Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge
First prize winner of the Fowler Global Social Innovation Competition, Elythea sharing their pitch virtually with judges.
On June 17th the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge held its competition and awarded two Patient Safety Technology Challenge prizes for the best tech-enabled solutions. Hosted by the University of San Diego and the University of St. Thomas, the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge inspired student entrepreneurs from over 23 universities from around the world to connect and create sustainable business solutions to global issues. The Patient Safety Technology Challenge, funded by the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative, sponsored the patient safety tech awards which were promoted through the UN Sustainable Development Goal #3, Good Health and Well-Being, category.
The $5,000 1st prize went to Elythea, a machine learning (ML) platform to predict common pregnancy complications before they result in unnecessary harm to the mother and baby. Elythea cited that over 9 out of 10 maternal deaths are preventable, and its technology can better recognize warning signs and lead to life-saving interventions. Reetam Ganguil, an MD candidate at Brown University, shared his motivation for starting Elythea saying, “Doing ML research and speaking to physicians across 5+ African countries and the US about their biggest pain points -- a common thread unveiled those preventable complications like bleeding and hypertensive complications killed tens of thousands of moms annually -- and more than 75% of them never needed to die.”
It is exciting to see that the Patient Safety Technology Challenge’s funding will help scale this innovation imminently. Ganguil shared that the team is “working full-time on Elythea, we're conducting the first ever randomized control trial of a ML mobile device platform in rural African countries trying to predict and prevent maternal mortality for high-risk moms in low resource regions. We are also amidst conducting a prospective study with Harvard medical school.” You can view Elythea’s pitch video here.
Ria Jha with her award representing the 2nd place $2,500 prize her team, OnPoint Ventilation, took home from Fowler GSIC.
The $2,500 2nd prize went to OnPoint Ventilation for their device, the Bronchosleeve which will enhance lung ventilation by improving ease of insertion and reducing life-threatening complications. Ria Jha, a Johns Hopkins student, had two people in her life experience complications with one-lung ventilation (OLV). She shared, “our team first encountered this issue while shadowing ICU nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ventilatory issues became exacerbated during this time, leading to fatal consequences. These experiences deeply impacted us, fostering a collective passion for improving patient safety and finding solutions to mitigate such risks. With these personal encounters driving us, our team is determined to make a positive impact in the field of patient safety. We are committed to developing a solution that addresses the challenges associated with procedures like OLV, ultimately striving to enhance patient outcomes and ensure that healthcare providers effectively communicate potential risks to their patients.”
In the coming months, OnPoint Ventilation will be completing a provisional patent with the assistance of Johns Hopkins University’s technology transfer office which is actively supporting them in protecting their intellectual property. In addition, the team is preparing to initiate animal studies to gather data for FDA clearance. According to Jha, “our ultimate goal is to secure regulatory approval so that we can make our device available to clinicians as quickly as possible.” OnPoint Ventilation’s pitch video can be found here.
The Patient Safety Technology Challenge is thrilled to support Elythea as well as OnPoint Ventilation and are excited to see what they do next.