George
Icahn School of Medicine AI in Healthcare Hackathon finalist
Fall 2019: one weekend
Opportunity: Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine hosted a hackathon focused on applications of AI in healthcare. I attended solo, open to joining a team where I could make an impact. During the first evening’s idea pitches, I learned that most participants attending were teams of graduate students, there to refine and pitch solutions that were works in progress, many with previously-created, functioning devices, and some already receiving NIH funding. I choose to pitch my own idea that first evening, and was excited when David Koellhoffer joined my team.
David and I, with the guidance of mentors from the Mount Sinai Innovation Program (MSIP), spent the rest of the weekend preparing for the competition Sunday evening.
THE PITCH
FINALISTS!
Of the twenty teams that competed, George was selected as one of three finalists. Over the subsequent months, I collaborated with David and with the mentors at MSIP to prepare for the final competition in the Spring of 2020. I learned a lot about what it takes to seek funding in the healthcare start-up space, and furthered my knowledge in regards to the business and financial decisions that shape pre-seed organizations.