MedTech Boston Announces the Winners of the First Round of the Google Glass Challenge

4 Mar, 2014

While the rest of the world was busy wondering who would win “Best Picture” we here at MedTech were diligently compiling the scores from Round 1 of the Google Glass Challenge! While a technical issue with our DNS provider caused a slight hiccup (and a one day delay), today we are thrilled to announce the four semi-finalists from Round 1 of the Challenge.

Twenty one ideas were submitted during this first of three semi-final rounds which ended on February 23. Submissions were judged by a panel of renowned clinicians and technical experts, including the White House Innovation Fellows. Ideas were judged primarily on their clinical impact and practicality.

The Envelope Please!

Without further ado, here are the four semi-finalists, in order of their combined total score:

Dr. Jordan Safirstein, Director, Transradial Intervention at Morristown Medical Center in Montclair, New Jersey had the highest combined score for the submission “Eyes in the Field” which envisions first responders (EMS, etc.) using Google Glass to transmit directly from the field as they triage and transport cases to local hospitals. Hospital staff can use this data to prepare for arriving cases ahead of time, including assembling the necessary specialists in the ER before the patient arrives.
Dr. Merritt W. Brown of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Department of Neurology in Boston, Massachusetts came in second with the submission “Management of Acute Stroke with Wearable Technology”. Dr. Brown’s idea is to push patient data in real time to the attending neurologist when a stroke patient arrives in the emergency room and continually update the patient’s NIH Stroke Scale score as information is compiled. This saves precious time in deciding on the proper intervention which results in less damage to brain tissue.
Dr. Austin Chiang of New York Presbyterian Hospital advanced to the finals with his submission “Procedure Bank” which envisions creating a database of “how-to” videos of medical procedures recorded with Google Glass. These videos could be used to train clinicians by providing a clear “Point of View” camera angle of actual clinicians performing procedures.
Dr. Maulik Majmudar of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts also advances to the finals with his idea “Scribe: A real-time, dynamic Google Glass enabled dictation system”. This application allows doctors to write the “Op Note” in real time during the operative procedure instead of hours or days afterwards when precious details can be forgotten.

Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas and congratulations to all the winners! Don’t forget, there’s still time to submit your ideas for rounds 2 and 3, which end on March 9 and 22, respectively. Just click here http://medtechboston.medstro.com/submit-ggchallenge/ to submit your idea today!

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James Ryan

Jim Ryan has spent the past 20 years building global markets for US-based telecommunications and enterprise technology companies. Mr. Ryan exited five startups (2 IPOs, 2 acquisitions, 1 Chapter 11) and now uses his expertise as one of the three founding partners of Farpoint Ventures helping startups from the US quickly build global sales channels and bring in revenues from overseas markets. Mr. Ryan has closed over $1B in export business for startups.

Mr. Ryan holds a Bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a Master's degree from Osaka University. He is a native speaker of Japanese, and is conversational in Mandarin Chinese and French.

In between meetings, he has climbed Mt. Rainier three times, finished the Boston Marathon and Cape Cod Marathon, climbed Mt. Washington in all four seasons and hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon 10 times. He holds a Private Pilot license and enjoys flying his Cessna 172 around New England and beyond.