Joule announces 2019 grant recipients

OTTAWA – Joule, a Canadian Medical Association (CMA) subsidiary, has announced the eight recipients of its annual Innovation grants. The recipients from across the country will share $200,000 in flexible funding to develop or expand their respective projects.

Access to care grants: Recipients in this category focus on innovative solutions that improve access to healthcare for Canadians – particularly for those in rural, remote and marginalized communities.

• Dr. Linda Lee – MINT Memory Clinics: Dr. Lee has been practicing family medicine for 30 years and has developed a multi-specialty interprofessional team-based model of care called MINT Memory Clinics, which provides access to high-quality dementia care within local family doctor’s offices. A $100,000 grant has been allocated to help scale up the model beyond their 112 clinics in Ontario.
• Dr. Sheila Wang – Swift Skin and Wound app: Dr. Wang is a dermatology resident at McGill University Health Centre and the chief medical officer at Swift Medical. Their Swift Skin and Wound app is designed to streamline wound assessment at the point-of-care. A $20,000 grant will be provided to further develop the remote capabilities of their technology, specifically to treat First Nations populations with chronic wounds in Northern Quebec and beyond.

Healthcare solution grants: Recipients in this category are leading initiatives that aim to enhance the quality, safety, efficiency, and health outcomes for patients, while at the same time reducing overall costs within the Canadian healthcare system.

• Dr. Bill Wang – iMIRGE Medical: Dr. Wang is the founder and chief scientific officer at iMIRGE Medical. Along with his co-founder, he has developed the first and only cost-effective, portable medical GPS for providers, bringing the accuracy of image guidance systems to the bedside. Dr. Wang will use the $40,000 grant to develop the GPS further and build visibility with potential stakeholders along the way.
• Gabriel Georges – Puzzle Medical Devices: Mr. Georges is a medical student in his final year at the University of Montreal and a co-founder of Puzzle Medical Devices. A $20,000 grant will help support the launch of a second pre-clinical study for his project, ModulHeart, the first long-term hemodynamic support which is assembled inside the patient using a proprietary transcatheter technology.

Emerging physician innovator grants: This category supports the ideas of medical learners and residents who are looking to increase or improve access to care or create healthcare solutions that will provide better outcomes for patients.

• Jordan Lewis – Flutter Wear: Mr. Lewis is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Toronto, is the co-founder and the chief medical officer at Flutter Wear. Designed for expectant mothers, the mobile app and belly band sensor passively detect fetal movements, collecting baseline data and informing the management of decreased fetal movements. A $5,000 grant and the mentorship from the Joule Innovation Council will support the launch of the product into the market.
• Philip Edgcumbe – Pico Lantern: Mr. Edgcumbe is a medical student at the University of British Columbia and has invented a miniature projector for surgery called the Pico Lantern. A $5,000 grant will allow him to further develop and test the prototype for his device, which is small enough to be dropped into the abdominal cavity, giving surgeons the ability to peer beneath the surface, to better formulate their surgical plans and minimize surgical complications.
• Dr. Robert Schultz – Boreas Central Line: Dr. Schultz is a cardiac surgery resident at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta and the CEO at Voyage Biomedical Inc., the creator of the Boreas Central Line (BCL). Leveraging techniques from cardiac surgery, BCL is a specialized central venous catheter which administers fluids to achieve targeted, deep, and rapid cooling of the brain. A $5,000 grant will help manufacture a prototype for Health Canada and FDA compliance.
• Dr. Devon Livingstone – ENTiD: Dr. Livingstone is an otolaryngologist who just completed his residency at the University of Calgary. He is also the CEO of ENTiD, a company which uses a digital otoscope and an AI-powered platform to improve ear disease diagnosis at a low cost. A $5,000 grant will help him build a privacy-compliant software platform, refine hardware design and manufacture otoscopes.

For more information on the Joule Innovation grant program and this year’s recipients, please visit joulecma.ca/grants.

About Joule
Joule is a Canadian Medical Association (CMA) subsidiary designed to assist physicians in the pursuit of clinical excellence. Joule does this explicitly through the support of physician-led innovation, and by inspiring physician-adoption of knowledge products and innovative technologies and services.