2024 Innovation@Brown Showcase
The second annual Innovation@Brown Showcase featured representatives from 24 Brown-affiliated companies and awards for Innovation of the Year, Inventor of the Year, and Startup of the Year.
2024 Innovation@Brown Showcase
The second annual Innovation@Brown Showcase featured representatives from 24 Brown-affiliated companies and awards for Innovation of the Year, Inventor of the Year, and Startup of the Year.
Award Winners
Innovation of the Year

Kimani Toussaint, senior associate dean for research and strategic initiatives at the Brown University School of Engineering: Pulse Oximetry without Skin Tone Bias
Photoplethysmography (PPG) is an optical technique that monitors blood oxygen saturation levels, typically through the use of pulse oximeters. Conventional pulse oximetry has been found to overestimate blood oxygen for individuals with appreciable amounts of melanin in their skin. As a result, those with darker skin tones are close to three times more likely to suffer from silent hypoxia. Kimani Toussaint and his team are developing a novel PPG technique that leverages optical polarization for more accurate estimates of blood oxygen.
Inventor of the Year

Wafik El-Deiry, associate dean for oncologic sciences at the Warren Alpert Medical School
El-Deiry is the Director of the Legorreta Cancer Center, and his recent disclosures covered new discoveries in many aspects of cancer research, including new drug candidates, combination therapies, new therapeutic targets, and prognostic biomarkers. Dr. El-Deiry is a world renowned researcher and clinician as well as a prolific inventor and entrepreneur.
Kimani Toussaint
Dr. Toussaint directs the laboratory for Photonics Research of Bio/nano Environments (PROBE Lab), an interdisciplinary research group which focuses on both developing nonlinear optical imaging techniques for quantitative assessment of biological tissues, and novel methods for harnessing plasmonic nanostructures for light-driven control of matter.
Startup of the Year
Phinyx AI
Democratizing simulation technologies, Phinyx AI, uses generative AI and cutting edge physics and mathematics.
Event Media
Event Details
Schedule
3:00pm – 4:30pm | Arrival, Registration, Welcome Remarks & Venture Showcase |
4:30pm – 5:00pm | AI & Health Panel |
5:00pm – 5:20pm | Pitches from Innovation of the Year Finalists |
5:20pm – 5:50pm | AI & Tech Panel |
5:50pm – 6:00pm | Awards Ceremony – Inventor of the Year, Startup of the Year, Innovation of the Year |
6:00pm – 7:30pm | Venture Showcase & Networking |
Speakers
- Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley
- Robert Safian, host, Rapid Response
- Jan Kautz, vice president of learning and perception research, NVIDIA
- Janet Blume, deputy provost, Brown University
- Jeremy L. Warner, professor of medicine, professor of biostatistics, associate director of data science at the Legorreta Cancer Center, director of the Brown Center for Clinical Cancer Informatics and Data Science, Brown University
- J.D. Kleinke, pioneering entrepreneur in the health care information industry
- Neil Steinberg, chairman of the Board of Directors, Rhode Island Life Science Hub
- Brian Anderson, chief executive officer and co-founder, Coalition for Health AI
Featured Ventures
Travel and Accommodations
Aloft Providence Downtown
191 Dorrance Street, Providence, RI 02903-3925
Marriott Reservations at 1(877) 462-5638 or (401) 252-0710
Please leave extra time for parking! There is limited street space in front of 225 Dyer, and multiple paid parking garages nearby. The closest garage is South Street Landing at 330 Eddy Street. The Richmond Parking Garage has a limited number of spots with an event rate of $7. It is located next to the Warren Alpert Medical School with entrances on Eddy St. and Elm St.
Sponsors
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Interested in becoming a sponsor?
Contact us at innovation-showcase@brown.edu or 401-863-7499.