🎨🩺 Issue #34: Have You Met Mark Reiley?
The artist behind the incredible surgeon and the one-of-a-kind Claremonster
💬 Welcome to issue #34 of Between the Lines
The events that have unfolded in Ukraine over the past week are both horrifying and inspiring. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people. In that vein, children are the least responsible for armed conflict in Ukraine, but they suffer the most from its consequences. We’re donating to UNICEF: Protect Children in Ukraine.
We’re spreading some positivity this week and are excited to highlight an inspiring member of the Claremont community, Mark Reiley, and amplify some Claremont voices on Ukraine.
~ Josh & Miles
📊 6th Street Stats: The Artist Behind the Surgeon
Authors: Josh Tatum & Miles Bird
Few people in the world are ever awarded a surgical patent. To be exact, less than .0007% of the U.S. population owns rights to a surgical patent.
Also few and far between, are working artists and painters. Less than .7% of the U.S. population self-reports as working artists and/or painters.
Authors don’t grow on trees either. Less than .01% of the U.S. population has published a book.
This leaves us with a back-of-the-napkin probability that somebody in the U.S. is a medical patent-awarded recipient, a working artist, AND a published author at ~0.0000000006%. I know, I know, this wouldn’t pass Nate Silver’s muster because this isn’t an exact probabilistic estimate, but I swear I got an A in Professor Keil’s stats and econometrics class, and I think you get a general idea. This is a crazy triumvirate! And, I’m willing to bet all my college debt that none of our readers has heard of or met this type of polymath...until now, that is.
Meet Mark Reiley, a Claremont alumnus, serial medical device company founder and inventor, canvas oil painter with gallery-level works, published author (under the pseudonym Thomas Dekooning)...and surgeon! 🤯
You may remember Mark from a shout-out a few months back in our article on CGU. In case you missed it though, here’s a recap:
“Roaming the halls of CGU during the 1970s, was a man named Mark Reiley. Mark graduated in 1972 with his Masters in Science, having previously also attended Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont McKenna College). His CGU degree served him well, and Mark eventually became the founder of a jaw-dropping nine different medical device companies, including SI-Bone and Kyphon. Two of his companies have gone onto IPO, and another two had billion dollars exits to medical companies. More importantly, they’ve had an incredible impact on the lives of people who suffer from lower back pain.”
That was clearly just scraping the surface on all of the unique facets of Mark Reiley that make him the one-of-a-kind person he is. And I mean one-of-a-kind - ~0.0000000006%, remember?!
Throughout his career, Reiley has founded nine different companies (two that went on to IPO and two others that were acquired for massive outcomes), has developed over 450 patents, performed over 8,000 surgeries, has written two published novels, AND has painted over 800 oil on canvas pieces. Frankly, the fact that Dos Equis hasn’t signed Reiley for their commercials to round out his multifaceted career to include ‘tv star’ is surprising at this point. Let’s dig in.
After graduating from CGU with his Master's degree, Reiley headed to George Washington University School of Medicine where he received his M.D. and began his career as an Orthopedic Surgeon. If Orthopedic Surgeon was the only title under Mark Reiley’s belt, he would still be one-of-a-kind. During his career, he performed over 8,000 surgeries, had over 450 patents issued (mostly for medical devices), and was awarded the Phoenix Lifetime Achievement in Medicine in 2008. Among his numerous inventions, he helped create devices to treat fractured vertebrae, created the first and only Total Ankle Replacement (TAR), and invented the triangular fusion rod.
Along with his surgical procedures and inventions, Reiley has founded nine different companies, including Kyphon and SI-BONE:
Kyphon: A medical company that utilized Reiley’s medical invention of Kyphoplasty, a procedure that helps treat spinal fractures for the elderly. He eventually sold Kyphon to Medtronic for $3.9B. Continue here if you are interested in reading more about this ingenious invention!
SI-BONE: Another company built off of the back of one of Reiley’s medical inventions, SI-BONE is focused on helping patients in one of the most under-served, under-diagnosed, and under-treated areas in orthopedics, the sacroiliac (also known as the ‘SI’) joint, which connects the hip bones to the sacrum. SI-BONE went public under the ticker SIBN in 2020.
Outside of these impactful companies, Reiley is also known as the creative mind and founder behind Archus Orthopedics (bought by Globus Medical in 2009), Reiley Orthopedics, (who builds triangular fusion rods for hands and feet—bought by Wright Medical), IN-BONE Total Ankle, (also bought by Wright Medical), and Reiley Pharmaceuticals (agent to locate the exact source of pain using beta-camera technology).
Somehow, when Reiley isn’t filing a new patent, he’s painting. Reiley has painted over 400 gallery-quality works of art. Apparently, these two passions go hand in hand, and according to one interview, “...in his moment of greatest device and corporate productivity, his artistic output literally doubled.” In Reiley’s words, “Painting gave me a sense of who I was at that time. It made me a better medical intern and allowed ideas to flow in naturally from God knows where to see inventions.”
Despite hundreds of beautiful pieces he created over the years, he largely kept his art out of the public eye for most of his life. However, both Reiley and his wife grew to believe that his art contributed to his ability to help his patients successfully. This has prompted Reiley to share more of his art publicly. You can explore some of Reiley’s pieces at his digital gallery.
Another aspect of Reiley's life that he kept somewhat under wraps has been his writing. He is a two-time published author and wrote The Beijing Duck and The Corsican Dove, a two-part mystery series about Detective Ramone Ramone. Both novels, however, were published under the pseudonym Thomas Dekooning.
Jeff Dunn, who has been the CEO of three of Mark’s companies may have said it best, “I think Mark is about as out of the box, as unfollowing as any person I’ve ever met on earth. He really doesn’t care what other people think, he is a pioneer in the truest sense of that word.”
Pioneers like Mark Reiley are one of the many things that make the Claremont community so special, and the world will continue to reap the benefits of his pioneering ingenuity, and relentless pursuit of invention and creations for a long time to come.
To Mark Reiley - you’re an inspiration to us all!
🗣️ Conversations on the Interwebz:
Claremont alumni speak out for Ukraine 🇺🇦
Marcus Baram - Senior Editor/Freelance Writer for Fast Company:
Matt Nichols - General Partner at Commerce Ventures:
Shahram Seyedin-Noor - Founder/General Partner at Civilization Ventures:
Dani Van de Sande - Founder/CEO at Unidentified Landed Objects:
Can’t get enough Between the Lines? Follow and connect with us on Twitter!
Feedback? We love to hear it. Hit us with an email. 👊🏼
I loved the Mark Reiley profile - what an inspiration and a great reminder to make room for art and creativity in life.