Prize Winners

Patient Innovator Challenge Winners

The following individuals were selected as winners of the KidneyX Patient Innovator Challenge, funded by the National Kidney Foundation. A panel of judges and reviewers selected 10 winners in Category 1 – solutions already tried or put into practice – and 15 winners in Category 2 – ideas for solutions not yet created.

• Ann Chokas of Great Neck, NY, for designing a smartphone app to monitor blood test results.
• Chris Jaynes of Cardiff-by-the-sea, CA, for creating a way to extend the life of a kidney removed for transplantation to give surgeons more time to access the organ.
• Deepa Kariyawasam of London, England, for creating kidney patient diet booklets geared toward minority cuisine.
• David Kuraguntla of South San Francisco, CA, for creating a device to monitor fluid levels in dialysis patients.
• Sarah Lee of Baltimore, MD, for creating a device that disinfects tubing for peritoneal dialysis.
• Robert Richter of Coconut Creek, FL, for creating a device to help a one-handed veteran administer home dialysis.
• Chelsea Roman of Sacramento, CA, for creating a 3D-printable wrist cuff to secure needles used in home dialysis.
• Lana Schmidt of Liberty, IL, for using a state-funded home aide program to hire someone to help her with home dialysis.
• Deborah Stanzak of Twinsburg, OH, for creating clothing suited for dialysis patients.
• John Vito of Rochester, NY, for creating a video cooking series for end-stage kidney failure patients.

• Brian Bender of Raleigh, NC, for a home-use device in development to track sodium levels in urine.
• Andrew Brookens of Denver, CO, for a proposal to open a home dialysis education center to train patients.
• Chandra Chhun of McDonough, GA, for a proposal to develop an online platform to help home dialysis patients.
• Anthony Clark of Wilmington, DE, for a proposal to create kidney food labels for kidney patients.
• Jaclyn Giannakoulis of Stoughton, MA, to develop a program to rent home dialysis cyclers for patients when they travel.
• Nieltje Gedney of Kearneysville, WV, to develop a toolkit for home dialysis patients to give realtime feedback.
• Varun Goyal of Carmel, IN, to develop an app to help transplant patients keep track of their medicines.
• Lonnie Green of Kennesaw, GA, to develop a peer mentorship program for dialysis patients.
• Mary Lou Hurley of Bloomingdale, NJ, to create a handout about transplants for patients to give to emergency room professionals.
• Daniel Marsh of Baton Rouge, LA, to develop an "open chair" app to help patients find a realtime dialysis center that has an immediate opening.
• Sandeep Padala of Augusta, GA, to develop help from dialysis patients who are released from prison.
• Emmett Smith of Seattle, WA, to develop a device to help with dialysis catheters.
• Ben Studdard of Nashville,TN, to create music videos to teach patients about medical terms.
• Cher Thomas of Galveston, TX, to develop a program to link dentists with patients on the transplant waitlist.
• Joyce Vergili of Kingston, NY, to create a device to monitor blood potassium levels.

Redesign Dialysis Phase 1 Finalists

The following solutions were selected as the Finalists for KidneyX Redesign Dialysis Phase 1 and announced at the Inaugural KidneyX Summit, on April 29-30, 2019:

• An Air Removal System For a Wearable Renal Therapy Device
• A Non-Invasive, Wearable Telehealth Device To Detect Thrombosis And Monitor Vascular Access Health Of Arteriovenous Fistulas And Grafts In Hemodialysis Patients
• Atomically Precise Membranes (APM) for High-Flux and Selective Removal of Blood Toxins
• Building New Kidneys
• Development of a Dialysate-and Cell-Free Renal Replacement Technology
• Development of an Automated Multimodal Sensor to Improve Patient Outcomes in Hemodialysis
• Digitally-delivered Behavior Change Program To Help Patients Delay Dialysis
• Displacer-Enhanced Hemodialysis: Improving The Intradialytic Removal Of Protein-Bound Uremic Toxins Using Binding Competitors
• Drug-Eluting Electrospun Hemodialysis Graft
• Fluo Medical Fistula Monitoring Device
• Intracorporeal Hemodialysis System
• Nitric Oxide-Eluting, Disposable Hemodialysis Catheter Insert to Prevent Infection and Thrombosis
• Smart Sensor-enhanced Needle Guide Reduces Pain and Cost in Clinic
• The Ambulatory Kidney to Improve Vitality (AKTIV)
• Utilizing Optical Interrogation Methods for Early Diagnosis of Peritonitis in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Redesign Dialysis Phase 1 Honorable Mentions

The following proposed solutions were selected as Honorable Mentions for KidneyX Redesign Dialysis Phase I:

• An Electrospun Fistula Cuff To Treat High Flow Access (HFA) Issues
• Continuous Implantable Peritoneal Ultrafiltration Device for Inter-treatment Volume Control in Hemodialysis Treated Patients
• Development, Characterization and Functional Assessment of Mobile & Modular Microfluidic Dialysis Device Delivery (M3D3 Unit) Artificial Kidney
• Intelligent AV Grafts for Predicting Stenosis and Avoiding Thromboses
• Novaflux Outside-In Filtration (OIF)
• Novel Omniphobic Coating To Reduce Hemodialysis Catheter Related Infections And Thrombosis
• Preventing Microbubble Complications in Hemodialysis Patients
• Redesigning Catheter Vascular Access for Dialysis: Metagenomic DNA Sequencing to Characterize Microbial Communities in Dialysis Catheter Biofilms for Inhibitor Discovery and Materials Engineering

Submitted Abstracts from Applicants

All applicants for KidneyX Redesign Dialysis Phase I were asked to share an abstract providing an overview of their proposed solution. To view a bundle of the abstracts that we received, please click here.