Jake Brenner , MD, PhD

Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Jake receieved his BA in Molecular Biology from Princeton University. He then completed his MD and PhD at Stanford University. During his PhD in Stanford's Department of Chemical & Systems Biology, Jake developed a set of high-throughput, semi-automated assays which were used to identify a new class of drug targets for the treatment of heart failure. For this work, Jake received the 2007 Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Young Investigator Award.

Jake was a Stanford Biodesign Fellow, 2008-2009. As a fellow, Jake and his team invented two devices, one to treat hemorrhoids and another to treat fecal incontinence. Jake co-founded a company around each device: The fecal incontinence device became the basis for the company Pelvalon, which is venture-capital funded and started clinical testing in 2011. The hemorrhoids device became the company Orpheus Medical, which is funded by the medical technology incubator Incuvate, and started clinical testing in early 2012. Jake remains a consultant for both companies.

Jake is currently finishing his residency in Internal Medicine at Stanford. In July 2012, he will start as a fellow in Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. At UPenn, Jake plans to continue both his clinical work and technology development. Combining tools learned in both his PhD and Biodesign, he hopes to continue inventing both device-based and molecular/cellular therapies.