A University of Washington team working on a CPR response device wins a life-saving innovation challenge

A team of students from the University of Washington took home the top prize in the Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge on Wednesday as the UW swept the 11th annual competition.

CPRight won the $15,000 Holloman Family grand prize and the $2,500 Naturacur Wound Healing Best Idea for a Medical Device award in the student competition.

CPRight is a real-time CPR response device that provides data on compression rate and depth to ensure bystanders are performing high-quality, life-saving chest compressions during an emergency.

The company was developed in partnership with ReviveHer, which won the 2025 Best Idea for Patient Safety award.

The team consists of Shubham Bansal, a neuroscience graduate student; Deeya Sharma, a graduate student at the UW School of Medicine; Prisha Hemani, undergraduate computer science and engineering; and Atharv Dixit, an engineering undergrad.

The Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge, hosted by the UW’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship in the Foster School of Business, gives students the opportunity to create innovative solutions to major health-related problems. The competition is open to undergraduate and graduate students at accredited colleges and universities across the Cascadia Corridor – Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Alaska.

Other award winners:

$10,000 WRF Capital Second Place Prize:

• TheraTan oral, non-invasive treatment that removes toxins from the intestines before they reach the bloodstream, allowing patients with chronic kidney disease to reduce their reliance on dialysis.

$5,000 LLP Scale Third Place Award

• LegUp Prostheticsa low-cost system that uses smartphone-based 3D scanning to enable accurate implants from home, reducing costs and increasing access to implant care for underserved and rural patients. It was developed by a team of UW molecular engineering, bioengineering, biochemistry, and mechanical engineering students. They also won the $2,500 Population Health Initiative Best Idea Award for Addressing Health Access and Disparities for their focus on increasing care for underserved and rural patients through a health care service.

$2,500 Mindful Therapy Group Best Idea in Digital Health Award 

• ShiftSparkan embedded workflow support platform that helps nurses process stress in real time during a shift. It was developed by a team of UW public health students who became the first digital health award winners in the challenge after winning a pitch competition as part of Buerk’s Digital Health Workshop series.

SoundBio Lab Ignite Award

• TPT-Findera handheld, AI-powered surgical tool that helps surgeons quickly dissect parathyroid tissue during thyroid surgery to prevent costly and life-changing complications. It was developed by a team of UW computer science and electrical and computer engineering students. The prize is a six-month membership to the SoundBio Lab biomakerspace in the U-District.

Connie Bourassa-Shaw Spark Award of $1,000

• ColoGuidean AI-powered colonoscopy navigation system that builds its own proprietary data to automatically change colonoscopy with real-time visual guidance. Developed by UW Medicine students.

This year’s competition attracted 67 participants, two shy of the record set in 2025. Students represented seven schools in the opening round: UW, UW-Bothell, Edmonds College, UW Global Innovation Exchange, University of Idaho, Portland State University, and Seattle University.

There have been 509 participating teams and more than 1,725 ​​students over the 11 years of the challenge and $424,000 has been awarded.