A Total of $75,000 Will Be Distributed to Up to Three Finalists
CHICAGO and NEW YORK – August 2, 2021 – Loyola University Chicago’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health announces its partnership with Lyfebulb, an innovation accelerator bridging the gap between patient communities and the healthcare industry, to launch the 2021 Innovation Challenge: “Meeting Our Moment – Reimagining Innovation, Improving Health Equity, and Building Resiliency.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has really highlighted the disparities in the U.S. health care system,” said Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD, founder and CEO of Lyfebulb. “As a platform that promotes experiential innovation, we are pleased to partner with the Parkinson School and eager to see the range of solutions that create better health care delivery models.”
The Innovation Challenge seeks to source a range of innovations from diverse sectors to address the effects of emerging infectious diseases (such as COVID-19) by improving population and public health, health care delivery, and health equity.
According to research from the COVID Equity Response Collaborative, disproportionate health and economic disparities are prevalent in several suburban Cook County communities hardest hit by COVID-19.
“Now is the time, as the country emerges from the pandemic, to drive innovation and develop solutions to improve responsiveness to health crises and identify strategies to eliminate health inequities,” said Elaine Morrato, DrPH, MPH, CPH, founding dean, Parkinson School. “Our focus at Parkinson is on a holistic view of people and society, preparing students to understand how systems and social determinants of health converge as our students are called to innovate and advocate,” she said.
Proposed solutions may include, but are not limited to, digital technologies, devices, consumer products and solutions, and community programs and services. The 2021 Innovation Challenge is open to U.S.-registered organizations in the early/idea stage of development through growth and individuals associated with an established organizational entity. Applicants from underserved communities are encouraged to apply.
Finalists will be announced in late September and will receive an invitation to pitch their solutions to an expert panel of judges comprised of leaders in public health, venture philanthropy, and health care delivery during a two-day, virtual summit (November 16-17, 2021). A total of $75,000 will be distributed among no more than three finalists to advance the development of their innovation. The Innovation Challenge is funded by the generous endowment from Bob and Betty Parkinson, which created the Parkinson School.
Visit Lyfebulb.com to apply and to view eligibility criteria, terms, and conditions. The deadline is September 10, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Lyfebulb.com. There is no entry fee.
About the Lyfebulb and Loyola University Chicago Partnership
The partnership reflects a shared commitment to advancing health equity and improving health outcomes for individuals, populations, and systems. The inaugural 2021 Innovation Challenge seeks to strengthen and engage entrepreneurs from health care, technology, and other sectors as well as the Lyfebulb and Loyola communities. Additionally, the 2021 Innovation Challenge will generate awareness around the effects of emerging infectious diseases and identify promising solutions that reduce health disparities and improve health care delivery for all.
About the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health
Loyola University Chicago launched the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health in Fall 2019 to educate the health entrepreneurs of the future and impact health care accessibility and equity nationally. The Parkinson School offers 17 degree programs and three certificate and internship programs through four areas of study: Public Health Sciences, Healthcare Administration, Health Informatics and Data Science, and Applied Health Sciences. In Fall 2021, it will launch a new 4+1 BSPH/MPH dual-degree program. The Parkinson School builds on the foundations of Loyola’s nationally recognized Stritch School of Medicine and its Biomedical Programs, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, and Loyola’s partnership with Trinity Health (known in the Chicago area as Loyola Medicine). To learn more about the Parkinson School, follow us on Twitter @LoyolaParkinson or on Instagram @loyolaparkinson.
About Lyfebulb
Lyfebulb is an innovation accelerator that bridges the gap between patient communities and the healthcare industry by working directly with patients and care partners to generate insights and build new solutions to reduce the burden of living with chronic disease. Lyfebulb operates across 11 disease states and counting. For more information, visit Lyfebulb.com, TransplantLyfe.com, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Karin Hehenberger LinkedIn.
