Canopy Healthtech Selects Inaugural Grantees, Investing $400,000 in Virtual Healthtech

TULSA, OKLA. — Canopy Healthtech, a multi-year initiative led by the Tom Love Innovation Hub in the University of Oklahoma Michael F. Price College of Business in collaboration with Oklahoma State University and the University of Tulsa, has selected four grantees for its inaugural investment in virtual healthtech.

Grantees will receive both grant funding (totaling $400,000) and expert mentorship to expedite the commercialization of intellectual property developed at Oklahoma-based universities.  

“Canopy elevates the city of Tulsa as a thought leader and as fertile ground for virtual healthtech innovation by highlighting our state’s intellectual capital to both in- and out-of-state stakeholders,” said Rachel Lane, Canopy Healthtech executive director. “Our inaugural year is just the first flurry of activity in the industry avalanche we anticipate.”

The recipients of the funding and a brief description of their products are listed below in alphabetical order:

• Kitty Cardwell, Ph.D. (Director and Professor), Oklahoma State University Ferguson College of Agriculture: Cardwell is developing Microbe Finder (MiFi), a next-generation sequence-analysis, cloud-based software-as-a-service that rapidly detects multiple pathogens in a single sequenced sample with high specificity for life-saving diagnoses.
• Yu Feng, Ph.D. (Associate Professor), Oklahoma State University College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology: Feng’s artificial intelligence-powered, user-centered smart inhaler will collect patients’ pulmonary-air flow dynamics data to optimize inhaled medication delivery.
• Ann Gettys (Assistant Director of Operations), University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering: Gettys is developing the Overnight Pediatric Oxygen Delivery system, a retractable hood that contains a facial imaging system and series of oxygen nozzles to improve oxygen delivery to pediatric patients.
• Kelly Lucas, D.D.S., OU Health Sciences Center College of Dentistry: Lucas is developing the Guidance Package System, a patented jaw shape and movement software that will use mathematical modeling to standardize complex restorative and appliance dentistry procedures and production, making quality dental care more accessible and repeatable.

Local and national industry executives visited Tulsa, where Canopy is based, to evaluate the business plans from nine university-based innovators. The projects were selected based on their perceived and projected market strengths, including a high probability of clinical use or follow-on funding by 2025. Awardees plan to establish technology-related startups in Tulsa.