RE-Assist

Venture Summary

“The current process for transition of care from the hospital to post acute care often results in adverse events, high rates of readmission and increased costs for hospitals, patients and insurance providers. Around 20-30% of patients are readmitted within 30 days, creating $41.3 billion in poor transfer-of-care costs nationally.

The RE-Assist technology is a digital platform to replace the paper list directory that forms a governance around the manual transition process. RE-Assist will decrease mis-messaging by providing transparency to clearly communicate service deliverables to the case manager, patient and the service provider. At the back end, the RE-Assist platform will uniquely allow the collection of key data analytics to improve the overall transition process.”

Accelerator Participant

  • Ashley Barrow CEO and Founder of RE-Assist has 16 years experience with the healthcare system after a loved one became sick, allowing her to learn “the difference between providing care from intentionally improving quality of life.” Her model is to "RE-Think Transfer of Care."

 

Oatmeal Health

Venture Summary

Mission Statement

Oatmeal Health's mission is Empowering Health Equity Through Cancer Screening and Early Detection for marginalized communities.

Problem Statement

1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women in our families will receive a cancer diagnosis during their lifetimes. Unfortunately, 50 percent of these diagnoses occur at a late stage, where survival is at its lowest. We are changing this.

Who is Oatmeal:

Oatmeal Health is an AI-enabled specialty cancer screening as a Service focused on providing early-detection, health equity, and care coordination services for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Health Plans. We are fundamentally changing the lives of marginalized communities through early identification, preventative screening, and comprehensive high-touch value-based care services, starting with lung cancer, and then breast, colorectal, and other cancers in the future.

Accelerator Participants

  • “Dr. Ty Vachon is a practicing radiologist, speaker and author on machine learning in medical imagine and healthcare. He is determined to provide clinically useful tools for his healthcare colleagues to best leverage the vast amounts of data generated daily. Dr. Vachon's experience as a primary care doctor prior to radiology has provided a great deal of insight in workflow associated with the integration of those fields. Additionally, his 16 year career as a Naval Officer was an ideal training ground for leadership lessons.

    During the past 4 years, he has collaboratated with multiple companies to bring artificial intelligence to the medical space and has been teaching his colleagues about this powerful technology in parallel. His recent book has been delivered worldwide to radiologists and other medical providers and has delivered many in person and online talks sharing the opportunities ahead for us all.”

  • “Jonathan Govette is a seasoned executive and healthcare tech pioneer known for his ground-breaking work in co-founding Oatmeal Health, a digital health venture specializing in Cancer Screening as a Service for underrepresented patients. With a distinguished career marked by innovation, health equity initiatives, and successful collaborations with prestigious institutions, his mission is fueled by personal experience, making a difference in the lives of cancer patients by ensuring access to necessary resources and care.”

TinyDocs

Venture Summary

“Tiny Docs supports healthcare partners to improve kids’ health outcomes and save providers time through its educational and entertaining animated content. Tiny Docs’ topics include surgical procedures, mental health, chronic diseases, and general health & wellness.

Tiny Docs is on a mission is to improve kids' health and make a billion people smile. We are doing this by creating cartoons that educate kids about health in an easy to understand language. At the heart of Tiny Docs is the belief that education is powerful, and that when used correctly, can be a force to allay fear and inspire confidence. There's empirical, statistical, personal, and observational evidence that suggests doctors struggle to communicate to children and families in a way they are able to internalize and understand. We live in a time where patient engagement has been called "the breakthrough drug of the century," so if patients, especially pediatric ones, are going to take ownership of their own health, it's critical that they have relevant, effective healthcare knowledge in a format that is both entertaining and educational. Tiny Docs makes the world a healthier, happier place by providing children and families with the tools to make informed, empowered healthcare decisions. It's changing the world with cartoons for any child in any language. Through these cartoons, Tiny Docs will create a world that kids can instinctively trust, learn from, grow with, and be inspired by.”

Accelerator Participant

  • “Sunny received his B.A. in Political Science from University of Pittsburgh, M.S. in Integrated Marketing and Communications from Northwestern as well as his J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. He is the recent recipient of Forbes Next 1000 and Conscious Company Top Business Leader.”

