On a Saturday morning at the bioskills training facility of Axis Research & Technologies in Irvine, a musculoskeletal device company brought in a heavy, multimillion-dollar robot for training. No forklift operators were working the weekend.
Axis Chief Executive Nick Moran “somehow remembered how to drive a forklift, so he came in and did it all for them. They thought it was hilarious that the CEO was helping them with that,” Axis Research COO Jill Goodwin told the Business Journal.
According to Goodwin, it’s the hands-on service of Moran and others at the company that enables Axis—one of Southern California’s only bioskills training facilities—to serve the region’s substantial medical sector.
The company provides a variety of specialized testing, research and skills training services, including the use of cadaver specimens, for medical device companies and hospitals.
Its Irvine headquarters, near the District at Tustin Legacy shopping center, encompasses 10,000 square feet of labs, conference rooms and surgery suites, where they serve up to 120 people daily.
Surgeons, educators and researchers can use its facilities for didactic training, classroom style learning, broadcast events and more.
Shooting for the ‘Center Core’
Before establishing Axis in 2014, Moran and Goodwin co-ran California fitness chain Primal Fitness Centers. Axis felt like a “natural transition” for the pair, since their entrepreneurial origins were in the health sector, said Moran.
“We named ‘Axis’ after the center core of the earth; we want to be the center core of this industry,” he said.
The company’s quickly built up a dedicated group of corporate customers.
“Most of our clients choose us as their premier facility of choice, and use our labs multiple times per week, because they know we understand their setup and needs. We make it very streamlined for them,” Goodwin said, listing locally based device maker firms Edwards Lifesciences Corp., Axonics Inc. and Applied Medical as repeat customers.
Lean Team
Axis’ main draws are prepared cadaver specimens, and it recently added, HIPAA-compliant tele-training platform.
“When COVID hit, we realized there was a great need to broaden our audio-visual capabilities. They are now very robust, so med device companies can travel and still reach their teams across the globe, Moran said, adding that seminars and workshops can be livestreamed to 500 people at a time.
Music often plays at the clients’ requests, and when they need respite, Axis labs provide game lounges and patios lined with food trucks.
“Our labs are sterile, but our labs don’t have a sterile feel,” Moran said. “We want Axis to be a place where clients can come to enjoy themselves.”
Axis has 20 employees companywide.
“What we do is sport—and I try to lead with that mentality,” said Moran—a former hockey coach and professional MMA fighter who was inaugurated into the Masters Hall of Fame in 2014.
It currently has four locations in California, Tennessee, and Columbia, Md.; its newest, 11,000-square-foot facility in Chattanooga, Tenn. will open in March.
Omnimed SmartOR
While Axis’ current business is preparing rooms for training, the company is forging ahead with technology that will improve the efficiency of medical procedures: the OmniMed SmartOR, or “smart operating room.”
The Omnimed is an intelligent monitoring system that leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things and computer vision to monitor and document every aspect of a procedure as they unfold, according to Moran. It can track up to 10 million data points per minute.
“Imagine if the modern operating suite could serve as a data-collecting machine, able to create a digital model of all procedures on the fly—monitoring every action in the room by the millisecond pre, during and post-procedure and then breaking that data down into millions of data points,” he said. “The efficiencies created, the cost savings realized and potential improvements in healthcare would be incalculable.”
Axis is collaborating on the tech effort with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and BDO’s Digital Healthcare Division, one of the top three financial firms in the world.
According to Moran, Axis’ expansion has been bootstrapped, until recently. This year, Axis raised $8 million with an undisclosed investor. To expedite the Omnimed’s launch, the company may be looking for more investments down the road.
“We want to make a massive impact with this software,” he said. “We want to change the way lives are saved.”
