National
Twelve social and health tech entrepreneurs received six weeks of training and presented their business stories for a chance at AHA grant funding to support their efforts in addressing health inequities in their communities. Watch the National finale event
Alumni Spotlight
Kanisha Ffriend | My Bump Team
(formerly HeirBloom Co.)
Kanisha Ffriend is the lead doula and founder of My Bump Team (formerly HeirBloom), a digital platform connecting health care professionals with expectant and postnatal mothers to improve birth experiences and reduce maternal mortality rates. A graduate of Syracuse University with a master's in science education and a certified licensed doula, Kanisha developed her vocation from volunteer work with teen mothers-to-be through her sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho. Nationally, she’s been recognized for melding Eastern and Western wellness practices about birth. She’s a student at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Institute of Health Professions, pursuing a dual women's health and adult gerontology nurse practitioner degree.
| Kanisha Ffriend [1st Place & Fan Favorite] |
Kanisha Ffriend is the lead doula and founder of My Bump Team (formerly HeirBloom), a digital platform connecting health care professionals with expectant and postnatal mothers to improve birth experiences and reduce maternal mortality rates. |
| Jinga Oglesby-Brihm [2nd Place] |
Dr. Jinga Oglesby-Brihm is the founder of Empower Healthcare, a nonprofit service-based health care clinic that’s committed to strengthening the communities of the Western Glades area of Palm Beach County, Fla., by increasing access to health care regardless of ability to pay. |
| Tero-Pekka Alastalo [Bay Area Top Finalist] |
Tero-Pekka Alastalo, MD, PhD, is the president and chief medical officer of CardioSignal, a San Francisco area company behind the digital cardiac biomarker smartphone app for self-monitoring, remote care, and point-of-care diagnostics. |
| Austin Avery III [Mid-South Top Finalist] |
Austin Avery III of Memphis, Tennessee, is CEO of The Original Project Team Foundation, Inc., focused on establishing beautiful, properly managed, virtually zero-waste “sustainability hubs” in overlooked or under-served areas. These hubs empower residents to participate in fostering the change they want to see. |
| Steven Charlap | Dr. Steven Charlap is the CEO of Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan (SOAP) Health, a company that employs digital solutions to improve health care data collection, risk and symptom assessment and diagnostic accuracy. |
| Noe Foster [Hawaiʻi Top Finalist] |
With the help of two other Native Hawaiians, Noe Foster started HealthTechApps with a moonshot mission to transform the brain health of millions of people across the world, starting with Screenagers. The MyHealthStory app, a tech platform that pairs short, selfie videos with AI/ Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing, captures, computes and communicates brain health baselines, symptoms and triggers as they unfold over time. |
| Jamie Gonzalez | Jamie Gonzalez is the co-founder of the BIG FRESH Market Box in San Antonio, Texas, which has delivered boxes of fruits and vegetables to underserved populations since 2021. She’s partnered with more than 50 organizations to distribute more than 3 million pounds of produce. |
| Mohamed Kamara | Mohamed Kamara is the founder and CEO of InovCares Connected Comprehensive Healthcare, a digital platform that addresses inequities in health care access and delivery for women through telehealth services, point-of-care testing and referrals to virtual obstetrics and gynecology clinics. |
| Longsha Liu | Longsha Liu is the CEO and co-founder of Vita Innovations, a medical technology startup advancing emergency medicine with patient monitoring solutions. |
| Chrissa McFarlane | Chrissa McFarlane is the founder and CEO of Atlanta-based Patientory, creators of an app that centralizes a user’s medical data so they can easily manage and track their healthcare. |
| Kelly V. Tolbert-Robinson [Minnesota Top Finalist] |
Kelly V. Tolbert-Robinson is a registered nurse and owner and chief executive officer of Messianic Care, a health care business that provided access to COVID-19 testing and vaccinations during the pandemic. |
| Larry Wallace Jr. | Larry Wallace Jr., an executive committed to improving health care access for underserved people, is the board chair of the Black Men’s Health Clinic in Manor, Texas, a suburb of Austin. It provides a range of services such as screenings, wellness, primary care and referrals. |
| HONORABLE MENTIONS | |
| Lauren Jackson | S.L.A.Y. |
| Amy Li | Dance4Healing |
Bay Area
| Tero-Pekka Alastalo [1st Place] |
Tero-Pekka Alastalo, MD, PhD, is the president and chief medical officer of CardioSignal, a San Francisco area company behind the digital cardiac biomarker smartphone app for self-monitoring, remote care, and point-of-care diagnostics. |
| Leigh Monistere [2nd Place & Fan Favorite] |
Leigh Monistere is the founder and executive director of Cultivating Literacy, a nonprofit that empowers families of youngsters through reading. Through partnerships with community organizations and schools, Cultivating Literacy serves more than 200 families in the San Jose, California, area. |
| Dhaval Brahmbhatt |
Dhaval Brahmbhatt and Manali Brahmbhatt founded PHYchip Corp. in 2002 as a woman/minority-owned company that focuses on applications of emerging technologies for the government and defense sectors. |
| Navid Gougol | Navid Gougol is the founder and chief executive officer of Yektasonics, a company that develops cost-effective ultrasound solutions in both the medical and nonmedical arenas. |
| Ethan Yang | Ethan Yang, MD, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Nanovascular Technologies, a Palo Alto-based digital health company building a noninvasive wearable device, with a physiological metric-based AI platform, to improve diagnosis and management of heart failure aiming to reduce hospitalization. |