For more information:
Loyola University Chicago Contact:
Taylor Utzig
Communications Specialist
608-931-3414
tutzig@luc.edu
Lyfebulb Contact:
Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD
CEO & Founder
917-575-0210
karin@lyfebulb.com
CHALLENGE TIMELINE
August 2, 2021
Applications Open
September 17, 2021
Submission Deadline
October 14, 2021
Finalist Announcement
November 16-17, 2021
Innovation Challenge
November 18, 2021
Winner Announcement
Dr. Katherine Grill received a BS in Art Therapy, MA in Psychology, and PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience. While completing her PhD, she worked at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC conducting NIH research. She was also the co-founder of a community health program for young adults called Mindful Millennials. In 2017, Dr. Grill moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to learn about using technology to increase access to mental health care. In 2018 she founded Neolth, a technology company that provides personalized, on-demand mental health support to teens through a self-guided platform.
As the Co-founder and CEO of Neolth, Dr. Grill has won numerous awards, including the 2021 Timmy Finalist as a Best Tech for Social Good company (competition ongoing), 2020 Startup of the Year EdTech award, Top 100 Startup in 2020 by SOTY, Top 100 company in 2020 by Pepperdine University, the SoGal San Francisco Regional Pitch Competition, and the SoGal Global Finals Pitch Competition, the largest pitch competition for female founders in the world. She led the company to receive a $700,000 pre-seed investment, with notable investors like Techstars and Telosity. She was invited to and participated in the Techstars accelerator (which has a less than 1% acceptance rate), the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center’s Milestone Makers program, and the Headstream program (the youth mental health accelerator supported by Pivotal Ventures). She has been featured in numerous articles and received press for her work with Neolth, including being featured in Forbes alongside the founders of Bumble and Zyper in 2021 as a leading female founder and being honored with a display on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square in 2020.
Dr. Grill lives in the Bay Area with her husband and co-founder, Lukas Grill, and their two huskies, Kai and Leo. In her free time, Katherine enjoys hiking, swimming, baking, and learning German.
Katherine Grill, PhD
Co-founder and CEO
Dr. Yair Saperstein is a board-certified internal medicine physician affiliated with Mount Sinai Hospital. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) and graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine with distinction in research in global health and from Yeshiva College as valedictorian. Previously, Dr. Saperstein co-founded two non-profit organizations, StartScience.org and Teach4Kids.org, and served as the inpatient medicine chief resident at Kings County Hospital. Additionally, Yair is an acclaimed classical concert pianist and recreational ukulele jammer and has won numerous awards, including The Jewish Week’s “36 under 36” most influential Jewish Americans, and was a semifinalist in the Dell Social Innovation Challenge.
Yair Saperstein, MD
Co-founder and CEO
Mihir Shah is a visionary entrepreneur addressing global health disparities by translating scientific discoveries into affordable and scalable med-tech solutions that improve outcomes. For over 15 years, he’s led the commercialization of several medical innovations impacting many lives. He is the Founder and President of UE Lifesciences, a fast-growing multi-national startup making the hope of cancer early detection a reality with the award-winning innovations, iBreastExam and cervAIcal, benefitting over 400,000 women in 10 countries.
A two-time TED speaker, Mihir’s work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, and other notable publications. As an adjunct faculty member, Mihir teaches Entrepreneurship in Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University.
Mihir Shah
Founder and President
ABOUT THE VIRTUAL SUMMIT AND $75,000 PRIZE MONEY
The 2021 Lyfebulb and Loyola University Chicago Innovation Challenge: Meeting Our Moment – Reimagining Innovation, Improving Health Equity, and Building Resiliency will source innovative solutions, technologies, methodologies, and services that address the effects of emerging infectious diseases (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) by improving population and public health, health care delivery, and/or health equity.
The Innovation Challenge is open to applicants from different industries and disciplines. Innovators from underserved communities are encouraged to apply. Solutions may include, but are not limited to, digital technologies, devices, consumer products and solutions, and community programs and services.
