PSF Launches “Shark Tank” for Plastic Surgery Entrepreneurs

In a nod to ABC's hit television show "Shark Tank," The Plastic Surgery Foundation (PSF) is looking to foster the development of the best new technological innovations and inventions in the field of cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery through its inaugural TIPS Innovation Challenge. The top two applicants with the best technological inventions will be announced at The PSF's Technology Innovation in Plastic Surgery (TIPS) meeting, May 31-June 2, 2013, in San Francisco, and each will receive a $5,000 award and an opportunity for mentorship from an expert panel of judges.
“The TIPS Innovation Challenge is designed to encourage healthcare professionals, engineers and entrepreneurs to come forward with impactful, next generation technology and concepts that address unmet patient needs,” said Charles Verheyden, MD, president of The PSF. “This will be a unique opportunity for us to connect with those who have great innovative ideas, who may or may not have full access to the plastic surgery community, and assist them by providing funding and feedback so that they may see their inventions come to fruition—inventions that may ultimately advance the science of plastic surgery.”
Here is how the process will work: A preliminary review committee will select the top five business plans, which will presented to a panel of "shark tank" judges comprised of physicians, corporate executives and industry investors during a closed-door session in San Francisco on May 30. The five applicants selected to present will be notified by May 1. The top two winning business plans selected during the closed-door session will be presented at the TIPS meeting, whereby each inventor will receive their $5,000 award and be presented with the opportunity to be mentored by members of the judges' panel.
The Challenge is open to plastic surgeons, physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, engineers and entrepreneurs. Applicants should submit a two-page executive summary of their business plan describing their plastic surgery-related innovation/invention to the PSF no later than 5:00 PM EST on March 27, 2013.
Complete contest rules and executive summary requirements are available
on The PSF's website at http://www.thepsf.org/Documents/Innovation/TIPS_Innovation_Challenge.pdf.