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A health care-focused startup developed by a student from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University won the prestigious $1 million Hult Prize in London on Friday. Anna Li, a joint MD/PhD student, presented alongside her business partner on behalf of Korion Health.
Li, who serves as CEO, and her team developed a USB-compatible electronic stethoscope and a mobile application that allows patients to monitor their health from home. The accompanying app uses augmented reality software to help users locate essential organs and obtain accurate readings.
Li was joined in London by Akshaya Anand, a University of Maryland computer science and microbiology graduate, who serves as the company's CTO. The pair connected through a mutual friend working at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Their company Korion Health aims to expand health care access for underserved communities and those who have been historically hesitant to engage with preventive care.
"I know in Pennsylvania, there's a culture of independence and being self-sufficient. And so sometimes people just don't want to have to rely on someone else for their health," Li told WESA ahead of the final competition.
Since September 2023, Korion Health has pitched its idea around the world. Li and Anand emerged as one of six finalists chosen from a pool of 10,000 startups from 120 countries.
According to Hult Prize CEO Lori van Dam, the competition is guided by a vision for social entrepreneurship.
“We really see ourselves as an educational program. What underlies that is our foundational belief that for-profit, for-good companies are the way to make real change in the world. And so we want to give young people the ability and the belief in themselves that they can take agency and make a difference in their own communities by starting for-profit businesses,” van Dam said.
Korion Health made one last pitch to a group of judges for the chance to win $1 million. Li said the award funding would dramatically accelerate Korion’s efforts to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
“The $1 million would be transformative. You can't sell anything until you get FDA clearance. And so that really unlocks our ability to grow and scale,” Li said.
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