Mir Imran has a unique background in medicine and engineering, which became the foundation of his work in innovation and company building. After attending medical school, Mir began his career as a healthcare entrepreneur in the late 1970’s and has founded more than 20 life sciences companies since those early days, more than half of which have been acquired. Mir holds more than 400 issued and pending patents and is perhaps most well-known for his pioneering contributions to the first FDA-approved Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD).
“There’s not just one person, there’s maybe 10 people I’d love to meet. But if I had to choose, I would probably choose two very different kinds of people. One would be a philosopher named Daniel Dennett. He’s amazing and has written dozens of books. And the other is a science writer named Richard Dawkins. I’ll take either one.“
Mir Imam
Mir Imam says in an interview in Medium: I was born in Hyderabad, India, a city right in the center of India. My father was a physician, my mother was a writer. We grew up with my grandmother taking care of us; my father practiced medicine in a small town a couple hundred miles away, so we only used to see my father every summer. It was a really wonderful environment growing up with the family, aunts and uncles and so on. I was a tinkerer from childhood, and I developed a deep interest in engineering — for science, physics and chemistry. My mother encouraged me a lot. In fact, I attribute the fostering of my curiosity to her — when I was a young boy, I liked to take toys apart to figure out how they worked. Instead of scolding me, she bought me two toys … one to play with and one to take apart. That was the beginning of my career in engineering. Without even knowing the word “entrepreneur,” I was an entrepreneur. As a middle school student or high school student, I used to make things and sell things. I built transistor radios and toys and would sell them to my classmates. And so that bug was already there for entrepreneurship, and that led me on this path…
Back when I was in 10th grade, the realization came to me that for the kinds of pursuits I was interested in, I would best be served if I were to go either to the U.S. or U.K. or Canada for higher education. So I started writing to universities, unbeknownst to my parents. In fact, I went all the way to applying and getting admissions from various schools, and then I approached my father for some money to come to the U.S…
In the early ’70s, I made my trek. I was about 17 ½ years old, landed at JFK and found my way to Rutgers. I went through the typical immigrant struggles, getting an education while not having sufficient money to do much of anything, or to even have basic necessities. I lived in a closet for three years — actually a walk-in closet I rented out from another student. But I didn’t even think about it as a burden or challenge for me at the time. It was just part of the journey towards reaching my goals. I was so deeply interested in science and engineering at that time, nothing could deter me. It was the most intense period of my life…
As you go through these struggles, you always find people willing to help. Starting with family members, my mother was very supportive of what I wanted to do, even though I was so young and they were saying I should finish my undergraduate degree before going to the U.S. — but my mind was made up. Coming here, there were a number of people who guided me. Some of my professors took great interest in me…
I feel having lived here for the last 47 years, and knowing the history of this country, the energy and the lifeblood of the United States have been the immigrants. In fact, the people who want to come here and want to settle here are the most passionate about their work. They are the most likely to be entrepreneurs. Coming here to the U.S. and leaving everything behind is a kind of an entrepreneurial activity: high risk, potentially high reward. So there’s a self-selection of the best minds, the most motivated and hard working individuals who end up here. If there’s anything we should do to the immigration system, immigration should really open up to people who want to come and get an education and stay here. Maybe have them settle in areas that are less economically developed and build their businesses there. We should look at it as economic development and a competitive edge in the world. Immigrants are the lifeblood of our future…
Investment in our future — in K through 12 education, and in research and development. I don’t want the U.S. to be left behind by countries who are aggressively investing in those areas like China and elsewhere. We also don’t want to be left behind in AI or in clean energy or transportation, all these different sectors that need to continue to be researched and improved. I think that would secure our future.
The above excerpts have been edited for length and clarity Read the whole interview which was published in May 2021 here.
