Scott Burwell, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Neurotype Inc. Scott shares his journey from a background in experimental psychology to establishing Neurotype, a company developing brain therapeutics to address cravings in substance use disorders. He discusses the innovative use of EEG technology to measure brain responses to stimuli, providing an objective biological assessment and treatment of cravings. Scott emphasizes the importance of integrating science-led approaches in creating medical devices and reflects on the challenges and rewards of leading a MedTech startup.
Guest links: https://www.neurotype.io | https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottjburwell/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/neurotype
Charity supported: Equal Justice Initiative
Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at theleadingdifference@velentium.com.
PRODUCTION CREDITS Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen Producer: Velentium Medical
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Episode 049 - Scott Burwell, PhD
[00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.
[00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.
[00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.
[00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.
[00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.
[00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference.
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and I'm so excited to introduce you to my guest today, Scott Burwell. Scott is the founder and CEO of Neurotype Inc, developer of new brain therapeutics to make environmental triggers less problematic for people in recovery for substance use disorders and other addictions.
Well, hello, Scott. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so excited to speak with you.
[00:01:17] Scott Burwell: Great. Thanks so much for having me, Lindsey. Thanks.
[00:01:19] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. Well, would you mind by starting off and tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and maybe what led you to MedTech?
[00:01:28] Scott Burwell: Sure. Yeah. So, I have a background in experimental psychology, a PhD in psychology from the University of Minnesota. And kind of what led me to that was experience: my family had a liquor store growing up and I worked there for many years. And so I saw firsthand from behind the counter people with substance use disorders occasionally, and just knowing from extended family, substance use disorders, and it was an interesting observation to me to see different people, how they get to a substance use disorder. Some through genetic propensity and some through experiences in their life. And that led me to get a PhD in psychology where I really focused on the genetics and physiology underlying substance use disorders.
And during this time of getting my PhD, I was always trying to think of, where does my skill set and my interest align in the future? What kind of job am I going to have after this? So I looked around. I had some experience, thought, "Could I go the academic route? Could I apply for grants, be a professor at a university?" That approach, which is a very good approach for some people, where your main outcome are publications and grants and dissemination of science.
And then I also looked at industry, but a lot of the companies in industry weren't doing exactly what I wanted to do, which was take these biomarkers that we were studying in psychology and
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