Samsung, Dr. Oz & Martha Stewart Select Winning Startup at Inaugural PHM HealthFront

Samsung was among the sponsors of Publicis Health Media’s (PHM) inaugural HealthFront, a two-day event that took place on July 16-17 at the Classic Car Club Manhattan in New York City. Samsung’s Vice President of Digital Health, Natalie Schneider, served on the judging panel for the PHM Disruption Garage: an entrepreneurial competition for health and wellness companies.

Dr. Mehment Oz, Cardiac Surgeon, Host of the Dr. Oz Show and Co-founder of Sharecare, drives Martha Stewart, Founder of the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai; Brian Cooley, CNET Editor-at-Large; Natalie Schneider, VP of Digital Health for Samsung Electronics America; and Ryan Olohan, Managing Director of Healthcare at Google Health, to the PHM HealthFront “Disruption Garage” startup competition. Photo credit: Nick Laham for Publicis Health Media

A twist on the TV Upfronts and Digital NewFronts, HealthFront was designed to explore the latest healthcare innovations and make unprecedented connections for the benefit of brands and their consumers.

“Innovation in healthcare is evolving much more quickly than what we have seen in the past, with an increasing number of companies emerging to address real medical issues as opposed to just tracking and monitoring them,” said Schneider. “At Samsung, we’re committed to supporting events like PHM HealthFront that are helping to accelerate digital therapeutics and the modernization of healthcare.”

Amidst a packed program of insightful panels and engaging presentations, PHM HealthFront turned the stage to the four Disruption Garage finalists – Curogram, Medcorder, Motiv and Validose – who presented their future-facing healthcare industry ideas. Schneider joined her fellow judges, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Cardiac Surgeon, Host of The Dr. Oz Show and Co-founder of Sharecare; Martha Stewart, Founder of the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai; Ryan Olohan, Managing Director of Healthcare at Google Health; and Brian Cooley, Editor-at-Large, CNET, along with the HealthFront audience, in selecting the winner of the live, “Shark Tank”-style pitch event.

Startup company Validose accepts the PHM Disruption Garage prize, valued at more than $1 million in goods and services. Pictured from left to right: Hunter Bouchard, Validose Director of Business Development; Natalie Schneider, VP of Digital Health at Samsung Electronics America; Marcel Botha, Validose Founder; Martha Stewart, Founder of the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai; Dr. Mehmet Oz, Cardiac Surgeon, Host of The Dr. Oz Show and Co-founder of Sharecare; Ryan Olohan, Managing Director of Healthcare at Google; and Brian Cooley, CNET Editor-at-Large. Photo credit: Nick Laham for Publicis Health Media

The startup that received the PHM Disruption Garage prize, valued at more than $1 million in goods and services to help take their startup to the next level, was Validose.

The Validose Smart Atomizer, founded by Marcel Botha, is an inventive solution to drug misuse. Botha recognized the contradictory nature of medical drugs to be both beneficial, but simultaneously detrimental, so he created a tool to help navigate this conundrum. The device is an at-home intranasal platform that optimizes drug delivery for controlled substances and other drugs to prevent medication misuse, allowing doctors to ensure their patients are safely receiving their prescribed medication in the correct dosages.