Ep #015: Dr. Jenny Hoffmann

Oct 13

Born from Innovation & Ready to Lead: A Conversation with Dr. Jenny Hoffmann

What happens when your own life is the result of healthcare innovation?

For Jenny Hoffmann, that question is deeply personal.

Jenny is one of the first IVF babies in the United States. Years later, she survived a severe postpartum hemorrhage that changed the direction of her career. Today, as President of the New England Medical Innovation Center (NEMIC), she helps founders and innovators turn promising healthcare ideas into solutions that can actually reach patients.

In this episode of Bluestock Talk, Allison and Jenny get into the parts of MedTech innovation that rarely fit neatly into a pitch deck: commercial viability, regulatory and reimbursement strategy, collaboration, vulnerability, leadership, and what keeps teams moving through the messy middle.

Jenny puts it simply: “Innovation happens through collisions.”

Sometimes that collision is a founder meeting the right clinician, investor, regulatory expert, hospital partner, or another entrepreneur who has already been through the problem keeping you awake at night.

And sometimes it’s Allison meeting Jenny at a conference and immediately thinking, “I need to know EVERYTHING about what this person does.” 😂

They also talk about:

• Why NEMIC starts with commercial viability, not just cool technology

• Finding the right experts at the right time

• Why cohorts can make entrepreneurship a lot less lonely

• Collaboration vs. competition in MedTech

• How challenging moments can accelerate innovation

• Leading with curiosity, empathy, connection, and vulnerability

• Why you don’t need a fancy title to be a leader

• The medical technologies that have changed Jenny’s life and her family’s lives

Jenny also shares the story behind her book, "Open Up: Step Into the Leader You Are Meant to Be," and why she believes leadership is about shaping a vision and helping bring it to life.

One of the most powerful moments comes near the end, when Jenny talks about the “messy middle” of MedTech development. Timelines stretch. Teams get tired. Quitting can start to sound pretty reasonable.

Her reminder? Remember the patient.

That’s why we keep going.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Meet Jenny Hoffmann

00:38 Jenny’s IVF origin story

04:37 Surviving postpartum hemorrhage

08:28 Commercial viability first

12:19 Finding the right experts

15:51 Community & “innovation therapy”

19:03 Collaboration over competition

22:55 Why challenge can accelerate innovation

28:40 Leading with vulnerability