2025 Clinical Innovation Incubator Program Awardees

UC Irvine Department of Dermatology, UC Irvine School of Medicine, and UCI Health, in partnership with UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation, launched a new initiative in 2024 called the Clinical Innovation Incubator Program to foster collaborations among clinicians, basic scientists, and engineers and industry mentors to develop innovative solutions for clinical needs.

During a series of three workshops, candidates pitched their clinical problem and then worked with mentors and collaborators to create an innovative solution. The inaugural program saw eight incredible proposals and the following two awardees were selected to receive $50,000 each to further develop their innovations that will address a clinical need.

Across the U.S., melanoma cases are rising, and even experienced pathologists can sometimes disagree when they look at the same skin biopsy.

The first awardee, Sidharth Chand, MD, PGY-4 resident in the Department of Dermatology, was chosen for his project: PRAME-IQ: A quantitative double staining melanoma diagnosis tool for pathologists. 

"This research uses advanced digital tools to turn a promising marker called PRAME into a precise ‘PRAME index’ that shows what percentage of pigment cells carry this melanoma-linked signal," said Sidharth Chand, MD, PGY4 resident in the Department of Dermatology at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. "By making PRAME testing more objective and exploring artificial intelligence to predict this index from routine pathology images, we hope to give doctors clearer answers more quickly about whether a spot is benign or worrisome."

The second awardee, Melissa Shive, MD, MPH, co-director of Dermatologic Surgery and associate clinical professor in the Department of Dermatology at UC Irvine School of Medicine, was selected for her project: Reimagining Wound Care with Hypochlorous Acid.

The goal of her project will be to develop a new topical wound care product that incorporates new clinical advances in wound healing in a consumer product.

Congratulations to the awardees of the 2025 Clinical Innovation Incubator Program. Stay tuned for information on the next round of the Clinical Innovation Incubator Program, scheduled for 2026.