Canadian startup wins 1st place in global contest

CALGARY – SnapDx, a Calgary-based company, was named the most innovative and transformative health startup in this year’s World Innovation Day, Innovation for Health (WIDI4H) competition. The biannual competition was held on August 28-29 in Geneva, Switzerland and involved top health startups from North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Judges included Dr. Ralph Taylor Smith, General Partner at Battelle Ventures, Prof. Francis Waldvogel, Chairman of Novartis Venture Funds, and Prof. Didier Pittet, Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety.

The 1st place winner, SnapDx, builds tools to help doctors provide the best possible care in the short time they have to see patients. The company was founded only nine months ago by a healthcare entrepreneur, Hisham Al-Shurafa (pictured), and University of Calgary resident physicians Dr. Rahul Mehta and Dr. Aravind Ganesh.

“Over $500 billion in healthcare dollars is lost annually due to unnecessary testing, referrals, and surgeries which waste doctor and patient time. We can recoup a lot of this through the use of validated medical decision-support tools like SnapDx,” said Al-Shurafa, SnapDx co-founder and CEO.

SnapDx’s first product, SnapDx Clinical, was released for free to healthcare professionals worldwide only a few weeks ago. The app allows medical trainees and clinicians to confidently perform evidence-based physical exams and patient assessments. The app is already being used by over 550 healthcare professionals in 44 countries.

The company is also working with academic clinics nationwide to streamline workflow, optimize patient care, and speed up clinical research.

For more information, please contact Hisham Al-Shurafa at 647.258.0697, or email hisham@snapdx.cowww.snapdx.co.

About SnapDx

SnapDx is a Calgary-based software startup that helps physicians provide the best possible care in the 10 minutes they have to see a patient. SnapDx’s founding team consists of University of Calgary resident physicians Dr. Rahul Mehta and Dr. Aravind Ganesh, and healthcare software entrepreneur and Startup Calgary co-founder, Hisham AlShurafa. In addition to the WIDI4HInnovation for Health Excellence Award, SnapDx also was the 1st place winner at the W21C Innovation Academy Competition in Calgary and is also a member of the Startup Health network of digital health startups.

About WIDI4H

The World Innovation Day, Innovation For Health (WIDI4H) competition is a global initiative that promotes innovation in healthcare and medical science worldwide. It recognizes that hospital staff, at any level, who live at the front lines of patient care, are in a unique position to identify and pioneer improvements in the system. The 2014 WIDI4HCompetition was held at the prestigious “Campus Biotech” in Geneva, Switzerland on August 28th and 29th. Twelve teams from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America – the champions at their local Innovation Days – competed for the Innovation for Health Award of Excellence.