Accelerator Awards Presented at 2nd Annual Surgical Innovations Shark Tank

UCSF Surgical Innovations Program

April 24, 2017

Six UCSF faculty pitched their medical device ideas to a panel of industry experts for the chance to win seed funding, engineering support, and product development advising at the Surgical Innovations Shark Tank on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at UCSF’s Mission Bay campus.

This was the 2^nd Shark Tank hosted by Surgical Innovations, an internal incubator/accelerator for early-stage medical devices ideas, and the first to be open to faculty in all UCSF schools and departments. The initiative was launched 3 years ago by the Department of Surgery in partnership with the Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences.

Shark Tank participants (left to right): Shant Vartanian, David Conrad, Seunggu Han, Alexis Dang, Alan Dang, Jeffrey Feng, and George Widhalm pitched their medical device ideas to a panel of judges at the Surgical Innovations Shark Tank. Apr 4, 2017. Photo by Stacy Kim

“We’ve seen our faculty’s savviness about entrepreneurship grow significantly since we started” said Hanmin Lee, MD, Professor of Surgery and Surgical Innovations’ co-founder and clinical lead.

The applicant pool spanned seven departments and two schools, illustrating the wealth of innovation across UCSF. The top three teams recevied Accelerator Awards of $25,000 each and will be supported by staff engineers and program advisors to develop prototypes and advance their products towards commercialization.

Accelerator Awards

Percutaneous arteriovenous fistula device for dialysis access
Shant Vartanian, MD
Assistant Professor, UCSF Department of Surgery

Tracheostomy alarm and monitoring system
David Conrad, MD
Assistant Professor, UCSF Department of Otolaryngology

Quantitative assessment of degree and spatial extent of pain nerve block
Matthew Haight, DO
Assistant Clinical Professor, UCSF Department of Anesthesia

Merlin Larson, MD
Professor, UCSF Department of Anesthesia

Jeffrey Feng, Darya Fadavi & Noreen Wauford
Undergraduate students, UC Berkeley College of Engineering

In addition, three teams received mentorship awards to work out questions related to regulatory clearance, intellectual property, and business models:

Mentorship Awards

Augmented surgical vision
Alan Dang, MD
Assistant Professor, UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Alexis Dang, MD
Assistant Professor, UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Spectroscopic biopsy needle for improved intraoperative diagnosis of brain tumors
Georg Widhalm, MD, PhD
Visiting Scholar, UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery

Seunggu Han, MD
Neuro-Oncology Fellow, Clinical Instructor, UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery

Single-unit handheld cortical stimulator for brain mapping surgery
Mitchel Berger, MD
Professor & Chairman, UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery

The augmented surgical vision project was also presented with the People’s Choice Award--$5,000 in project funds based on audience votes. The pitches were judged by Mike Billig, CEO & Co-founder of regulatory affairs consultancy Experien Group, Dan Burnett, President & CEO of local medical device incubator Theranova, and Chris Jones of Orb Product Development.