Innovation: Helping public health innovation thrive

by Anne Glauber, MPH (Associate Director of Innovation)

Experiential Learning for Student Innovators

• The Gillings Entrepreneurs of Color Mentorship Program provides Gillings students the chance to work with alumni mentors, pairing eight emerging entrepreneurs each year. Through monthly sessions, mentors help students refine their goals and strategies for success. Feedback from mentees showed strong agreement that the program equipped them with the skills and insights needed to implement their innovative ideas and entrepreneurial ambitions.
• In the Map the System Competition, co-sponsored with Innovate Carolina and Oxford University, students tackle complex social and environmental issues through a systems perspective. This year, 45 students (36% from Gillings) across 11 teams participated, with the winning team, Breaking the Silence: Navigating the Untold Story of Women’s Reproductive Health, representing UNC at the global summit in Banff in May 2024.
• The third biannual Gillings School Pitch Competition this fall encourages students to channel their knowledge and innovative spirit into impactful solutions, often marking their first foray into entrepreneurship. Finalists will compete for top prizes: First place ($3,000 + $5,000 in consulting services from BlueDoor Consulting), second place ($1,500), third place ($750) and People’s Choice ($200).

Making an Impact

• CollectiveGood, led by Sean Sylvia, PhD (HPM), has developed a minimum viable product of their platform which harnesses collective clinical intelligence to power medical AI testing and validation. They plan to pursue small business technology transfer (STTR) funding to test the platform with an initial group of clinicians in the United States and Africa.
• Couplet Care Inc., a UNC spin-out, has brought to market their innovative infant bassinet, developed in part by Gillings School faculty Catherine Sullivan, MPH (MCH), and Alison Stuebe, MD, MSc (MCH). The device is now available for sale in the U.S., marking a significant step forward in the team’s mission to improve patient safety, clinical efficiency and health outcomes for mothers and newborns. The Couplet Care team is now focused on meeting demand and is well poised for continued growth. For more information, please explore coupletcare.com.
• LuxBiome, newly formed in May 2024 by Kun Lu, PhD (ESE), focuses on developing a novel microbiome-based solution to protect against arsenic. Lu is moving through next steps, including patent application, customer discovery and funding mechanisms to further validate the technology.
• The Sorbenta team, led by Orlando Coronell, PhD (ESE), and Frank Leibfarth, PhD, were recently awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) STTR Phase I award. They are currently finalizing a licensing agreement from UNC for their patented sorbent material. Once finalized, the budding business will move into Kickstart Venture Services Accelerator lab space and begin work on the newly funded NIH STTR award.
• SNP Therapeutics, Inc., a genomic testing company with a focus on precision nutrition is leveraging their informed AI process to develop algorithms to identify subpopulations with specific genetic signatures that are predisposed to health issues and disease. Founded by Steven Zeisel, MD, PhD (NUTR), the company has launched their first test and nutrition line of products (Genate) in the prenatal health category. They are conducting further research and development on tests and therapeutics for male factor infertility, fatty liver (MASLD) and muscle wasting (sarcopenia).
• Abbey Hatcher, PhD (HB), wrote a United Nations policy brief on innovative technologies and systems-level strategies to reduce partner violence.

Emerging Technologies

• Joe Brown, PhD (ESE), filed a provisional patent for a novel biomarker for gut inflammation, a non-invasive tool to help physicians treat inflammatory bowel disease.
• Rebecca Fry, PhD (ESE), is developing a GIS data-agnostic data visualization tool that integrates multiple complex geospatial datasets in a user-friendly manner. Her team completed the National Science Foundation National I-Corps customer discovery program, focusing on market potential for the tool.
• Lindsey Smith Taillie, PhD (NUTR), is developing an AI-powered online supermarket to help consumers make healthier choices more easily, optimize diets for health and disease prevention, and save consumers time and cognitive effort.

Gillings Innovation Labs (GILs)

GILs fund disruptive, innovative solutions to urgent public health problems. In December 2023, the most recent round, Harnessing Generative AI in Public Health, awarded six projects from six Gillings School departments. Along with several campus partners and external collaborators, they are kickstarting solutions to important public health problems: cervical cancer screening in Malawi, decision-making around HIV treatment, modeling for brain-related disorders, behavior change for weight management, poor air quality and standard of primary care in marginalized populations globally.

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