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Elliot Reed

Program for Future Med Tech Entrepreneurs Persists Through COVID-19

What’s more hopeful than a new idea? Innovative concepts for medical technology are flourishing despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Twenty-seven students from five partner institutions competed this year for 12 paid ($3,000) Burton D. Morgan Future MedTech Entrepreneur Internships offered through the REDIzone business incubator at Northeast Ohio Medical University. In addition, unpaid externships were offered to accommodate the demand among meritorious applicants, attracting yet another future entrepreneur.

The six-week program culminates in a Student Pitch Day at NEOMED on Friday, July 24. This final day is designed for the students to apply what they learned to technologies developed by NEOMED researchers and present each technology’s business potential to an audience of regional economic development professionals and before a review panel of medical innovators.

Opening remarks will be given by John T. Langell, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., who founded the Center for Medical Innovation at the University of Utah before joining NEOMED as its president in 2019. President Langell will also serve on the panel of reviewers.

This is the second summer for the internship program, created, expanded, and executed by REDIzone Executive Director Elliot Reed (shown in photo from the 2019 event).

2020 Student Pitch Schedule

Following is a list of this year’s cohort and the programs in which they are enrolled:

Cleveland State University: Michael DiDomenico, Juris Doctorate (Law); Timothy Nagy, M.B.A.

Kent State University: Kirsten Maricic, Neuroscience Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences

NEOMED: Maher Abbo, Pharm. D; Jared Fehlman, Doctor of Medicine; Larissa Melnyk, Pharm.D; Zeynep Ozgur, Doctor of Medicine; Jacob Sweet, Pharm.D.; Alex Tang, Doctor of Medicine; Mackenzie Wilson, Doctor of Medicine

University of Akron: Luke Elbert, Juris Doctorate (Law); Colton Orr, Juris Doctorate (Law)

Youngstown State University: Ezio Cutarelli, M.B.A.