upon March 26thseveral student-founded health startups pitched their ideas at the inauguration. The challenge of innovation in healthcareCreated by Entrepreneurship at Georgetown University program within McDonough Business School.
Evaluated by a panel of expert judges, 3 startups founded in Georgetown Won 1st place prize $2,000followed by 3 second place winners win $1,000 and Three third place winners will receive $500won all awards Turning research, clinical trials, and healthcare ideas into reality.judge rated The 24 entries were determined based on product feasibility, team strength and capabilities, and how well their unique innovations incorporate Georgetown's Jesuit values.
One of the challenges first prize winner, I'll smell it later.was established to help detect potential cases. parkinson's diseasea neurodegenerative disease. Decrease Dopamine levels in the brain increase, causing a variety of physical symptoms.
Andrew Tokarski (CAS '24) The founder of Smell Ya Later said the most common symptoms of Parkinson's disease are: Tremors, stiffness, and impairment of daily life functionstheir company's technology relies on another, lesser-known condition.
“There is one clinical sign that is often overlooked,” Tokarski said at the event. “People with Parkinson's disease usually lose their sense of smell before other symptoms appear.”
Tokarski said he is marketing an affordable at-home smell test that will allow adults between the ages of 50 and 75 to test themselves for Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Alzheimer's disease.
“In Parkinson's disease, by the time motor symptoms appear and doctors make a diagnosis, 70 percent of the affected brain regions have already died,” Tokarski said. “It is very important to detect Parkinson's disease as early as possible.”
barbara whiteGeorgetown Entrepreneurship Mentor for this year's Innovation Challenge, and Founder of Avoca Group,Washington, DC consulting companystated that clinician burnout and aging are popular themes among startups, indicating future market trends in the healthcare industry.
“We're going to continue to find more and more solutions to aging and longevity,” White told The Hoya. “There are many interesting solutions to similar problems.”
MyMind, another challenge participant, created an app to streamline telehealth services and appointments, guided meditations, and small group meetings to combat clinician burnout.
Co-Founder nisha gupta (MED '25)said the team hopes to work directly with hospitals and universities to offer MyMind's services to doctors and residents, preventing workplace burnout and promoting a positive space for mental health in healthcare.
“One in five physicians experience depression during their training, and medical students face approximately 15 to 30 percent higher rates of depression than the general population,” Mr. Gupta said at the event.
Like the Smell Ya Later team, 3rd place winner med mate Focusing on the themes of aging and longevity, the company offers an artificial intelligence-powered medicine “smart box” that helps patients with heart disease and other chronic diseases stick to their medication doses and schedules.
Tamara Ibrahim (MED'25)MedMate's founders identified five main factors for medication nonadherence, including taking too many medications at once and patient misunderstandings about the purpose and effectiveness of the prescription.
“MedMate is unique in that it uses machine learning to provide adaptive, customized, and interactive patient education and information about diseases and drug objectives,” Ibrahim said at the event. Ta.
Professor White praised the Georgetown students for developing a unique plan to improve longevity and clinician health, citing the need for bright students to advance their ideas.
“We tend to think that if no one has solved this problem, it must be an unsolvable problem, but that's not the case,” White says. “That’s why we need really smart people.”
For the future of sustainability and effective care in our health system, students must continue to foster innovations that drive progress and better care throughout the community, White said.
“This is something that touches all of us,” White said. “Even if you are a really healthy person, you are a consumer of our health care system, so the better our health care system works for everyone, the better our communities and Society will be better.”
