An Interview with Scott Mader, AseptiScope Inc Co-Founder and CEO: ‘We’re Driven to Bring Forward Novel Solutions that Ensure Infection Protection for Clinician and Patient’

“Our leadership includes a seasoned team with a successful track record of working together to deliver blockbuster product introductions of clinically proven therapeutics and technologies.”

Healthcare is an industry that is currently being transformed using the latest technology, so it can meet the challenges it is facing in the 21st century. Technology can help healthcare organizations meet growing demand and efficiently operate to deliver better patient care.

In light of the foregoing, we’re thrilled to present AseptiScope Inc™ — an innovative medical device company guided by market-driven science. It was founded by clinical market experts and leading clinicians. The company’s mission is to develop, manufacture, and commercialize novel solutions to address the challenges of healthcare-associated infection (HAI).

The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Scott Mader, AseptiScope Inc Co-founder and CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. Explain your products in brief.

AseptiScope is now launching its flagship brand; The DiskCover System™. The first of its kind, The DiskCover System is a touch-free dispensing system for ‘Disk Covers,’ aseptic, single-use, stethoscope barriers. This state-of-the-art solution enters the market with published efficacy data superior to the current standard of care. Furthermore, the system’s touch-free dispensing system takes about a second, versus a full minute of cleaning time between patients, increasing clinical care time, and making it cost-favorable to other market options. While the benefits to patient care and hospital costs are clear, physicians and nurses are most excited that this robust barrier is also ‘acoustically invisible;’ meaning they can hear through their stethoscope just as well with disk cover as they can without it. A clinical study presented at the October 2020 American College of Emergency Physicians shows that the disk cover also provides superior performance vs. a common hospital alternative – disposable stethoscopes.

Q. Rigorous cleaning methods are required to ensure that equipment is safe for patients as well as doctors. What are the factors that helped you develop novel aseptic solutions?

Cleaning methods require time, technique, and training. In reality, stethoscope cleaning suffers poor compliance and variable results for reasons that are well understood by most clinicians. The DiskCover System was developed by engaging clinical experts to define the ideal solution to the problem. AseptiScope recruited a multidisciplinary team including experts in nursing, infectious disease, cardiology, oncology, hospital, and emergency medicine. This group helped assess and refine the core attributes of a solution. These attributes evolved to the final design specifications for The DiskCover System.

Q. What motivated you to create a solution for stethoscope contamination?

The long version of the story is that my father, a medical doctor, used his stethoscope with great expertise and recognized its role in rapid, effective, and sometimes life-saving clinical decisions. As my father grew into the sunset of his career, his hearing loss, and its impact on his ability to use his stethoscope, was a real factor in his decision to retire. He was an amazing clinician and his skill with his stethoscope was incredible. He used to teach me about heart and lung sounds as a child. The famous Norman Rockwell painting titled “Doctor and Doll,” featuring the stethoscope, hung in my dad’s office. It’s a fond childhood memory. I think dad would have loved The DiskCover System.

The more concise answer is that my dear friends who are co-founders and officers at AseptiScope have introduced novel healthcare solutions in the past, and we brought the band back together again to solve this puzzle. Infection control is due for science driven innovation in medical technology.

Q. Developing novel aseptic solutions needs the support of high-level talent and dedication. How did you manage to form your dream team?

The founders and officers at the company have worked together with great success in the past as noted. Without having the comfort of these world-class experts on board I may not have endeavored to form AseptiScope. Our team is fortified with two highly respected experts in cardiovascular and emergency medicine, Alan Maisel MD and Frank Peacock MD, respectively. The company is operationalized by Kelly Powers who has been groomed by some of the most successful companies in industries that include energy, micro-irrigation, and healthcare. We are commercialized by Tom Watlington, who has brought innovative device technology to market serially with tremendous success. They have worked alongside me to build innovative technology, strategic corporate mechanics, and world-class talent as we have prepared AseptiScope to be a leader in elevating infection control standards.

Q. What other CEOs do you look up to? Why?

In my consulting practice I worked routinely with CEOs, most commonly these were leaders of young start-up companies developing innovative technologies. It was a wonderful and formative experience to work with these individuals. As I began my exploratory on AseptiScope, I engaged a handful of these leaders specifically because I revered their intellect, ambition, vision, leadership, or even creativity in how they run their businesses. The CEO of a start-up is a different breed than the CEO of giant blue-chip conglomerates. Running a start-up needs more grit and you truly have to understand each aspect of your business directly versus vicariously. I gravitate towards this profile of CEO. I have the good fortune to have one such person leading our commercial operations here at AseptiScope. My friend Tom Watlington is one of the CEOs who advised me early with AseptiScope, and I was able to convince him to join us. He is a great asset.

Q. If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting, what would it be?

Buckle in. The start-up experience is not an easy road, which is why the bulk of start-up companies never bring a product to market. Therefore, engage a team of experts that embody excellence and have an understanding of the start-up culture. Running a lean organization does not mean cutting corners, but rather, it means setting priorities. There will always be compromises. The key is to be prepared to compromise on those items that are subordinate to those that are non-negotiable. Perhaps most importantly, pursue your goals with a determination and passion to provide value to the organization and solutions to the market.

Q. What do you think is the most memorable moment in your career?

I’ve had the good fortune to have launched first in class pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical devices. I’ve headed companies that bring strategic consulting, clinical investigation services, and now, medical device technology. It has been a very rewarding career thus far. During this time the best memory I’ve had does not relate to driving revenues or getting novel products into the guidelines. Rather, it has to do with the real reason innovation in healthcare makes a difference. It has to do with being able to look into the eyes of a patient who has benefited from the care that includes a product that they know helped them survive, helped them to go home to their families sooner, or prevented a potential health crisis for a loved one. I’ve had the opportunity to hear from patients who were in each circumstance. There is no greater reward than looking into the eyes of a patient and hearing from them directly about the value that innovation contributes to their health.

These have been tremendous rewards for me personally and professionally. We are in the midst of a pandemic as we introduce novel infection control technology, and my hope is that the most memorable moment will occur for us here at AseptiScope.

“Our flagship product, The DiskCover™ System, is an evidence-based solution for the longstanding, unaddressed, and increasingly prominent threat of stethoscope contamination.”