Sanitas Health

Venture Summary

“Sanitas Health was founded with the mission of making mental health services and support radically accessible and inclusive for underserved BIPOC populations. The Sanitas App is a psychology-based language analysis platform for understanding human emotions, personalities, motivations, and psychology from everyday language. Our goal is to facilitate improvement in mental health outcomes for under-resourced and diverse identifying populations.

We leverage AI and Natural Language Processing to create a data-driven platform specifically designed to serve the mental health needs of BIPOC populations. Our focus is improving mental health outcomes and creating greater care access for marginalized populations.  Unlike any would-be competitors, is a “therapy last” vs. “therapy first” solution.  At Sanitas, we offer moderated peer-to-peer support groups and text-based coaching, and then if therapy is still needed, we provide culturally relevant therapists.  

We are preventive care.  We address the supply and demand and “waiting room” problem by supporting people today, in their communities, and providing support prior to therapy and/or in between appointments. Our aim is to catch people before they are in crisis. Sanitas will change the landscape for mental health support and services for BIPOC and Medicaid populations.”

Accelerator Participant

  • “As a healthcare technologist, Rodney observed that inequity in mental healthcare needs innovative solutions to remove barriers to care. As a researcher, he reviewed countless peer-reviewed papers indicating a correlation between greater access to care and improved health outcomes; but finding limited commercialization efforts, he saw the opportunity to create Sanitas Health in 2021.”

Medsembly

Venture Summary

“Medsembly is an employee engagement, learning, and wellness tool that helps healthcare companies stay connected to their team, improve company culture, and work performance, while offering career support and guidance to current and future healthcare workers. Our software is designed for healthcare teams with tools to improve the career experience and outcomes for healthcare professionals

Medsembly is addressing the $20B staffing crisis. We not only have a need for 18M new healthcare workers in the next 7 years, but will not be able to meet this demand as 20% of healthcare workers are leaving the sector due to burnout, lack of support, and unsafe staffing. It has become a domino effect and is a threat to quality patient care, specifically impacting patients in underserved communities that do not have access to providers.  Although there are numerous employee engagement platforms, many of them are build for corporate teams such as sales, marketing, and executives. This tool is designed specifically for healthcare in understanding the unique needs of healthcare professionals and what is needed to ensure they feel supported, belonged, and can thrive in the workplace.”

Accelerator Participant

  • “My lived experiences motivated me to create Medsembly. My vast experiences provides an intimate understanding of the needs of healthcare students and professionals and I am passionate about improving the career experience for healthcare workers.”

Sanarai

Venture Summary

“Sanarai is an online platform that connects the Latinx community to mental health professionals in Latin America to provide culturally sensitive, Spanish-language emotional support at accessible prices.

For the 42+ million people in the US that speak Spanish at home, we are a convenient and affordable alternative to get mental health services. Sanarai addresses the gap in the mental health offering for the Latinx community. Only 5% of mental health professionals in the US speak Spanish vs. 13% of the population that speak Spanish at home and 19% that identify as Hispanic or Latinx. Treatment rates for Hispanics with mental illness are 10% below the average. In the middle of a mental health crisis with booming demand for services and a shortage of mental health professionals, the problem is exacerbated for the Latinx community.

Sanarai's approach to mental health is unique in several ways, making it a relevant option for the Latinx community. Unlike other US-based companies (like Betterhelp, Lyra, and Betterup), Sanarai is built from the ground up with our clients in mind. Additionally, we understand the Spanish-speaking US market better than our peers in Latin America.”

Accelerator Participants

  • “Luis Suarez, founder of Sanarai, is originally from Mexico City and came to the US to pursue his MBA at Duke University. He met his wife, Jen, at Duke, and they now live in Chicago. Luis and Jen got married on March 14, 2020, right when everyone started to realize the implications of the pandemic. The week of the wedding was very stressful, and Luis decided to look for mental health support upon coming back to Chicago. Luis struggled to find someone that could speak Spanish and fit his schedule, so he decided to launch Sanarai in the middle of the pandemic to increase the Latinx community's access to high quality mental health resources. Luis is an engineer by training and worked as a management consultant at Kearney for three years before launching Sanarai.”

