Check out the two female founders who took home grand prizes at the 2022 Startup Prize

Meredith G. White, Shreveport Times
·2 min read

On Sunday, August 28 the Louisiana Startup Prize announced the 2022 winners at the Innovation: Health Conference in Shreveport.

The award-winning startup competition is hosted by the Prize Foundation along with presenting partners Ochsner LSU Health System of North Louisiana, Ochsner Ventures, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and LSU Health Shreveport.

All of the finalists presented their concepts to a panel of judges and the winners are:

BioSapien (FDA Track)

Founder Khatija Ali's concept is based out of San Diego, California and focuses on developing localized drug delivery platforms made of 3D printed biodegradable materials, so therapeutic agents can be applied directly to affected cell areas.

Oral Genome (Non-FDA Track)

Founder Dr. Tina Saw also hails from San Diego, California and the startup provides a point of care dental wellness tracker that instantly and accurately uncovers the user's dental wellness through a discreet saliva test. Via an app, users receive immediate results for key wellness parameters, genetic predispositions and oral cancer screening markers.

Both startups walked away with $10,000 each, mentorship and connections with potential instetment. The other finalists were also offered a fast tracked application into the prestigious MassChallenge program.

To qualify for the Startup Prize finals, entrepreneurs needed to have a health-focused business, such as a medical or surgical device, therapeutic, health-based technology or app, health service, or drug research. They were also required to attend at least one qualifying event this summer which included roundtables, panels and keynotes from Startup Prize mentors around the country in which competitors gained valuable tools and insights as well as mentorship to take their concepts to the next level. Additionally, the entrepreneurs were required to submit a detailed survey and business plan that a panel of judges used to determine which startups would move forward.

"The amazing part of Startup Prize: Focus on Health is that all of our finalists are out to make the world a better place through health and medicine," said Prize Foundation Executive Director and Startup Prize creator Gregory Kallenberg. "We are proud of our winners, but we are also proud to be able to help these important concepts move down the path to success."

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Find out the two winners of the 2022 Louisiana Startup Prize