FORT WAYNE, IND. – JULY 18, 2022 – Eight semifinalists have been selected to pitch their ideas for the Healthy Mom and Baby Innovation Competition 3.0, presented by Parkview Health and MATTER.
The entrants – from Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ireland – will be featured Wednesday, Aug. 10, at the Parkview Mirro Center for Research and Innovation. Entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals or those interested in learning more about healthcare innovation are invited to attend the event, which will be offered both in-person and virtually.
In addition to the semifinalist presentations, the event will feature local maternal/fetal health solution providers, keynote speakers, and lunch and networking opportunities for in-person attendees. Registration is available at parkview.com/innovation2022.
The third annual Healthy Mom and Baby Innovation Competition challenged innovators to submit product, software or program solutions to help improve access to care and management of chronic conditions for underrepresented mothers and children.
The eight semifinalists are:
AddGraft Therapeutics — Chicago, Illinois
AddGraft Therapeutics is a biotech-for-good startup working to revolutionize substance use disorder (SUD) treatment with their novel skin-based gene therapy. AddGraft’s simple, one-time procedure addresses various mechanisms of SUD with a low toxicity and highly effective treatment. With no current medications for cocaine/crack use disorder (CUD), and thousands of mothers suffering annually, AddGraft aims to provide a single, first-of-its-kind answer to CUD, alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder and polydrug use disorder.
At Your Cervix — Kohler, Wisconsin
At Your Cervix is a patent-pending technology that enables at-home cervix dilation monitoring. Current methods of measuring cervix dilation are outdated, unreliable, and only performed in the doctor's office. When women go into labor, they often rely on timing their contractions to try and determine if active labor has started. With At Your Cervix, women will be able to easily determine how dilated they are and make an accurate decision on when to go to the hospital for delivery.
Emma Parsley — Fort Wayne, Indiana
Emma Parsley is a 2022 Cedarville University graduate who majored in industrial and innovative design. Her passion for helping underserved mothers branches from experience fostering babies of families in need. Thousands of infants lose their lives because of latching difficulties and the resulting loss of vital breastfeeding benefits. Emma believes strongly that with the help of Parkview Health, her innovative breastfeeding device will help save these babies.
Neurobell — Ballincollig, Ireland
Neurobell is an Enterprise Ireland-funded commercialization project and team from the INFANT Research Centre at University College Cork in Ireland. Neurobell is developing a novel medical device for early detection and monitoring of seizures in newborns. Their pocket-sized and wireless EEG monitor provides bedside staff with easy-to-use EEG and automated alerts for seizures in real time.
pHetalsafe — Galway, Ireland
pHetalSafe aims to detect and prevent fetal hypoxia and assess fetal well-being during labor. The minimally invasive, multimodal device will provide continuous lactate-pH assessment and other critical fetal vitals, including fetal heart rate and oxygen saturation. Their objective is to provide labor and delivery practitioners with a robust, sensitive and specific device for intrapartum fetal monitoring.
Rockfield Medical — Galway, Ireland
Rockfield Medical Devices is a developer of innovative medical devices that will transform the mobility and quality of life of the enteral (tube) feeding community. Their new mobile tube feeding system, Mobility+®, will help parents and caregivers, young children and teens live more independently by freeing them from the existing heavy and complex systems offered today. Mobility+ is an extremely light, quiet and mobile tube feeding system that does not require electricity or gravity and allows users to move about freely while feeding discreetly, dramatically improving physical and social lives for both people with feeding tubes and parents and caregivers.
Vasowatch — Philadelphia, Illinois/p>
Vasowatch assesses risk for postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) accurately and consistently, enabling improved obstetric outcomes for all mothers. Their non-invasive wearable device continuously monitors optical data during labor and delivery to objectively assess the mother's current PPH risk, communicating a change to the clinical care team. The device enables the team to prepare for and provide prompt, appropriate PPH treatment, saving lives and minimizing costly complications.
Walela — Chicago, Illinois
Walela is building technology to make childbirth safer. The fetal sensor Walela has created provides objective data about the health of the baby throughout labor, so that doctors can decide when and if a C-section is necessary with complete confidence, and less liability.
The semifinalist pitch competition will be live streamed for a global audience, and one winner will be selected to receive a $10,000 cash prize and one-year global membership at MATTER.
Following the semifinalist competition, up to five finalist teams will participate in a two-month virtual accelerator where they will continue to build and test their solution with leaders from Parkview Health, MATTER and Management Performance Hub.
In November, the finalists will pitch their solutions to a community of healthcare professionals, Parkview leaders and outside investors for potential pilot and funding opportunities. All teams who participate in the final pitch day will receive a six-month global membership at MATTER.
To register for the Aug. 10 pitch event, visit parkview.com/innovation2022.