UCF medical students took first place at this year\u2019s Florida Blue Healthcare Innovation Challenge, which gathers interdisciplinary college students from across the state to pitch business ideas to improve healthcare.<\/p>\n
Third-year students Rachel Chapman, Hannah Brown and Sanjan Kumar won the award and $10,000 over 11 other finalist teams for their pitch of EyeSentry \u2014 an early glaucoma detection tool.<\/p>\n
Over 100 students applied for the competition, with the top teams presenting a full pitch at University of South Florida Research Park. Most of the finalists were engineering students. UCF\u2019s winners were the only medical school students to make the finals and said their healthcare training gave them an advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the market because we know physicians, what they like and what they would be willing to utilize and incorporate into the clinical setting,\u201d says Chapman.<\/p>\n
Glaucoma is considered a \u201csilent disease\u201d because it usually starts with mild peripheral vision loss and usually isn\u2019t diagnosed and treated until it severely impacts vision. \u00a0The medical school innovators said that by using a fast, easy-to-use screening tool, primary care doctors could catch and treat glaucoma earlier.<\/p>\n
Frank Nunez, program planner for the USF Nault Center for Entrepreneurship, who helped run the innovation event, said the UCF students set themselves apart in the competition by zeroing in on the right healthcare problem to solve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey highlighted how there are millions of people who have a degenerative eye disease and don\u2019t even know it,\u201d he says. \u201cThe detection methods we have right now are expensive and haven\u2019t changed in decades, and that\u2019s where her product can come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than the $10,000 cash prize, the UCF team says the experience taught them how to bring an idea from concept to pitching and gave them an opportunity to network with investors and other healthcare innovators.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the benefits of the competition is they provide you with a mentor in the business sector, who will coach you and help refine your decks, practice your pitch and get feedback,\u201d Chapman says.<\/p>\n
The competition is focused on ideation, with students judged on the potential for this idea to address a problem that exists in healthcare. Chapman, who is interested in specializing in ophthalmology when she graduates, is conducting research on the product.\u00a0Next year, the innovation group has asked her to serve as a physician mentor for other would-be entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
For future students who hope to bring their innovations to the competition, Nunez had this advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstand the problem and how the problem impacting people\u2019s lives,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you see a place where there\u2019s been no innovation that\u2019s costing patients and practitioners a lot of money that\u2019s what I would really hit home on.\u201d<\/p>\n