Alex Smith

Yo, so let me tell you about Alex Smith. This guy is a straight-up tech and med device geek who’s been crushing it in the startup and research game. He jumped into the scene during YC W22 with TYBR Health, a company he co-founded and is CTO of. They’re working on this wild natural hydrogel that’s designed to stop internal scarring after surgery, no bullshit, that’s some advanced stuff. Like, they’re really trying to change how we handle post-surgical recovery.

But Alex’s story didn’t start there. Dude’s been deep in the medical tech world for almost a decade. He’s got serious creds, a BS and MEng in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Houston. That’s a lot of brainpower. His resume is packed with gigs at Texas Medical Center, Texas Heart Institute, and he’s been involved in all kinds of device design, from dialysis access to vaginal dilators to ventricular help pumps. Basically, he’s been around the block when it comes to making cool, transformative med tech.

What’s wild is how he’s always been hands-on. He’s held roles as a Device Design Engineer, Research Assistant, even a Teaching Assistant at A&M. At Texas Heart Institute, he was a Research Engineer and Equipment Manager. Then he did a Medical Device Biodesign Fellowship at Texas Medical Center. The dude’s been grinding on both the research and practical sides, building stuff, testing, figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

His passion? It’s all about making medical tech better, safer, and more accessible. At TYBR, he’s leading the prototyping of their ECM spray system, managing how to make it expandable and affordable. That’s a major part of startups, taking an idea and turning it into something you can actually produce at scale without losing your mind or your money.

And get this, he’s also a published researcher with over 280 citations. That means he’s not just building stuff; he’s also shaping the academic side of medical engineering. His work spans medical devices, surgical tech, mechanical engineering, the whole nine yards.

So, what does this tell you about him? Alex is driven by a real desire to solve big problems. He’s the guy who’s not satisfied with just talking about innovation, he rolls up his sleeves, dives into the messy details, and makes shit happen. Starting TYBR and working on this hydrogel shows he’s all about pushing boundaries, not just for fame but for real impact. He’s the kind of founder who’s been building his expertise for years, and now he’s leveraging all that to change the game.

In short, Alex Smith is a legit innovator in med tech who’s combining deep research chops with startup hustle. The guy’s got the brains, the experience, and the motivation to totally shake up how we heal and recover after surgery. No Cap, he’s the real deal.