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Tremedics, an early-stage health care company that specializes in pediatric congenital heart failure by using re-absorbable heart stents to grow children’s bodies, recently shared their story with the Innovate Fort Worth podcast, produced by the HSC Next team. Tre Welch, the founder of Tremedics, discussed his company’s work in the field of pediatric congenital heart disease and the novel technology Welch invented to improve children’s hearts.

The tech improves the current conditions for children who go through several open-heart surgeries to receive new heart stents. Welch’s technology could potentially revolutionize how congenital heart disease is currently treated by reducing the number of open-heart surgeries needed for the disease, and by using the same heart stent to grow with the patient.

During the interview, Welch discussed how his background in engineering led him to biotech, and how his broad experience in STEM allowed him to see medical problems differently. It was when Welch watched an open-heart surgery that it occurred to him there has to be a better way. Facing the problem that patients with congenital heart disease encounter in their medical journey, he decided to invent something to change that.

“There’s a lot of things they try to use in adults to repurpose for use in children … stents are a good example,” he said. “When designing something specific for children, you may start in a small market but you’re going to grow to a bigger market, and then you can eventually penetrate the adult market. So, you may start small, but you’re going to win big.”

Welch discussed what it was like to create a prototype with local medical device manufacturers, DesignPlex, and why working with an innovative company has helped him create a better product. He also shares advice for other inventors looking to patent their technologies, and how to take advantage of local resources, like the HSC Next SBIR Phase 0 program.

“It was great having Tre on the podcast to share more about his game-changing biotech device,” said Cameron Cushman, host of Innovate Fort Worth. “It is important to hear about the latest innovations happening in biotech, and how to help these startups overcome hurdles to be successful. His pediatric heart stents are going to change the lives of children in a big way.”

The Innovate Fort Worth podcast is produced by HSC Next, a team at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth dedicated to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in life science, biotech and health care. The podcast features interviews with leaders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors. It has become a go-to resource for those looking to stay up to date on the latest trends and developments in local innovation.

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