Lyfebulb Announces Finalists for the 2022 Innovation Challenge, in Collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb, to Address Unmet Needs in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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Dec 09, 2022, 09:32 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lyfebulb, a patient-empowerment platform that bridges patients with industry to support user-driven innovation, education and connectivity, is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2022 "Addressing Unmet Needs in IBD" Innovation Challenge in collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb.

The finalists, who were co-selected by the Lyfebulb and Bristol Myers Squibb teams, are ten inspirational innovators showing great promise of improving unmet needs of the IBD community for better disease management and care. The potential impact on patients and their loved ones, as well as the feasibility and sustainability of innovations in the market, were considerations in the selection of the following finalists:

For-profit:

Alex Menys, PhD, CEO, Motilent
Avi Dukler, PhD, Managing Member, Glycominds
Kari Furu, PhD, Chief Technology Officer, Genetic Analysis
Kishore Pardasani, President, MK Tech LLC (OstoBuddy)
Sam Jactel, Founder & CEO, Ayble Health
Sriram Muthukumar, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO, EnLiSense
Tim Rudolphi, CEO, metaMe Health

Not-for-profit:

Eric Zuckerman, DO, Board Chair, Pediatric IBD Foundation
Majdi Osman, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, OpenBiome
Manda Barger, Director of Development, Girls With Guts

"It is promising to see so many strong innovators working to solve the unmet needs of the inflammatory bowel disease community." said Karin Hehenberger, MD, PhD, founder, and CEO at Lyfebulb. "There is certainly a great need for innovation in this field, and we are excited to be showcasing and promoting global entrepreneurs and advocates through this innovation challenge and beyond."

The finalists will be joined by industry leaders spanning business, venture capital, and health care industries for a summit at BMS' offices in Princeton, New Jersey on January 25, 2023. Each finalist will present their solutions to an expert panel of judges, which includes:

Greg Lewis, President & Managing Partner, Calcium
Jackie Zimmerman, IBD Patient Ambassador
Russell J. Wyborski, PhD, Director of IBD Ventures Investments, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation
Sophie Balzora, MD, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Stephen Squinto, PhD, Chief Investment Officer, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital

The judges will select a winner in each category of finalists. The Innovation Award, with a $25,000 monetary award, will be presented to a for-profit company to further the growth of their solution. The Impact Award will be presented to a not-for-profit company and also includes a $25,000 monetary award.

To learn more about the Innovation Challenge, visit Lyfebulb.com.

About Lyfebulb

Lyfebulb empowers people living with chronic illnesses to thrive through education, innovation and connectivity. The company bridges the gap between patient communities and the healthcare industry by working directly with patients and care partners to generate insights and build new solutions to reduce the burden of living with chronic disease. The company operates three digital patient communities, TransplantLyfe, IBDLyfe, and RareCancerLyfe. For more information, visit Lyfebulb.com, TransplantLyfe.com, IBDLyfe.com, RareCancerLyfe.com, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Karin Hehenberger's personal LinkedIn.