Graduate Wins HealthTech Venture Network Conference

Joshua Mecca, Peckville, 2014 graduate of the master’s program in biotechnology, was selected to pitch his company, M&S Biotics, at the 2016 HealthTech Venture Network Conference (HTVNC), which was held in Boston, Mass. Mr. Mecca won the prize of $25,000 and earned one of only fifteen spots in Texas Medical Center’s accelerator program TMCx.

TMCx is a four-month program that comprises of workshops, structured curriculum, advisement, and guidance, which leads to “Demo Day”, an exclusive presentation to hundreds of investors, corporate partners, hospital stakeholders, media, and other guests.

Mr. Mecca and John Strauss, 2014 graduate of the biology program, founded M&S Biotics, LLC a healthcare analytics company that is developing a multi-functional system that automates surgical counting in the operating room while providing advanced data analytics for hospital administration/supervisors. The data that M&S Biotics, LLC provides, allows hospitals to optimize all aspects of surgical procedures while improving sterile processing and distribution practices. M&S Biotics is the first fully comprehensive solution to aid in the advancement of healthcare efficiency, efficacy, and safety.

HTVNC cultivates an ecosystem where entrepreneurs, investors and students from around the world learn from one another’s broad experiences, collaborate with fellow colleagues from diverse fields of study, and discover new connections. HTVNC envisions a collaborative experience, one in which everyone joins forces for a greater good to create a better healthcare technology environment, where new ideas are born and technologies are refined.

Mr. Mecca said, “Similar to the competition I faced from all over the country, the judges were equally as impressive, with one of the five judges, Kingsley R. Chin, MD, being a Harvard Medical School graduate and a nationally-recognized spine surgeon and entrepreneur. I look forward to the TMCx program, which will begin in February 2017,” he continued.

Mr. Mecca’s enthusiasm for entrepreneurism was sparked in his class with Christopher Speicher, Ph.D., associate professor of business at Marywood University, through an interdisciplinary course, entrepreneurship, which was offered through his biotechnology program. Mr. Mecca said, “Without Dr. Speicher’s support, encouragement, and guidance I would not have had the success I do now. Additionally, this could not have been possible without the help from the University’s science and mathematics department, which helped to mold me into the innovator I am today.”

Dr. Speicher said, “The Entrepreneurship program gives students from various disciplines, including biology, biotechnology, art, music, and nutrition, to name a few, the opportunity to put their ideas into practice by learning the business side of their passion and ideas.” The entrepreneurial classes are not discipline-specific. “We’re impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit in students majoring in different disciplines. We can provide the right tools and help students achieve their passions,” he continued.