Last year, the Yale Center for Biomedical Innovation and Technology was focused on connection and collaboration in support of our mission to catalyze innovators to make novel healthcare solutions a reality. We brought together students and faculty to form high-impact teams, provided strategic mentorship to faculty innovators to accelerate the translation of ideas, and offered funding opportunities that fueled the creativity of student-led projects. Additionally, we facilitated cross-disciplinary discussions among researchers, clinicians, investors, and industry leaders, addressing key shifts in healthcare innovations, including digital health, data, diagnostics, and medtech. Our highlights included:

Clinical Pitch Night: Seven novel healthcare solutions were presented to a packed room at the Center for Engineering Innovation and Design (CEID). Clinical innovators presented pain points and novel innovations to a broad audience of students and builders looking to join a healthcare project team. Faculty-student collaborations centered around a specific need including engineering design, product development, market research, and business analysis.   

Strategic Mentorship: As part of the Yale Ventures team, CBIT has extended its reach. We collaborated with the Blavatnik and Roberts Fund Accelerators to provide deep 1:1 mentorship to a greater number of faculty in digital health, data, diagnostics and medical technologies. Among these individuals were 2024 Blavatnik winners: Dr. Frank Buono, Dr. Jose Cortes-Briones and Dr. Emily Lee.  

Yale New Haven Health Awards: Since 2016, CBIT has collaborated with health system leadership to build a culture of innovation and strengthen investment activities. The relationship continues to grow, providing benefit to academic innovators and the broader ecosystem. This year marked the second time YNHHS offered the Yale New Haven Health Innovation Awards, which were open to Yale faculty and YNHHS staff. Five projects were selected to receive $100,000 each, following a rigorous application process.  (Photo: Winners from the Yale New Haven Awards at the tenth annual Yale Innovation Summit)

Annual Healthcare Hackathon: The energizing three-day event focused on “Preventative Medicine” in 2024 and drew over 200 attendees from 19 peer institutions including Yale. Participants formed 15 interdisciplinary teams that created unique solutions and competed for $10,000 in prizes.   

Rothberg Catalyzer Funding: A record-breaking number of applicants competed for the Rothberg Catalyzer Prize at StartUp Yale in 2024. The winner receiving $15,000 was TaeSun (Chandra Fincke, YC ’24) and the audience choice receiving $2,000 was Clairity (Samip Kafle, MED ’24, Eric Pan, ENG ’27, Ryan Bose-Roy ENG ’24 and Muthukumaran Venkatachalapathy, PhD).  This year, students were also able to apply to the Rothberg Build Fund. This funding opportunity provides grant awards to students working at the earliest stages of development on an idea in the medical or healthcare space to create a prototype or validate their solution with potential customers. In the first award cycle, $18,000 was awarded to 6 student teams.

New Workshop: Over 60 students attended “How to Bring your Idea to Life”, a new workshop offered to Yale students across disciplines and schools, as an interactive session to explore how to develop their own solution or venture in the digital health space. Students learned about identifying the problem, assessing current standards and competition, developing early prototypes, and determining who will want it and pay for the solution. Due to positive response and feedback, the workshop will be offered again during the Fall semester. 

This academic year, our focus is growth and resilience. We are expanding and streamlining offerings to reach a greater number of faculty and students working in healthcare innovation. The start of the year brings excitement of what is yet to come, and we can’t wait to see what dedicated faculty and curious students will create. Engage with our team of seasoned healthcare entrepreneurs to elevate your innovation to the next level.

Best wishes,

Margaret Cartiera, PhD

Innovation Director
Yale Center for Biomedical Innovation and Technology