Sarah Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of Relavo. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering (2019) from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and a Master of Science in Engineering in Mechanical Engineering (2020) at JHU.
Sarah has led Relavo’s work since its initiation in September 2017 as an undergraduate design team in the Biomedical Engineering (BME) department, of which she served as the Team Leader and Project Manager. Under her leadership, Relavo raised nearly $1,000,000 in non-dilutive funding, including a National Science Foundation SBIR Phase I award and the KidneyX Redesign Dialysis Phase II award, and has grown to become one of the most successful projects coming out of the BME Design Team program at JHU. Relavo’s work has also been recognized by the James Dyson Award, VentureWell, the National Kidney Foundation, and numerous business plan competitions.
In addition to her work with Relavo, while at Johns Hopkins, Sarah was part of an undergraduate design team that aimed to develop a low-cost cryoablation device to treat breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries. She led early bench-testing efforts and helped earn a Bronze Medal at the 2016 Collegiate Inventors Competition at the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Linda Trinh Memorial Award from JHU. She also participated in the National Science Foundation, Research Experience for Undergraduates program as an REU Fellow in 2018 where she worked to develop permeable scaffolds for microvessel growth to treat spinal cord injuries, and was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society in the US.
Dalton, a former division one athlete at the University of Iowa, suffered career ending injuries from a near-fatal motorcycle accident during his sophomore year. One of the injuries (to his brachial plexus) left him with a paralyzed right arm. After about a year, during which his arm was paralyzed. Dalton underwent an experimental nerve transplant operation and eventually was able to regain full movement of his arm.
With his co-founder Eric Pahl, Dalton started OmniLife in 2016. They connected initially through their common interest in medical technology and their shared connected purpose to organ and tissue transplant.
Passionate. Unique. Loyal. Resilient. These words are commonly used to describe Sharron S. Rouse. Sharron is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of working in the education and nonprofit industries. She is skilled in program coordination, leadership, community outreach, and curriculum development. Sharron is a strong educational professional with an Administrator certification focused in Educational Leadership and Administration.
A native of the Washington, DC Metropolitan area, she has dedicated her life to influencing the world as a kidney disease, dialysis, and now transplant survivor. Sharron actively shares her story to bring hope and healing to anyone facing difficult circumstances in life. To expand the scope of her reach, Sharron founded Kindness for Kidneys International, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating, encouraging, and empowering kidney warriors and their families. Sharron lives in Maryland with her husband Shawn and daughter Kyla.
While going through Northwestern University’s dual MD/PhD program, Bilal Naved wondered why the questions they were being trained to ask patients couldn’t be encoded into more automated, digital systems. Even though medical knowledge is available widely on the internet, navigating it is still difficult, often requiring a medical degree. As a clinical engineer, Bilal is motivated to solve problems that optimize healthcare delivery. The virtual triage systems that he co-created at Clearstep have been deployed in 13+ states to navigate millions of patients. These systems are trusted by blue chip companies (CVS Health, HCA), local health systems (BayCare, Wellforce, Novant), a large multi-specialty provider group (Duly), and the largest population health management organization (Medecision).
Bilal’s work landed him and his co-founder, Adeel Malik, on Crain’s Chicago 20 Businessmen in Their 20’s list for 2020 and Forbes Next 1000. They have been featured in major press outlets including Forbes, Crain’s Chicago Business, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, MATTER, and Becker’s Hospital Review for their contributions to healthcare, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bilal is supported by the NIH’s NIDDK to innovate machine learning technologies and tissue engineering approaches for treating kidney disease. He is an active member of the NIDDK’s (Re)Building-A-Kidney consortium, has co-authored a textbook in Wiley’s Advanced Materials for Stem Cell Research. and has made peer-reviewed contributions to the fields of renal stem cell biology, regenerative material engineering, and transplant surgery among others.
Jonathan Politzki is a senior at the University of Illinois studying engineering and finance. Growing up, his grandfather suffered from CKD and this left a lasting impression on him. His passion for healthcare and solving problems led him to work in healthcare M&A with SVB Leerink and to ultimately found Nephra, a startup focused on providing peace of mind for patients with CKD. Nephra is an early-stage med-tech startup that is developing predictive, non-invasive electrolyte monitoring software that can be utilized to alert dialysis patients and their physicians about abnormal electrolyte values so that emergency dialysis sessions or appropriate medication intervention can be initiated before it’s too late. By increasing the rate of monitoring of these key electrolytes from once a month to once a day, Nephra will play a vital role in working to reduce cardiac-related mortality for dialysis patients but is also pioneering personalized care and wellness-oriented technology in the dialysis field. Jonathan has also founded an algorithmic trading fund called Quant, which is now partnered with Meta, Robinhood, DE Shaw, and Citadel.
Chet Alan Bennett aka Chef Bennet; Licensed Cosmetologist; School Owner; Salon Owner; Radio Host; Conference Host; Instructor; Motivational Speaker; Author; Executive Producer; and Founder of a non-profit. These are some of the many titles that Mr. Chet A. Bennett has held over the years while being a successful businessman. He is a proud graduate of Morehouse College with a BA in Religion and a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from Howard University. From holding contracts for the Correctional Corporation of America and the DC Department of Corrections, to coordinating conferences, producing the documentary, “Don’t Put Down the Clippers,” writing the book “My Business is the Beauty Business,” and owning 6 salons, two daycare centers, and a beauty school, Mr. Bennett has achieved great heights in all his endeavors. Although he has held a strong role in the beauty industry for over 29 years, C. Alan Bennett has been cooking and catering since 1992.
