College Park, April 30, 2019 - Leanne West, President of the International Children's Advisory Network, along with a team of colleagues, researchers, and medical professionals, selected five winners of the NCC- PDI, each company submission earning $50,000 for their efforts in creating better pediatric technology and devices.
The five winners included Baby Steps, nView, Auctus, Apifix and AMB. Through partnership with Children's National Hospital, the winners may be found on https://innovate4kids.org/competition-winners/
Dynamic Vertebral Body Tethering System
Insta-3D, surgical scanner
FLYTE is intended to reduce the necessity for invasive and repetitive surgery in children and teens with orthopedic deformities
Baby Steps for Orthopedics
Predictive modeling platform for serial casting of clubfoot
Minimally Invasive Deformity Correction (MID-C) System
Laurie Strongin from Hope for Henry and iCAN KIDS DC, was also in attendance at today's conference. Laurie spoke about the work being done to share improvements within pediatric healthcare.
Laurie's story https://people.com/human-interest/hope-for-henry-laurie-strongin-brings-joy-to-kids-in-the-hospital/ further explains, "One year after losing their son Henry to a rare genetic disease, Laurie Strongin and her husband, Allen Goldberg, spent what would have been their son’s eighth birthday coming up with a plan to carry on his remarkable spirit.
“We had been thinking about what we were going to do on that day, given that Henry wasn’t with us anymore,” Strongin tells PEOPLE. “And so we really thought about honoring his legacy of being able to have a wonderful and normal life despite being really sick.”
That day, the couple founded the Hope for Henry Foundation to spread Henry’s joy and optimism to kids with cancer and other serious illnesses. Since its founding in 2003, the program has brought birthday parties, gifts and comfort to more than 15,000 kids at Georgetown University Hospitaland Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C."
Today, Laurie is partnering with iCAN and Children's National to create the first KIDS DC as yet another way to encourage speaking and sharing from the point of kids in order to inspire new medicines, technology and quality improvements. Through the combined efforts of all, iCAN, Hope for Henry, KIDS DC, can make even better resources for children.