Pharmacy students compete at SXSW

Pharmacy students Soojin Jun, Amata Sok, Jennifer Mourafetis and Kristen Karlsen
created a business plan for their startup, Health on Time.

Two UIC pharmacy students traveled to Austin, Texas, to compete in the Student Startup Madness tournament Saturday at South By Southwest Interactive.

Although they didn’t take home any prizes, the student team was proud to advance to the national finals from a pool of 64 college startups, said team leader Soojin Jun.

“It was a great exposure for us,” said Jun, a fourth-year pharmacy student. “I met and networked with so many people that I probably would have no chance of meeting in my life.

“I would encourage students with passion to look for opportunities and push the ideas forward because of this reason — I am a shy person and I am not a businessman.  But my passion for patient care brought me to Texas from an elective course I took with my friends. It is amazing.”

Jun formed a start-up company, Health on Time, with pharmacy classmates Jennifer Mourafetis, Kristen Karlsen and Amata Sok. Jun and Mourafetis competed at the tournament, which only allowed two students to compete per startup.

The team is developing a smartphone medication therapy management application. It uses electronic health records to connect patients with health care providers, continuing care after a patient has been released from the hospital.

“If there’s an issue, the patient should be able to communicate effectively with all of the parties involved,” Jun said.

“We want to close the gap and make the care continuous.”

The group has found success in other business plan competitions, winning a Target-sponsored contest in 2011 and the elevator pitch competition at UIC’s Concept2Venture business plan competition.

christyb@uic.edu