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Children's National Extends Submission Deadline for Pediatric Medical Device Competition to Sept. 21

Two innovations to be awarded $50,000 each at Third Annual Pediatric Surgical Innovation Symposium

Washington, DC – Children's National Health System announces that it is extending the deadline for its “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition by one week to Monday, Sept. 21 at 5 pm EDT, to accommodate innovators from around the country. 

Two top prizes of $50,000 each will be awarded to the winning presentations at the Third Annual Pediatric Surgical Innovation Symposium on October 23 hosted by the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National. The competition invites proposals from inventors such as researchers, entrepreneurs, clinicians, and patient families who have identified a significant, yet unmet medical device need within the pediatric population and have developed a device concept that lends itself to commercialization. The forum gives innovators the chance to pitch their business or product for funding support that will help bring the pediatric device to market faster. For competition details, click here.  

“The mission of the Sheikh Zayed Institute is to advance pediatric device innovation and we want to accommodate as many pediatric medical device innovators as possible by giving them more time to submit their application,” said Kolaleh Eskandanian, PhD, MBA, PMP, Executive Director of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.

Judges for this year’s pitch competition include Bryan Vartabedian of Texas Children’s Hospital; Martha Connolly of Mtech Baltimore; venture capitalists Peyvand Khaleghian of Avicenna Partners, and Loudon McLean Owen of McLean Watson Capital; and one of the 2014 competition winners, Justin G. Shaka of REBIScan.

The “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” competition is a part of the Sheikh Zayed Institute’s Third Annual Pediatric Surgical Innovation Symposium, “Children’s Need Must Drive Market Speed,” on Friday, Oct. 23, 2015 at The Newseum in Washington, DC. The one-day forum will bring together patient advocates, researchers, innovators, venture capitalists, regulators, and policy makers, including key leaders from the Food and Drug Administration, to examine and discuss the challenges surrounding the pediatric market and the need for incentives and legislation to stimulate pediatric surgical and device innovation. Keynote speakers include Robert M. Califf, MD, MACC, the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco and Geoffrey Ling, MD, PhD, Leading Innovator and Director of DARPA Biological Technologies.

For symposium details and registration, visit www.pediatric-surgery-symposium.org.  

Contact: Leah Parker at 202-476-4500

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