Merkin’s $400,000 prize for health startups

Color health, startup, democratizing healthcare
Color Health, is an Israeli-founded startup democratizing healthcare

Who doesn’t want to improve human health? Whether it’s reducing pain and inflammation from medical cannabis innovations or targeting cancer cells through personalized mRNA immunotherapy drugs, or novel insights into gut bacterial systems that increase our longevity. If you have a company or biomedical startup in this field, MIT and Harvard want you!

These universities are hosting a new prize, called the Richard N. Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology and the winners will share $400,000 for their work. 

The prize recognises novel technologies that have improved human health.

About the Merkin Family Foundation

The Merkin Family Foundation was founded by health care executive Dr. Richard Merkin, MD. Dr Merkin is the founder and chief executive officer of Heritage Provider Network and focuses his work and the bulk of his philanthropy on new paths to cures and to affordable, high-quality health care. 

The prize will celebrate a novel technology and recognize up to four key contributors to the development of the technology, with a cash award of $400,000 to be shared among each year’s recipients. The winning technology must have made a demonstrable real-world impact on human health by improving the treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of disease. 

The Merkin Prize is administered by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, one of the world’s leading biomedical research institutes. 

“The Merkin Prize will highlight the inventors of an important medical technology and will demonstrate how their work is transforming healthcare,” said Harold Varmus, a Nobel Prize winner for his work on the origins of cancer.

Eligibility for receipt of the Merkin Prize extends to all living investigators from anywhere in the world, using any discipline in academia, the commercial sector, or government. Anyone may submit a nomination, but self-nominations are not permitted. 

Nominations must be submitted by Jan. 23, 2023

For further information visit merkinprize.org

If you want to submit a prize, dream job, or new company transforming the planet and healthcare, email us: [email protected]

Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloostermanhttp://www.greenprophet.com
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]

TRENDING

Key Rules Recreational Cannabis Users Must Follow in Pittsburgh

Adults who are 21 or older can carry up to 30 grams. This amount applies to personal use within Pittsburgh’s limits. Carrying more could lead to confiscation or legal action. Staying under the limit avoids problems during any public stop.

Turning Your Energy Consultancy into an LLC: 4 Legal Steps for Founders in Texas

If you are starting a renewable energy business in Texas, learn how to start an LLC by the books.

Ancient Chinese medicine might heal spinal cord injuries

In the study, the scientists didn’t just test one plant compound at a time. They tested two traditional Chinese medicine compounds together — luteolin (from flowers like honeysuckle and chrysanthemum) and astragaloside IV (from astragalus root, Huang Qi). These plants have been combined in Chinese herbal formulas for centuries to help the body recover from injury and inflammation.

Luxury meets the textile waste stream with Coach – Bank & Vogue

A new collaboration between luxury brand Coach and textile reuse pioneer Bank & Vogue attempts to stitch those two worlds together: high fashion and the global textile waste stream.

EU startup aiming to generate energy on moon villages

Stepping up to democratize the moon is an EU-funded company, Deep Space Energy, which has just raised more than $1 million USD as a seed fund to help it create energy generators on the moon.

Turning Your Energy Consultancy into an LLC: 4 Legal Steps for Founders in Texas

If you are starting a renewable energy business in Texas, learn how to start an LLC by the books.

Tracking the Impacts of a Hydroelectric Dam Along the Tigris River

For the next two months, I'll be taking a break from my usual Green Prophet posts to report on a transnational environmental issue: the Ilısu Dam currently under construction in Turkey, and the ways it will transform life along the Tigris River.

6 Payment Processors With the Fastest Onboarding for SMBs

Get your SMB up and running fast with these 6 payment processors. Compare the quickest onboarding options to start accepting customer payments without delay.

Qatar’s climate hypocrisy rides the London Underground

Qatar remains a master of doublethink—burning gas by the megaton while selling “sustainability” to a world desperate for clean air. Wake up from your slumber people.

How Quality of Hire Shapes Modern Recruitment

A 2024 survey by Deloitte found that 76% of talent leaders now consider long-term retention and workforce contribution among their most important hiring success metrics—far surpassing time-to-fill or cost-per-hire. As the expectations for new hires deepen, companies must also confront the inherent challenges in redefining and accurately measuring hiring quality.

8 Team-Building Exercises to Start the Week Off 

Team building to change the world! The best renewable energy companies are ones that function.

Thank you, LinkedIn — and what your Jobs on the Rise report means for sustainable careers

While “green jobs” aren’t always labeled as such, many of the fastest-growing roles are directly enabling the energy transition, climate resilience, and lower-carbon systems: Number one on their list is Artificial Intelligence engineers. But what does that mean? Vibe coding Claude? 

Somali pirates steal oil tankers

The pirates often stage their heists out of Somalia, a lawless country, with a weak central government that is grappling with a violent Islamist insurgency. Using speedboats that swarm the targets, the machine-gun-toting pirates take control of merchant ships and then hold the vessels, crew and cargo for ransom.

Related Articles

Popular Categories