IWD Inspirational Female Founder Spotlights

The Successful Founder highlights the two women behind Kalia Health: Denali Dahl and Happy Ghosh. Click below to learn more about our their inspirations, challenges, and plans for the future.

Learn more about Denali here!

Learn more about Happy here!

Social Justice Innovation Award

Kalia Health is proud to be a winner of the Social Justice Innovation Award, sponsored by Morgan Stanley and Centri Tech Foundation! The Social Justice Innovation Award aims to advance systemic solutions for social and racial justice. Kalia Health will have a nine-month partnership with Centri Tech Foundation and a cohort experience with fellow award winners. Kalia Health will also receive coaching, support, access to professional networks, and a $250,000 award.

Learn more here!

IndieBio

Kalia Health has been selected for IndieBio’s accelerator program! IndieBio is #1 in Early Stage Biotechnology, where 200+ companies have developed through the program. IndieBio has a rich alumni network and diversity in the companies and people supported. Through this program, Kalia Health will have opportunities to partner with global investors, as well as networking and mentoring opportunities.

Learn more here!

TigerLaunch

TigerLaunch is the world’s largest student-run entrepreneurship competition. TigerLaunch has regional contests worldwide, where winners receive access to a network of internal companies of various areas, mentorships from leaders and venture capitalists, and funding. Kalia Health is proud to be a winner of the Howard Cox ‘64 Entrepreneurship Prize!

Learn more here!

Duke and Makerere University Students Win Big at Big Ideas Competition

A team of students from Makerere University (MUK) in Kampala, Uganda, and Duke University have been working together for more than a year to develop a simple screening tool for preeclampsia in low-resource settings. This joint Duke-MUK venture, which began as a class project in a transcontinental engineering design course last spring, is now well on its way to fruition. 

And last week, the team won a total of $13,000 in funding through the Big Ideas competition, enabling them to take the project to the next level. Team members include Brian Matovu and Zoe Sekyonda, undergraduate biomedical engineering students at MUK, and Denali Dahl, a master’s student at the Duke Global Health Institute.

EARLY DETECTION AND MONITORING ARE KEY TO MANAGING PREECLAMPSIA

Preeclampsia is characterized by persistent high blood pressure in pregnant women and can lead to kidney and liver problems, fluid in the lungs, seizures and visual disturbances. If undiagnosed, preeclampsia can lead to eclampsia, a condition that can result in serious health risks for a woman and her baby and, in some cases, cause death. Worldwide, approximately 76,000 pregnant women and about 500,000 babies die each year from preeclampsia and related hypertensive disorders. 

With early detection and monitoring, preeclampsia is usually manageable. But in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where prenatal care is limited, women are seven times as likely to develop preeclampsia than women who live in countries where ongoing prenatal care is the norm. At Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, eight percent of all labor ward admissions—three to four women per day—are preeclampsia patients, and 21 percent of maternal deaths are due to complications related to severe preeclampsia or eclampsia.

BRINGING PREECLAMPSIA SCREENING TO UGANDA AND BEYOND

These troubling statistics motivated Matovu and Sekyonda—students in the MUK Biomedical Engineering Design Module led by Robert Ssekitoleko, lecturer in biomedical engineering—to find a way to bring affordable, accessible preeclampsia screening to women in Uganda and other LMICs. They were soon joined by Dahl as part of Duke’s Transcontinental Design in Uganda course, taught by biomedical engineering professor William “Monty” Reichert.

Through a literature review, they learned that two protein biomarkers—activin A and inhibin A—elevate dramatically during early onset of preeclampsia, even before the woman experiences symptoms. So, they set out to develop a home-based diagnostic test strip that can instantly detect these biomarkers in a woman’s urine, thereby empowering and educating women so they know when to seek medical care before their complication becomes severe.

THE DISTRIBUTION PLAN

Currently in Uganda, 70 percent of pregnant women have only one prenatal visit, which takes place at the beginning of their pregnancy. The team’s hope is that women could receive a bundle of test strips and an instructional pamphlet at this visit, along with a pamphlet that explains how and when to use the strips and what to do if they get a positive result for preeclampsia.

They’re hoping that the Ministry of Health and/or a non-governmental organization will consider subsidizing the cost of the strips—about one to two dollars per strip if they’re mass-produced.

NEXT 12 MONTHS: CLINICAL STUDY AND PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT

The team’s one-year goal is to develop 100 fully-functional test prototype strips. Their approach is two-pronged:

1. Conduct a clinical study at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. This study will help the team quantify the biomarkers to determine a cutoff value between normal and preeclamptic pregnancies and determine the sensitivity and specificity of the biomarkers. One hundred women will be enrolled in the study.
2. Develop the test strip prototype in collaboration with Biomedomics, a biotechnology company in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The study results will inform the development of the strips. 

