Abe Janis is a biomedical scientist and innovation ecosystem leader based in the Chicago area, working at the intersection of translational science, medtech development, and academic-industry partnership building. He spent over a decade at Hollister Incorporated as Senior Principal Scientist in Breakthrough Innovation, where he led open innovation collaborations with academic partners, ran technology and partnership scouting, and founded the company’s Academic Innovation Ecosystem program, a portfolio of capstone mentorship and MS/PhD sponsorship relationships spanning Northwestern, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois Chicago, and other institutions. He also co-founded and ran Hollister’s intrapreneurial Futurism Strategic Foresight Program, coordinating a 35-person cross-functional team delivering annual technology trend reports to senior leadership and the Board.
His scientific background spans wound care, extracellular matrix (ECM) biomaterials, peristomal skin biology, ostomy biomarker research, regenerative medicine, and medical devices, reflected in a body of patents, peer-reviewed publications, and conference presentations built over two decades.
Beyond his core scientific work, he is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, a longtime startup mentor at MATTER (Chicago’s healthcare innovation hub) since 2015, a TEDMED Research Scholar, and holds editorial and standards-committee roles with ASAIO and ASTM International. He currently advises several early-stage companies and is co-founder of VitalSIM.ai, a clinical education venture. He now works as a fractional advisor and consultant across a portfolio of medtech and life sciences startups.
