This is and article that appeared in the WVExecutive Magazine Feb 2014

1. www.wvexecutive.com
THE ACA
IN 2015
Planning for
the Future
The Evolution of
Information

2. “I’ve heard
‘no’ a
hundred
times, and
that only
serves to
strengthen
my resolve
to succeed.
It’s the West
Virginian in
me, I guess.”
A Cut
Above
By Amy
Arnett
An Introduction
to Innovator
Tom McClellan
Plastic surgery is a field that is oftentimes
defined by the pursuit of perfection—facelifts,
breast augmentation and tummy tucks—but it is
actually a highly diversified and complex field that serves to
improve quality of life and solve complicated health problems.
“Plastic surgery as a specialty is so much more than it’s
portrayed on reality TV,” says Dr. Tom McClellan. “There is a
great amount of freedom for creativity in order to solve complex,
three-dimensional problems. It requires attention to detail, a bit
of OCD and the ability to think outside the box.” McClellan
is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Morgantown, WV,
as well as a serial entrepreneur within the health care industry.
An avid inventor at heart, McClellan holds four U.S. patents
for medical devices with approximately 15 more pending with
the U.S. Patent Office. Two of his devices have been actively
used on patients to improve breast cancer reconstruction and
chest repair following open heart surgery.
McClellan founded Figure 8 Surgical, with funding from
famed Stanford heart surgeon Tom Fogarty and a few West
Virginia investors, to design and build the FlatWire sternal
closure system. The device increases the stability and strength
of the breast bone and reduces bone pain following open heart
surgery. FlatWire is FDA-cleared and currently in a multicenter
clinical trial across the country. Distribution agreements with
companies in Japan, South Africa and India will soon take the
FlatWire device global.
The FlatWire sternal
closure system.
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3. Missions in
Medicine
In preparation for each trip, Fogarty sets the dates and
locations and begins working with hospitals, pharmaceutical
companies and fundraisers in order to get the money and
supplies required to perform surgery. “We can do surgery
in any place,” says Fogarty. “In terms of patient safety,
we do the exact same things as we do here. We bring
all of our monitoring supplies and equipment.” Being
able to perform procedures safely and using advanced
equipment provides the communities with outstanding
care to which they would otherwise not have access.
Fogarty himself has been on trips that range from nine
days to a year, but most trips are for more brief periods
of time. With a busy practice and a family, McClellan
finds it hard to leave for longer than a week or two. “I’m
in private practice, and I have a wife and two kids. It’s
hard to get away, but it’s something I plan to do more of
in the future,” says McClellan.
Like many medical professionals, Dr. Tom McClellan
entered the medical field in order to help others, and his
work in doing so doesn’t stop with his practice at home.
He has been on two trips abroad with groups who perform
surgeries on patients in developing countries. The majority
of surgeries performed on these trips are for congenital
deformities in children. “We only do reconstructive surgery,
and we see a lot of hand deformities, cleft lip and palette
and burns,” says McClellan. “These cases would be dealt
with here at a much younger age, but they just don’t have
the same surgical opportunities.”
McClellan’s first trip was to Pignon, Haiti, followed by one
to Tacna, Peru. “I absolutely loved it, and it was a lot of
fun,” he says. “It’s the purity of medicine, which I love.
I wish I could go on more of these trips.” He explains
that working abroad is an adventure. A typical workday
consists of performing surgery from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.,
resulting in about 70 surgeries per week.
The trips are coordinated by Dr. David Fogarty, a
plastic surgeon and longtime friend of McClellan’s who
is also based in Morgantown and who founded the
organization Interplast. Fogarty works with surgeons,
nurses, anesthesiologists and pediatricians from across
the globe to assemble teams for these surgical trips that
provide locals with access to quality surgery for free. “My
last trip was my 101st trip,” says Fogarty. “This has been
an integral part of my career.”
50
west virginia executive
Having met when McClellan was a resident in Morgantown,
the two surgeons have become close friends and speak
highly of each other. “Dr. McClellan is an accomplished
surgeon and very good at what he does. He’s a team
player and fits right in,” says Fogarty. “He understands
what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”
Working for others and meeting new people is an important
part of the process for trips like this to be successful. The
relationships that are created and strengthened by traveling
on service trips are some of the most rewarding, according
to McClellan. “You have a lot of fun with the team you
go with, and you feel like you’re making a big difference
in the lives of the people there, who are wonderful,” he
says. “You get to see the richness of the people and how
they want their children to have the best, just like we do.
They’ll sacrifice like we will. Coming back, I realized we
are fortunate people. My trip to Peru was one of the best
things I’ve ever done in my life.”