After that, Dahl said, the team will focus on the business model and implementation considerations. “Once we have the product, we need to understand the ecosystem,” she said. “We need to know whether and how people will use it, how it will fit into the clinical flow and other important implementation questions.”

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

Big Ideas is an annual contest based at the University of California at Berkeley that provides funding, support and encouragement to interdisciplinary teams of students with “big ideas.” The ultimate goal of Big Ideas is to support students in making social change. The contest promotes autonomy, initiative and teamwork early in students’ careers, broadening their understanding of how they can use their education and interests to improve society.

On April 17, the team learned they’d won $10,000 as first place finishers in the global health category. A week later, they won second place in the contest’s Grand Pitch event, earning them another $3,000. This funding supplements $2,000 provided by MUK to perform a preliminary biomarker validation study and a $2,500 prize Dahl won for the project at the ChangeWorks competition, sponsored by the Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative.

Dahl and Matovu spoke highly of their Big Ideas experience and especially appreciated the support of the mentor they were assigned as part of the competition: Richard Lowe, senior scientist at The Clorox Company. “He helped us think through every aspect of the project and asked really important questions,” Matovu said. “By the time we submitted our project, I had confidence that something would come out of it.” Frequent three-way Skype calls between North Carolina, California and Uganda were essential to their success. 

STUDENTS DRAW INSPIRATION FROM PROJECT’S POTENTIAL IMPACT AND STRONG TEAM

“For me, the project is a dream come true,” reflected Dahl, whose background is in engineering. “I’m hoping to apply nanoengineering and bioengineering technologies to address global health problems, and to see that something that started as a class idea could actually become a reality and have an impact has been incredible.”

She also acknowledges the important role her DGHI education has played in the project. In her biostatistics course, she learned how to design a clinical study—knowledge she applied when conceptualizing the study that will help the team determine cutoff values for diagnosing preeclampsia. “Before this program, I could do the engineering side, but I’d never done the clinical studies side,” she said. “I was able to think through the data analysis plan, and I knew which questions to ask.”

Matovu has also enjoyed the project, despite its challenges: “We were so excited to solve the problem, but we didn’t anticipate the work ahead of us—including the heavy research involved and the need to seek funds to run the project,” he said. “At times, I’ve felt like giving up, but having a great team has helped me stay focused.”

Sekyonda echoes Matovu’s feelings about the project and the team: “The project hasn’t been easy,” she said. “With a big global challenge in front of us, we had to be committed to find a better solution for our community.” She added that their mentors from MUK’s School of Biomedical Sciences and Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering also played a huge role in the project’s success. “We can’t underestimate the seeds of knowledge that the late Professor Bimenya Gabriel [of MUK] planted in us,” she reflected.

Top Teams Compete at Big Ideas Grand Prize Pitch Day!

It was standing room only in Blum Hall Wednesday night as seven teams competed in Berkeley’s 6th Annual Rudd Family Foundation Big Ideas Grand Prize Pitch Day. Each year, the Big Ideas competition brings together teams of students from across disciplines to design creative solutions for social impact. This year, 326 teams representing more than 1,000 students from 16 universities submitted proposals. Of those, 44 teams were awarded seed funding for their ideas after two rounds of review, and seven were selected to present at Grand Prize Pitch Day.

In front of a panel of high-profile judges comprised of industry leaders and social entrepreneurs, finalists described how their innovations would effectively address issues related to affordable housing, healthcare, human rights, energy, and waste management. These new and creative ideas included ventures that aim to bring light to rural India, more effectively diagnose pneumonia, and give a voice to immigrants who have been detained and deported.

ormer White House Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation and Big Ideas founder, Tom Kalil, was impressed by the caliber of contestants this year. “It’s great to see the ambition of students at Berkeley and other campuses to tackle major societal challenges – both at home and abroad,” Kalil said. Other esteemed judges included Christine Gulbranson, Senior Vice President of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, UC Office of the President; Danielle Cass, Silicon Valley Tech Sector Liaison, USAID; Jean Shia, Head of Portfolio and Investment, Autodesk Foundation; and Jeremy Fiance, Managing Partner, The House Fund.

Each team was given three minutes to pitch their big idea in front of a packed audience. During the question and answer session that followed, judges askedtough questions about each team’s innovation, pilot methodology, sustainability plan, and implementation model. While nerve-wracking, teams relished the opportunity to dive deeper into their ideas. When the pitches were complete, judges retreated for 30 minutes to deliberate.

“The teams all did well,” said Christine Gulbranson. “All 10 UC campuses were represented in this competition, which demonstrates the innovation, breadth, and entrepreneurial spirit across the UC system.”

When the results were determined the winners were announced as follows:

1st Place ($5,000 prize):

• Tabla (UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco):Pneumonia is the number one killer of children under five, globally. Tabla, an apple-sized device that costs $70, is a portable, accessible, and inexpensive diagnostic tool that will reduce child mortality in resource constrained settings.

