November 9, 2022, CHICAGO — Loyola University Chicago’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health and MATTER, the premier healthcare incubator and innovation hub, have selected Parcel Health, a women-founded medication packaging startup, as the winner of the 2022 Loyola Chicago Health Equity Quest.
From developing more sustainable products and processes to providing care to those affected by climate change, the U.S. healthcare system plays a vital role in accelerating progress to combat climate change. In an effort to bring innovators across industries and disciplines together to make health delivery more sustainable and reduce or treat the health effects of climate change, Loyola and MATTER launched the 2022 Loyola Chicago Health Equity Quest in August 2022.
“Through this program, we have learned that Loyola Chicago is among the forefront of the intersection of health equity and climate change in the U.S.,” said Elaine Morrato, DrPH, MPH, CPH, founding dean and professor of Loyola University Chicago’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health. “We purposefully challenged innovators from across industries to shine a light on the need for innovation in this space, and we close out this program optimistic for the future and the progress that will continue to be made.”
“We are thrilled to have partnered with Parkinson on the Loyola Chicago Health Equity Quest,” said Steven Collens, CEO of MATTER. “At the final pitch day, we heard from eight entrepreneurs with cutting-edge innovations that lie at the cross-section of health equity and climate change. We look forward to helping the three winners continue to advance their solutions.”
From the pool of applicants, Loyola and MATTER selected eight finalists to participate in the final pitch day that took place on October 27, 2022, at MATTER, and featured a fireside chat with Alicia Ponce, an architect focused on sustainability and designing healthy environments and an entrepreneur herself. After each finalist pitched their innovation to a panel of industry experts, the judges deliberated and named Parcel Health the grand prize winner of $35,000, with StormSensor winning $25,000 as first runner-up and Aruna Revolution Health winning $15,000 as second runner-up. All three winners have received a six-month MATTER membership to continue to build their businesses and advance their solutions.
“It is rare to see programming that prioritizes both sustainability and health equity, so we were naturally ecstatic when we first heard about this competition,” said Melinda Lee, co-founder and CEO of Parcel Health. “We had a great time pitching to the judges, meeting faculty from Loyola University, learning from the team at MATTER and of course, being inspired by the work of other finalists. As a startup working at the intersection of health and sustainability, winning this recognition means a lot to us. The cherry on top is the prize money that will help us grow our distribution to more pharmacies and conduct additional surveys with older adults.”
Watch each startup pitch their solution and learn more about the winners below:
At MATTER, we believe collaboration is the best way to improve healthcare. The MATTER collaborative includes more than 700 current and alumni startups from around the world, working together with dozens of hospitals and health systems, universities and industry-leading companies to build the future of healthcare. Together we are accelerating innovation, advancing care and improving lives. For more information, visit matter.health and follow @MATTERhealth.
Loyola University Chicago launched the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health in Fall 2019 to educate the health entrepreneurs of the future and impact health care accessibility and equity nationally. The Parkinson School offers 19 degree programs and three certificate and internship programs in four areas of study: Public Health Sciences, Healthcare Administration, Health Informatics and Data Science, and Applied Health Sciences. The School builds on the foundations of Loyola’s nationally recognized Stritch School of Medicine and its Biomedical Programs, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, and Loyola’s partnership with Trinity Health (known in the Chicago area as Loyola Medicine). To learn more about the Parkinson School, visit LUC.edu/Parkinson or follow us on Twitter via @LoyolaParkinson or Instagram via @luc.parkinson.