Being the first person admitted into the Patents2Products program, Dr. Erika Dillard had the vision and drive to create something special with PopCheck Technologies. Since the company’s inception in 2019, PopCheck has been on a meteoric rise and has recently been selected to participate in the esteemed MedTech Innovator in Boston this October. The Memphis-based startup that analyzes and predicts the development of venous blood clots is one of only 50 companies selected from 49 countries. We asked Dr. Dillard about what led to the creation of her visionary startup and how she intends to take the next big step.
What started the concept behind PopCheck Technologies?
During my neurosurgical training, many of the patients I encountered were very high risk for a number of post-operative complications, one being venous clots. In caring for these patients, often in their most vulnerable state and often unable to communicate effectively to advocate for themselves, I experienced how reliant we are on subjective and verbal information to determine whether a patient is on the brink of developing potentially life-threatening complications. I witnessed first-hand how clinical outcomes can be influenced by these factors and I began to appreciate how undervalued yet critical the post-operative phase of care is for the patient and healthcare stakeholders. This experience in conjunction with customer discovery led me to the concept of utilizing novel remote monitoring technology as a means of providing objective data collected from post-op patients in real-time to detect early changes concerning surgery-related complications.
How has the company grown and developed this past year?
Since completing the Patents-2-Products (P2P) fellowship, I have now taken on a full-time role in the company. We have put together an incredible advisory board with expertise spanning all aspects of medical device and healthcare technology development and commercialization. We have developed an early prototype and are working on key iterations guided by customer discovery from the NSF ICorp Site Program and pre-clinical data. Our new local and international clinical partnerships will allow us to validate our cost and clinical value propositions, and through our fundraising efforts, we have been fortunate to have secured dilutive and non-dilutive funding that now totals $380K.
How has Tennessee’s life science ecosystem benefitted Pop Check and yourself?
I am a product of Tennessee’s higher education, through and through, from undergrad at Vanderbilt University to the dual degree MD/PhD program at the UTHSC. As an MD/PhD student, I was a member of Life Science TN’s Memphis Chapter of the Academic Alliance and after graduation I continued to receive announcements from the organization via email. It was from these emails that I learned of the Patents2Products fellowship at the University of Memphis and my ultimate acceptance into the program provided the fuel for PopCheck and for putting me on the path of becoming a physician entrepreneur. Without the Tennessee ecosystem, starting with our academic connections, we would not have developed other key relationships with organizations such as Epicenter Memphis, The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (Project Healthcare), Regional One Hospital Center of Innovation and Meharry Medical College’s ResilienSEED Incubator which all have helped position us for success.”
What are you looking forward to the most for PopCheck?
As Founder of PopCheck and a solopreneur, I’m excited to see our technology move toward commercialization which means we are closer to getting our solution to those who need it. We’re fortunate to be a part of changing the landscape of post-operative care and look forward to improving patient outcomes and making the lives of healthcare providers and their supporting institutions easier with our technology. We are currently raising a Pre-Seed round of $1M which will allow us to meet milestones that will facilitate achieving these goals. This involves expanding our team including a full time CTO, developing our MVP and achieving our regulatory strategy for breakthrough device designation and ultimately FDA de novo classification.
Dr. Dillard is an active advocate for the Life Science industry in Tennessee while continuing to grow her company in the state and beyond. Learn more about PopCheck Technologies, it’s innovative product, and Erika’s incredible journey, here.
Being the first person admitted into the Patents2Products program, Dr. Erika Dillard had the vision and drive to create something special, Pop Check Technologies. Since the company’s inception in 2019, Pop Check has been on a meteoric rise and has recently been selected to participate in the esteemed MedTech Innovator in Boston this October. The Memphis-based startup that analyzes and predicts the development of venous blood clots, was only one of 50 companies selected from 49 countries. We asked Dr. Dillard about what led to the creation of her visionary startup and how she intends on making the next big step for the company.
What started the concept behind PopCheck Technologies?
During my neurosurgical training, many of the patients I encountered were very high risk for a number of post-operative complications, one being venous clots. In caring for these patients, often in their most vulnerable state and often unable to communicate effectively to advocate for themselves, I experienced how reliant we are on subjective and verbal information to determine whether a patient is on the brink of developing potentially life-threatening complications. I witnessed first-hand how clinical outcomes can be influenced by these factors and I began to appreciate how undervalued yet critical the post-operative phase of care is for the patient and healthcare stakeholders. This experience in conjunction with customer discovery led me to the concept of utilizing novel remote monitoring technology as a means of providing objective data collected from post-op patients in real-time to detect early changes concerning for surgery-related complications.
How has the company grown/developed this past year?
“Since completing the Patents-2-Products (P2P) fellowship, I have now taken on a full-time role in the company. We have put together an incredible advisory board with expertise spanning all aspects of medical device and healthcare technology development and commercialization. We have developed an early prototype and are working on key iterations guided by customer discovery from the NSF ICorp Site Program and pre-clinical data. Our new local and international clinical partnerships will allow us to validate our cost and clinical value propositions and through our fundraising efforts, we have been fortunate to have secured dilutive and non-dilutive funding that now totals $380K.”
How has Tennessee’s life science ecosystem benefitted Pop Check and yourself?
“I am a product of Tennessee’s higher education, through and through, from undergrad at Vanderbilt University to the dual degree MD/PhD program at the UTHSC. As an MD/PhD student, I was a member of Life Science TN’s Memphis Chapter of the Academic Alliance and after graduation I continued to receive announcements from the organization via email. It was from these emails that I learned of the Patents2Products fellowship at the University of Memphis and my ultimate acceptance into the program provided the fuel for PopCheck and for putting me on the path of becoming a physician entrepreneur. Without the Tennessee ecosystem, starting with our academic connections, we would not have developed other key relationships with organizations such as Epicenter Memphis, The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (Project Healthcare), Regional One Hospital Center of Innovation and Meharry Medical College’s ResilienSEED Incubator which all have helped position us for success.”
What are you looking forward to the most for Pop Check?
“As Founder of PopCheck and a solopreneur, I’m excited to see our technology move toward commercialization which means we are closer to getting our solution to those who need it. We’re fortunate to be a part of changing the landscape of post-operative care and look forward to improving patient outcomes and making the lives of healthcare providers and their supporting institutions easier with our technology. We are currently raising a Pre-Seed round of $1M which will allow us to meet milestones that will facilitate achieving these goals. This involves expanding our team including a full time CTO, developing our MVP and achieving our regulatory strategy for breakthrough device designation and ultimately FDA de novo classification.”
Dr. Dillard is an active advocate for the Life Science industry in Tennessee while continuing to grow her company in the state and beyond. Learn more about Pop Check Technologies, it’s innovative product, and Erika’s incredible journey, here.
