Courtney Smith

Courtney Smith is a perioperative nurse innovator, medical device inventor, and healthcare entrepreneur with the University of Iowa Health Care, specializing in clinical process design, medical-grade product development, and front-line healthcare innovation.

Courtney Smith operates at the critical intersection of advanced surgical care and medical product architecture, transforming front-line clinical observations into scalable healthcare solutions. As a staff nurse in the main operating rooms within UIHC’s Perioperative Nursing Division, she manages highly complex, fast-paced surgical environments where efficiency and safety are paramount. Recognizing pervasive operational friction in equipment management, Courtney channeled her clinical expertise into product design, inventing a specialized operating room cord-management device (the OR Cord Clip). Her work demonstrates how bedside healthcare professionals are uniquely positioned to spearhead commercial medical innovation.

As a prominent champion for the Iowa Nurse Innovators Program and a collaborative partner with the Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (JPEC), Courtney has successfully navigated the path from clinical troubleshooting to formal intellectual property development. She frequently represents healthcare innovation at the state level, presenting to legislative committees and regional entrepreneurial panels on the strategic value of funding clinician-led solutions. Her work focuses on workflow optimization, navigating the medical device development pipeline, and breaking down the barriers between daily clinical practice and corporate medical production. By pairing strict surgical standards with an entrepreneurial mindset, Courtney provides scaling founders and healthcare leaders with a practical roadmap for transforming front-line insights into proprietary commercial assets.

Join Courtney to uncover the strategic frameworks required to identify high-value operational gaps, navigate the early stages of product prototyping, and transition a front-line concept into a scalable, commercial asset.