Liftoff PGH was virtual for its inaugural conference and took place over two weeks, including renowned speakers like: Shankar Vedantam, host of NPR's podcast “Hidden Brain”; and Dr. Vivian S. Lee, the President of Health Platforms for Verily Life Sciences (an Alphabet Company). The conference focused on health innovation, with an Ideathon advertised for pre-professional, university, and recently graduated students. As described on competition website, “This is not about incremental change. We are looking for bold solutions that chart a new future for health.” HEARTio decided to bring it’s A-game.
HEARTio—a digital diagnostic startup using artificial intelligence to help emergency providers identify heart abnormalities more quickly, more accurately, and at a fraction the cost—applied to the Liftoff PGH Ideation competition back in May of this year. Facing stiff competition, HEARTio made it through the semi-finals and were offered a finals slot to live-pitch on December 15.
HEARTio is pleased to announce that it won first place in the competition, winning the grand prize of $25,000.
We would like to thank our mentors for helping us craft our pitch and refine our narrative: Dr. Lynne Porter and Charlie Schaller. Also, all of this would not have been possible without the diligent work and planning of the conference: Megan Butler, Natalie Stewart, and Mara Leff, along with many others from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation.
For more information about Liftoff PGH, please visit: https://liftoffpgh.org
HEARTio is also heavily featured in an article about the competition in the Pittsburgh Business Times: https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2020/12/15/pittsburgh-healthcare-startup-wins-ideathon.html