going on.”
That tight-knit integration is what gives Newfoundland its edge in becoming a world-renowned hub for med-tech and health innovation.
Woodland said the province is especially poised to disrupt the health industry because its size facilitates faster decision making. Fewer players means less red tape. So, what is often seen as the region's biggest impediment is its greatest advantage, according to Woodland.
“I think we just started at the right time to take advantage of that integration,” said Woodland. “We don’t compete with anyone, we’re able to work with all of the organizations without being them.”
Woodland is also a two-time founder of tech startups. Her last company, Caetum, which was born out of her participation in Saint Mary’s University’s Masters in Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation program, is dormant at the moment, “but all the parts are still there,” Woodland said. Caetum is a digital platform that helps clinical research sites budget projects.
She has since co-founded a new company called Jellyfish, a consulting agency on business strategy. She also coaches CEOs and runs retreats for entrepreneurs.
She says she is driven by her desire to make changes in Newfoundland’s health care system, and she has her feet in all the doors to make sure improvements happen.
