Boston Children's Hospital announces Innovation Tank, Ignite Talks Competition winners

BOSTON, Nov. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Augmented Infant Resuscitator (AIR) was the unanimous winner of Boston Children's Hospital's pediatric Innovation Tank, a "Shark Tank"-like pitch competition hosted November 9 by Troy Carter, founder and CEO of Atom Factory and newly named guest shark on ABC's "Shark Tank." AIR's developer, Kevin Cedrone, PhD, of MIT, was awarded $30,000.

Brian McAlvin, MD, an intensivist in Critical Care at Boston Children's Hospital, earned the audience vote in the Ignite Talks Competition on November 10. He was awarded an Apple Watch and a one-on-one mentoring session with a venture capitalist.

The two events took place and prizes awarded at Taking on Tomorrow, the Boston Children's Hospital Global Pediatric Innovation Summit + Awards (#PedInno15).

At the Innovation Tank, Cedrone persuaded the panel of judges of AIR's potential global impact on child health. AIR is a low-cost ventilation add-on device to aid resuscitation of infants with breathing problems. It works with existing equipment, adding sensors and real-time feedback to help clinicians identify and address problems like airway obstruction, air leaks or excessive ventilation pressure.

"Every year, 10 million infants need help taking their first breath," Cedrone said. He cited a study indicating that AIR could reduce infant ventilation problems by 26 to 48 percent.

A judging panel of venture capitalists, business developers and clinicians awarded AIR $30,000, after less than five minutes' deliberation.

The two other competitors in the Innovation Tank, which was sponsored by Philips, were Myomo, a company that aims to modify its powered arm brace for the pediatric market, and Kindrdfood Inc., which provides personalized virtual nutritional consults for families who have to adjust their eating patterns due to a medical condition, food allergy or other reasons.

Pediatric innovations 'ignite' the audience

At the Ignite Talks Competition, competitors were allowed five minutes and 20 slides to pitch their idea. McAlvin's winning pitch detailed a filtration technology for treating septic shock, which removes not only the infectious pathogens but also the inflammatory molecules that cause much of the actual organ damage.

Audience members at the Summit texted their votes in.

The other four Ignite competitors were Doug Vincent, who pitched VentriFlo, a pulsing device to improve cardiopulmonary support); Sara Jandeska, MD, of Rush Children's Hospital, who pitched a low-cost peritoneal dialysis solution for developing countries; Raj Shekhar, PhD, of Children's National Health System, who pitched a mobile device to distinguish benign heart murmurs from those needing specialized care; and David Roberson of the Woolf Lab at Boston Children's Hospital, who pitched a pawprint-based imaging technology for assessing pain and neurological function in rodent models.

For more information on the Innovation Tank competitors, click here.

For more on the Ignite Talks competitors, click here.

Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 10 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 397-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care. Boston Children's is also the pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more, visit our Vector and Thriving blogs and follow us on our social media channels: @BostonChildrens, @BCH_Innovation, Facebook and YouTube. 

SOURCE Boston Children's Hospital

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