The 9th Annual 91ºÚÁÏÍø Clinical Innovation Competition and Awards Ceremony took place on May 20, 2026.
Winner of the Hakim Family Innovation Prize
Ubiqui-Dx
Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is treated by surgical resection, guided by intraoperative PTH (io-PTH) monitoring. However, current lab-based assays require 20–30 minutes per result, delaying decisions and limiting use in ambulatory settings. We propose a cartridge-based io-PTH test delivering quantitative whole-blood results in under five minutes. Built on Microfluidic Sieve and Detector (MFSD) technology, it enables rapid analyte capture and signal amplification without centralized labs.
Geunyong Kim,ÌýPhD Candidate, Biomedical Engineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø - Scientific cofounder
Antti Virtanen,ÌýResearch Assistant, Biomedical Engineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø - Ultra-Sensitive IA development
Paul Chapman, President, BioHighway Advisors Canada Inc. - Cofounder, CEO
David Juncker, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø - Scientific cofounder, CSO
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Winner of the Marika Zelenka Roy Innovation Prize
AeroCardia
AeroCardia is making a portable CardioPulmonary monitoring system.. The system integrates a hardware device you breathe through, with a phone and web app. These allow for monitoring and advanced data analytics. This allows us to offer clinical level health monitoring in a small device that can go wherever you go. Our goal is to make monitoring easy, objective and cost effective.
Matthew Behr, Co-Founder and CEO
Dr. Abhinav Sharma, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer
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Winner of the Smart & Biggar Innovation Prize
Rebrief
Rebrief.ai is a dentistry-specific ambient clinical intelligence platform that autonomously generates structured documentation — including odontograms and periodontal charts — from encounter audio in real time. Beyond passive transcription, it surfaces evidence-based guidance and integrates multi-visit patient data to support clinical decision-making. Preliminary data published in the International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (Zhou & Ng, 2025) demonstrated a 2.4-hour reduction in daily documentation time across 200 encounters, with qualitative improvements in record comprehensiveness and patient communication. A multi-site IRB-approved validation study is currently underway across 91ºÚÁÏÍø, Harvard, and the National University of Singapore.
Dr. Kevin Zhou, DDS — Founder & CEO, Rebrief; MSc Candidate, Surgical and Interventional Sciences, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Dr. Qin Xiang Ng, MBBS, MPH, PhD, Clinician-scientist, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System
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WINNER for the MI4 Innovation Prize
AnemoSwab
Diagnosis of respiratory infections is time critical, as treatments like those for influenza are effective only within short windows, and rapid detection helps limit transmission through isolation. Samples are typically collected via nasopharyngeal or anterior nasal swabs, which are invasive, uncomfortable and discourage frequent testing. AnemoSwab proposes a new method that captures sample material from exhaled aerosols present in breath using a small 3D printed device, the AnemoSwab.
Yonatan Morocz, PhD Candidate, Biomedical Engineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
David Juncker,ÌýProfessor, Biomedical Engineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø - Scientific cofounder, CSO
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WINNER for the Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Prize
RobAST
AMR is driving treatment failure, longer illness, and rising costs. We propose RobAST, a low-cost automated robotic nanoplasmonic platform for rapid phenotypic AST in a preclinical setting. Building on our patent-protected QolorPhAST and PhenEXA technologies, RobAST integrates gantry-based liquid handling with a custom 96-well plasmonic electrochemical plate, targeting 1-hour results at under $10 per test.
Sara Mahshid, Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Roozbeh Siavash Moakhar, PhD Student, Department of Bioengineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Sripadh Guptha Yedire, PhD Student, , Department of Bioengineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Tamer Abdelsalam Abdelfatah Abdelwahab, Postdoctoral Fellow
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WINNER for the Vitruvius Launchpad Prize
A-Levo
A-Levo is ending 50 years of blind Parkinson's dosing. We're building the world's first wearable that continuously measures levodopa levels and motor symptoms in real time, turning guesswork into precise personalized medicine. For 1.2M North Americans whose doses are still adjusted from memory, and who can't trust their own body from one hour to the next, we deliver the data their doctors never had.
Jung Hao Cau, B. Eng, Bioengineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Julianna Farias, M. Eng, Translational Biomedical Engineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Siqi Mi, B. Eng, Physiology, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
William Prato-Deriet, B. Eng, Bioengineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Syphax Ramdani, B. Eng, Bioengineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Lucy Wiggers, B. Eng, Bioengineering, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
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WINNER for the Raab Student Innovation Prize
OpenDx
OpenDx is an open-access, comprehensive clinical simulation platform built to address the lack of safe and scalable environments where learners can repeatedly practice diagnostic reasoning before facing uncertainty in real patient care. Rather than focusing only on the final diagnosis, OpenDx strengthens the reasoning process itself through embedded tutor guidance, personalized feedback, and a gamified system in which learners piece together clinical clues into a coherent diagnostic picture.
Aymen Sahal, MDCM Candidate, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Andrei Khramtsov, MDCM Candidate, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Philippe Archambault, Professor, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
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WINNER for the Marika Zelenka Roy Simnovation Prize (second prize category)
Tavantech
Neurological conditions like spinal cord injuries and strokes impact mobility and quality of life. Over 230,000 Canadians use manual wheelchairs, facing upper limb injuries, chronic pain, and social challenges. Existing training is inadequate. Tavantech’s VR-based MWC simulator offers realistic, interactive training with motorized feedback and AI-driven propulsion analysis, providing a cost-effective solution to enhance mobility and prevent injuries.
Salman Nourbakhsh, co-founder, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy/ 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Hamza Bou-ouhrich, co-founder, UQAM
Philippe Archambault, Professor, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
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Congratulations to our Finalist teams
OncoTrack
OncoTrack is the operating system healthcare of the future that sits above any clinical workflow and system to integrate, standardize, and augment clinical, administrative, and research workflows. OncoTrack builds a digital twin of every cancer clinic, learning from every decision, compounding intelligence across a growing network, and becoming the human-machine interface for the future of medicine.
Joseph Petruccelli, PhD candidate, Orthopedic surgery resident (UdeM)
Anthony Bozzo, Orthopedic Oncologist, Department of Surgery, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
Ahmed Aoude, Orthopedic Oncologist, Department of Surgery, 91ºÚÁÏÍø
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Theia
Theia is a virtual training platform that helps medical students and healthcare trainees practice clinical skills in realistic OSCE-style scenarios. Using immersive extended-reality based simulations and artificial intelligence, it creates virtual patient encounters for history-taking, decision-making, and feedback. The goal is to make clinical training more accessible, scalable, and consistent while reducing reliance on costly in-person simulation resources.
Shreenik Kundu, MD, and PhD student/ Founder, Surgical and interventional sciences
Dan Poenaru, Professor / Chief Advisor, Pediatric Surgery, 91ºÚÁÏÍø Health Centre and RI-MUHC
Elena Guadagno, MLIS, Research director/ Technical Advisor, Pediatric Surgery, 91ºÚÁÏÍø Health Centre and RI-MUHC
Amanda Bianco, MD, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 91ºÚÁÏÍø - Clinical Research Lead
Sepehr Babapour, PhD Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute - Technical Lead developer