The Winning Pitch Challenge - RETINA Announces Winner

CHICAGO, Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Winning Pitch Challenge - RETINA awarded Hema Ramkumar, MD top honors at its virtual event on February 6, 2021. 

After an initial round of submissions, The Winning Pitch Challenge - RETINA featured three finalists who were invited to present their innovative ophthalmic ideas to a panel of industry leaders. Ramkumar's win included a $25,000 prize and access to expert guidance to move her innovation forward. She is the founder of Oculogenex, a company that uses gene therapy to improve vision.

Alan Franklin, MD, PhD, of ForwardVue Pharma, and Aditya Sudhalkar, MD, who is pioneering a subtenons steroid implant were the two other finalists.Franklin and Sudhalkar tied for second place and split the remaining $20,000 cash prize.

The Winning Pitch Challenge helps accelerate the pace of innovation in ophthalmology by providing ophthalmologists with the tools and assistance they need to transform their novel ideas for improvements in patient care into functioning prototypes ready for early-stage studies. 

To that end, The Winning Pitch Challenge provides access to key educational resources, highly experienced business and innovation mentors, networking opportunities, and  key exposure to financial resources. Additionally, mentors help participants overcome critical early-stage obstacles, such as securing intellectual property, developing a working version of the product, identifying a team and designing early stage studies. 

"The people with the best ideas are the ones closest to the work, and they often need just a little help getting their innovations off the ground. That's what The Winning Pitch Challenge is all about," explains John Pollack, MD, co-Director of the annual contest.

The Winning Pitch Challenge - RETINA is already accepting submission for another round of competition. The next submission deadline is November 28, 2021. In addition, The Winning Pitch Challenge - ANTERIOR SEGMENT is also accepting submissions for that competition. Visit winningpitchchallenge.net for details.

SOURCE Winning Pitch Challenge

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