Curated News
By: NewsRamp Editorial Staff
November 09, 2026
AHA Honors MedRhythms and Vascudyne at Health Tech Competition
TLDR
- MedRhythms won Best Overall and Best Business at the American Heart Association Health Tech Competition, gaining a strategic edge in digital neurotherapeutics.
- MedRhythms uses foot-worn sensors and software to adjust music rhythm in real time, retraining walking after stroke through personalized at-home therapy.
- The American Heart Association recognized MedRhythms and Vascudyne, advancing accessible home-based stroke rehabilitation and bioengineered vessel grafts for better cardiovascular care.
- Vascudyne's bioengineered blood vessels use donor cells to create collagen frameworks that become living tissue, potentially growing with children born with heart defects.
Impact - Why it Matters
This news matters because it highlights tangible progress in translating innovative health technologies into real-world solutions for cardiovascular and brain health. MedRhythms’ music-based digital therapy offers a home-based rehabilitation option for stroke survivors, potentially improving access to effective care and enhancing recovery. Vascudyne’s bioengineered blood vessels could reduce the need for invasive vein harvesting in bypass surgery and provide growing grafts for children with congenital heart defects, addressing significant unmet needs. The recognition from the American Heart Association lends credibility and visibility to these companies, which may accelerate funding, adoption, and further clinical development. For patients, clinicians, and investors, this signals a promising shift toward evidence-based, patient-centric technologies that could transform standards of care and improve outcomes in cardiovascular and neurological conditions.
Summary
The American Heart Association (AHA) recognized two health technology companies with top honors at its Health Tech Competition during Scientific Sessions 2026, held Nov. 7-8 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The competition, hosted by the AHA Center for Health Technology & Innovation, drew a record number of global submissions and selected five finalists after rigorous review by volunteer experts. MedRhythms, based in Portland, Maine, won Best Business, Audience Choice, and Best Overall awards for its digital health and neurotherapeutics solution that combines foot-worn sensors, software, and music to help stroke survivors improve walking and mobility at home. Vascudyne, based in St. Paul, Minn., received the Best Science award for its bioengineered blood vessel technology designed to provide alternatives to harvesting a patient's leg vein for coronary bypass surgery and to create grafts for children with congenital heart defects that can grow with them.
“The Health Tech Competition gives us a close look at technologies designed around real challenges facing patients and clinicians,” said Lee Shapiro, JD, chairman of the board of the American Heart Association and managing partner of 7wire Ventures. “This year’s winners demonstrated the attributes essential to advancing health technology: strong scientific evidence, meaningful business potential and innovative ways to address the challenges of those in need.” The other finalists were HEARTio (AI software to estimate obstructive coronary artery disease from a standard ECG), MEGI (AI-powered digital health platform for women's heart health and hypertension), and Seerlinq (non-invasive cardiac filling pressure estimation from fingertip PPG).
MedRhythms’ prescription therapy uses precisely timed music cues and foot sensors to retrain walking, addressing limited access to rehabilitation after stroke. “This recognition helps raise awareness of the need stroke patients face and supports broader access for patients who could benefit from these therapies,” said Brian Harris, founder and CEO. Vascudyne’s grafts are grown from human donor cells, leaving a collagen framework that allows the patient’s own cells to populate it after implantation. “Our bioengineered vessel is both, ready on the shelf and designed to become the patient’s own living tissue,” said Zeeshan Syedain, PhD, CEO and co-inventor. The competition aims to accelerate innovation in cardiovascular and brain health, and more information is available at ahahealthtech.org/aha-health-tech-competition-2026.
Source Statement
This curated news summary relied on content distributed by NewMediaWire. Read the original source here, AHA Honors MedRhythms and Vascudyne at Health Tech Competition
