December 18, 2023
Buerk Center, Initiative co-host third annual Sacia Digital Health Innovation Workshop
The University of Washington Foster School of Business’ Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship partnered with the Population Health Initiative to offer students an immersive and hands-on opportunity to workshop new solutions in the growing and dynamic field of digital health. Twenty-six undergraduate, graduate and PhD students from a variety of disciplines and programs came together on Saturday, November 18, 2023 at the UW’s Hans Rosling Center for Population Health to make the third annual Sacia Digital Health Innovation Workshop an exciting and engaging day of activities.
After generating initial ideas within small groups, participating students heard from Teddy Johnson, the Director of Technology Development at the UW’s Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS). He spoke on the importance of understanding the relationships between different ecosystem stakeholders, refining market segments and pinpointing market size as compelling components of both investor and customer satisfaction when building a new venture.
Groups then had the opportunity to hear from a panel of industry experts regarding how to demonstrate the value of their digital health products within the healthcare system. The panelists included representatives from UW Medicine, Seattle-based digital care startup Xealth, AI-drived wellness company Twin Health and personalized care startup Inside Out Medicine. This wealth of knowledge and varied perspectives enabled a thoughtful discussion around understanding stakeholders, metrics to measure success and what pitfalls to avoid when pitching your innovation to healthcare institutions.
The workshop concluded with a lightning-pitch round where students shared their newly-crafted innovations with influential investors and mentors within the healthcare field. Experts from Pack Ventures, Creative Destruction Lab and the Life Science Washington Institute offered real-world advice and feedback to the groups before deciding on a winning pitch. The final solutions reflected a wide range of problem spaces and included a holistic platform for prediabetes, a tool to address depression in older people, a program that utilizes AI to help patients navigate ER and urgent care clinics and wearable tech to better detect Alzheimer’s in its early stages. Vaccine Genie, a digital platform to keep vaccine records organized, translated and portable was voted best pitch of the day.
“Our goal for this annual workshop is always to bring together students with different backgrounds and experiences to tackle some of these large, grand challenges in healthcare,” said organizer Jessica Roberto, Assistant Director of the Buerk Center and the manager of the Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge (HIC) student competition. “It was both inspiring and energizing to hear such innovative solutions being pitched by teams had just met! We look forward to seeing where these ideas take them next.”
In this spirit, students who developed and presented their innovations are now able to further work on their ideas with support from the Buerk Center and the Population Health Initiative. These innovations can also be submitted to the 2024 HIC and other Buerk Center competitions to receive additional feedback and continue to advance their project ideas.
The workshop is an example of the types of events the Population Health Initiative is hosting in the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health with the intent of fostering a space that catalyzes interdisciplinary collaboration to take on major population health-related challenges.
“We’re honored and delighted to have been able to again partner with the Buerk Center to convene such an impressive and engaging group of students who were seeking entrepreneurial approaches to improve population health,” shared Arti Shah, the Population Health Initiative’s Assistant Director for Strategic Engagement. “Their collective work underscores the importance of having a range of disciplines and backgrounds at the table when seeking to make major advances in health and well-being.”
Please contact Arti Shah if you are interested in partnering with the Population Health Initiative to host a workshop or convening.