CTO - Christopher Idelson, PhD

Chris Idelson, PhD, is a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of ClearCam. He is responsible for all engineering, research and development, manufacturing, quality, and regulatory affairs.

Chris first started his engineering career with his B.E. in Biomedical Engineering from The Catholic University of America (2011). He then spent 2 years as an Intramural Research Training Award Fellow at The National Institutes of Health. While at The NIH, he assisted in clinical research relative to human metabolism and body composition in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. It was here that he discovered, and was intrigued by, the wide world of medical devices.

After his time at The NIH, Idelson began pursuit of his PhD at Virginia Tech, but after 1 year his advisor Dr. Chris Rylander (a fellow ClearCam founder) offered the opportunity to transfer with him to The University of Texas at Austin. At UT, Idelson played a key role in launching 4 sustainable research projects to align with new lab objectives: (1) a mechanical optical clearing technology to further enable functional near infrared spectroscopy (2) a personal mobile air purification device (3) a postpartum intrauterine device retention system (4) a novel mechanical in-vivo laparoscope cleaning device. This 4th project morphed into his PhD research, and he successfully defended his dissertation in 2018, with a focus on the manufacturing and design of medical devices. This 4th project also happened to lay the foundation that propelled the team to launch ClearCam's flagship product - Kelling.

Dr. Idelson is an innovator and entrepreneur, listed as an inventor on multiple technologies while remaining very active in the entrepreneurial community through various programs such as MedTech Innovator, NSF I-Corps Program, Rice Business Plan Competition, Austin Technology Incubator, Austin Bioscience Incubator, and many others.

Idelson enjoys staying active and some of his hobbies include sports, movies, fantasy football, and spending time with his wife, his child, and their 2 Australian Shepherds. He also enjoys helping to develop and guide future generations of engineers referencing his many "lessons learned" over the years, and he greatly enjoys obtaining more "lessons learned" himself, every day.