Jeroen Nieuwenhuis

Fighting for life-saving diagnostics technology in the healthcare industry

Jeroen combined his business knowledge and PhD in electrical engineering to safeguard a life-saving technology after Philips announced the shut-down of a unit that was developing a portable instrument for quick medical diagnosis from a single blood drop. As the lead of the project, Jeroen fought hard to keep it going. He managed to secure external equity and kept the technical team together to further develop the handheld diagnostics system.

Care providers can use Jeroen’s Minicare system to reliably diagnose a heart-attack within 10 minutes after seeing a patient, without involvement of the hospital lab. The improved cardiac workflow enables improved patient outcomes, and more efficient utilisation of hospital resources: better healthcare at lower cost.

After presenting the results at a large scientific meeting for clinical chemistry in Chicago, Jeroen’s team set out to find a partner to take the system to market. He sold the company to Siemens, enabling global commercialisation, providing job security to Minicare’s employees, and yielding a good return to its investors.

Jeroen kept his visionary and innovative product alive by writing a clear business plan, pitching it to investors, negotiating the buy-out and founding a new company.

“This is the story of a quiet, determined man, committed to a cause,” says nominator and former classmate Rashmi Sharma. “Jeroen helps improve healthcare and quality of life for patients, has faith in his team and does what needs to be done – this makes him a truly inspiring RSM alumnus and business leader.”