Announcing the 2026 Device Innovation Award Recipients
July 15, 2026
Six teams have been selected as the inaugural recipients of Additional Ventures’ Device Innovation Award, a milestone-driven program designed to accelerate the development of purpose-built medical devices for people living with single ventricle heart disease. Collectively, these awards represent up to $9M in support over the next three years.
For decades, innovation in single ventricle heart disease has been constrained by a simple reality: most available devices were never designed for these patients. Instead, clinicians and families have often relied on technologies adapted from other populations despite the unique physiology, anatomy, and lifelong challenges associated with single ventricle circulation.
The Device Innovation Award was created to help change that trajectory.
The six selected projects represent a new generation of purpose-built innovation – technologies designed specifically to address some of the most significant unmet needs in single ventricle care. Together, they span three complementary areas of device development: Fontan assist and Fontan-modifying technologies designed to improve circulation; monitoring and physiologic guidance platforms intended to support earlier detection and intervention; and structural and reconstructive approaches that aim to improve the materials, procedures, and pathways that shape the single ventricle care journey.
Importantly, these projects do not represent a single solution, but multiple shots on goal. Some pursue near-term translational opportunities with relatively clear development pathways. Others are more ambitious, higher-risk efforts that could fundamentally reshape how we think about supporting Fontan physiology, monitoring disease progression, or rebuilding cardiovascular structures. We believe both are necessary.
The response to our inaugural funding call revealed something encouraging: a growing community of engineers, clinicians, scientists, and entrepreneurs eager to tackle challenges that have historically been overlooked. These six projects are an important first step toward building a stronger innovation ecosystem for single ventricle patients—and toward a future where life-changing devices are designed with this population in mind from the very beginning.
About the Device Innovation Award and Translational Accelerator
The Device Innovation Award is the inaugural program of the Additional Ventures Translational Accelerator, an initiative designed to help build a stronger innovation ecosystem for single ventricle heart disease.
Historically, device development for single ventricle patients has lagged behind other areas of cardiovascular medicine. Small patient populations, complex physiology, uncertain regulatory pathways, and limited commercial incentives have often discouraged investment, leaving clinicians and families with few purpose-built options.
The Device Innovation Award was created to address this gap by supporting innovators willing to tackle these challenges directly. Through milestone-based funding, expert guidance, and a focus on decision-enabling development, the program helps teams answer the critical questions that determine whether a technology is ready for the next stage of translation. The inaugural award cycle benefited from operational support and device development expertise provided by the Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP).
Beyond supporting individual projects, the program seeks to strengthen the broader device development pipeline for congenital heart disease by attracting new innovators, generating translational knowledge, and creating pathways for promising technologies to advance toward clinical impact.
Learn more about the Device Innovation Award and the Additional Ventures Translational Accelerator.
Supporting Organizations
The inaugural Device Innovation Award portfolio is strengthened by co-funding support from A Giving Heart Foundation and EverPulse.
Additional Ventures gratefully acknowledges the generous support of A Giving Heart Foundation, whose commitment to advancing safer, less invasive treatments for children with congenital heart disease is helping accelerate the next generation of purpose-built medical devices.
We are grateful to EverPulse for its partnership in advancing life-changing pediatric heart technologies and helping accelerate innovation for children living with congenital heart disease.
Device Innovation Award Teams
Kevin Costa, PhD – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Kiyotake Ishikawa, MD, PhD – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Christian Pizarro, MD – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Bio-inspired Hyper-auxetic Metamaterial Patch for Hypoplastic Ventricle Repair
For children born with an underdeveloped ventricle, current patch materials provide structural support but do not contribute to cardiac function. Led by Dr. Kevin Costa, this team is developing a bio-inspired cardiac patch made from an auxetic metamaterial that dynamically changes shape throughout the cardiac cycle, with the goal of supporting ventricular reconstruction while actively augmenting heart function.
Benjamin W. Kozyak, MD – The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Matthew A. Jolley, MD – The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Jordan R. Raney, PhD – The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
Cynthia Sung, PhD – The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
Wensi Wu, PhD – The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
A Valveless Fontan Assist Device for Patients with Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease
As Fontan circulation begins to fail, there are few durable mechanical support options designed specifically for these patients. Dr. Benjamin Kozyak and colleagues are developing a novel valveless assist device that augments cavopulmonary blood flow using impedance-based flow generation, offering a potentially simpler and lower-power alternative to conventional pump technologies.
Danielle Gottlieb Sen, MD – Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Matthew Banet, PhD – Haku Technology
Little Lifeline: A Wearable Infant-Sensing Platform to Transform Single Ventricle Care
Infants with single ventricle heart disease remain at greatest risk during the interstage period, when subtle physiologic changes can rapidly become life-threatening. Dr. Danielle Gottlieb Sen’s team is developing a diaper-integrated wearable monitoring platform that continuously collects multimodal physiologic data to help clinicians and families recognize clinical deterioration earlier and intervene before serious complications occur.
Eric Severson, PhD – Regents of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Yue-Hin “Tom” Loke, MD – Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C.
Pranava Sinha, MD, MBA – Regents of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities
William A. Smith, DEng – Perfusion Solutions, Inc.
Anatomically-Compatible Bearingless Circulatory Assist Device to Reverse Fontan-Associated Organ Failure
Progressive Fontan failure ultimately affects multiple organ systems, yet mechanical circulatory support options remain extremely limited. Dr. Eric Severson’s team is developing an implantable, anatomically compatible circulatory assist device that uses a magnetically levitated, bearingless pump to provide long-term cavopulmonary support while minimizing blood trauma and mechanical wear.
Beverly Tang, PhD – Starlight Cardiovascular
Darrin Kent – Starlight Cardiovascular
Kathryn Olson, MEng – Starlight Cardiovascular
Lifeline Ductus Arteriosus Stent for Stage I Palliation of HLHS
Infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) often require highly invasive surgery shortly after birth despite growing interest in less-invasive treatment strategies. Dr. Beverly Tang and the Starlight Cardiovascular team are developing a purpose-built ductus arteriosus stent system designed specifically for neonatal anatomy, enabling a catheter-based approach to Stage I palliation.
William Weiss, PhD – The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Elisa A. Bradley, MD – The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Joshua Cysyk, PhD – The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Fontan Destination Therapy Circulatory Support System
For adolescents and adults with advanced Fontan failure, treatment options are limited once medical therapy is no longer effective and heart transplantation may not be immediately available. Led by Dr. William Weiss, this team is developing a fully implantable, driveline-free circulatory support system designed to provide durable, long-term subpulmonary support as a destination therapy for Fontan patients.