4. Another patent now being manufactured is the AlloX2, a
tissue expander for women undergoing breast reconstruction.
This device helps reduce many of the common complications
associated with breast cancer surgery. McClellan has two other
funded medical device companies in queue: StealthSuture, a
knotless suture for repairing tissue during surgery, and AcuArc,
a non-operative way to cosmetically improve lower eyelid
bulging and darkness.
All in the Family
Growing up in a family of doctors, McClellan’s future in the
medical field was set from an early age. “My great-grandfather,
my grandfather and my dad were all doctors, and my sister is
a doctor as well. I have wanted to be a surgeon for as long as
I can remember,” says McClellan. “I have a picture of myself
when I was 5 with a surgical mask on, and I would go on rounds
at the hospital with my father and play at the nurses’ station. I
would pretend to wear his pager, which is funny because now,
I wish I could get rid of mine because it goes off so much.”
He thinks the fifth generation McClellan doctor will likely be
his 14-year-old niece rather than one of his two sons, who are 7
and 10. “I’ll be making a video of a surgical procedure for my
YouTube channel, and my kids will see it. I’ll ask them if they
want to be doctors,” he says. “They always say no. They want
to work with computers and robots. But given the success of
Instagram and Tesla, I am supportive of that choice.”
Beyond shaping his career in medicine, McClellan’s family
was responsible for his strong work ethic and independence.
“My mom and grandmother were supportive of thinking differently,” says McClellan. “It was like a badge of honor to be
creative and industrious and to build things. That’s how I was
raised.” Today, through his wife and two kids, he has found
even more support. Developing new devices and getting them
onto the market has taken him to meetings and pitches all over
the country, oftentimes on his own dime. “My wife is very supportive,” he says. “She says, ‘Give it a go,’ instead of ‘Why don’t
you focus on your real job?’ It’s OK to dream and reach, and
to have that is amazing.”
The Patents and Project Process
Innovation is at the heart of plastic surgery. In an industry
where procedures face complications, patients’ lives are improved
by problem-solving and constant evolution. McClellan has personally succeeded in helping to reduce some of these difficulties
by creating new devices. How does he do it? The process of
invention is much like one would expect, but the most important
element is motivation.
“I think about my ideas continually,” says McClellan. “It
might take a year of thinking about something, reducing it to
its simplest form. Then I start by drawing sketches in one of my
50 lab notebooks.” From there, he researches his ideas to see
why a product or procedure might not already be in use. “If I
find an idea that has already been invented, I try to figure out
why it didn’t see the light of day. Understanding their failure
is tremendously valuable.”
Once his idea has been researched, McClellan presents
it to his team of engineers and business partners, who give
honest feedback. If they are on board, he begins the process
of finding a way to design, manufacture, produce and protect
his invention. “That’s where the fun and work starts: flying all
over the country for meetings, pitches, small wins, losses and
frustrations. I love it,” he says.
Back to His Roots
Originally from Charleston, McClellan has lived all over
the U.S., but he moved back to West Virginia because of his
love for the state and its people. “It’s like the mountains get in
your blood,” he says. “The people here are salt-of-the-earth,
hard workers and appreciative; they’re people you want to
take care of.” When an opportunity to join a private practice
in Morgantown came up, he was thrilled.
McClellan also credits his upraising for his tenacious personality.
“When you want to innovate, you have to be fearless. People may
laugh at me. I may fail terribly, but I’ve got to try it,” he says. To get
his first company funded, he flew back and forth to Palo Alto, CA
23 times in six months, usually staying less than 24 hours per trip.
“I’ve heard ‘no’ a hundred times, and that only serves to strengthen my resolve to succeed. It’s the West Virginian in me, I guess.”
Development in the Mountain State comes with its struggles,
which McClellan believes should be addressed. For instance, he
sees a real lack of start-up infrastructure, from venture and angel
funding to finding other like-minded innovators and engineers
with whom to collaborate. The potential resources here are
great, though, and he believes West Virginia should look to its
universities and young people for innovation.
“I am involved with biomedical and software innovation
at West Virginia University (WVU), and I have noticed that
there are numerous obstructions to getting inventions past
the university level and into use. If we could streamline and
support that process, WVU could be very successful.” He uses
The University of Utah as an example. “They had more than
20 spinoff companies last year and more than $200 million in
venture capital funding enter Salt Lake City.”
At the end of the day, McClellan admits his biggest challenge is
not having enough time to do everything he wants. There’s no lack
of motivation, only a lack of room on the clock. His philosophy
is to keep pushing forward and working through his next project.
“I don’t look at these things as success. It’s my job; that’s
what I intended to do,” he says. “My kids are my best inventions, and I didn’t even have to patent them. Raising kids and
doing the best I can at that—that’s really success. 
Photography by Tracy Toler, Dr. David Fogarty,
Dr. Tom McClellan and Interplast WV
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