Multiple Rice University-led student ventures earned top honors across categories at the Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition. The founders built these winning businesses through Rice’s Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie), underscoring the university’s growing leadership in health care innovation.
Among the Rice winners, Bionostic secured first place in the Advanced Health Track, while DialySafe earned first place and MedIQ Health took second place in the Digital Health Track.
Bionostic’s victory marks a major milestone not just for the team but for Lilie’s growing impact beyond Rice’s campus. Founded by doctoral candidate Alexandria Carter in collaboration with Michael King’s lab, the venture is advancing innovative cancer diagnostic solutions and exemplifies the kind of founder-led success Lilie is built to support. As both a Rice Innovation Fellows company and the winner of the 2026 Napier Rice Launch Challenge, Bionostic’s rapid progression from research to national recognition demonstrates how Lilie is helping founders translate ideas into ventures that compete and win on the national stage.
“Lilie founders don’t just build ideas — they build ventures that move,” said Yael Hochberg, head of Lilie and Rice Entrepreneurship Initiatives. “Seeing multiple teams win on a global stage like Johns Hopkins is a clear signal that what’s happening at Lilie is translating far beyond campus. We’re empowering founders to take deep technical expertise and turn it into solutions that scale, compete and create real impact in the world.”
Additional Rice-led teams also delivered standout performances across categories. Lilie Launchpad alumni DialySafe, founded by graduate bioengineering student Ibrahim Al-Akash, is developing technology designed to reduce human error and improve patient safety during dialysis treatments. MedIQ Health, founded and developed in Lilie Launchpad and New Venture Challenge by Suran Somawardana, Patrick Bednarz, Jacob Lei and Mira Srinivasa, is building a smart asthma management platform aimed at preventing emergencies through personalized, data-driven care.
The Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition challenges student teams to develop innovative solutions across advanced health systems, global health and digital health. The competition drew over 560 teams from more than 300 universities worldwide, making it one of the most competitive student health care design competitions globally. Winning teams are recognized for excellence in clinical need identification, technical design and pathways to real-world implementation.
For Rice, this year’s results highlight a growing pipeline of student-led health care ventures emerging from programs across campus, including Lilie, academic departments and research labs all contributing to Houston’s expanding role as a hub for health innovation. As these teams continue to develop their technologies beyond the competition stage, Lilie looks forward to supporting their journey from student projects to venture-backed companies shaping the future of health care.