MEDLaunch is a student-driven, biomedical and entrepreneurship incubator in the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University. The program is the product of collaborative efforts between the SLU School of Medicine, School of Law, Chaifetz School of Business, School of Science and Engineering and College for Public Health and Social Justice.
MEDLaunch participants work in interdisciplinary teams under the guidance of clinical and industry mentors to develop innovations in areas including (but not limited to) surgical devices, health information technology, and medical diagnostics. MEDLaunch maintains its mission to improve the standard of healthcare through the engineering and design of creative solutions while also fostering a community of entrepreneurship and collaboration at Saint Louis University and other organizations in the St. Louis area.
Problem Bank
The industry problem bank for MEDLaunch helps identify the issues affecting the healthcare industry. Following the submission of a problem and/or research opportunity, the MEDLaunch executive team and CCE staff will evaluate the problem based on criteria including, but not limited to, solution feasibility, development timeline, potential legal complications, affected population size and marketability. Based on the results of this preliminary evaluation, the problem may become available for selection by MEDLaunch teams that express interest in developing a solution.
Teams
MEDLaunch is rooted in an innovative, student-led, interdisciplinary approach to solving problems in the health care industry. Team leads are chosen for their experience and abilities in leadership, teamwork, management, time management and interpersonal communication. Successful teams include students from all university campuses, inviting the perspectives of STEM and non-STEM students to collaborate on projects.
Team leads are the heads of MEDLaunch projects. They are responsible for selecting a problem to pursue, recruiting team members, and leading the execution of deliverables for the cohort year. Team leads are typically upperclassmen who have participated in MEDLaunch previously as team members but neither of those things are required to become a team lead.
MEDLaunch seeks the best and brightest students from all disciplines and levels. Students are encouraged to sign up to be considered for a team and invited to participate in Launch Day to meet with team leads to see if a project/lead seems like the right fit for their interests and skill sets.
SLU eMentors
MEDLaunch eMentors are the heart of the program. eMentors are SLU faculty, researchers, stakeholders and industry professionals with a keen interest in mentoring teams to navigate the program year. By leveraging their unique experiences, skill sets and networks, successful advisors have helped many teams overcome individual obstacles. Our mentors are dedicated to supporting great ideas and solutions.
Some responsibilities of eMentors include:
- Participating in monthly design reviews to provide feedback to team leads on their project updates
- Attending MEDLaunch events, such as Launch Day and Demo Day
- Host workshops on specific topics such as engineering and prototyping, how to develop a pitch deck, and business forecasting
Ether Dharmesh, President
Abby Kieffer, VP of Curriculum and Recruitment
Siva Krothapalli, VP of Clinical Outreach
Andy Hayden - 2015-2016
Tom Malone - 2016-2017
Greg Weissler - 2017-2018
Alexander Smith - 2018-2019
Daniel Cancilla - 2019-2020
Justin Dulay - 2020-2021
Dhvanii Raval - 2021-2022
Aakash Nagarapu - 2022-2023
Andy Hayden
Anthony Grzeda
Jake Laktas
Daniel Pike
Rusdeep Mundae
Mia Harton
Greg Place
Brooke Asemota
For more information, please contact us at medlaunch@slu.edu.