Velano Vascular and REBIScan each capture $50,000 prize at Sheikh Zayed Institute Second Annual Pediatric Surgical Innovation Symposium

WASHINGTON - Two pediatric medical device innovators, Velano Vascular and REBIScan, were selected from eight finalists to each receive a $50,000 award in a competition held by the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Health System as part of its second annual symposium focused on pediatric surgical innovation.

"Currently, the development of pediatric surgical and medical devices lags significantly behind the development of adult devices," said Peter Kim, MD, CM, Ph.D., vice president of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. "The purpose of today's symposium and competition is to focus attention and discussion on the challenges facing pediatric medical device development and how we can work together to meet these challenges for the benefit of children."

Sharing their device for the first time in a public forum, the team from Velano Vascular, of Philadelphia and San Francisco, presented a novel innovation that enables safe, effective needle-free blood draws for hospitalized children. Eric M. Stone, company co-founder, recalled for the judges his own painful memories of childhood hospitalization and the psychological impact of seemingly endless needle sticks. Reflecting on the result he said, "The competition's esteemed judges and the caliber of fellow presenters makes winning this prize even more validating as we make this technology a reality for our children."

Award-winner REBIScan, of Cambridge, Mass., presented a handheld vision scanner for the eradication of amblyopia ("lazy eye"). "Each year, over one million children worldwide lose their vision because of the lack of early detection from eye conditions such as amblyopia," said presenter Justin G. Shaka, CEO and co-founder. "This prize has a deep impact because it will enable us to transition from the regulatory phase into manufacturing so that we can get our device into the hands of clinicians."

A total of 56 submissions from five countries were received for the competition. The finalists each made five-minute presentations to the symposium audience and then responded to judges' questions.

The highly competitive finalist line-up included:

* Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA - wireless leak detection (WiLD) sensor for pediatric urodynamics studies

* Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and GE Healthcare, Baltimore, MD - noninvasive pediatric respiration monitor

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