The Innovation Challenge will be held during a virtual summit on November 16-17, 2021. Applications are open; the deadline to submit entries is September 17, 2021. Selected finalists will receive an invitation to pitch their innovations to an expert panel of judges consisting of public health experts, community advocates, and healthcare industry leaders. A total of $75,000 will be distributed among no more than three finalists to advance the development of their innovation. The 2021 Innovation Challenge is funded by the generous endowment from Bob and Betty Parkinson, which created Loyola University Chicago’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health.
In addition to presenting their social ventures and innovative concepts, finalists will have the opportunity to exchange ideas on how to advance innovation in the areas of population and public health, health care delivery, and health equity, and to engage with Lyfebulb founders, Parkinson School leadership, key opinion leaders, and potential partners and investors.
THE 2021 INNOVATION CHALLENGE
Through a call-to-action and an invitation to “meet our moment,” the 2021 Innovation Challenge seeks innovative ideas and solutions to address the effects of emerging infectious diseases through advancements in the areas of population and public health, health care delivery, and health equity.
The problem: Over the past several decades, emerging infectious diseases have increased in frequency annually both in the United States and globally. The COVID-19 pandemic is just one example of their devastating impacts on already overburdened health care systems and on the health and well-being of communities across the country and around the world.
The opportunity: COVID-19 and the shortcomings of the U.S. response highlighted the need for more forward-thinking, interdisciplinary, and creative strategies that build resiliency and improve preparedness to better manage pandemics and public health threats. In particular, the pandemic magnified existing social, economic, and racial inequalities and exposed the profound inequities at all levels of the U.S. health system. This Innovation Challenge will help identify barriers to care access, work to understand the underlying causes of health disparities, and advance health equity for all.
We’re reimagining innovation: In response to these challenges and with our vision that multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary cooperation is essential to address them, the Parkinson School, in partnership with Lyfebulb, seeks to reimagine innovation in the population and public health, health care delivery, and health equity space.
Lisa Hehenberger, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Strategy and General Management at ESADE Business School and Director at ESADE Entrepreneurship Institute & Center for Social Impact
John Ponsoll
Managing Director at Symbiotix at Havas Health & You
Ramanathan Raju, MD, MBA, FRCS, FACS, FACHE
Former Senior Vice President and Chief Community Health Investment Officer at Northwell Health New York, Former President and CEO at NYC Health and Hospitals, and Former CEO at Cook County Health System Chicago
Abigail Silva, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor at the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health and Director at the Institute of Public Health at Loyola University Chicago
Jeffrey Yang
Chief Technology Officer at Lyfebulb, IT/Digital Product Advisor, and Managing Partner at Yang Consulting
Join the 2021 Innovation Challenge
ENTRY CRITERIA
Lyfebulb and the Parkinson School seek a wide range of solutions that will improve population and public health, health care delivery, and/or health equity in response to emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Applying organizations must be registered in the United States.
INNOVATIONS
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- Address both the immediate and long-term effects of emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19 by improving population health, public health, health care delivery, and/or health equity
- Digital technologies, devices, consumer products and solutions, and community programs and services; technology and systems solutions addressing health care delivery are encouraged to apply
AUDIENCES
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- Communities, particularly underserved populations
- Health care delivery systems and providers
APPLICANT CRITERIA
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- U.S. entities
- For-profit companies (e.g., C Corp, LLC, etc.)
- 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations
- Individuals with registered organizations
JUDGING CRITERIA
Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of subject matter experts selected by Lyfebulb and the Parkinson School.
The judging panel will assess the following:
UNMET NEED
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- What is the strategic basis for the identified problem/gap or public health challenge (e.g., research conducted)?
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- How is the public health challenge or effect of emerging infectious disease(s) specifically addressed?
IMPACT
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- Does the innovation have the potential to improve population or public health outcomes, health care delivery, and/or health equity?
- What level of impact will the innovation make?
- What metrics will the organization use to measure and demonstrate this impact?
FEASIBILITY & SUSTAINABILITY
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- How is the innovation unique to the market or public health landscape?
- What is the feasibility of development and implementation into the marketplace or healthcare ecosystem (e.g., funding, regulations, testing requirements, etc.)?
