Spinal surgery

With a unique disposable camera the size of a pinkie finger, Eric Buehlmann and his team pioneered a better—and easier—way for doctors to perform back procedures.

At just 27 years old, Jessica Traver is leading the charge at IntuiTap, a company that wants to reinvent how spinal taps are performed. She reflects on the successes—and setbacks—she’s had as a game-changing entrepreneur.

Helping change the trajectory of health for humanity is a lofty goal—and it’s one Johnson & Johnson is deeply devoted to. Just read these moving stories, from a boy who benefited from spinal surgery to a woman who survived a stroke at 37.

From a magnetic device that can combat chronic acid reflux to a tiny, tree-like tool that can help treat brain aneurysms, these four amazing innovations are poised to help change the future of medicine.

It’s been six months since we last checked in with IntuiTap Medical CEO Jessica Traver, an incubatee at JLABS @ TMC. She shares with us the highs and, yes, lows of her journey to build a budding medical device company.

Think big, design small. That’s the M.O. behind these innovations, which have the potential to improve the lives of millions of patients undergoing everything from spinal surgery to heart procedures.

Just one in 10 start-ups will actually succeed. Jessica Traver plans for hers to be that one. And over the next year, we plan to follow her progress as an incubatee at JLABS @ TMC.