UAMS partners with startup programs for medical business ‘boot camp’
by February 28, 2017 1:39 pm 460 views
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock is teaming up with the Conductor and BioVentures programs to offer a week-long “boot camp” for college students interested in health science entrepreneurship.
The Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Boot Camp will be May 22-26 at the University of Central Arkansas campus in Conway and will conclude with a public Demo Day for their new venture ideas. Demo Day guests may RSVP here.
Up to 50 rising juniors or seniors enrolled in healthcare, science or engineering programs in Arkansas colleges will be accepted into the camp. Students will learn the basics of starting a medical business and will form teams, tasked with formulating and tweaking new venture ideas within the camp.
Students will meet UAMS faculty, medical entrepreneurs and potential customers and will be exposed to entity filing, patents and legal issues, according to, according to the Conductor, an entrepreneurial program created through a partnership with UCA and Startup Junkie Consulting of Fayetteville.
The residential camp is free to the selected students, funded through UAMS, the Conductor and BioVentures, a nonprofit that helps commercialize biomedical technology, originally founded within UAMS.
The camp is based on a similar program run last year for graduate and post-doctoral students, said Nancy Gray, BioVentures director, in a press release.
“UAMS and BioVentures are dedicated to creating a statewide infrastructure to support a growing biomedical research capacity in Arkansas,” she said. “Our partnership with the Conductor will create new opportunities for students around the state and enhance our statewide health sciences entrepreneurial network.”
Jeff Standridge, team leader of the Conductor, said his program develops entrepreneurial talent within the state.
“This camp is bringing together the disciplines of innovation and entrepreneurship and combining them with the vast expertise our state has in health sciences,” Standridge said, according to the press release. “The next great medical innovation just might come out of this endeavor.”
More information about the Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Boot Camp is available at this link. Applications are available at this link.