By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News

Dr. Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School delivers the keynote talk at MedTechTX 2015

Dr. Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School delivers the keynote talk at MedTechTX 2015

The new Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin is going to have a technology medical accelerator to nurture new startups.

Whether the Dell Medical School operates it or partners with an existing accelerator is something they are looking at right now, said Dr. Clay Johnston, dean of the Dell Medical School. It could be they partner with Capital Factory, the Austin Technology Incubator or another organization, he said.

Startups need access to the medical system, Johnston said. The new Dell Medical School intends to provide that to encourage a culture of innovation, he said.

The Dell Medical School closed applications on Oct. 1st for its first class. It received 4,700 applications for 50 spots, Johnston said. They are in the process of selecting the students right now.

The Dell Medical School, which has 125 employees, is also still hiring for specific and targeted positions, Johnston said.

Johnston made the remarks to Silicon Hills News following his noontime keynote speech at MedTech2015, medical device and technology summit at the Norris Conference Center put on by the Small Business Development Center at Texas State University. About 150 people registered for the event, which featured more than 30 speakers discussing topics ranging from funding a medical technology startup to ways to regulatory challenges and manufacturing medical devices. Hugh Forrest, director of South by Southwest Interactive gave the morning keynote address and Nicholas Pachuda, worldwide vice president of Orthopedic Innovation for Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices, gave the closing keynote.

The daylong summit addresses the growing interest in medical technology industry in Central Texas, said Mike Breck, event organizer with the SBDC at Texas State University.

“Our motivation for this was the fact that we have a very unique opportunity in Central Texas right now with a brand new medical school,” Breck said. “We want to make Central Texas and Austin a hub for the life sciences industry. And the medical school is going to be an instigator to make that happen.”