Speetar

Venture Summary

“Speetar is a telehealth platform that provides accessible, affordable quality healthcare in adverse conditions and creates centralized health data to protect increasingly mobile populations. We created Speetar to help limit exposure and provide quality care at a lower cost both on the patients’ end and at the point of care thereby, alleviating some of the strain health systems face in conflict-affected areas in an innovative way.

We offer accessible, affordable quality healthcare particularly in the adverse conditions of conflict-affected communities through our three-pronged model rooted in a drive for greater social, racial, and gender equality. It is (1) a patient mobile app (2) a doctor web-based app, and (3) an on-ground patient site so patients simply schedule, pay and receive timely medical consultations regardless of the low-resource setting they live in.”

Accelerator Participants

  • “Libya-born surgeon turned health-tech entrepreneur. In 2016 he launched Speetar, an award-winning AI-enabled digital health platform. Piloted in Libya and is currently scaled across the Middle East and Africa. Speetar represents a disruptive healthcare model, breaking down economic, social, and geographic barriers that too often limit the options patients have when seeking quality care.

    Dr. Aburawi’s passion for improving global healthcare outcomes continues to place him at the intersection of technology, business, and medicine. His work has been featured by Forbes, the BBC, PRI, and Aljazeera, among other global outlets. In 2018, he earned recognition from the Gates Foundation, Aspen Institute, and Ashoka for using digital tech to enhance healthcare access. He received the Harvard Medical School Dean's Award in 2019 and was a fellow at Legatum Center and Echoing Green.

    A Harvard Kennedy School alumnus with a Master of Public Administration, Mohamed was a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Edward S. Mason Fellow before pursuing an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. When he’s not in scrubs or (trying to) keep up with his role as the executive assistant of his two toddlers, Mohamed is in the air flying a Cessna-150 over the clouds of New England.”

  • “As a global activist, advocate, and Changemaker, two time World Champion Poet, and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador I dedicate my time to fostering and facilitating the inclusion of marginalized voices in the private sector, health sector, public sector and media one collaboration at a time. As Senior Growth Manager at Speetar, I’ve led several of our initiatives including as an MIT Solve team lead and Johnson & Johnson Ventures Health Access Prize Awardee team lead; I’m passionate about delivering quality healthcare access to all and alleviating systemic disparities one solution at a time.”

Human Edge

Venture Summary

“Human Edge is an enterprise healthtech company focusing on optimizing the health and wellbeing of the global workforce to help them achieve peak performance. Through personalized-at-scale solutions, we help organisations achieve their business goals.

Human Edge is able to in the proprietary methodology we are building using biohacks, developed by EdgeExperts who use data streams from wear. Human Edge is a longevity science company with the vision to raise the collective health of the workforce across the globe. Human Edge has an enterprise-first approach through which we offer corporations individualised solutions for the wellbeing of their human capital using science, data, and technology. We help our enterprise partners create a corporate culture that drives human excellence by optimising the energy levels of their workforce, at work, home and play, so that peak performance and work-life balance never have to compete with each other.

Health equity is a critical issue to address because disparities in health outcomes and access to healthcare services are widespread, affecting millions of people across various demographics. These disparities not only lead to a lower quality of life for affected individuals, but they also contribute to increased healthcare costs and reduced economic productivity. Mito seeks to address this need by providing personalized health recommendations based on individual health goals and data, fostering a more inclusive approach to health and wellness. By leveraging digital biomarkers, blood-based biomarkers, and integration with wearable devices, Mito can deliver customized interventions to users from diverse backgrounds, helping to break down barriers to health equity and empower individuals to take control of their well-being.”

Accelerator Participant

  • “A champion of wellbeing, I am a big believer of leveraging the power of digital biomarkers to hack the human operating system—priming it for a longer health span. A physician who believes in the power of lifestyle interventions, he launched Human Edge, an investor backed venture, with the aim of helping individuals be the best version of themselves—health, brain, and body—regardless of their challenges at the workplace.”

 
 

Flextrapower

 
 

Flextrapower is developing a multi-layer graphene-infused textile mask for blocking COVID-19 viral particles.

After participating in the CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator, Flextrapower received a $4M grant for further research and development.

KELLS

 
 

KELLS provides accessible, high quality dental screening through the combination of clinicians and AI, making world class dental care accessible to everyone.

