From left: Gary C. Butts, MD, Thandiwe-Kesi Robins and Ashley Abid of Skinterest; Michelle Ng of Neuemoon Health; Jiye Son, PhD of Keratin Nails; and Fariha Ahsan and Carmen Minsal from Mount Sinai’s Diversity Innovation Hub.
Mount Sinai’s Diversity Innovation Hub (DIH), a venture of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, is a unique, community-driven incubator with the goal of increasing the diversity of founders in health care innovation and entrepreneurship through investing and growing ideas that disrupt inequities caused by social determinants of health.
On Thursday, September 21, DIH members, including Gary C. Butts, MD, Executive Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Mount Sinai Health System, Fariha Ahsan, MS, DIH Director, and Carmen Minsal, MHA, DIH Program Manager, showcased 12 first-time entrepreneurs for the 2023 Pitch Day Competition.
About 100 people representing industry leaders from Mount Sinai, health start-ups, and venture capital firms gathered at the offices of Company Ventures in New York to watch teams pitch in three categories: Gender Equity, Innovation and Community Impact. The event included $10,000 prizes for winning teams.
The event featured keynote speaker Magdala Chery, DO, MBS, MPH, Health Equity Clinical Specialist at Google. “A lot of time as founders and innovators you’re solving a thing that is so close and dear to you, but you don’t talk about how it affects you,” she said in her remarks. “Know your story, understand your story, and tell your story.”
Here are the winners:
- Founder Jiye Son, PhD, founder of Keratin Nails, won the Community Impact award. Keratin Nails aims to reduce health disparities for nail salon workers by creating non-toxic nail polish and raising awareness on the harmful exposure to nail products through tech-enabled education.
- Ashley Abid and Thandiwe-Kesi Robins, co-founders of Skinterest, won the Innovation award. The company is a joint venture, founded by two women of color, breaking barriers for dermatology care of patients of color.
- Michelle Ng, founder of Neuemoon Health, won the Gender Equity award. Neuemoon Health addresses the patient care gap for women with endometriosis and uterine fibroids.
View photos from the event
