Rock Health is a seed accelerator for health apps

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Innovation in health just got more interesting.

Technology incubators and accelerators have been around for several years now helping no-name startups become game-changing web applications.  Companies like Scribd, a web 2.0 based document sharing site and Disqus, a commenting platform for websites, had their start in little apartments with weekly mentorship lectures by successful tech-entrepreneurs.  Now, Disqus is the platform for over 700,000 websites including CNN and Techcrunch, and Scribd is valued at over $10 million dollars.

We've seen two health 2.0 companies born this way, Get Up and Move and DrChrono, but there hasn't been anything else.  Until now.

Rock Health is a new company that funds, mentors, and houses early stage startups focused on health applications.   The company has an impressive lineup of mentors including the makers of Guitar Hero, the founder of Sermo, and a lead designer at Facebook.  Their list of advisors is just as impressive.



Selected participants will move to Silicon Valley where Rock Health is headquartered.  They will be given 6 months of office space, frequent educational workshops, free legal council, mentorship, and of course, money.  This model has proven successful for other technology startups so I'm excited and really looking forward to seeing what new health apps will be born this way.

Rock Health is currently accepting applications from developers and entrepreneurs for their first class.  The program starts July 2011.  For more information and to apply, click here.

Author:

Dr. Thuc Huynh is CEO of ScrubdIN, a startup company that aims to help health professionals and patients choose their next medical app. Her main interest lies around how medicine can play a role with web 2.0 and social media. Dr. Huynh is currently Chief Resident at her Family Medicine Residency in Rapid City, SD and received her B.S. and M.D. at the Medical University of the Americas.