2nd Place Winners ($3,000 prize):

• Point-of-Care Diagnostic Test for Preeclampsia (Duke University, Makerere University): Each year, 76,000 women die of preeclampsia. Team Preeclampsia developed a safe and effective urinalysis diagnostic tool for early detection of preeclampsia in low-resource settings, allowing women to seek treatment before symptoms become life threatening.
• ZestBio (UC Berkeley): The juice industry produces 20 billion pounds of waste each year. Team ZestBio turns orange peel waste into plastic bottles, reducing food and plastic waste, and carbon emissions.

3rd Place Winners ($2,000 prize):

• Undergraduate Lab at Berkeley (UC Berkeley): University faculty often seek research assistance with prior research experience, limiting opportunities for undergraduates looking to gain the experience they need to progress in their education and careers. ULAB helps freshman and sophomores gain lab skills and solve real world problems, building the next generation of social innovators.
• HomeSlice (UC Berkeley): Lack of affordable housing locks many—and particular young people—out of home ownership. HomeSlice makes it easier for people who can’t afford to buy on their own to buy in groups—empowering them to build their assets instead of being forced to rent.

Honorable Mention ($1,000 prize):

• MakeGlow (UC Davis, Texas A&M University): 25% of India lives in the dark. MakeGlow is a low-cost solar lantern designed to teach students in low-income rural communities about the environmental benefits of using solar, while providing them with light for their homes.
• MigRadio (UC Berkeley): Over 3 million immigrants have been deported in the last decade. MigRadio is new podcast that explores immigration policy through the lens of deported immigrants who tell their stories in their own words.

The Big Ideas contest is made possible by the generous support of the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation. We invited you to join us at the Blum Center for the Big Ideas Awards Celebration next Wednesday, May 3 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. RSVP here to attend the event.

ChangeWorks Administers $4K in Funding to Three Social Ventures

Three teams recently received $4,000 total in funding from ChangeWorks, a competition for early-stage social entrepreneurship ventures.

The competition, which is administered by the Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative, was open to undergraduates and graduate students. Eighteen teams applied, and six were chosen as finalists.

The finalists pitched their ideas to a panel of judges, receiving help from volunteer mentors along the way.

Denali Dahl, who will graduate with her master of science in global health in May, took home the first place prize of $2,500 for her point-of-care early diagnostic test for preeclampsia.

The project sprung from a biomedical engineering course Dahl took last spring. In the course, students were partnered with university students in Uganda, who identified health issues they wanted to solve.

Because women in Uganda often don’t have regular access to prenatal care, preeclampsia is a widespread issue. The symptoms of preeclampsia can often be mistaken for common pregnancy symptoms, and it can lead to organ failure and other complications.

Dahl and her two co-founders are creating an early diagnostic strip that is a home-based test. Dahl’s goal is to empower and educate women so they know when to seek medical care before preeclampsia becomes severe.

After securing funding from ChangeWorks, which was the project’s initial funding, Dahl’s team received more good news. They won first place in the global health category of UC Berkeley’s Big Ideas competition, giving them an additional $10,000 in funding.

The team was also invited to participate in UC Berkeley’s Grand Prize Pitch Day, where they could receive even more funding.

The funding will help with a clinical study that Dahl’s co-founders are currently conducting in Uganda, as well as help Dahl create a prototype of the device in partnership with local point-of-care diagnostics company BioMedomics.

“We’ve been putting together the pieces for a long time, and it’s exciting to see the idea start to become a reality,” Dahl said.

Working on the project has taught Dahl the power of collaboration. Working with her teammates in Uganda has allowed her to leverage resources and mentorship from both countries to create a product that is contextually relevant.

The $1,000 second place ChangeWorks winner was Tim Scales, an MBA student who will graduate next month and co-founder of advocacy mobile app CivicRise.

Scales got the idea for CivicRise in the buildup to the 2016 election, when he was seeing many different calls to action on social media but never knew which information was trustworthy or up-to-date.

With CivicRise, users can subscribe to advocacy organizations they know and trust through the app, which will send alerts when action needs to be taken. The action can then be completed through the app, allowing users to track their progress and receive rewards as they continue to be engaged.

CivicRise is already live on the app store, and the funding will help Scales and his team figure out the best way to pull advocacy data and package it for organizations.

Scales said that Changeworks was the perfect setting to work on his idea because of its focus on social entrepreneurship and its judges and mentors who asked the right questions.

The Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative has also been involved in helping with CivicRise since day one, Scales said. With the space, resources and mentorship he’s received, he’s been able to transform it from a rough idea into a product that’s now live on the App Store.

The third place prize of $500 went to Robert Fitzpatrick for his project Reef Defense Systems.

All six teams that presented were strong, said Katherine Black, Duke I&E’s program coordinator for social innovation and entrepreneurship.

“In my five years working at Duke, this was the first competition I have ever seen where each presentation was truly well thought out and executed,” she said. “Every venture idea that was pitched had potential.”