A University of Kentucky surgery resident and researcher has been selected to participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Regional Entrepreneurship Development (I-RED) Program.

This program is led by XLerateHealth, a nationally recognized healthcare accelerator based in Louisville, Kentucky. UK is the lead academic institution.

In partnership with UK through UK Innovate, eight innovators were selected across the Southeast IDeA State region. They make up the second cohort of the I-RED program, which is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Among those eight innovators is Brittany Levy, M.D., who is in her final years of general surgery residency in the College of Medicine’s Department of Surgery.

Levy is the founder of TalkiTourni LLC. She created an automated emergency tourniquet device with the goal of improving the rates of adequately applied tourniquets outside of a hospital setting. This project was also supported last year through the Kentucky Network for Innovation and Commercialization.

“A properly applied tourniquet in an emergency outside of a hospital can be the difference between life and death. Every minute matters in these situations,” said Levy. “I’m grateful to be among this select group of researchers and clinicians whose innovations are directly impacting the health and well-being of our communities.”

“As the lead academic institution of the XLerator Network, we are proud to see Dr. Levy’s critical work chosen for this I-RED program funding. Her work addresses an issue found across the Southeast IDeA states, where people living in rural areas have longer travel times to the nearest hospital. We look forward to the potentially lifesaving impact this innovation will have,” said Ian McClure, J.D., associate vice president for research, innovation and economic impact and executive director for UK Innovate.

IDeA’s aim is to enhance an institution’s capacity to bolster biomedical research, increase the competitiveness of researchers in obtaining research funding and facilitate clinical and translational research focused on addressing the requirements of medically underserved communities.

The goal of the I-RED program is to help selected participants acquire the fundamental business and entrepreneurial skills needed to successfully commercialize their technologies.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UT2GM148083 and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U01HL152392. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. 

About XLerateHealth
XLerateHealth’s mission is to cultivate and grow impactful healthcare innovation in the Midwest, Southeast and other areas of the country where great innovation often goes unrecognized and underfunded. Founded in 2012, XLH supports the development of healthcare innovation through its healthcare accelerator, which helps startup founders commercialize their business and attract funding.

About UK Innovate
UK Innovate at the University of Kentucky is the innovation, entrepreneurship and economic enterprise for University of Kentucky Research. Through technology commercialization, corporate partnerships, social innovation, innovation training and economic development initiatives related to UK’s research innovations, talent and community, UK Innovate works to move ideas into the world faster, where they can make the greatest social and economic impact possible.