And the winners are.
Five startup companies whose novel applications to develop AI to solve critical healthcare challenges made them winners of the inaugural Cure Xchange Challenge: Health AI for Good. Allagi.AI, BioCurie, Deepecho, Every Cure and Oben Health will receive one-year residencies at Cure’s healthcare innovation campus in New York City, as announced by Cure CEO Seema Kumar in a showcase event in New York City on Feb. 22, 2024. The winners also will receive unrestricted seed grants, mentoring, in-kind resources and support services from Cure’s partners, such as Amazon Web Services, ThermoFisher and NVIDIA.
The event included presentations from each winner and a convening of health, life science, and public sector leaders for discussions on AI in health. A keynote address by John Mattison, MD, one of Cure’s advisors for the Xchange Challenge, reviewed the perils and promise of AI. Mattison is a UCSD Scholar in Residence focused on responsible AI and advanced technologies, an Operating Partner at Arsenal Capital and the Assistant Medical Director at Kaiser Permanente. Nolan Townsend, MBA, CEO of Lexeo Therapeutics, one of Cure's Collaboration Residency companies and a Xchange Challenge advisor, also made remarks.
Cure designed the Cure Xchange Challenge to incubate revolutionary innovations by healthcare startups and entrepreneurs that leverage AI across sectors and disciplines to accelerate basic research, diagnose conditions, develop novel treatments, and predict and prevent diseases that lead to better health outcomes and cures for all.
“AI-driven tools have the potential to be a game changer in improving human health and solving health inequities that persist in underserved communities,” said Seema Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Cure. “This innovative group of Challenge winners is pioneering the future of healthcare, where AI responsibly empowers us to create and deliver equitable, accessible and transformative care for all. We welcome these trailblazing companies into the Cure community and look forward to helping their solutions thrive and grow to successful ventures.”
Cure partnered with MIT Solve to operationalize the Challenge, and an independent advisory board of renowned healthcare experts selected both the Challenge winners and finalists.
The five winners of the Cure Xchange Challenge are:
ALLAGI.AI: A multimodal AI molecular tumor board for clinical decision-making in oncology.
BioCurie: Revolutionize cell and gene therapy manufacturing through mechanistic AI (mAI).
Deepecho: Democratizing access to fetal ultrasound with AI.
Every Cure: Ensure every drug is used to treat every disease possible, so no patient suffers while a cure hides in plain sight.
Oben Health: AI-enabled platform that facilitates delivery of healthcare screenings, education and treatment via barbershops and salons.
Additionally, finalists include:
Collogh Cares Inc.: NephroAI is an AI-enabled clinical decision support tool to predict time-to-dialysis and provide personalized, evidence-based blood pressure control treatment recommendations for people with chronic kidney disease.
Oatmeal Health: AI-enabled cancer screening provider focused on delivering early-detection, health equity, and care coordination services for marginalized communities of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Health Plans.
ThriveLink (formerly known as Nutrible): AI Social Workers instantly enroll families into food, utility and housing assistance.
Cure showcased the Xchange Challenge winners at a special event, Feb. 22, 2024, at Cure’s campus at 345 Park Avenue South in New York City. The event included presentations from each winner and convene health, life science, and public sector leaders for discussions on AI in health.
The Cure Xchange Challenge Advisory Board is comprised of experts from across the spectrum of healthcare. They are:
Rick A. Bright, PhD, of Bright Global Health Daniella Foster, MA, of Bayer Consumer Health Daniel Kraft, MD, of NextMed Health John Mattison, MD, of Arsenal Capital Partners Geraldine McGinty MD, MBA, FACR, of Weill Cornell Medicine Elliot Menschik, MD, PhD, a repeat founder and CEO and startup investor in biotech sector Gregory Petsko, DPhil, of Cornell University Maria Luisa Pineda, PhD, of Envisagenics, Inc. Ramesh Raskar, PhD, of MIT Media Lab Susan Rosenthal, MBA , of the New York City Economic Development Corporation Gillian Sandler, of Galapont, LLC Gustavo Stolovitzky, PhD, of DREAM Challenges Nolan Townsend, MBA, CEO, of LEXEO Therapeutics Huijun Wang, PhD, of Deerfield Discovery and Development (3DC) Susan Whitehead, JD, an independent non-profit organization management professional Joe Wilson, MBA, of Undeterred Capital Mary Woolley of Research!America.