The following was written by Jessica Mo, Pava Center Venture Insights Intern
This fall, the Pava Center welcomed 10 Johns Hopkins teams to the 2024 Fuel Accelerator cohort. Amidst the most competitive fall accelerator cycle to date, with 98 teams applying for opportunities, nearly 50 teams from all 9 Johns Hopkins schools applied to the Fuel program. The semester-long program is open to Johns Hopkins students from all campuses and academic levels (from undergraduate to postdoctoral).
“This year, I am excited and proud to have a diverse range of ventures,” Paul Davidson, Associate Director of the Pava Center, said. “We have teams from five of the 9 Johns Hopkins schools and several industries – this diversity and interdisciplinary nature will make the semester a success.”
This fall’s cohort includes interdisciplinary teams with backgrounds ranging from medicine to software engineering, including KaraOrchee’s team—Crystal Zheyu Jiang, Jackson Guan, and Justin Liu—for example. Jiang is a concert pianist, Guan is a composer and cellist, and Liu is a computer scientist.
“My inspiration comes from my stage experiences playing with orchestras worldwide, and a part of it also comes from my secret love of going to karaoke with friends and singing. I asked, ‘Why don’t we have karaoke for professional musicians?’ We wanted to democratize these profound musical experiences on a worldwide basis,” Jiang said. “It’s more than just software that offers tools for people to practice. We are more of a platform that connects people.”
Sunkara Wellness’s team is composed of Dylan Bruschi, who has a software development background, and Ivanna Joseph, who is a Neurosciences Critical Care Fellow at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Bruschi said that he was diagnosed with major depression in his early twenties; while therapy and medications did not work, he had a transformative experience on an intensive mindfulness meditation retreat. Returning home, he found it difficult to keep up the same level of practice outside of the retreat. Around this time, he met Joseph, who helped him understand how meditation exercises key structures in the brain.
“[We] discussed the ongoing research into the neurological correlates of meditation and how [Ivanna’s] fellow neurologists were using non-invasive neuromodulation to improve patients’ brain function,” Bruschi said. “From these conversations, [we] developed a unique therapeutic combining neurology, meditation, and engineering: a headset and companion app designed for individuals with depression and anxiety, especially those who haven’t responded to conventional therapies.”
Scheduling Wizard’s team—Sam Oberly, Abdelrahman Hamimi, Zac Dermody, and Ashley Gigon—have worked in Minor Baseball League scheduling, operations research, full stack development, industrial logistics and management, finance and system development, and war games analysis for the Department of Defense. “[We] also realized other industries have comparable problems and have begun looking into developing solutions for other industries,” Oberly said.
The Fuel cohort will meet twice a week to exchange ideas, share updates, and network with each other and industry professionals. “Cohort members will learn and grow from alumni guest speakers, industry mentors, and most importantly from one another,” Davidson said. “These ventures all have enormous potential to positively impact many industries and society.”
All teams:
- Atwero (BSPH, WSE): Refines and expands the availability of physical mobility assistive devices to marginalized people with disabilities to enable the use of pit latrines in an independent and sanitary way.
- Campus Connect (WSE): An online platform aiming to boost collaboration within the student-led startup ecosystem. By providing students with a portal to both hire or look to join another student, CampusConnect streamlines the process of forming connections within and between schools.
- Codahx (SOM, WSE): Uses AI to help patients lower their medical costs. Through their web app, users can scan their bills for overcharging and apply for eligible financial assistance, all with a few clicks.
- Fetal Therapy Technologies (WSE): Partnered with the Johns Hopkins Center for Fetal Therapy to develop a novel, radially expanding port system that is optimized for fetal surgeries. Currently, there are no FDA-approved fetal surgical instruments; Fetal Therapy Technologies aims to create instruments for the uterine environment.
- KaraOrchee (Peabody): A digital platform designed to empower classical musicians through innovative technology, offering smart virtual orchestral accompaniment, real-time musical interaction, and a connected online classical music community. The venture bridges the gap between musicians, educators, and enthusiasts, aiming to revolutionize classical music performance and education.
- Nestor Health (WSE, KSAS): A medtech software company focused on bringing sustainable interoperability to the healthcare industry. They use real-time data exchange and easy-to-learn software that will help increase efficiency in the workflow of providers and reduce burdens on patients, especially for smaller or solo practices.
- Ovelia (WSE): An app designed to help reproductive-age women identify their risk of having polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), connect with relevant healthcare resources, and prevent long-term consequences of PCOS, such as infertility & type 2 diabetes.
- Protice (KSAS): Offers customizable health insurance for students and young professionals, optimizing care quality while reducing costs. Protice will guide members through the healthcare system, making informed decisions that fit their busy lifestyles and alleviate the stress of healthcare decision-making.
- Scheduling Wizard (WSE): Simplifies the scheduling process by creating a custom software solution for any scheduling problem. High school administrators are expected to either learn complicated and inflexible software systems or schedule by hand, both of which are time-consuming, and resource-intensive and lead to suboptimal schedules. Scheduling Wizard’s software can deliver effective schedules and an interface to manage and disseminate these schedules directly to schools.
- Sunkara Wellness (SOM): A unique meditation solution combining neurology, meditation, and engineering: a headset and companion app designed for individuals with depression and anxiety, especially those who haven’t responded to conventional therapies. Sunkara’s system uses neuromodulation, mindfulness therapy, and AI journaling to stimulate mood-regulating brain networks, like those activated by advanced meditation practices.