April 08, 2016, BOSTON—Bloodbuy, the Dallas-based company whose technology connects hospitals and blood centers nationwide to ensure the efficient flow of lifesaving blood products to patients in need, has been named the winner of the first Harvard Business School-Harvard Medical School Health Acceleration Challenge.

“This award is obviously a huge honor, and our team is blown away,” commented Christopher Godfrey, founder and CEO of Bloodbuy. “It serves as tremendous validation for the work we are doing to try to create a higher level of efficiency in what we consider one of the most critical health care verticals.”

The Health Acceleration Challenge is a “scale up” competition that focuses on compelling, already-implemented health care solutions and helps them to grow and increase their impact through powerful networking and funding opportunities. In its first year, the Health Acceleration Challenge received 478 applicants and attracted 20,000 online visitors from 29 countries.

“Bloodbuy’s innovation addresses a significant problem in health care—the imbalance between the supply of and demand for blood,” said Robert S. Huckman, the Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. "Its online platform and ability to scale its organization have already had a positive impact on patient care, and the company is poised to make even greater contributions in the future. We are proud to recognize Bloodbuy's success with this award.”

Bloodbuy emerged as the winner after a year-long selection process that involved 18 semifinalists and then 4 finalists who shared in a $150,000 prize endowed by Howard E. Cox, Jr. (MBA 1969), now an advisory partner in the venture capital firm Greylock Partners and a member of both the HBS Healthcare Initiative Advisory Board and the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows. As the final winner, Bloodbuy will receive an additional $50,000.

The other three finalists included Twine Health, Medalogix, and I-PASS. All the finalists showed strong results and continued innovation throughout the year, making it a very close competition.

Starting today the Forum on Health Care Innovation is accepting entries for the 2016 Health Acceleration Challenge. What proven innovations have you created that would enhance health care value in the U.S. if broadly disseminated? To learn more or to submit your innovation, please visitwww.healthaccelerationchallenge.com.

ABOUT THE HBS-HMS FORUM ON HEALTH CARE INNOVATION
The Forum on Health Care Innovation is a collaboration between Harvard Business School (HBS) and Harvard Medical School (HMS). Its purpose is to unite leading executives, policymakers, and academics in a cross-disciplinary exploration of innovative actions to improve quality, reduce costs, and, ultimately, increase value in the health care industry. In 2014 the Forum launched the Health Acceleration Challenge to identify and promote demonstrated health care innovations, and selected four finalists and one winner to share the Cox Prize.

ABOUT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
Harvard Medical School has more than 7,500 full-time faculty working in 10 academic departments located at the School’s Boston campus or in hospital-based clinical departments at 15 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children’s Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and VA Boston Healthcare System.