Empowered to Serve Business Accelerator^™: 2024

John Wilcox (1st place)

John Wilcox is the founder and CEO of Diatech Diabetes, a medical technology company led by people with diabetes whose mission is to improve the health outcomes of others with diabetes through personalized technology. Two million patients utilize insulin pumps, yet 97% of pump users experience insulin infusion failures that can cause increased costs and dangerous blood glucose levels. Diatech Diabetes solution is Smartfusion™, an infusion monitoring software that detects insulin infusion failure and provides insights on how infusion performance affects diabetes management. Smartfusion helps reduce the impact of insulin infusion failure for people living with diabetes.

Sandra Saldana (2nd place)

Sandra Saldana is the CEO and co-founder of Alva Health, a MedTech startup that is developing a device that uses noninvasive wearables and AI/ML algorithms to monitor the onset of stroke symptoms and immediately initiate emergency calls. The wearable platform detects hemiparesis, a hallmark of stroke onset. Upon the onset of hemiparesis, the user is connected to a 24/7 call center where trained medical responders perform additional assessments and initiate 911 calls when indicated. Alva Health’s mission is to build a game-changing solution for the early detection of stroke symptoms, which will enable for the first time the automated, seamless monitoring of stroke in high-risk patients at home and away from the hospital where they are most vulnerable.

Tomás Armendariz (Fan favorite)

Tomás Armendariz is the CEO and founder of AVatar MedTech. The company develops an innovative set of medical devices that standardizes a surgical method for reconstructing aortic and pulmonary valves in both children and adults using autologous tissue. Specifically designed with pediatric patients in mind, these devices make the procedure simpler, faster and easily reproducible by any cardiac surgeon, while enhancing patient safety. The beneficiaries of AVatar MedTech include patients with semilunar valvular diseases who receive life-changing or life-saving surgeries, as well as cardiovascular surgeons who gain access to tools that simplify complex procedures, eliminating the need for in-depth understanding of valve geometry, mathematics and hydrodynamic laws.

Claire Beskin

Claire Beskin is co-founder and CEO of Empallo, an AI-powered virtual clinic that optimizes therapy planning by cardiologists and shifts an appropriate range of medication titration activities to advanced practice providers (APPs), nurses and software solutions. They created a new market where heart failure (HF) patients no longer need to make frequent trips (often over long distances) to brick-and-mortar health centers; rather, they can access specialty HF care from the convenience of their home, extending their quality life years by decades. Empallo's approach aims to address the specialist shortage, reduce costs and improve patient outcomes.

Daniel Wolkowitz

Daniel Wolkowitz’s company Balto is building a remote-first work marketplace that enables near real-time personalized patient care from anywhere in the U.S., helping solve the physician shortage, driving down hospital admissions and making it easy to get quality care from home. The marketplace will connect rural hospitals struggling to hire for physicians of all types, with a remote workforce of physicians who can solve critical, non-in person, care work that takes place in hospitals. By 2034, our health care system will consist of 77 million patients over the age of 65, while simultaneously experiencing a shortage of 125,000 physicians. Balto aims to alleviate these issues, all while helping U.S hospitals to stay revenue efficient, through preventative care.

Dustin LaFont

Dustin LaFont is the proud executive director of Front Yard Bikes, a youth workforce development program and community bike shop teaching participants ages 6-18 mechanics, urban gardening, cooking and welding/fabrication. As a drop-in program, participants can decide how they want to be involved and choose the specific activities that lead to different benefits. Community youth serve as the core decision-makers, program operators and program developers. FYB works to address equitable health by empowering youth voices, offering paid internships, growing food for healthy cooking classes and providing bikes for mobility.

Lars Grieten

Lars Grieten is a passionate entrepreneur with a background in biomedical engineering and digital health innovation. FibriCheck is a digital health platform focused on revolutionizing heart-health monitoring through innovative mobile technology. By providing users with a simple yet powerful tool to detect heart rhythm disorders, FibriCheck aims to enhance early diagnosis and improve overall health outcomes. The company's mission is to make heart-health monitoring as easy and accessible as checking your pulse, ultimately contributing to a healthier, more informed society.

Dr. Lola Omishore

Dr. Lola Omishore is the founder of TheraMotive, a company building the future of physical therapy with mobile clinics powered by AI, virtual reality and wearable technology. Driven by its mission to break free from geographic barriers to care, TheraMotive designs clinics to adapt, evolve and move with their clients to deliver care where they live, work and play.

Mike McCormick

Mike McCormick is the cofounder of CorRen Medical, empowering physicians with precise, reliable data for the diagnosis of peripheral artery disease (PAD), addressing the challenges posed by inconsistent test results. UltraSense, an AI-driven ultrasound technology, is designed for the early detection of PAD, a condition that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities.

Update: CorRen Medical raised $130K in December 2024, finalized its superior UltraSense probe design, and is progressing on NIH, FDA, and fundraising efforts. With 65% of its $2M seed round complete, CorRen seeks introductions to close the round by early 2025.

Peter Musimami

Peter Musimami is the founder of Gumbo. Gumbo enhances patient-provider communication, removing language barriers and improving health for everyone, everywhere. Gumbo’s white-label, digital tools enable effective and accurate resource navigation, health literacy and disease self-management, as well as empower patients to reach their full health potential. With its provider-connected digital health tools, Gumbo empowers patients and members with low literacy and limited English proficiency to take charge of their health. Gumbo is dedicated to empowering underserved communities using culturally inclusive, patient-centered technology.