ReddyPort and SonoShield win 2nd Annual Utah Health Innovation Contest

Utah's chapter of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs held their 2nd Annual Pitch Competition on Thursday, March 15th. This year featured competition for both Student and Early-Stage teams.

ReddyPort, an innovative device for intensive care patients with Noninvasive Ventilation (NIV) won the Early-Stage competition. This device prevents ventilator-associated pneumonia, associated with patient mortality and healthcare costs of $2B annually. In addition to creating easier access for oral hygiene for ventilated patients, ReddyPort will also create easier access for nebulizer treatments, communication, CO2 monitoring, and diagnostic procedures. Dr. Chakra Reddy, an Intensivist at the University of Utah, and the inventor of ReddyPort presented the company's pitch. You can learn more at their website and with this video.

SonoShield won the Student division of the contest. Because 100,000 ultrasound probes are broken every year, they designed a protective cover. Instead of hospitals paying up to $10K to replace a probe, they will be able to prevent damage with a SonoShield. Their pitch was given by Holden Brown, MBA, medical student, and Tucker Smith, MBA student.

TheThe event was generously sponsored by both Collective Medical Technologies and Stoel Rives, LLP. Scott Young, Esq, from Stoel Rives, gave a lecture on avoiding legal mistakes during business formation, including failure to file an 83B in the first 30 days, addressing founders' obligations to former employees, and not having a vesting schedule.

Wylie van den Akker, Founder of Collective Medical Technologies (CMT), spoke about their recent fundraise. CMT recently raised almost $50M, led by Kleiner Perkins, and also including Utah groups Peterson Ventures and EPIC Ventures. Wylie used a dating metaphor and talked about aligning visions with both national and local venture partners. He also talked about the importance of being authentic and talked about how his gaming computer led to surprising and beneficial conversations.

Judges for the event included Jim Hogan and Jason Malecka from Park City Angels, Andy Jorgensen from Salt Lake City Angels, Timothy Pickett from University of Utah's Center for Medical Innovation, Gavin Christensen from Kickstart Seed Fund, and Scott Young from Stoel Rives, LLP.

We'd like to recognize the evening's other finalists: Photorithm presented by Nathan Ruben, Dentavations presented by Timothy Nelson, Galen presented by Thomas Clay, and Beacon presented by Joseph Arrington. The semi-finalists included Phonesoap Healthcare with Dan Barnes, Majelco with Dr. Annette MacIntyre, Cove Bio with Dr. Matthew Lawyer, and Lokena with Ben Rollins.

SonoShield received their award from Collective Medical Technologies. ((From left to right, Scott Young, Matt Byrne, Gavin Christensen, Jacob Steenblick, Jason Malecka, Holden Brown, Tucker Smith, and John Palmatier from CMT)

ReddyPort received their award from Stoel Rives, LLP. (From left to right, Rian Wendling, Andrew Hansen, Gavin Christensen, Jason Malecka, Dr. Reddy, Jim Hogan, Scott Young, and Timothy PickettTo learn more about SoPE, join our LinkedIn group. Feel free to post articles about health innovation in Utah and highlight your team's success.

SoPE meetings are for anyone who is interested in healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship, including healthcare professionals, medical device experts, patent and business attorneys, angel investors and venture capitalists, professors and technology transfer experts, and other professionals and healthcare stakeholders

To learn more about SoPE, join the Utah SoPE LinkedIn group. Feel free to post articles about health innovation in Utah and highlight your team's success.