There is no denying that the world we live in isn’t perfect. Few people, however, take it upon themselves to try to change it for the better. Chapel Hill High School graduate Anna Li is one of the few.
Li is the founder and CEO of Korion Health, a startup company based in Pittsburgh that received the prestigious Hult Prize last month. This prize awards a million-dollar grant to young people attempting to solve the world’s most pressing issues through social entrepreneurship.
Li went through a rigorous selection process, advancing through five rounds that included interviews, a business development summit and a final pitch of Li’s product—an electronic stethoscope that patients can use at home—before a panel of judges declared Korion Health the winners.
“Korion Health is the latest example of a social enterprise that will positively impact the world based on an innovative idea, hard work and the ability to prove that it is possible to do well by doing good in business,” Lori van Dam, CEO of the Hult Prize Foundation, said.
After going through medical school in the pandemic, Li became “convinced that all the world’s problems have a root of poor communication.” Li aimed to keep this realization in mind when developing her technology by focusing on the transparency of information and accessibility of her product.
Many people face barriers in health care, particularly those who live in rural or remote locations or those who face a language barrier.
Growing up with immigrant parents from China, Li had a clear understanding of the cracks in the healthcare system. “There are people like my parents who are immigrants from China and didn’t speak English well and did not really trust Western medicine,” she said.
Li’s stethoscope can be used at home so patients can optimize the time they spend in the clinic, allowing healthcare professions like Li to “have more time to do other things that they really need [to do].”
Li hopes that Korion Health will develop “a complete home health screening kit beyond just the stethoscope.”
The stethoscope, which is currently awaiting FDA approval, is designed using a “guided interface that also uses augmented reality to teach you how to place this stethoscope correctly.” It is the same technology that Snapchat uses for its popular filters.
One of Li’s primary goals in inventing the stethoscope was to eradicate barriers that prevent people from getting proper medical treatment. “It’s not just technical barriers, living too far away or not having the time,” Li said. “There are also a lot of psychological barriers; there are populations that have been systematically discriminated against by the healthcare system.”
A lack of doctors in rural areas can make accessing healthcare difficult for people who live in those communities. To prevent them from falling through the cracks, Li said healthcare professionals can combine telemedicine appointments with at-home screening technologies such as those Korion plans to develop.
While creating Korion Health, which she founded in 2022 with two other Chapel Hill High School alumni, Li faced the challenge of trusting her intuition and having self-confidence but said she is thankful to her colleagues for their support.
“It kind of feels like jumping off a cliff and then trusting that someone will catch you,” she said. “There have been times when I’ve been free falling and it’s been kind of scary, but I guess inevitably someone does catch me.”
Li is a 2014 graduate of Chapel Hill High School and went on to continue her education at Duke University and then the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
Li credits Chapel Hill High School with preparing her for her undergraduate and graduate programs. “I feel like I just learned a lot of foundational skills,” Li said. “We have such incredible teachers who are so passionate about really teaching and not just telling you what to learn. They really teach you how to learn and how to be curious and then also how to communicate your findings to others.”
The Hult Prize has allowed Li to continue her research and expand her business. Li, though, does plan to step back from Korion Health once she finishes her graduate studies. She eventually hopes to “find another CEO to take over Korion and keep growing it” while still remaining connected with the company.
This, in turn, will allow Li to direct her focus and attention to areas where she says she thrives most—“working with patients, understanding their struggles, and then coming up with solutions.”
