Sessions focus on unmet need validation, workflow clarity, and early-stage venture questions.
What You'll Gain
Access to real clinical experts in healthcare innovation
Clinical Connect connects student innovators with practicing clinicians who understand both care delivery and healthcare innovation. Engage early. Think sharper. Build smarter.
Through a focused 25-minute consult, you can:
Clinical Connect connects student innovators with practicing clinicians who understand both care delivery and healthcare innovation. Engage early. Think sharper. Build smarter.
Through a focused 25-minute consult, you can:
Validate the clinical problem before you build or pitch
Pressure-test your venture assumptions with practicing clinicians
Clarify clinical workflows that define use case and implementation
Create pathways to customer discovery with sharper questions
Identify early constraints in feasibility, workflow, or adoption
Strengthen investor readiness with informed clinical context
Meet Our Clinical Connect Fellows
How It Works
Booking Guidelines
Registration closes 48 hours prior to each session block. Materials for review should be submitted through the intake form. If materials are not ready, participants may bring them to the session. Automated confirmations and reminders are sent to both participant and clinician.
Registration closes 48 hours prior to each session block. Materials for review should be submitted through the intake form. If materials are not ready, participants may bring them to the session. Automated confirmations and reminders are sent to both participant and clinician.
1. Complete the Clinical Connect intake form.
2. Select a clinician based on specialty alignment and availability.
3. Submit materials (if applicable) at least 48 hours prior to your session.
4. Join your 25-minute virtual consultation.
5. Complete a brief post-session feedback form.
When Should I Use Clinical Connect
Clinical Connect is valuable at multiple stages of the innovation cycle:
- You are defining or refining an unmet need
- You are exploring standard of care
- You are evaluating whether a solution fits within a real clinical workflow
- You are seeking perspective on clinical attractiveness or feasibility
- You are clarifying the commercial or operational case for a solution
- You are reviewing considerations for product adoption
What Happens in a Session
In a 25-minute virtual consult, you may use clinician time to:
Clinical Connect is not: Clinical shadowing, clinical training, medical advice, or patient-specific consultation.
- “Sanity-check” an unmet need
- Understand how care is delivered in real-world settings
- Confirm who the true “user” is (and is not)
- Map workflow steps, handoffs, and operational constraints
- Refine your customer discovery plan
- Explore reimbursement or payment considerations (high-level)
- Pressure-test early concepts
Clinical Connect is not: Clinical shadowing, clinical training, medical advice, or patient-specific consultation.
FAQ
Is Clinical Connect mentorship?
No. Clinical Connect is a structured, 25-minute advisory consultation. The program is designed to provide focused clinical insight to support unmet need validation, workflow clarification, and early-stage innovation thinking. It is not a mentorship program and does not establish an ongoing advisory relationship unless independently initiated outside the program structure.
Can I request follow-up meetings?
There is no expectation of follow-up engagement. Clinicians participate in defined 25-minute sessions and are not obligated to provide additional meetings, document review, introductions, advisory board participation, or collaboration. If a clinician independently offers continued engagement outside the program framework, that decision is at their discretion.
What if I’m early and don’t have materials yet?
That is completely appropriate. Clinical Connect is valuable even at the earliest stages of exploration. You may use your session to clarify how care is delivered, understand standard workflows, or refine your framing of an unmet need. Materials are strongly encouraged for venture-related discussions, but they are not required.
Is my information confidential?
Yes. Participating clinicians formally agree to maintain the confidentiality of information shared during sessions. That said, students are encouraged to share only what is necessary for productive discussion. If you have specific intellectual property or disclosure questions, referrals may be made to the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) or the CHOP Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) as appropriate.
Clinical Connect does not replace formal institutional IP processes.
Clinical Connect does not replace formal institutional IP processes.
Can faculty or staff participate?
Yes, on a structured and limited basis. While student innovators are the primary audience, Penn and CHOP trainees, faculty, and staff exploring healthcare innovation questions may participate under the same intake, preparation, and scope expectations.
How are clinicians selected?
Clinicians are selected based on:
Participation is reviewed periodically to ensure alignment with program goals and sustainability.
- Clinical expertise
- Demonstrated interest in healthcare innovation
- Alignment with program mission
- Willingness to participate within defined advisory boundaries
Participation is reviewed periodically to ensure alignment with program goals and sustainability.
Startup Stories
Find out what's happening across the #entrePENNeur community! Want to tell your story? Contact us at venturelab@upenn.edu.
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