Startup Strategies in Healthcare: The Inspiring Story of Dr. Teresa Purzner
On Innovation, Compassion, and Building Better Programs: In Conversation with Dr. Teresa Purzner
Welcome back, everyone—Dr. Robert Beck here. This week, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing someone who, quite frankly, humbles the rest of us: Dr. Teresa Purzner, neurosurgeon, developmental neurobiologist, entrepreneur, and all-around superstar. If you want to feel lazy and unproductive, just try keeping up with her story.
Below, I’ll share the highlights from our conversation, focusing on practical lessons and some inspiration for all of us in health care who want to push our systems forward (without needing a massive budget or massive change initiatives). Don’t worry—I’ll keep it crisp.
Meet Dr. Teresa Purzner
Scarborough roots, ambitious journey: Teresa grew up in Scarborough, went to Western for med school, U of T for residency, matched into neurosurgery alongside her husband, and did research at Stanford before moving back to Canada with three kids and a research portfolio most of us would dream about.
Current role: She and her husband now run a neurosurgical practice (with a lab!) at Queen’s, with a special interest in brain tumors. They literally split roles between lab and clinic, tag-teaming responsibilities every two weeks. Teamwork at its finest.
Addressing Systemic Healthcare Challenges: Teresa’s Approach
The Problem
Despite having an outstanding neurosurgical team, patient outcomes in the Queen’s brain tumor program didn’t reflect the high caliber of their work.
Patients faced long delays for post-op MRIs, radiation, and other care milestones. The 90-day mortality was far higher than acceptable.
The bottlenecks weren’t restricted to one area—it was inefficiency at every step, compounded by a chronically understaffed system.
The Breakthrough: Borrowing from Startup Culture
Teresa, with her entrepreneurial background (yep, she started Cerebelli while doing her PhD at Stanford), realized that traditional “quality improvement” wasn’t going to cut it. Instead, she turned to “design thinking,” a startup-inspired, human-centric, and nimble methodology.
Main Takeaways from Her Process:
Start with listening: Interview everyone—doctors, nurses, administrators, technologists, patients, and families. Don’t assume you understand the problem; actually ask and analyze recurring themes.
Identify all friction points: Map out the complete patient journey. If every step is inefficient, small delays add up (what Teresa beautifully calls “cumulative time toxicity”).
Prototype and iterate fast: Create interventions based on what real users need. Don’t wait for perfect buy-in or funding.
Ask only for what matters: All Teresa really needed to request from administration was a single navigator position (an RN). Everything else was pure hustle—standardized forms, pamphlets, a live tracker, coordinated outreach, and better communication.
Launch big: The program was introduced like a product launch—visiting every referring hospital, supplying materials, and getting the word out through media.
The Results: Major Wins Without Massive Spending
Surgery on time: Up from 50% to 100%.
MRIs on time: Up from 35-40% to almost 100%.
One-year survival: 40% reduction in mortality for glioblastoma. That’s unheard of.
Closing the rural-urban gap: Outcomes for rural patients now match those in urban centers. Equity achieved, almost by accident, through efficiency.
All this for the cost of a nurse navigator, some printed materials, and a lot of sweat equity.
Cultural Lessons: Efficiency is Not Privatization
A lot of Canadian health care workers hear “efficiency” and immediately suspect a push toward privatization. But as Teresa emphasized, you can—and should—borrow business processes and human-centered design from the private sector without sacrificing the soul of public health care. Good process isn’t about profit; it’s about better outcomes and less suffering.
For Doctors Who Want to Change the System: Teresa’s Advice
Talk to everyone involved first. Before you roll out a solution, find out what the real pain points are for both providers and patients.
Build around early adopters and let them spread the word.
Avoid making new paperwork and frustration: Only create interventions that solve real problems and make things easier, not harder.
Iterate and listen: Test your solutions, collect real feedback, and actually adapt your approach. Don’t be precious about ideas—focus on what works for people.
Looking Ahead: Combining Efficiency with Research Innovation
Because her team streamlined care, they’ve created a research environment where every step is tracked and every patient can participate in innovation. They’re now running cutting-edge trials, taking novel biopsies, and connecting the OR and lab in ways that translate directly to patient benefit. “Let’s just see what happens”—Teresa’s guiding mantra—works in clinical care and research.
Final Thoughts
Dr. Teresa Purzner’s approach is something we can all learn from:
You don’t need a massive budget or a system overhaul to make a huge impact.
Listen, act, measure, and keep going.
Respect the perspectives of everyone involved, and don’t wait for permission when you know things need to get better.
I hope this conversation is as inspiring and action-provoking for you as it was for me. Huge thanks again to Dr. Purzner for sharing her process, wisdom, and humility.
Keep building lives, not just careers.
— Dr. Robert Beck