CEO Spotlight: Heather Underwood of EvoEndo
Heather Underwood: CEO, EvoEndo
Dr. Heather Underwood joined EvoEndo in 2019 after completing the Stanford Biodesign Fellowship for medical device innovation. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder's ATLAS Institute where she developed and implemented clinical decision support systems for midwives and nurses in Kenya, receiving the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Grant and a Gates Grand Challenges Grant to support her research.
She has spent the last 10 years founding and leading medical device startups, non-profit life science organizations, and innovative academic initiatives including co-founding Inworks as an Assistant Professor at CU Denver.
Please describe what your company does today.
EvoEndo develops innovative patient-centric endoscopy platforms to provide safer, faster, and more affordable gastrointestinal procedures for patients and physicians. EvoEndo’s first product, which launched this year, is a sterile single-use transnasal gastroscope that allows upper endoscopies to be performed without general anesthesia or sedation in pediatric and adult patients.
What aspect of your team or company culture are you most proud of, and how are you maintaining it?
EvoEndo is made up of a team of incredibly talented and motivated people who care deeply about our mission to provide safer alternatives to sedated upper endoscopies, especially for pediatric patients and their families. I am most proud of how our team dives into challenges together, and how we collaborate and communicate with each other with respect and humility to solve hard cross-disciplinary problems.
What is the most important thing you're working on right now, and how are you making it happen?
EvoEndo received FDA clearance in February and is in the process of launching the EvoEndo Single-Use Endoscopy platform to pediatric and adult gastroenterologists across the US. We have partnered with Micro-Tech Endoscopy to sell and distribute the EvoEndo System and recently completed an $8.4M Series A round to support commercialization activities. We are leveraging our deep relationships with key opinion leaders and providing comprehensive training and program support to develop the market and promote the adoption of the EvoEndo System this year.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received as a CEO?
Stop looking for “balance”. There will be times when work is all-consuming and times when you enjoy life outside of work, but there is no static state of balance to arrive or stay at. Just keep moving.
What has been the most meaningful aspect of your engagement with the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network?
I am a fairly new BEN CEO but have already gained so much from participating in the company session and one-on-one with my lead advisor. Pre-BEN (and during COVID) it was easy to feel isolated and alone, not being connected to valuable professional networks and resources. Joining BEN has provided me with a sense of community and mentorship that makes navigating the challenges of running a business feel more like a team effort.