Philadelphia, July 16, 2025— Penn Health-Tech, the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health, Devices and Technology, welcomes eight promising new teams into its 2025–2026 Health Tech Accelerator program.

Penn Health-Tech (PHT) aims to translate innovative ideas from across Penn and CHOP  into market-ready products that address unmet clinical needs and deliver impactful healthcare solutions. Since its founding in 2017, PHT has supported 105 teams developing early-stage technologies. Through providing a combination of providing up to $75,000 in pilot funding, hands-on project management, strategic advising, and access to critical resources, the Accelerator empowers teams to advance academic research into high-impact health solutions. Collectively, its alumni have gone on to secure over $119 million in follow-on funding from sources including government grants, corporate investments, and venture capital.

The Health-Tech Accelerator (HTA) is a one-year, cohort-based program designed to support and accelerate the development life cycle of novel health technologies through expert advising, tailored programs and workshops, and targeted funding. The program supports faculty and staff from the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Medicine, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

Alice Abernathy, MD, MSHP, of incoming team, CIRCA, shares her perspective on joining the 2025 cohort and her enthusiasm for the year ahead: 
“I’m thrilled to join a group of academic leaders committed to reshaping the future of healthcare. We know that the right care at the right time — especially in pregnancy — can change everything. The Penn Health-Tech Accelerator brings together cross-disciplinary experts to do what Penn does best: turn bold ideas into real-world impact. I’m excited to learn, refine, and build alongside this visionary community.”

Meet the teams powering Penn Health-Tech’s 2025 HTA cohort:

An Automated Platform to Evaluate Nerve Health
Josh Baxter, PhD (UPenn)
Flavia Vitale, PhD (UPenn)
Quinn Tate, MD, MS (UPenn)
Maggie Wagner, BS (UPenn)

Portable Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke Detector
Christopher Favilla, MD (UPenn)
Wesley Baker, PhD (UPenn, CHOP)
Rogan Magee, MD, PhD (UPenn)
Ed Dickinson, MD (UPenn)

Minimally Invasive Cardiovascular Neuromodulation
Timothy Markman, MD (UPenn)
Saman Nazarian, MD, PhD (UPenn)
Cory Tschabrunn, PhD (UPenn)

Incuta Therapeutics
Leo Wang, MD, PhD (UPenn)
George Cotsarelis, MD (UPenn)

Steriflush
Michael Tomasetti, MSN, RN (UPenn)
Jessica Burke, MSN, RN (UPenn)

ELONG: Endoluminal Lengthening Of Native esophaGus
Duy T. Dao, MD, MPH (CHOP)
Thomas E. Hamilton, MD (CHOP)
Dennis Hiller (CHOP)
Rosa Hwang (CHOP)
Joshua Dienstman (CHOP)

Visi Health
Lama Al-Aswad, MD, MPH (UPenn)
Almiqdad Saeed, MD (UPenn)
Rina Nagatani (UPenn)

CIRCA: Conversational AI to Improve Early Pregnancy Care
Alice Abernathy, MD, MSHP (UPenn)
Courtney Schreiber, MD, MPH (UPenn)
Kiya Gurmessa, MD, MPH (UPenn)
Anurag Verma, PhD (UPenn)
Hritvik Gupta, MS (UPenn)

With the launch of the incoming 2025 cohort, we are excited to share that applications for the 2026 Accelerator program will open in mid-September. Selected teams will benefit from:

• Up to $75,000 in pilot funding tied to milestone-based project progress
• Hands-on, personalized advising aligned with their stage of development
• Comprehensive project management support to guide both technical de-risking (prototype development, proof of concept) and/or commercial de-risking (setting development milestones, clinical strategy, regulatory strategy, reimbursement strategy, etc.)
• An invitation to participate in the HTA Bootcamp, a four-month strategic technology development and innovation education program led by Dr. Katie Reuther, Executive Director of Penn Health-Tech