Business-minded board members contribute to early success of InMotion Musculoskeletal

By Scott Shepard | Memphis Business Journal | Friday, March 30, 2007

In less than two years, Dick Tarr has taken InMotion from an idea to a functioning research recruiter with funding, labs and credibility. It's happened fast because Tarr brings more than 30 years of experience, plus a critical bit of wisdom: Academic people love to talk about their science and clinicians love to talk about their patients, but it takes business people to get things done.

Tarr is executive director of the InMotion Musculoskeletal Institute, which was formed with the goal of recruiting young research talent that can be the foundation of Memphis biotechnology in the future. His first step was to assemble a board of directors, which he did with deliberation.

A bigger board means more people with contacts -- crucial for raising money. He settled on a smaller, more nimble board, stacked with a slight majority of business people.

"Business people are much more in tune with how to operate a company than university people," Tarr says. "Academics have the rules given to them, while business people make the rules and keep the doors open."

It's a singular arrangement and a stimulating one, says board member Jon Serbousek, vice president for research and general manager at Medtronic Spinal and Biologics. Research universities are adept at discovery and proof of concept, but often hit the wall when it comes to transferring technology for commercialization.

Researchers are often compelled by the science. In a room with doctors, the science takes on a new life, he says, and then business people like himself put the idea into a concrete plan.

"We have individuals on the board who see things from every aspect, which is unique," Serbousek says.

The organization has manifested itself in many ways. Academic people understand the grant process while business people understand how to prepare a business plan that shows where the money will go and what it will accomplish. A major goal for InMotion is to recruit scientific clinicians who can straddle both worlds. Out of the nation's 30,000 orthopedic surgeons there are perhaps 400 who combine research and clinical care. Those who focus on InMotion's area of trauma and joint replacement are far fewer.

The board was able to define the goal and identify the best candidates, Tarr says. It's a tiny universe, but clearly defined.

The sifting led to Connie Chu, a cartilage and ligament expert at the University of Pittsburgh and a rising star in orthopedics. She came within a cat's whisker of moving to

Memphis, until Pittsburgh made an offer she couldn't refuse: her own lab, staff and reliable funding.

That was a disappointment, Tarr says, but the board is diverse enough that it developed new recruiting strategies so the next candidate won't slip through. Depending on the particular interest of the candidate, there are direct lines of support, with two universities and Campbell Clinic.

"The University of Memphis was a part of the original design for InMotion," says U of M president and InMotion board member Shirley Raines. "We knew these researchers would need academic homes, and we are involved in bioengineering, biostatistics and bioinformatics."

Tarr also turned to J.R. 'Pitt' Hyde, who built AutoZone, and Jack Blair, who turned Richards Medical from a business that made splints and wraps into orthopedic giant Smith & Nephew. They think big.

Blair is InMotion's board chairman. Other members include Steven J. Bares, president and executive director of Memphis Bioworks Foundation; James H. Beaty, orthopedic surgeon and chief of staff at Campbell Clinic; S. Terry Canale, chief of Pediatric Orthopedics at Le Bonheur; Peter Heeckt, chief medical officer at Smith & Nephew, Inc.; and Leonard 'Rusty' Johnson, Gerwin Professor and chair of the UT-Memphis Physiology department.

InMotion is intended to give structure to an industry that's already breaking out, Blair says. A diverse board accomplishes another goal of eliminating duplication while building alliances. It's set InMotion on a business-oriented trajectory.

"I hope we will guide InMotion and make sure it is always focused on the true goal," Serbousek says. "That's to commercialize discoveries that improve patient care."