SHI Venture Development Program

In partnership with the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (CITY), the SHI Venture Development Program (VDP) helps Yale student and trainee entrepreneurs develop global health innovations for low- and middle-income countries and under resourced areas in the United States. SHI provides a community of practice where student innovators working in global health at all stages can learn, connect, and grow.

Through Tsai CITY’s Accelerator and Launch Pad programs, which operate each fall and spring semester, students, trainees, and teams with innovative ideas receive guidance in building effective organizations, projects, and ventures. These sector agnostic programs offer workshops, mentorship, and funding, making them an excellent choice for student teams embarking on their journey in the innovation space.

The SHI VDP complements Tsai CITY's innovation programming by focusing specifically on global health innovation. SHI organizes monthly community gatherings featuring global health experts, skill sessions, and venture feedback opportunities for teams to earn, build skills, and develop their ventures. SHI Fellows provide weekly peer mentoring and teams have monthly coaching calls with the SHI managing director as well as access to SHI Mentors-in-Residence.

Additionally, teams in the program have an opportunity to apply for a Kalyanpur-Maheshwari Grant for Global Health Innovation to support their work. Each grant is for up to $5,000. To be eligible, teams must actively engage in SHI programming and meet specific milestones, including pitching their venture and demonstrating progress towards their goal. One grant will be awarded in the fall and spring semesters.

Clairity
Ryan Bose-Roy (YC '24), Devesh Malik (School of Medicine '25), Samip Kafle (School of Medicine '24)

Clairity is designing an innovative lightweight spatial audio processing model, leveraging novel machine learning for clear speech in noisy settings. Designed for integration into hearing aids and cochlear implants, our upcoming prototype aims to redefine auditory experiences in challenging environments.

Coverbud
Founded by Precious Nchekwube (MPH ‘25)

Coverbud is an AI-driven platform that simplifies healthcare navigation for the insured and uninsured. Coverbud eliminates the fear of out-of-pocket expenses and confusion surrounding health insurance coverage. By creating clarity and restoring confidence in navigating healthcare coverage, low and middle-income Americans can access better healthcare services at affordable prices regardless of their insurance coverage status.

Heal Aura
Founded by Jasmine Li (GBS, ‘25)

Heal Aura is an AI-powered therapeutic app designed to democratize expressive therapies, making healing accessible, private, enjoyable, and personalized for working-age women and underserved minorities. By integrating evidence-based practices with expressive therapies—art, writing, dance, music, and drama—Heal Aura offers therapist-monitored AI recommendations, delivering tailored well-being plans, mood-based content suggestions, and interactive therapy modules. Users can explore immersive workshops in a virtual space, experiencing creative healing that transcends traditional therapy barriers.Heal Aura breaks obstacles of cost, location, and stigma, empowering women to take control of their well-being, fostering self-care and personal growth—on their own terms.

Infodemica
Founded by Nora Al-Roub (MPH, ‘26) and Ethan Hsu (BA, ‘27)

Infodemica is an AI-powered platform that combats health misinformation by transforming complex medical and scientific knowledge into short, digestible videos for social media or personal use. By leveraging trusted sources and advanced natural language processing models, Infodemica simplifies science and amplifies truth, making reliable health information accessible to all audiences. The platform aims to bridge the gap between expert knowledge and public understanding, fostering informed decision-making and combating the infodemic fueled by misinformation during global health crises.

Presixion
Ryan Bose-Roy (YC '24), Celeste Watkins (SOM '24), Flavia Negrete, Sam Blouir (George Mason '26), Staci Chan

Presixion is a point-of-care, rapid diagnostic solution, run by a multidisciplinary team of experts with experience in bioinformatics, computer science, engineering, business strategy, and medicine. The venture arose in response to the urgent need highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic for rapid identification of infectious diseases. Presixion’s technology, which focuses on respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, RSV, influenza A, and B, is particularly geared towards improving public health outcomes by enabling standardized, efficient pathogen detection. This technology is complemented by an optional app for health monitoring, enhancing user engagement and data tracking.

Picksy.Quest
Founded by Urvil Shah (Executive MPH ’25)

Picksy.Quest is a transformative digital platform tackling childhood obesity and other chronic lifestyle chronic conditions in kids by reshaping how kids and parents approach nutrition. Designed for children aged 6-11, the app gamifies nutrition, blending science-based insights with engaging activities to inspire healthier food choices. It empowers parents with real-time behavior tracking and actionable insights, fostering a collaborative approach to drive healthier nutritional choices in kids. Rooted in behavioral science and proven environmental interventions, Picksy.Quest is more than an app—it’s a comprehensive solution addressing the root causes, to create lasting, measurable health improvements. With plans to partner with schools, SNAP programs, and pediatric care providers, Picksy.Quest strives to scale the impact to low income communities where current interventions struggle to scale.

Project Hope
Founded by Samson Wong (BS ‘27)

Project Hope, developed in collaboration with SPLIT (Society of Pediatric Liver Transplant) PFEP (Patients, Families, and Engaged Partners) Committee, aims to leverage the lived experiences of past transplant recipients to help current and future pediatric transplant patients navigate the journey through a unique but shared experiential lens. The project aims to promote mental wellness, empower youth, and improve patient quality of life through longitudinal 1-1 mentorship and support primarily through online meet-ups.