Fast Forward Medical Innovation
We offer programs and courses in collaboration with the renowned Frankel Cardiovascular Center.
The goal of the Frankel Cardiovascular Center (CVC) Innovation Program is to foster a culture of innovation through education, funding, and mentorship for Frankel CVC faculty, staff, trainees, patients, and families.
By providing these resources, the Frankel CVC aims to empower those within its ecosystem to create new or different systems and products that fundamentally change the existing system.
The Frankel CVC Innovation Program comprises the Frankel CVC Innovation Challenge, the Aikens Innovation Academy, and other workshops and resources.
The 2025 Frankel CVC Innovation Celebration will take place on Thursday, May 8 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, in the Frankel Cardiovascular Center Danto Auditorium.
Fast Forward Medical Innovation offers a comprehensive collection of educational programs and training tailored for busy faculty, students, clinicians, and researchers across the University of Michigan, and across the state, region, and nation.
The following resources are available at U-M to help biomedical researchers move their project down the commercialization path.
Annual competition for up to $100K to test and implement cardiovascular innovations
- Faculty, staff, trainees, and patients
- Timeline varies; in-person or virtual
Project-based course, mentorship, and funding for academics with cardiovascular innovations
- Faculty, staff, and trainees
- 12 weeks; in-person or virtual
Collaborative workshops designed to develop solutions that positively impact patient care.
The 2025 Frankel CVC Innovation Challenge will take place during the Frankel CVC Innovation Celebration.
Thursday, May 8
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Frankel Cardiovascular Center, Danto Auditorium
The Frankel CVC Innovation Challenge is designed to empower our community of trainees, faculty, staff, patients, and families at the CVC to propose, test, and implement new innovations. Innovations can be in the form of changes to patient care or potential new products.
The Innovation Challenge awards up to $100,000 to one or more winners pending results of the competition and budget. Winners are also provided education and mentorship to support them on executing their projects. In addition, Just Do It Awards are selected for low-cost, low-complexity ideas.
This year, we are excited to announce three distinct awards of up to $100,000 available to all cardiovascular innovators:
System-based/Process Improvement Innovations - Systems to improve quality or other outcomes, including but not limited to:
Development of clinical pathways to standardize care processes
Discharge procedure improvements
Patient Education
Telemedicine and remote monitoring processes
Novel integration of technology and tools at the FCVC
Updated training procedures and tools
Commercial Product/Service Innovations – Development of new products or services, including but not limited to:
Medical devices
Diagnostics
Software
Mobile Applications
Therapeutics
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Innovations - AI systems that analyze, forecast, and creatively solve problems in cardiovascular care, including but not limited to:
Imaging and diagnostics algorithms
Predictive analytics
Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms
Generative AI Large Language Models (LLMs) for a variety of uses, such as efficient reporting of quality measures and ambient systems to record and generate medical notes
Congratulations to the 2024 Winners!
Internal - Quality Improvement/Clinical Process Track Winner
Building a Billable and Sustainable Remote Patient Monitoring Program for Hypertension Patients
Jeff Kullgren, MD, MPH; Paul Schenk, MSN, RN; Matt Konerman, MD, MS; Monika Leja, MD; Valerie Gavrila, MPH
External - Commercial Device or Product Winner
BoneDry – A Novel and Improved Sternal Closure System
Gardner Yost, MD, MS; Jeff Plott, PhD; Jonathan Haft, MD; Gorav Ailawadi, MD
Have an Idea?
Ideas are welcome from anyone in the FCVC community: faculty, staff, trainees, and patients.
Please email [email protected] with any questions.
The 2025 Aikens Innovation Academy Pitch Showcase will take place during the Frankel CVC Innovation Celebration on Thursday, May 8, from 9:00 AM - 11:00 PM, in the Frankel Cardiovascular Center Danto Auditorium.
Do you have a groundbreaking idea that could make a difference in patients' lives, but need guidance on a successful path to make that idea a reality? The Aikens Innovation Academy is a program designed to create, nurture, and support a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship through education and mentorship customized for Frankel Cardiovascular Center faculty, staff, and trainees. The Academy is designed to support both clinical value and entrepreneurial innovations.
The Aikens Innovation Academy offers a unique set of educational and project development activities for all cardiovascular innovators, including:
• Clinical and research faculty
• Clinical, research, and administrative staff
• House staff, trainees, and medical students
• Nurses, technicians, and other FCVC staff
In this exclusive program, you’ll receive:
• In-depth education on innovation, including communicating value to stakeholders and how to pitch your idea for resources
• An opportunity to develop innovative biomedical technologies, as well as impact clinical technologies and processes
• Guidance on your implementation strategy and business case
• Connections to relevant stakeholders, including departmental and university resources, industry, and investors
• Mentorship from seasoned innovators
• …and more!
Contact Ashley Schork, FCVC Innovation Program Manager, at [email protected] to arrange a consultation about your idea and learn about education, funding, and mentorship opportunities.
Don’t have an idea? That’s okay, it’s not required! You’re welcome to attend and learn about the innovation process. The program will help you match with a project team of like-minded innovators and an innovative technology.
Aikens Innovation Academy Winter 2025 Course
The 2025 Academy will run from Tuesday, February 4 until Tuesday, April 22. Participants will present at the Aikens Innovation Academy Pitch Showcase on Thursday, May 8, 2025. The showcase will feature presentations from the participants as they pitch for development funding and additional support from the FCVC Innovation Team.
Learn how the Aikens Innovation Academy helped Gardner Yost, M.D., M.S., and his team take the next steps to move their project towards successful commercialization. The article gives an inside look at the key takeaways participants will get when they complete the course.
We offer a variety of educational opportunities to promote and explore cardiovascular innovation, including a unique Innovation Webinar Series and Design Thinking Workshops.
The FCVC Innovation Webinar Series aims to educate our community on topics of interest regarding cardiovascular innovation, encourage innovative thinking, and connect the community with resources to help further the advancement of ideas.
See below for a list of upcoming webinars, as well as recordings of past webinars.
For more information, visit the FCVC Innovation Program website.
Assistant Professor, Michigan Medicine Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Learning Health Sciences
Senior Procurement Agent at Michigan Medicine
Program Director for MedTech Innovator
Value Analysis Manager, Michigan Medicine
Biomedical Engineer/Lead Reviewer at U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Clinical Research Program Director, Regulatory
University of Michigan
Professor and Chair of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School
Professor Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Co-Chair of Innovation, FVC Innovation Program
Assistant Professor, Cardiac Electrophysiologist at U-M
Clinical Instructor, Cardiovascular Medicine at U-M
Professor of Medicine and Director of the Caring Wisely Program at UCSF Health
Vice Chair for Research in Cardiovascular Research
Associate Professor of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic
Partner at MedTech Advantage Fund
Assistant Director for Cardiac Ablation, Mapping, and Imaging Devices at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Office of Cardiovascular Devices, Division of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Diagnostics, and Monitoring Devices
Regulatory Affairs Lead at Google
Design Thinking is a process of creative problem solving that engages the people that will be most affected by the solution; in healthcare, this is often patients and family members. Design Thinking workshops utilize the collaboration of faculty, staff, trainees, patients, and families to develop solutions that better patient care.
We are happy to talk further about how the concepts of Design Thinking can be utilized in your area of the Frankel Cardiovascular Center. Contact [email protected] to start a conversation.
Cardiovascular Electrophysiology
Edward B. Dietrich Professor of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering
Clinical Cardiology Pharmacy Specialist, U-M Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy
Building 520, 3rd Floor
2800 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2800
