Firefly Innovations: The Premier Public Health Entrepreneurship Platform

So proud of our founders Diana Zhu Michelle Xie at Stellation Care. A great example of how to turn #publichealth research into a scalable #venture to benefit the population. Firefly Innovations: Leading Public Health Entrepreneurship Platform

Firefly Innovations is thrilled to announce that CancerFree Biotech, a member of our KPMG-sponsored 2024 CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator cohort, has won first place at RAMEN TECH 2024 in Fukuoka City, Japan! This prestigious award highlights CancerFree Biotech’s groundbreaking work in public health innovation. The startup has been recognized as 'Asia’s Next Unicorn' — a rare designation for those projected to achieve billion-dollar valuations. With cancer rates on the rise and the American Cancer Society projecting over 2 million new cases in the U.S. alone this year — the highest one-year total ever recorded — CancerFree Biotech’s advancements offer hope for patients and their families worldwide facing this relentless disease. “The vision and dedication of CancerFree Biotech’s founder, Po Chen, and his team to transform cancer treatment is truly inspiring,” said W. Michael Short, Managing Director of Firefly Innovations and the CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. “I have great confidence in Po personally and his leadership in advancing cancer care — we’re honored to support him over the long term on this important mission to provide personalized precision treatments for cancer patients worldwide.” Click the link below if you're interested to read the full post. https://ow.ly/9Nmq50TVCI7

Firefly Innovations is thrilled to announce that CancerFree Biotech, a member of our KPMG-sponsored 2024 CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator cohort, has won first place at RAMEN TECH 2024 in Fukuoka City, Japan! This prestigious award highlights CancerFree Biotech’s groundbreaking work in public health innovation. The startup has been recognized as 'Asia’s Next Unicorn' — a rare designation for those projected to achieve billion-dollar valuations. With cancer rates on the rise and the American Cancer Society projecting over 2 million new cases in the U.S. alone this year — the highest one-year total ever recorded — CancerFree Biotech’s advancements offer hope for patients and their families worldwide facing this relentless disease. “The vision and dedication of CancerFree Biotech’s founder, Po Chen, and his team to transform cancer treatment is truly inspiring,” said W. Michael Short, Managing Director of Firefly Innovations and the CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. “I have great confidence in Po personally and his leadership in advancing cancer care — we’re honored to support him over the long term on this important mission to provide personalized precision treatments for cancer patients worldwide.” Click the link below if you're interested to read the full post. https://ow.ly/9Nmq50TVCI7

New Features Announced: Build Partnerships, Scale Ventures, and Advance Public Health Solutions Firefly Innovations: Leading Public Health Entrepreneurship Platform, at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, is excited to announce new features and expanded functionality for our web platform Firefly Collective — tailored to support your unique goals. Whether you’re focused on building partnerships, scaling your venture, conducting research, or funding innovative solutions, our platform continues to evolve to meet your needs. Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/d7HERaRu Connect with our Firefly team: Terry Huang PhD MPH MBA, Founder W. Michael Short, Managing Director

Congrats to Firefly Innovations: The Premier Public Health Entrepreneurship Platform on this expansion! 👏🏽👏🏽

Firefly Innovations: The Premier Public Health Entrepreneurship Platform expands year-round support for thousands of Public Health Entrepreneurs through Global Health Equity Startup Hub. "Last year, we committed to expanding access to our platform," said W. Michael Short, Managing Director of Firefly Innovations and the CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. "Today, we're delivering on that commitment." Mentioned: Ayman El-Mohandes, MBBCh, MD,MPH,FAAP, Terry Huang PhD MPH MBA, Dr. Todd Ellis, David Becker, Neha Sachdeva, Camille Fremont, Rachel Pratt, Dan Lawrence, Tom Briggs, MPA, PMP, SA, Greg Corlis, Amy Pesa, Jake Ornstein, Shayne Veramallay, Jordan Lowmark, MPH, Jaclyn Pierce, MPH, Roland Poirier, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Sachs Policy Group, KPMG US.

