A Pitt student startup won the prestigious Hult Prize

Korion Health, a startup led by Pitt students, has won the internationally prestigious Hult Prize.

The company won $1 million in the competition, which challenges for-profit student entrepreneurs from around the world to create and launch businesses aimed at tackling the most pressing challenges they see in their communities. 

“Korion Health is the latest example of a social enterprise that will positively impact the world based on an innovative idea, hard work and the ability to prove that it is possible to do well by doing good in business,” said Lori van Dam, CEO of the Hult Prize Foundation.

Korion Health offers electronic stethoscopes with a guided user interface so patients can record their heart sounds from the privacy, comfort and convenience of home. This enables high-quality, affordable and engaging health screenings from home to combat heart and lung disease. Korion Health’s founder and CEO, Anna Li, is an MD/PhD student at the School of Medicine.

“I started as a medical student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Pitt in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, and really saw how existing disparities in health care access were made much worse,” said Li. “During cardiology class as a second-year medical student, I witnessed firsthand in the clinic how much of heart disease is preventable through early screenings and treatment — it just was out of reach for many people. This inspired the electronic stethoscope for home health monitoring project that became Korion Health.”

In accepting the award, Li also thanked Big Idea Center Director Rhonda Schuldt, Pitt Makerspace and its mentors, and Hellbender, the electrical and mechanical engineering firm in Pittsburgh who partnered with the company.