| Albert Yuan | Albert Yuan is the founder and CEO of ConKay Medical Systems, an early-stage medical device company advancing solutions to treat valvular regurgitation in patients with progressive heart failure. |
| HONORABLE MENTIONS | |
| Kimberly Habi | Hummingbird Haven Inc. |
| Jennifer Dhillon | Generation Bounce Back |
Hawaiʻi
| Noe Foster [1st Place] |
With the help of two other Native Hawaiians, Noe Foster started HealthTechApps with a moonshot mission to transform the brain health of millions of people across the world, starting with Screenagers. The MyHealthStory app, a tech platform that pairs short, selfie videos with AI/ Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing, captures, computes and communicates brain health baselines, symptoms and triggers as they unfold over time. |
| Colby Takeda [2nd Place] |
Colby Takeda is the co-founder and CEO of Pear Suite, a member activation platform that transforms social determinants of health data into actionable solutions and empowers community health workers to provide culturally sensitive care navigation. UPDATE: Colby has been named a Hawaii Entrepreneur Awards 2023: Tech Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. |
| Erin Ah Sue [Fan Favorite] |
Erin Ah Sue's work focuses on scaling the eldercare curriculum that was co-developed and piloted at her high school alma mater, Kahuku High School. After reaching more than 230 students and leveraging over $100,000 in grant funding, Erin is working to disseminate the eldercare curriculum statewide. |
| Aly Akina | Aly Akina is the co-owner of Healthy Baby Hawaii, Hawaii’s first and only fresh baby food company, selling and delivering organic baby food and toddler snacks to moms across Oʻahu. |
| Destiny Aponte | Destiny Aponte is the owner of Manafestiny, a community enrichment program offering a mobile food pantry and farm-to-table culinary classes to teach nutrition and self-sufficiency through the Grow Your Roots program. Manafestiny funds these programs through monthly farmraisers, farm products and CSA meal boxes, from which 100% of the net profits are donated to help rebuild the local food economy while increasing food accessibility. |
| Brynn Foster | Brynn Foster is the founder of Voyaging Foods—an artisan milling company using Hawaii-grown canoe-plants—which supports both the economic and health stability for her island community. |
| Spencer VanDerKamp |
Spencer VanDerKamp co-founded Reeler, an app that connects users to the world's freshest, eco-friendly caught seafood straight from the boats of local sustainable fishers. |
| Nikki-Ann Yee | Nikki-Ann Yee and her sisters founded Maʻi Movement Hawaiʻi, a volunteer-run organization that raises awareness about menstrual equity and period poverty in Hawaiʻi. Maʻi Movement believes that all individuals of menstruation age have the right to access menstrual products and education without financial burden, shame or stigma. |
Mid-South
West Tennessee, including Greater Memphis/Shelby County, North Mississippi, and rural Eastern Arkansas
| Austin Avery III [1st Place & Fan Favorite] |
Austin Avery III of Memphis, Tennessee, is CEO of The Original Project Team Foundation, Inc., focused on establishing beautiful, properly managed, virtually zero-waste “sustainability hubs” in overlooked or under-served areas. These hubs empower residents to participate in fostering the change they want to see. |
| Nikki Wallace [2nd Place] |
Nikki Wallace is the founder and major partner for Sisters Innovating Science (SIS). Based in Memphis, Tennessee, the company focuses on increasing STEM participation among marginalized or under-resourced people by training science educators in problem-based learning, inquiry lab design and curriculum development. |
| Sarah Rhoads [3rd Place] |
Sarah Rhoads is a researcher and educator who focuses on the impact of connected technologies on health care professionals and patient-centered care, particularly in rural areas. She joined the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Nursing in 2018 as a professor in the Center for Community and Global Partnerships. |
| Nita Black | Nita Black is a co-founder and chief executive officer of OZB Consulting Inc., a consulting services company in Memphis, Tennessee, that supports economic growth in opportunity zones and other distressed communities. |
| Nick Wiggins | Nick Wiggins, a Memphis, Tennessee, native, serves as the community conservation manager for the Wolf River Conservancy and Wolf River Greenway Trail, overseeing outreach, volunteer and recreational/educational programs. In his first three years, Nick engaged more than 1,000 users through 100 new programs and volunteer opportunities along the trail. |
Minnesota
1ST PLACE - $15,000 grant
Kelly V. Tolbert-Robinson, RN | Messianic Care PLLC
2ND PLACE - $10,000 grant
Michael Chaney | Project Sweetie Pie
FAN FAVORITE - $2,500 grant
Jolly Nanda | Altheia Predictive Health
| Kelly V. Tolbert-Robinson [1st Place] |
Kelly V. Tolbert-Robinson is a registered nurse and owner and chief executive officer of Messianic Care, a health care business that provided access to COVID-19 testing and vaccinations during the pandemic. |
| Michael Chaney [2nd Place] |
Michael Chaney is the founder and executive director of Project Sweetie Pie, a nonprofit organization in North Minneapolis working since 2011 with individuals and partner organizations to achieve justice in the environment, food, climate, and economics. |
| Jolly Nanda [Fan Favorite] |
Jolly Nanda is the founder and CEO/COO of Altheia Predictive Health. Altheia, with its Predictive Healthcare Platform, analyzes the broader range of risk factors to deliver the targeted segmentation needed to predict, identify, and provide early treatment for today’s costliest chronic conditions – including chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and COPD. |
| Connie Sheehan | Connie Sheehan is the founder of PUSH Fitness Studio, a boutique fitness offering located in the St Paul Midway area in Minnesota, whose mission is to make fitness accessible to all. Building and sustaining a fitness community is the heart of PUSH. |