The McGill Clinical Innovation Competition and Awards Ceremony took place virtually on May 21, 2020. To watch the video-recording of the event, click here.
And the 2020 top teams are:
Winner of the Hakim Family Innovation Prize
Stenoa
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Treatment strategies rely on subjective interpretation of coronary angiograms, resulting in overutilization of health care services. Stenoa employs a novel machine learning algorithm to provide operators with real-time insight on the severity of any lesion, offering reliable intraoperative decision-making. Stenoa promises to improve clinical outcomes for patients with CAD, obviating unnecessary, invasive, and costly interventions.
Jeremy Levett, MDCM 2023 Candidate, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Stenoa
Marco Spaziano, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Division of Cardiology, McGill University Health Centre
Chief Medical Officer, Stenoa
Ivan Ivanov, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Stenoa
Tomer Moran, HBSc(c), Faculty of Science, McGill University
Chief Technology Officer, Stenoa
Winners of the Marika Zelenka Roy Innovation Prize
This year, two teams tied for this prestigious prize.
GyroClear
GyroClear is a biomedical company aiming to set a new standard for minimally invasive intra-abdominal and thoracic surgery with our protective sleeve that maintains a clear camera lens throughout procedures. Loss of visibility is a constant problem for surgeons during laparoscopic operations and they spend a significant amount of time simply cleaning the camera. Our device would eliminate the need for interruptions to clean the camera lens during operations.
Aiden Reich, M.Sc Candidate in Experimental Surgery, McGill University
Pierre-Paul Gallant, M.Eng in Healthcare Technologies Candidate, École de Technologie Supérieure
Serdar Kayan, MBA, Concordia University
MedSafer
Many older adults are now taking 5, 10 or 15 medications. Polypharmacy can cause side effects such as memory and balance problems. Deprescribing is a solution that requires a health care professional to review your medications and suggest which ones can be stopped. The process can be time-consuming and requires expert knowledge. MedSafer is an app that helps guide a “medication check-up” by providing scientific information on the harms and benefits, and instructions for safe deprescribing.
Emily McDonald, MDCM, MSc, FRCPC, Assistant Professor of Medicine, McGill University Health Centre
Todd Lee, MD, MPH, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine McGill University Health Centre
Winner of the MI4 Innovation Prize
MinutesToMRSA
The mission of MinutesToMRSA is to provide high-quality diagnostic equipment to North American hospitals for the rapid, inexpensive, and high-throughput screening of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in admitted patients.
Alexander Bevacqua, Bioengineering Candidate, McGill University
Domenico Lopez, Bioengineering Candidate, McGill University
Ali Najmaldin, Bioengineering Candidate, McGill University
Jiachi Ou, Bioengineering Candidate, McGill University
Congratulations also to our finalists:
PLAKK
Heart attacks and strokes are caused by the rupture of fatty deposits, called plaques, that build up in the arteries. Currently, the only method to identify stroke or heart attack risk is to measure artery narrowing caused by the plaque. However, this method is insufficient and leads to inappropriate treatment allocation. PLAKK uses artificial intelligence to improve the characterization of dangerous plaques, leading to better prediction, treatment, and prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
Stella Daskalopoulou, MD, PhD, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University
Principal Investigator, PLAKK
Kashif Khan, BSc, McGill PhD Candidate, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University
Chief Executive Officer, PLAKK
Karina Gasbarrino, PhD, McGill Postdoctoral Fellow, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University
Chief Scientific Officer, PLAKK
Nicolas Bent, BSc, Chief Technical Officer, PLAKK
Robert Brown, PhD, Technical Advisor, PLAKK
Ubenwa Health
Ubenwa is an algorithm, currently deployed as a smartphone app, which analyses acoustic biomarkers in the cry sounds of a newborn to detect early signs of brain injury due to perinatal asphyxia. Perinatal asphyxia is one of the top three causes of neonatal mortality today. Many hospitals in low-resource settings lack specialists or equipment to rapidly screen patients. Ubenwa will increase access to screening as it is cost-effective, easy to use, fast and non-invasive.
Samantha Latremouille, PhD Candidate, Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University
Clinical Lead, Ubenwa Health
Charles Onu, PhD Candidate, School of Computer Science, McGill University
AI Research Lead, Ubenwa Health
Innocent Udeogu, Software Engineering Lead, Ubenwa Health