StartUp Health

24/04/2026

✨ Positive Focus to...

🔬 Yuling Luo, PhD, CEO & Founder of Alamar Biosciences, on the closing of the company's upsized initial public offering, raising approximately $219.9M.

⚡ Deanna Harshbarger, CEO of Cala Health, on securing $50M from Trinity Capital to support the commercial expansion of the company's wearable tremor therapy.

🏥 Toyin Ajayi, MD, CEO & Co-founder of Cityblock Health, on the appointment of Alexander Billioux, MD, as the company's new Chief Health Officer to advance their tech-enabled clinical care model for government programs.

🧠 Erez Eitan, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer & Co-founder of NeuroDex, on the publication of a new study demonstrating that the company's ExoSORT™ platform can detect central nervous system pharmacodynamic effects of metabolic therapies from plasma.

🥗 Susan Bratton, CEO & Founder of Savor Health, on the company joining other patient-centric, data safety, and privacy-committed innovators in CMS's First Wave Launch.

Momentum across the StartUp Health community, from capital raises to clinical breakthroughs to system-level partnerships. Congrats to all. 👏

24/04/2026

🧠 New research spotlight for StartUp Health community member NeuroDex.

In collaboration with researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NeuroDex has published the first evidence of CNS target engagement for GLP-1 and PPARγ agonists using blood-based neuron-derived extracellular vesicles — an important step toward understanding how therapies interact with the brain in real time.

This work could help accelerate drug development and improve how researchers measure treatment response in neurological and neurodegenerative disease, moving the field closer to more precise, biomarker-driven care.

Exciting progress at the intersection of neuroscience, diagnostics, and translational research.

🔗 https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/neurodex-and-stanford-researchers-publish-first-evidence-of-cns-target-engagement-for-glp-1-and-ppar%CE%B3-agonists-using-blood-based-neuron-derived-extracellular-vesicles

24/04/2026

👏 StartUp Health community member Cityblock Health continues to strengthen its leadership team with the appointment of Dr. Alexander Billioux as Chief Health Officer.

Bringing experience across public health, Medicaid innovation, and government programs, Dr. Billioux will help advance Cityblock’s technology-enabled clinical care model for Medicaid and dually eligible populations with complex needs. His leadership comes at a critical moment as healthcare systems look to better integrate clinical, behavioral, and social care for underserved communities.

“We are excited to welcome Alex to our team of dedicated leaders making healthcare more accessible for underserved populations,” said Dr. Toyin Ajayi, CEO & Co-founder of Cityblock Health.

Cityblock’s continued investment in mission-driven leadership reflects a broader push to build more connected, equitable care models powered by both technology and human relationships.

🔗 https://www.citybiz.co/article/836280/cityblock-health-names-dr-alexander-billioux-chief-health-officer/

23/04/2026

She's not going to tell you why she's uncomfortable at work. 🔇

Think about a woman working a shift at a checkout counter, dealing with incontinence or pelvic pain. She can't always get to the bathroom. So she drinks less water. She's dehydrated, less focused, less productive — and the cycle compounds.

StartUp Health community member Wendy Powell, CEO & Founder of MUTU System, says this isn't hypothetical. Healthcare workers, retail employees, anyone on their feet for long shifts — these are the women silently managing symptoms that employers rarely see.

▶️ https://media.startuphealth.com/p/solving-silent-pain-the-mutu-system-approach-to-women-s-core-and-pelvic-health

23/04/2026

🧠 Neurology access remains one of healthcare’s biggest workforce challenges, and StartUp Health community member Access TeleCare is helping lead the conversation on what comes next.

In this new Becker’s Hospital Review interview, Dr. Annie Tsui, chief medical officer of neurology at Access TeleCare, explores how teleneurology is helping hospitals extend specialist coverage, reduce unnecessary transfers, improve stroke response, and ease pressure on overextended neurology teams. As demand for neurological care continues to rise, virtual specialty care is becoming an essential bridge for rural and underserved communities.

A timely look at how telemedicine can expand access while strengthening clinical and operational outcomes.

🔗 https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/telehealth/how-teleneurology-is-expanding-access-and-easing-the-neurologist-shortage/

23/04/2026

🔍 The healthcare system treats conditions in silos. But people don't live in silos.

StartUp Health community member Aarabi Balasubramanian, CEO & Founder of EmTech Care Labs, saw how the system keeps specializing and fragmenting, treating each diagnosis as a separate problem layered on top of the last, rather than looking at the person as a whole.

And it goes beyond health. Families navigating neurological conditions are also dealing with socioeconomic realities, cultural circumstances, and the day-to-day of managing care in the real world. The system wasn't built to account for any of that.

