The Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation recently welcomed its first cohort of the Heersink AI Founders Club, a new program designed to help individuals turn early-stage ideas into AI-powered solutions with the power to change lives.
The event brought together five founders, their mentors, and Institute leadership for an evening centered on one idea: that innovation happens when talented, diverse minds are given the support to bring their ideas to life.
Marnix E. Heersink, M.D., Executive Director Rubin Pillay, M.D., Ph.D., and Dean Anupam Agarwal, M.D., each addressed the founders at the event, sharing their insights on what it takes to move an idea from a napkin sketch to a much-needed innovation that could improve patient care.
Meet the founders
Cohort One features five projects, each tackling a different challenge in healthcare through the lens of artificial intelligence and biomedical solutions.
“Predicting the No-Show,” led by Summyji Groom, DNP, is an AI-powered tool that flags psychiatric patients who are at risk of missing appointments. By generating individualized risk scores, the tool helps behavioral health practices proactively reach out, intervene earlier, and keep patients connected to care rather than falling through the cracks.
“Critical Path AI,” developed by Hari Raman Pokhrel, M.D., targets a quieter but equally important problem: the gap between what's documented in a care plan and what's actually recorded in the electronic health record. By flagging missed orders or interventions, the tool helps clinical teams catch oversights before they compromise patient safety.
“AI-Assisted Medication Reconciliation,” from John Fanning, M.D., is designed to make one of medicine's most error-prone processes more accurate. The tool helps clinicians spot discrepancies across medication records, reducing manual review time and flagging potential issues before they become problems.
“Smart Goggles,” led by Salina Waddy, M.D., and her team, brings a technology-forward approach to vestibular assessment. By capturing and analyzing eye movements, the goggles give clinicians more objective, accessible data to evaluate patients dealing with dizziness, vertigo, and other related symptoms.
“DripShield,” founded by Olivia Orr, is an AI-powered safety system for heparin drips. By pairing patient-specific dosing support with real-time monitoring, DripShield helps clinical teams catch anticoagulation concerns sooner, supporting safer dosing and better outcomes for patients on this high-risk medication.
A community built for builders
The Heersink AI Founders Club is more than a space for exploring bold ideas; it's a collaborative innovation community that connects and empowers diverse thinkers and doers at UAB and beyond. At its core, the club is focused on helping founders develop the entrepreneurial and business skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
Housed within the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation, their philosophy is simple: ideas worth pursuing deserve solutions worth scaling. With Cohort One now underway, that philosophy has five new proof points and a group of founders with the mentorship and momentum to keep building.