UCLA Biodesign Teams Win First and Second Place at the 2026 UCLA Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Competition for Medical Device Innovations

UCLA Biodesign teams EndoSight Systems and SparkHeal took top honors at the 2026 UCLA Lowell Milken Institute-Sandler Competition Finals on April 14, 2026.

EndoSight Systems — First Place

EndoSight Systems is developing an autonomous robotic system that allows any clinic to perform nasal cavity and larynx exams, with results reviewed and diagnosed asynchronously by a remote specialist. The technology is being developed by Keer Zhang, a third-year medical student at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, as part of the UCLA Biodesign Discovery Year, alongside teammates Serena Agrawal, Evan Harber, Benjamin Forbes, Derek Song, and Mumbi Whidby, with faculty advisement from Dr. Jennifer Long (UCLA Head and Neck Surgery), Dr. Dinesh Chhetri (UCLA Head and Neck Surgery), Veronica Santos (Associate Dean of Inclusive Excellence and Faculty Affairs, UCLA Samueli), Dr. Erick Vanstrum (PGY4, UCLA Head and Neck Surgery), and Dr. Shady Soliman (PGY3, UCLA Head and Neck Surgery).

SparkHeal — Second Place

SparkHeal earned second place for its development of a self-powered therapeutic dressing. The team is led by Kanishk Rai, a UCLA Biodesign Accelerator Fellow and PhD candidate in bioengineering at UCLA. Rai developed the technology in lab of PI, Dr. Song Li, Chancellor's Professor of Bioengineering and Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Education at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, as well as Vasav Shah and Jun Chen, PhD, associate professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.