The winner of the 2021 Columbia Venture Competition – Columbia-CareOne Healthcare Innovation Challenge, RadioClash, Ltd. Co. aims to be the future of Combination Electroporation Therapy (CET), a novel cancer treatment which involves shocking a tumor followed by precise delivery of drugs into that tumor to increase the amount of tumor killing, and to generate an anti-tumor immune response throughout the body. RadioClash’s Electro-Embolizer Device (EED) is a minimally-invasive surgical tool positioned to become the leading CET delivery instrument for cancer – starting with cancers of the liver, pancreas, and bones.
The CEO of RadioClash, Dr. Yang Qiao ’20 VP&S, is an Interventional Radiology resident at the University of Texas Health Science who performs minimally-invasive procedures on a daily basis. By working with patients and their families every day and researching the science directly, Dr. Qiao has a first-hand understanding that CET will both decrease patient discomfort and morbidity compared with traditional open surgical treatments. He believes that it will also introduce a new definitive treatment option for patients with metastatic cancer.
Duane Bester, RadioClash CTO, is a Texas A&M 2011 Electrical Engineering graduate. The venture’s CFO is Dam Dharia, BSc Cornell 2013, MBA from Kellogg in 2019.
Columbia University and CareOne have collaborated to launch the Columbia-CareOne Healthcare Innovation Challenge in the Fall of 2021, as part of the Columbia Venture Competition, among the largest university-based business plan competitions in the country.
The final pitch session was held on Wednesday, November 17th. Six healthcare teams pitched a panel of three judges, two Columbia alumni and one senior executive from CareOne. Each judge was given $100 in virtual dollars to invest in one or more of the six companies. The startup with the most investment of virtual dollars, won $25,000 in real cash dollars. Finalists included: VoiceLove – Vent Creativity – BestFit, Inc. – Atlas Mask – Epsom-It