Epilepsy is a potentially debilitating neurological disorder that affects 50 million people worldwide. It’s characterized by recurrent seizures — brief episodes of involuntary movement that can occasionally involve a loss of consciousness.
While many people respond to epilepsy medication, approximately 20 million do not, facing ongoing seizures that severely affect quality of life and increase health risks. About two million new drug-resistant cases are diagnosed each year. For these patients, surgery is often the most effective treatment, yet it remains vastly underutilized. Less than 1% of eligible patients actually receive it. The affected group includes a significant number of children.
Shraddha Mittal says that entrepreneurs can create new technology with the potential to improve patient health outcomes, reduce costs and generate economic opportunity. As a student seeking her master’s degree in business administration in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, she is focused on meaningful applications of artificial intelligence, or AI, in the medical sector.
“I believe in doing something that makes an impact,” Mittal says. “If we can use AI to make the most viable treatment options more affordable and accessible for drug-resistant epilepsy patients who are desperate to become seizure-free, that would be game-changing for all stakeholders.”
As part of the New Venture Challenge, an application-based, eight-week course from the ASU Center for Entrepreneurship and New Business Design, Mittal received mentorship from a team of faculty members in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU. The team created a proposal combining Mittal’s business acumen with Fulton Schools research. They recently received a $20,000 award from the challenge to spin their proposal into a startup company.
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