➡️ https://media.startuphealth.com/p/meet-emtech-care-labs-helping-families-navigate-dementia-care-at-home

22/04/2026

🎉 StartUp Health community member Cala Health, Inc., has secured $50M in growth capital from Trinity Capital to expand commercial reach of the Cala kIQ® System – the only FDA-cleared wearable device delivering effective therapy for action hand tremors in people with essential tremor and Parkinson's disease. 🙌

The Cala kIQ wrist-worn device measures each patient's unique tremor pattern and delivers individualized nerve stimulation to counteract it – prescribed by physicians for use at home, so patients can manage symptoms and get back to the everyday things that matter: reading, writing, eating, drinking.

"This collaboration enhances our ability to accelerate commercial expansion and product innovation, advancing Cala TAPS® therapy to impact the lives of essential tremor and Parkinson's disease patients," said Deanna Harshbarger, CEO of Cala Health.

🔗 https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/cala-health-secures-50m-scale-wearable-neuromodulation-therapy

The company's FDA-cleared wearable uses personalized nerve stimulation to treat essential tremor and Parkinson's disease.

22/04/2026

What does it take to get a health technology from the lab to the patient's hands?

Jerry Wilmink, PhD, has navigated nearly every stage of that journey. As the founder of WiseWear, former CBO at CarePredict (a StartUp Health company), and now Director of Business Development and Licensing at Cleveland Clinic Innovations, he has been the scrappy builder and the person on the other side of the table at one of the world's leading health systems.

In his recent conversation with StartUp Health co-founder Unity Stoakes, Jerry shared how Cleveland Clinic Innovations evaluates and commercializes emerging technologies, why the best partnerships happen early, and what AI is making possible right now across the clinical enterprise.

Read and listen to hear what it takes to turn health innovation into impact ⤵️
https://media.startuphealth.com/p/what-it-takes-to-turn-health-innovation-into-impact-according-to-cleveland-clinic-s-jerry-wilmink

Want even more? Jerry joins the StartUp Health community for a live Expert AMA on Tuesday, April 28, focused on health tech commercialization, AI in clinical care, and how health systems discover and adopt new technologies.

Community members: bring your questions for this interactive and intimate session. Not a member yet? Learn more at startuphealth.com.

The former startup founder and current Director of Business Development at Cleveland Clinic Innovations shares his thoughts on AI, augmented reality, and why the best partnerships start early.

22/04/2026

Ever wonder where startup names come from?

For StartUp Health community member Dr. Ian Madom of Mocingbird, the answer is rooted in clinicians’ voices.

MOC stands for Maintenance of Certification.

Mocingbird exists to echo the voices of clinicians and reduce the administrative burden they face every day.

Read, watch, or listen to the full update ⤵️
https://media.startuphealth.com/p/health-moonshot-update-mocingbird-turns-licensing-chaos-into-clinical-capacity

22/04/2026

Long-time StartUp Health community member Susan Bratton, CEO & Founder of Savor Health, just hit a major milestone: her company has been selected to join the new Medicare App Library to bring its AI-powered digital dietitian, Ina®, directly to Medicare beneficiaries.

This is a big deal. CMS's Health Technology Ecosystem initiative is designed to break down the barriers that have long kept patients from accessing their own clinical data – and Savor Health is now positioned to use that data to make Ina®'s precision nutrition recommendations even more personalized. Think real-time lab values, clinical notes, and encounter history layered on top of nearly a decade of longitudinal, real-world nutrition data.

As Susan puts it: "When I started Savor Health my goal was to empower patients with greater control and autonomy in their healthcare by offering safe, guidelines-based personalized nutrition recommendations reflective of their clinical profile and lived environment/context... What CMS has done in democratizing access to patient clinical data is a game changer for beneficiaries."

Ina® is now available to all Medicare beneficiaries – from healthy individuals to those managing diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, kidney disease, and more. Access is as simple as a text message, 24/7.

Savor Health also recently received the DiMe Seal, recognizing its commitment to clinical rigor, data privacy and security, and usability best practices – a meaningful third-party validation of the standards they've held since day one.

Worth a read 👇
https://www.einpresswire.com/article/906809976/savor-health-announces-pledge-and-commitment-to-standards-of-cms-health-tech-ecosystem-in-first-wave-launch

Savor Health pledge focus on seamless, efficient and effective experiences for Medicare beneficiaries through data security, interoperability, transparency.

21/04/2026

Can you build a company without optimism? 🌹📈

StartUp Health community member Victor Penev of Edamam says no, but optimism alone is not enough. Every founder also needs a fallback plan.

For Edamam, that foundation is data. For others, it may be something different.

What is the fallback that keeps your vision grounded?

Watch the full interview ⤵️
https://youtu.be/QnuYSa11uPw

21/04/2026

📈 Digital health funding is once again global this week.

From an $80M raise fueling AI-powered medtech sales intelligence to a €40.6M neurotechnology round in the Netherlands, a $40M Series E advancing biotech infrastructure, and a $40M mental health platform expanding across the U.S. – this week's deals span 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇿🇦🇮🇳🇨🇦🇫🇮🇴🇲 and more.

Read the full round-up ⤵️
https://media.startuphealth.com/p/ai-and-global-reach-power-a-big-funding-week-startup-health-insights-week-of-apr-21-2026