An interview with the accelerator
Clinical problems walk in. Companies walk out.
Everything people actually ask us, answered plainly.
What is Sling Health?
WashU's student-run healthcare startup accelerator, and the original one: St. Louis founded the national network in 2013. Students and physicians take a real clinical problem and spend nine months turning it into a company.
Isn't this just a club?
No. We’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds companies. Our alumni have raised $220M+, one earned FDA approval for a colorectal cancer test, and another was acquired. The record is here.
Where do the problems come from?
Physicians across the WashU medical campus bring us the things that slow them down every shift. If that’s you, three sentences is enough.
Who can join?
Any WashU student or resident, undergrad through postdoc: engineering, medicine, business, design. Every team deliberately mixes disciplines. Applications open in August.
What actually happens in the nine months?
Teams form in October around a problem. They defend every assumption at design reviews, build prototypes, and put them in clinicians' hands. In April they pitch the city at Demo Day. Some teams stop there. The ones that don't become the headlines on our front page.
Who runs this?
Students. Meet the exec board, find us at any event, or write to admin@stl.slinghealth.org.
