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Most people talk about “fixing healthcare” from the outside. We wanted the view from inside the machine. So we sat down with Todd Headley, CEO of the Zucker Institute for Innovation Commercialization at MUSC, and Bob Crutchwell, Managing Director of the 1824 Fund and the South Carolina Health Innovation Fund, to unpack how healthcare innovation actually gets built, tested, protected, and funded in Charleston.
We walk through MUSC’s commercialization pipeline, from clinicians and researchers spotting real problems to a structured process of assessing market need, product-market fit, and scalability. Todd shares how the Zucker Institute sources a huge volume of new ideas each year, why not every innovation should become a startup, and what it takes to move from an early concept to pilots and clinical trials. Bob explains why MUSC created a venture fund, how non-dilutive funding like SBIR and STTR can push a company farther before raising private capital, and what “escape velocity” looks like when a team is ready to build commercial momentum.
We also get specific about what makes something investable in health tech and life sciences: intellectual property strategy, defensibility, milestones, and the realities of healthcare workflows. Then we zoom out to the future, including value-based care, care at home, rural access, and how AI in healthcare and agentic AI could speed de
King & Columbus is a full-service marketing and advertising agency based in South Carolina that helps brands grow through a mix of creative storytelling and data-driven strategy. They offer everything from branding and content creation to media planning, digital advertising, and PR—focused on delivering measurable results across digital, social, and traditional channels. https://kingandcolumbus.com
South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) is a public, nonprofit organization that fuels South Carolina’s innovation economy by supporting technology-based startups, academic research, and industry partnerships. Through funding, coaching, and its investment arm SC Launch, SCRA helps early-stage companies grow, commercialize ideas, and scale within the state’s key innovation sectors.
Title Sponsor: Charleston American Marketing Association
Presenting Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions
Annual Sponsor: SCRA; South Carolina Research Authority
Quarterly Sponsor: King and Columbus
CAMACast Cohosts: Stephanie Barrow, Mike Compton, Rachel Backal, Tom Keppeler, Amanda Bunting Comen,
Silicon Harbor Hot Take Host: Stanfield Gray, https://digsouth.com
Produced and edited: RMBO Advertising
Photographer | Co-host: Kelli Morse
Score by: The Strawberry Entrée; Jerry Feels Good, CURRYSAUCE, DBLCRWN, DJ DollaMenu
Studio Engineer: Brian Cleary and Mathew Chase
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