In a special series dedicated to the Australian Clinical Entrepreneur Program (AUSCEP) we introduce you to some of the passionate health professionals taking part in this 12-month program to develop their innovative ideas into products and enterprises.

Dr Yagiz Aksoy is a Resident Doctor at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and co-founder and Director of EosGene Therapeutics, a startup developing a pioneering light-activated gene therapy for diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration using proprietary drug delivery technology – removing the need for painful eye injections.

Yagiz explains how taking part in AUSCEP helped him shift from being a clinician researcher to becoming a translational founder, giving him the language and tools to navigate startup strategy. And it gifted him a community of clinicians trying to solve real problems in different ways.

The program’s third cohort has been delivered in NSW and Victoria, in partnership with MTPConnect and Australian Society for Medical Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASME) and supported by LaunchVic and NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI). The next 2025/26 cohort is open for Victorian applications until 20 June 2025 – apply at auscep.au.

This episode is hosted by MTPConnect’s Caroline Duell and Elizabeth Stares.