21 Lessons for Public Health Entrepreneurs and Startups: We're excited to congratulate 2023 CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator cohort member Ashley Barrow, founder of RE-Assist, on securing a pilot project with the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Northern Ohio at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Her pilot project will focus on the usability and validation of RE-Assist, an innovative artificially intelligent care coordination tool. This pilot represents a major step forward in enhancing high-quality, equitable care coordination for patients transitioning from intensive care. “Ashley’s dedication to improving patient outcomes through technology has paved the way for this impressive achievement,” said W. Michael Short, Managing Director of Firefly Innovations and the CUNY Public Health Innovation Accelerator at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. “This pilot project serves as a perfect example of the hard work and perseverance required to secure meaningful partnerships, inspiring other entrepreneurs to stay the course in developing impactful healthcare innovations.”

You’re invited to the next Grand Rounds at CUNY SPH! Join us for "The Many Truths about Asian Americans: Debunking the Stereotype of the Model Minority" with Frank H. Wu, President of Queens College. October 17 | 10:30am - 11:45am | CUNY SPH Room 717 + Zoom Frank will break down the myths, share personal stories, and offer a fresh perspective on Asian Americans in the context of history, law, and civil rights. This is a powerful opportunity to challenge outdated stereotypes and rethink how we approach social justice. Don’t miss it—RSVP in the link down below to join in person or online! https://shorturl.at/e9QvM #CUNYSPH #SocialJustice #AsianAmericanVoices

It was a privilege to engage the panel discussion on Critical Issues and Innovation in Healthcare. We engaged in discussions on private, public, technology, and equity in healthcare. The expert insights shared by leaders from Walgreens, Oracle Health, Northwell Health, Pandemic Response Institute and many others truly expanded our understanding of how to drive health equity and improve care delivery across sectors. We learned that in some states, primary care accounts for only 3% of the Medicaid market. The networking breakfast set the tone for meaningful connections, and the panel discussions that followed sparked inspiring conversations about the future of healthcare innovation. Excited for how RE-Assist can continue to drive on these learnings forward. A huge thank you to Firefly Innovations: The Premier Public Health Entrepreneurship Platform and KPMG for being such incredible hosts!#HealthEquity #Innovation #CareDelivery #PublicHealth #PopulationHealth#primarycare

"How can I expect women to talk about symptoms they don’t know are abnormal, and that I don’t even probe them about? Most women aren’t going to tell me about pain during intercourse because it’s not something you bring up to your doctor unless you’re asked." This quote from one of our doctor interviews captures a major problem. Our study reinforced what we already know and have heard a thousand times: women are constantly being shuffled from one doctor to another, dismissed, or left undiagnosed because their symptoms are seen as 'normal.' Women have been conditioned to think that PMS is a broad umbrella term, or that nociplastic pain is just being "really stressed about work." How often do you tell your doctor that you've been increasingly irritable lately, or that you just have an overwhelming need to just lie down? It's not usually a symptom we'll take off work for, make an appointment for, or even bring up in the scope of other more jarring pain points, but for women living with unknown #nociplastic pain, it's often normalized. Our study was no shocker and easily predictable: there’s a clear need for doctors to probe more, listen more, and truly engage in a collaborative approach with their patients. We found that there's an unsettling distrust between doctors and patients, where women often downplay or even belittle their own symptoms because they’ve been conditioned to think they're normal. It’s no surprise that many suffer in silence. These interviews underscore the same issues we’ve seen time and time again: talk more, listen more, collaborate more. It may feel redundant to post this study, but until women stop being dismissed when they describe their bodies, it’s a message that needs to be repeated. We’re committed to pushing this conversation forward because the change isn’t happening fast enough. A special thanks to The City University of New York Firefly Innovations: The Premier Public Health Entrepreneurship Platform and Camelback Ventures for focusing on health equity. #EndometriosisAwareness #WomensHealth #ListenToWomen #SharedDecisionMaking #FemTech #FemHealth #healthequity #womenfounders #womenstartups