MSIP Recognizes Researchers and i3 Funding Awardees at Annual Innovation Awards Ceremony

The annual Mount Sinai Innovation Awards Ceremony took place on November 6. A hybrid event, the ceremony honored researchers from across the System for various achievements and included awards presented by MSIP: Inventor of the Year and Transaction of the Year. MSIP also recognized the winner of this year’s Mount Sinai Pitch Challenge, as well as the latest i3 Genesis and i3 Prism awardees.

Meet the Winners:

Inventor of the Year: Stuart C. Sealfon, MD

The Inventor of the Year award was created to recognize an individual or collaborative investigator(s) within Mount Sinai whose research is making, or has the potential to make, significant positive and product-driven impacts on health. Dr. Sealfon is the Glickenhaus Family Professor and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His groundbreaking work in developing epigenetic markers to identify past exposures to weapons of mass destruction and diagnose infectious disease received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ECHO program. Subsequently, Dr. Sealfon founded GNOMX, a startup company launched to advance and commercialize this technology.

Transaction of the Year: Paratus Sciences

The Transaction of the Year award recognizes a notable technology from Mount Sinai that represents a major breakthrough in research and a strong commercial partnership for advancement. Paratus Sciences is developing the tools and methods necessary to understand bat biology and apply these insights to identify and develop new therapies to address some of the most challenging health issues facing humankind. The Mount Sinai inventors who accepted this award were Thomas Zwaka, MD, Professor of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology; Marion Dejosez-Zwaka, PhD, Associate Professor of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology; and Adolfo García-Sastre, PhD, Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine and Director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at Icahn Mount Sinai .

Mount Sinai Pitch Challenge Winner: EndoCare

The Pitch Challenge winner and grand prize recipient was team EndoCare, developing a clinical decision support system designed to facilitate detection of early-stage endometriosis to improve patient outcomes and promote healthcare equity.

i3 Funding:

Awardees of i3 Genesis 2022-2023 and the inaugural i3 Prism 2023 were also recognized at the ceremony, for various technologies in development that aim to help the patient population.

i3 Prism Awardees:

• Denzel Faulkner, M.Eng
• Mary-Catherine George, PhD, MM
• Susan Khalil, MD

i3 Genesis Awardees:

• Joseph Borello, PhD
• Ross L. Cagan, PhD
• Hina Chaudry, MD
• Ashok Chhetry, PhD
• Tanvir F. Choudhri, MD
• Kevin Costa, PhD
• Bruce D. Gelb, MD
• Eugene Ivan Hrabarchuk
• James Iatridis, PhD
• Kiyotake Ishikawa, MD, PhD
• Jian Jin, PhD
• Yun Soung Kim, PhD
• Ian Christopher Odland
• Ankit Parekh, PhD
• Sangeetha Vadakke-Madathil, PhD
• Sajila Wickramaratne, PhD
• Tyree D. Williams, M.Eng
• Tirone Young

Tune in to the ceremony here.