Organizers | Partners | Mentors | Sponsors | Judges
Meet Our Partners
Thanks to our partners for spreading the word about the challenge to their respective organizations and beyond.
Halle Tecco, Rock Health
Halle is the founder and managing director of Rock Health, the first seed-accelerator devoted exclusively to health apps. Based in San Francisco, Rock Health offers startups operational and strategic support, including office space, mentorship and capital. Halle recognized the need and potential for startups in the interactive health space while working at Apple's App Store covering the health vertical. Her background spans both health and technology, and she has her MBA from Harvard Business School.
Vikas Khosla, BluePrint Healthcare IT
Vikas has been with BluePrint Healthcare IT since 2003 and its President and CEO since 2009. BluePrint was founded on the belief that advances in healthcare technology can lead to better patient care and a more effective healthcare system. Blueprint launched its Health IT Innovation Summit Series: "Speed Dating for Hospitals and Innovators" to foster test bed implementations of solutions that improve the health and wellness industry. The Innovation Summit Series consists of three national events, letting 10 Innovators and 10 Healthcare Providers meet in one-day focused workshops to seek out matches and work out steps towards an implementation. Vikas speaks regularly on health information technology issues related to privacy, security, meaningful use and health information exchange. He is a graduate of Rutgers University.
John Yang-Sammataro, Stanford BASES
John is majoring in Management Science & Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University. He is an active member in the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES), working with top entrepreneurs and investors to host an Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders seminar series. Previous to Stanford, John founded Micro Investment Initiative International, a global microfinance nonprofit. This summer, John will be launching SV Incubator (SVI), a pre-accelerator startup team incubator that will host a free, open, common hacking-workspace in the Palo Alto/Stanford area for the next generation of Valley disruptors.
Joel Davis, Berkeley Entrepreneurs Association
Joel Davis is a graduate student at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business concurrently pursing degrees in Business Administration and Public Health. Previously, Joel worked as a management consultant in the healthcare industry focusing on improving patient care through the use of technology. Prior to consulting, Joel designed software for the pharmaceutical and aerospace industries. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.S. in computer science.
Dr. Ian Sobieski, Band of Angels
Ian is a founder and managing director of the Band of Angels Fund, L.P., a $50M venture fund. Ian has managed more than 40 direct investments totaling $30M, has served on fourteen boards of directors, and currently serves on three. He served as an executive and director at internet start-up Evite.com and in engineering positions at Enact Health Management and Kaman Aerospace. He has a Ph.D. and M.S. in Aeronautics from Stanford University, a B.A. degree in Philosophy and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech.
Dr. Larry Chu, Stanford School of Medicine
Larry is the director of the Stanford Anesthesia Informatics and Media (AIM) Lab and assistant professor of anesthesia at Stanford University. He is also the organizing chair of Medicine 2.0, an annual international conference which will be hosted on the campus of Stanford University on September 16-18, 2011. This year Medicine 2.0 will focus on social media and Web 2.0 in health, medicine and biomedical research.
Wendi Zhang, Harvard University
Wendi Zhang is a MBA/MPP joint degree student at Harvard and the chief of business development for Neuvo Sensible Technologies, a MIT $100K semifinalist startup focused on developing solutions to diverse large-scale logistical challenges in the emerging markets through radio frequency identification (RFID) and sensor technology applications. Prior to joining Neuvo, Wendi has managed the business development team at the startup One Earth Designs, and has also worked in the biopharmaceutical strategy consulting, venture capital, and investment banking industries. She received her undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Management Science from MIT, and has always been interested in the healthcare sector as she grew up with a dad who is a medical school professor and a mom who does stem cell-related cancer research.
Momchil Tomov, Princeton University
Momchil Tomov is a computer science major at Princeton University. With a strong passion for algorithms, and an extensive programming background, he enjoys building software and web apps. In his free time he also likes to compete in programming competitions. After working as a developer for several companies, he became interested in starting his own. He is currently interning at Facebook, and is also working on several side projects.
Enes Hosgor, Carnegie Mellon University
Enes is a Ph.D. candidate in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the CEO and co-founder of an early-stage venture, EEme, a web-based initiative that enables residential consumers to enjoy net savings on their energy bills from day one - without having them incur a large upfront investment or change their behavior. Previously, he worked as an energy consultant helping oil and gas companies make strategic decisions. He holds a Master's degree in Energy and Earth Resources from The University of Texas at Austin where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He completed his B.S. in Geological Engineering at Middle East Technical University, Turkey.
Ananya Kejriwal, Olin College
Ananya is studying engineering (concentration: materials science) at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. She has founded the Olin Materials Research Society (MRS), coauthored the Olin Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP) and served on the Foundry (Olin's entrepreneurship organization) board for two years. Currently, she is working with a team of Olin students to develop an affordable community based infant health care system in North East India.
Anne DeGheest, Medstars
Anne has 25 years of investing experience with MedStars Ventures Partners, specializing in early-stage start-ups in healthcare. In 2010, she founded HealthTech Capital, a group of private investors dedicated to funding and mentoring new "HealthTech" start-ups at the intersection of healthcare and the computer/consumer electronic world. The life science companies for which Anne has been a founder or an early advisor have generated over $6 billion in market capitalization and have raised over $500 million in venture capital.
Anne earned an MS from Brussels and an MBA from Harvard.
Susan Lucas-Conwell, SDForum
Susan is an accomplished CEO, entrepreneur and innovation catalyst. She joined SDForum in 2006, after a successful career in consumer goods and Internet technology. She ran her own company, Clear Day, as well as served in executive roles in Global 1000 companies such as Bausch & Lomb and Cartier. Susan currently sits on the advisory boards of Innovation Center Denmark, as well as Internet and clean tech startups.
Steven Krein, StartUp Health
Steve co-founded StartUp Health, an initiative to inspire, educate, and provide access to capital and resources for entrepreneurs to build sustainable health and wellness companies. Steve is also co-founder and CEO of OrganizedWisdom, an expert-driven platform for health and wellness. Steve, a serial entrepreneur, was the co-founder, chairman and CEO of the first Internet promotion and technology company, Promotions.com, which was founded in 1996, went public on NASDAQ in 1999 and was acquired by iVillage in 2002. Steve was also assistant publisher of the first Internet service for lawyers, Law.com, which was founded in 1994 as Law Journal Extra! and subsequently acquired by American Lawyer Media. Steve has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, the Fox News Channel, CNBC Power Lunch, CNBC Marketwatch and Bloomberg News. Steve received his J.D. degree from Widener University School of Law and his B.A. degree from the University of Maryland College Park.
Michael Motion, UCSF Venture Innovation Program
Michael Motion is the managing director of the UCSF Venture Innovation Program (VIP) and regional director of the Startup Leadership Program. At UCSF, Michael is engineering programmable nanoparticles for therapeutic drug delivery, and has collaborated on an initiative to develop virtual tumor boards. Prior to graduate school, Michael was a quantitative analyst for Ziff Brothers Investments. Michael holds a B.S and M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is currently finishing his PhD in the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering.
