Helping breast cancer patients

Helping breast cancer patients to have a comfortable surgery experience

WHO ARE YOU? 

Fazila Seker, PhD President & CEO, MOLLI Surgical

WHAT  did you do ? 

I helped found MOLLI Surgical as a new company to bring to life the vision of frontline clinical scientists and engineers for better health care. My co-founders both held clinical roles at Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Centre where they could see there was a need for a better way to do breast cancer surgeries. So they invented the technology. Getting that invention out of their heads and communicating the value in a way that’s relatable to the various people it’s meant to touch – patients, physicians and care teams, regulators, payors, investors, and new hires – that’s my job.

HOW did you do it?

I do this by bringing together a team of leaders that share a common set of values, starting with putting people first. I believe building the discipline of putting other peoples’ needs ahead of our own allows us to be open and see new opportunities where others might not, and it cultivates connectedness within the team. Seeing that all coming together is also personally satisfying.

WHEN  did you start your company? 

The company was incorporated in 2018, but has its roots in 2015 when I first met my two co-founders and we started working together.

WHY  are you innovating with this product or service?

Regardless of the product, our “why” is the same – we believe health care needs to get simpler to get better for patients and providers alike. The MOLLI product is intuitive to use with no extensive learning curve. It helps breast cancer patients have a more comfortable surgery experience and do it in a way that fits better with their life schedule, while it helps surgeons remove the lesions more efficiently. To help the fight against COVID-19, we’re stepping up to help the medical supply problem we’re seeing for testing and PPE. We need massive scale fast, and the quickest way I can see to achieve that is by partnering with the large scale manufacturing capabilities of automotive parts manufacturers.

WHERE are you from?

I live and work in Toronto, Canada. It’s home - I was born here, originally of Turkish descent. I started my professional career in the US where I did my graduate studies and worked over 13 years – that experience shaped my professional outlook and taught me three important things - trust my instincts, challenge the status quo, and most importantly to surround myself with people I respect and look up to.

INDUSTRY: 

Medical Devices

SOCIAL MEDIA:  

http://www.facebook.com/FazilaSekerMOLLI

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fazilaseker

https://twitter.com/fazilaseker