By Brandon Davis ’23 (PhD)

On Wednesday, March 8th, 2023, the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, MyHub, and the student organization for entrepreneurial trainees at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, SMD Entrepreneurs, hosted the second annual SMD Big Ideas in Science and Medicine Pitch Competition.

As a 6^th year biochemistry PhD Candidate, co-founder of RHM Innovations Inc., and founder and president of SMD Entrepreneurs, I designed this competition as an opportunity for experiential learning, to gain valuable experience pitching ideas and receiving feedback from scientific experts with years of business experience.  Our whole platform is centered around experiential learning: each month we have an interactive workshop or an invited speaker, who themselves received rigorous scientific or medical training, that has applied their skills to become successful entrepreneurs.  It has been very beneficial for our members to connect with people they can relate to and would like to emulate.

Although we’re excited about business development, SMD Entrepreneurs has something for everyone, whether it’s learning about investing, consulting, or making connections with distinguished scientists and industry leaders. SMD Entrepreneurs aim to show that entrepreneurship is a career path that trainees should consider.  In a world with increasing financial uncertainty, gaining entrepreneurship skills provides increased security that us trainees can provide interdisciplinary value to a variety of institutions in academia and industry.  As a group, we are rapidly growing and very excited to continue offering more experiential learning opportunities with cash prizes to our trainees.  For the second year in a row, I was thrilled to be the EMCEE and connect with so many talented and enthusiastic young entrepreneurs.

With the help of the SMD Entrepreneurs network, we were able to assemble a panel of distinguished judges for the competition, including Dr. Steve Feldon, Dr. Robert Hill, Dr. Ram Haddas, and Dr. Anthony Franchini. Six teams competed, giving a three-minute pitch of their venture or idea, followed by Q&A with the judges. The judges critically evaluated each team, and selected first, second, and third place winners.

The first-place prize of $500 was awarded to Phlotonics. Team members Daniel Steiner Ph.D, Benjamin Miller Ph.D., and Michael Bryan Ph.D, proposed multiplex, photonic integrated circuit sensors to drastically decrease diagnostic time and cost, while increasing information density and sensitivity.

Second place and $250 went to GutSounds’ Krish Jain (BS) for his proposal of a mobile application that leverages artificial intelligence to pre-diagnose and detect gastrointestinal issues through the analysis of abdominal sounds and visual aids.

Finally, third place and $125 was awarded to Michal Shaposhnikov (Ph.D) of DRUGS!, an informational tool for parents and children that allows anyone to explore the finer scientific details in a fun and collaborative experience.

This event would not have been possible without the help and support from many key collaborators: Eric Vaughn and Elaine Smolok of MyHub for their continued support and financial contribution to the competition; Kathy Driscoll, Heidi Mergenthaler, Erin Sefca, and Catherine Livingston at the Ain Center for sharing their resources and enthusiasm of bringing entrepreneurship to URMC; and our SMD Entrepreneurs institutional and community connections for helping us connect with our judges. The collaboration of everyone involved allowed us to showcase some of the innovative research happening on our campus.

Congratulations to the winning teams! You can watch the full video of the competition on Vimeo.

Brandon Davis ’23 is a 6^th year biochemistry PhD Candidate and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, co-founder of RHM Innovations Inc., and founder and president of student organization SMD Entrepreneurs.