Xatoms, CELLECT Laboratories & Pippen AI Win at FemSTEM 2025 Pitch Competition
On March 26th, the H2i community gathered to celebrate six incredible women founders in the health space for the FemSTEM 2025 Pitch Competition!
Selected from a competitive pool of 37 applications, the selected finalists are making impressive strides as they work to create significant impact on our healthcare systems and communities. Their innovative work and leadership were strongly showcased in their pitches and left the room feeling inspired and energized about the future of health innovation.
We are thrilled to announce the winners of this year’s FemSTEM Pitch Competition:
🏆Grand Prize Winner: Xatoms, pitched by Diana Virgovicova
🏆1st Runner Up: CELLECT Laboratories, pitched by Paula Duru
🏆2nd Runner Up: Pippen AI, pitched by Mary Aglipay
In addition to cash prizes ($15,000 Grand Prize, $5,000 for each Runner- Up), each winner received $5,000 in in-kind legal services from Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and a $1,000 value commercial analysis of potential for investment from Mammoth Health Innovation.
This year’s FemSTEM winners are laser focused on social impact as they tackle some of today’s most pressing challenges.
Grand Prize Winner Xatoms is a water purification company that uses proprietary quantum chemistry and AI algorithms to discover solar-based materials called photocatalysts. These materials react with light to break down common water contaminants, helping to improve clean water access for more than 2 billion people globally.
First Runner Up CELLECT Laboratories is transforming cervical cancer screening with a non-invasive, nanotech-enabled collection device that passively captures and stabilizes high-quality cervical cells from menstrual fluid. Designed for seamless lab integration, CELLECT eliminates the need for speculums and swabs, making screening more accessible, comfortable, and efficient for all.
Second Runner Up Pippen AI is a company dedicated to enhancing efficiency in family medicine through its AI-powered physician assistant, Pippen. Designed to reduce administrative burdens such as documentation, referral letters, and billing, Pippen leverages advanced language models, proprietary datasets, and optimized algorithms to save physicians valuable time—equivalent to $96,000 in unpaid work annually—allowing them to focus more on patient care, professional development, and work-life balance.
The esteemed judging panel, made up of Nayanashri Thalanki Anantha, Ester Carrasco, Wendy Naimark and Myrna Francis, emphasized the caliber and promise of all finalists, congratulating NorthMiRs (Samantha McWhirter), PrehabRx (Maggie Chen) and Flow Robotics (Ayla Shahid) for their impressive pitches and innovative ventures.
A big thank you to our sponsors, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, represented by Dakota Bundy, Mammoth Health Innovation Inc. represented by Dan Wasserman and The Temerty Foundation for their generous support. And to Louise Pichette (MaRS Discovery District) for her thought-provoking presentation examining the current gaps in women’s health innovation.
And, of course, our heartfelt gratitude to the H2i community—each founder, mentor and partner who comes together to make every event the success it is!