THE CHALLENGE IN NUMBERS
Applications open on Monday, August 2, 2021
Applications close on Friday, September 17, 2021, at 11:59 PM EDT
The virtual 2021 Innovation Challenge will take place November 16-17, 2021
A total of $75,000 will be distributed among no more than three finalists
John Ponsoll is the Managing Director at Symbiotix, LLC, the US scientific medical communications flagship agency within Havas Health & You. Since 1999, John has served many roles in agency services, from project management and account services, to business development, innovation, and strategy. He has a proven track record in growing companies, new capabilities, and offerings, and he excels at forging deep relationships with clients and exploring novel technology applications for health-related challenges.
From a scientific medical communications and, specifically, transplant perspective, John has developed a deep knowledge and mastery over his more-than-two-decade career. He has been a key driver for strategy and innovation for clients working in immunosuppression, organ rejection, and efforts to increase awareness of the need for organ donation amongst minority populations. He has participated in more than 20 launches during his career and has had significant experience in hepatology, nephrology, neurology, hematology-oncology, rare diseases, and with complex mechanism of action products in crowded or undifferentiated categories.
Separately, John co-wrote and served as Executive Producer of the award-winning documentary, Honor in the Valley of Tears (2010). His film details the first-person account over 40+ years of A-Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry of the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division—of which his father was a soldier—during their time in Vietnam in 1966-67 and the heroic actions of 1st Sgt. David H. McNerney, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1968. The film won jury prizes at six film festivals, was aired on the Documentary Channel, and was enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum along with Sgt. McNerney’s stamp collection upon his death in 2011.
Tim Fitzpatrick is the co-founder and CEO of IKONA Health, a company that combines neuroscience, psychology, and storytelling to improve how patients learn about their health. His interest in the field resulted from his own experience as a patient while serving in the US Navy. After eighteen months filled with several back surgeries and hTim Fitzpatrick is the co-founder and CEO of IKONA Health, a company that combines neuroscience, psychology, and storytelling to improve how patients learn about their health. His interest in the field resulted from his own experience as a patient while serving in the US Navy. After eighteen months filled with several back surgeries and hundreds of painful wound care treatments, Tim became deeply aware of health literacy and accessibility barriers faced by patients across care settings. Following his recovery, Tim spent two years as an institutional equities trader for a bank in New York, where he covered the technology and media sectors. It was in this role that he began to see the potential of emerging technologies like AI, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality in shaping the future of information delivery, particularly in healthcare settings. Building on his co-founders’ research on clinical applications of virtual reality, Tim launched IKONA Health in 2017 to help tackle the uncertainties he once faced in the Navy. He currently serves as Principal Investigator on research grants from the National Science Foundation and Department of Defense, is a member of StartUp Health’s Health Transformer portfolio, and was a Fellow in the inaugural cohort of On Deck Health Fellows that launch in April 2021.
Rohan Dixit is founder and CEO of Lief Therapeutics, a mental health telemedicine company built around a breakthrough wearable device. Formerly a Harvard and Stanford neuroscientist, his work has been featured on The Today Show, CNBC, NBC, and CBS, and in The Atlantic and Forbes magazine. His primary focus for the past 13 years has been the intersection between mind-body interventions, science, and technology. As a repeat healthcare entrepreneur, Rohan has created wearable device products that monitor and augment mind-body interventions and have been used by thousands of consumers and patients.
Mihir Shah is a visionary entrepreneur addressing global health disparities by translating scientific discoveries into affordable and scalable med-tech solutions that improve outcomes. For over 15 years, he’s led the commercialization of several medical innovations impacting many lives. He is the Founder and President of UE Lifesciences, a fast-growing multi-national startup making the hope of cancer early detection a reality with the award-winning innovations, iBreastExam and cervAIcal, benefitting over 400,000 women in 10 countries.
A two-time TED speaker, Mihir’s work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, and other notable publications. As an adjunct faculty member, Mihir teaches Entrepreneurship in Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University.