After participating in the CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator, the company secured two contracts with health plans and won the New York Artificial Intelligence Summit pitch competition in December 2022.

Mendü

 
 

Mendü is a wellness and mental health platform that offers therapeutic audio-based prompts and exercises for underserved women to better their mental health. Mendü’s goal is to change the way mental health is managed by utilizing MLS and AI technology.

Candlelit Therapy

 
 

Candlelit Therapy is developing the world’s first platform to make culturally-competent behavioral healthcare accessible to expectant moms at risk of mental illness.

After participating in the CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator, Candlelit Therapy was accepted in the Cedar-Sinai Accelerator with a $100,000 startup investment.

Digital Health Review

 
 

Digital Health Review empowers consumers to find health apps & products that will keep their body and data safe. DHR aims to tackle health equity through digital literacy and access to care.

Bloomelody by PBC Labs

Bloomelody is a mobile health app designed to be used by early-intervention therapists. The app uses a human-centered design approach and applied behavioral analysis therapy to bring music, visual aid, and fun to the classroom. The app is intended to translate the therapist’s curriculum into easily digestible sessions for the students where they can learn actions and words through songs via flashcards.

With Bloomelody we hope to provide greater resource accessibility for autistic children and their families during early intervention. The mission of Bloomelody is to highlight the innovative ways music can be leveraged to meet the needs of autistic children from birth to the age of three in developing their communication skills.

Maternal Preservation

A postpartum hemorrhage AR simulator to improve patient outcomes in low resource countries. Maternal Preservation aims to reduce mortality rates from these situations by making training more accessible with lower costs.

Doctors Under the Radar

 
 

Doctors Under the Radar aims to be the first to create and market a one-stop mental health support system for physicians, residents, and medical students nationwide.

Most medical organizations want to ensure the psychological health and safety of their staff and have instituted measures to assist, however, these measures do not reflective of the needs of their healthcare workers.

  • 94% of female physicians with a diagnosis don’t disclose it.

  • Around 50% of physicians isolate themselves to combat the issues.

  • 40% of physicians are reluctant to seek mental health treatment.

  • Only 30% connect with family, friends, religious and self-care practices. 

Our solutions are focusing on accessing data through building a community and providing solutions and support systems directly based on the needs of the physicians.

We will provide evidence-based and curated resources, and support channels to de-stigmatize physician mental health to provide options for female physicians to withstand the challenges associated with mental illness.

We currently have a podcast to increase awareness about physicians' mental health issues and humanize physicians. We have candid conversations with physicians about their journey and their perception of the issues facing them and the community. This creates an open door idea for other physicians to reach out or even analyze their own needs. We also have a community in which physicians can connect and communicate with the option of anonymity.

Sproutly Consulting

We are building a digital mental health app with culture-specific interactive cognitive-based tools used to help reorient thinking and used to increase access to nonprescription virtual mental health care and provide clients with the ability to engage with pre-recorded modules for the top five mental health conditions that affect immigrant communities in the US and UK, and victims of gender-based violence in Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Uganda where our respective partners and collaborators are. Clients of our partnering organizations would take a self-assessment on their phone or laptop. These AI-machine-powered solutions will give clients materials and links to resources provided by us that are commensurate with the self-assessment analyses. Through our leading-edge cognitive behavioral therapy delivery model, we will use short-term, goal-oriented evidence-based methods that focus on solving problems and building skills to identify unhelpful thinking, modify beliefs and change behaviors in victims of gender-based violence (traumatic experiences).

Sasa Group

 
 

 A patient engagement platform that consolidates patients medical records with the insurance benefit details thus providing a longitudinal view into the patients medical record, eligible benefits and cost transparency based on content pulled from insurance and EHR data.

FitMedik

 
 

Fitmedik provides healthcare to healthcare workers. The service is an IoT ecosystem for hospitals to monitor and manage burnout of their healthcare workers in real time.

Yrikka

 
 

Yrikka is the ranked marketplace for buying, selling and scoring AI. The score generated by Yrikka’s proprietary scoring mechanism provides an all encompassing overview of the real-world readiness of an AI technology. In the context of healthcare, this score evaluates the potential impact that the technology can have on health equity.