It wasn’t until he received a kidney transplant that he decided to spend the rest of his life dedicated to the culinary industry. He created The C. Alan Foundation to not only bring awareness to the kidney disease community, but to educate the community on how to create a healthy lifestyle. Under the foundation, The Kidney Kafe’ with Chef Benne’, and the Kidney Conversations Talk Show was created. C. Alan has become a sought-after caterer at the Bennett Career Institute, The Kidney Kafe Pop-ups; a personal Chef; an inspiring Chef host on a progressive cooking show that airs on The Urban Television Network; his YouTube channel, and his website kidney-kafe.com.
He is now partnering with Access Housing Inc., a Southeast DC Veteran’s Service Center catering meals for the homeless, and is set to air his cooking show this spring on DCTV. He also has a book about a healthy eating lifestyle coming out in April “From the Ground to the Gut.” Chef Benne’ started the Kidney Kafe Garden in Washington DC’s most economically challenged community growing spices and sustainable food for the local area. There is much more to come from C. Alan Bennett, as his impact in the culinary community has just begun.
Sathya Elumalai is a healthcare executive with over 15 years of experience working with payers, providers, pharmaceuticals, and patients. At Aidar Health, Inc., Mr. Elumalai has developed a revolutionary tricorder-style health assessment device, MouthLab, which measures 10+ health parameters in 30 seconds, and an AI-enabled enterprise platform, which leverages data science and AI technology, to create a new kind of personalized experience for people with chronic conditions.
In addition to his efforts at Aidar, Mr. Elumalai also serves as an Advisory Board Member at George Washington University, Scientific Merit Reviewer at the National Science Foundation, Executive Member of Forbes Business Council, and an Ambassador & Merit Reviewer at the Patient-Centered Outcome Research Institute.
Mr. Elumalai holds a dual master’s degree, a Master’s in Public Health, and an MBA in Healthcare Management, from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University. He is also a certified professional in healthcare quality and safety with over 10 years of diverse leadership experience at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute.
Mr. Elumalai is a proven leader recognized for building scalable processes, integrating analytics into decision making, improving customer satisfaction, and driving large-scale digital transformations in healthcare.
I began blogging in 2011 after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. My diagnosis was shocking because I found out after passing out in my tub for hours and slipping into a diabetic coma. Blogging was the easiest way to let my friends and family know what I was going through because I didn’t have the emotional energy to tell it over and over again. I was scared, confused, and clueless. I didn’t know that soon I would be one of the most prominent African American Type 2 bloggers in the world. What an outstanding honor and achievement.
The following year, I created this website, Black Diabetic Info, to help provide culturally competent information to black people after having more than enough run-ins with medical personnel who were not culturally sensitive to my needs.
Over the years, my joy of telling all people about my life living with Type 2 diabetes has resulted in me being featured on “DSMA Live” (a weekly diabetes online radio show), Health Monitor Diabetes Magazine, Huffington Post Live, and Diabetes Focus magazine.
I am a proud vessel to be used to help inspire others who may be living with diabetes.
After spending most of her career as a project manager and management consultant, Shireen decided to change paths and pursue her passion to become a “nutri-prenuer.” While managing her own illness, she realized the importance of cultural nutrition education paired with an empowering, patient-centered care model to close gaps in health equity for minorities. Her startup is called Yumlish, creating an AI-powered, culturally relevant nutrition therapy platform for minorities with diabetes that addresses socioeconomic barriers to dietary adherence.
With a passion for health and wellness, 10 years of professional experience in fitness and health coaching, and current research on health equity, Romy Antoine began his career in 2012 by creating a science-backed fitness media company, RippedNFit. Romy holds a degree in Biology and Exercise Science from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and was able to use his fitness knowledge to dispel myths and communicate to subscribers and followers how to improve their lifestyles and manage any chronic conditions. Over the course of 5 years, he grew the website to gain the attention of over 250,000 monthly viewers.
Romy also worked as a personal trainer and health coach with clients who were either diabetic or pre-diabetic and received additional education on management strategies to help clients come off their medication. At the beginning of his personal training career, Romy worked at gyms in low-income areas and had the opportunity to train clients dealing with multiple chronic conditions.
Romy continued to build RippedNFit, but also took on community roles with non-profits such as Proceed Inc, where he worked with preschool-aged children and their families on how to increase activities at home and how to eat for better health. Through these roles as well as through some of his consulting positions, Romy started to see the disparities, impact of health education, and lack of high-quality access for lower income individuals. Romy helped the San Antonio American Heart Association by doing local outreach to provide blood pressure screens and nutritional advice at Black Churches and the YMCA.
As Romy continued to improve personal wellness, he found an opportunity in corporate wellness by providing workshops for companies. Drawing on his second passion for technology and artificial intelligence, this opportunity eventually led Romy to create technology to support these employees, which is how One Stop Wellness started. Romy has spoken at countless conferences and received The 2018 Young Wellness Professional Award by the National Wellness Institute. He also published a book titled The Ultimate Guide to Engaging Millennials discussing the shifts that would happen in the workplace, all of which came to fruition due to the pandemic.