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A team of students from three different schools at Dartmouth was declared the winner of the first Dartmouth Medical Technology Business Plan Competition on Friday May 20. Anne Kwei, Ilya Bendich, and Joe Gigliotti presented their business plan for Rytek Medical, a company with an improved cancer sensing biopsy needle invented by Professor of Engineering Ryan Halter.

Medical Technology Business Plan Competition winners (l to r) Ilya Bendich, Anne Kwei, and Joe Gigliotti, with sponsor Jay Miller '82

The patented biopsy technology utilizes electrical properties of human tissues to detect possible areas of higher cancer cell density during biopsy procedures. Kwei is a candidate of Thayer School's Master of Engineering Management program, and Bendich and Gigliotti are both candidates of the MD/MBA program offered jointly by Dartmouth Medical School and Tuck School of Business.

Rytek Medical was one of three entries judged by a panel of four experts in medical technology venture funding and startup management. The other entries featured an ultrasound imaging solution for developing countries, and technology and services for helping primary care providers form accountable care organizations.

Each team gave a fifteen-minute "pitch" covering market potential, competition, go-to-market strategy and approach, financials, and perhaps most importantly, themselves. Questions from the judges provided a critical learning experience, as did a summary of comments and advice from each judge and sponsor during the winner announcement and wrap-up period.

The Competition is the brain child of Jay Miller, Dartmouth '82 and CEO of Zonare Medical Systems, Inc. Miller's goal was to promote student collaboration across schools at Dartmouth in the areas of energy and medicine, bringing together knowledge of technology, science and entrepreneurship. He was assisted by co-sponsor Gregg Fairbrothers, Adjunct Professor at Tuck and founder of the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network, and Carrie Fraser, Assistant Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at Thayer School, who ran the competition with the support of Engineering Dean Joe Helble.