FORGE Announces Winners of Biomedical Entrepreneur Startup Scholarship and Residency

FORGE Announces Winners of Biomedical Entrepreneur Startup Scholarship and Residency

FORGE is proud to announce the three winners of its Biomedical Entrepreneur Startup Scholarship and Residency opportunity for Summer 2023.  All three students submitted outstanding proposals for startup concepts to improve patient health outcomes.

• Sydney Arriaga, from San Luis, AZ, was awarded a scholarship based on her proposal for RevoLens. Arriaga is Neuroscience & Cognitive Science major in the College of Science with an expected graduation date of May ’24.
• Abhiman Gupta, from Madhya Pradesh, India was awarded a scholarship based on his proposal for Un-afflict.  Gupta is a Biomedical Engineering major in the College of Engineering with an expected graduation date of May ’24.
• Isaac Kailat, of Tucson, AZ, was awarded a scholarship based on his proposal for Mindly.io.  Kailat is double majoring in Bioinformatics and Biochemistry, in the College of Science with an expected graduation date of May ’26.

“It was incredibly exciting to see the breadth and depth of the student proposals.  We received a large pool of applicants that demonstrated innovative, solution-focused thinking,” commented John Achoukian.  Achoukian serves as a FORGE biomedical Mentor in Residence (MiR) and has over 15 years’ experience in healthcare, including technology, health plan, inpatient, and outpatient provider spaces.

FORGE biomedical Mentor in Residence, Ben Maurey, a strategy consultant in biotechnology who has worked with many top pharma companies advising them on clinical trials, M&A purchases, and launch strategies, assisted Achoukian and other members of the team to review the applications. 

This new scholarship and residency program for undergraduate students in any academic program, with an interest in creating a startup concept that improves health outcomes, applies toward University of Arizona tuition for Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. Under the program, the three scholarship recipients will take part in a specialized 13-week FORGE summer program and a 15-week paid residency in the Fall semester with opportunities to continue into the Spring.

Students will have access to FORGE resources and will meet regularly with industry experts, investors, MiRs and advisors to create custom development plans and develop guided pathways to accelerate scale-up and launch for their biomedical startup. As part of the program, the students will gain access to FORGE meeting spaces, board rooms, community resources, and entire mentor network.

The scholarship and residency program are possible thanks to the generosity of a long-time supporter and alum of the University of Arizona, Harry Wilcox. Wilcox is a Special Partner at Flagship Pioneering and has an extensive history of working in venture capital, life sciences, and sustainability.

“This gift enables FORGE to move forward student-led entrepreneurship in a completely new way,” commented FORGE Founding Executive Director Brian Ellerman.  “We are thrilled to be able to support these student ventures.”

FORGE (Finding Opportunities and Resources to Grow Entrepreneurs) is a unique entrepreneurial community that combines startup acceleration alongside experiential student and community education.