I GIVE TO FUEL
INNOVATION

Jeff Roh’s earliest role models were entrepreneurs.

When Roh, ’93, ’16, was 5 years old, his family moved from South Korea to Seattle. Despite having college degrees, Roh’s parents had trouble finding work, so they ran a grocery store in Seattle while his father went back to school.

“I remember how hard they worked,” says Roh. “I think my entrepreneurial spirit came from them.”

Inspired by his parents’ dedication, Roh earned his bachelor’s degree at the UW and went to medical school in the Midwest. After completing a fellowship in orthopedic spine surgery in New York City, he returned to Seattle, drawn by his family and the city’s growing reputation as a life sciences hub.

Throughout his career, Roh has fused medicine and innovation: In addition to practicing as a spinal surgeon, he developed multiple medical products with Fortune 500 company Stryker and co-founded IntuitiveX, an incubator that helps promising life sciences startups commercialize their ideas. Today, Roh is passionately invested in energizing the next generation of innovators.

As well as mentoring students at the UW’s CoMotion innovation hub and the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, he is expanding access for underrepresented minority business students through scholarships. And next year, Roh will help drive new ideas even further by providing the grand prize for the Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge at the Foster School of Business, where he completed his executive MBA in 2016.

“When you combine entrepreneurs and universities, you get this fantastic ecosystem for innovation,” says Roh. “Together, we can create something truly great.”