Breakthrough healthcare companies rarely succeed on the strength of an innovative idea alone. Behind many founders stands a network of mentors, investors, and experienced entrepreneurs willing to open doors long before the wider market recognizes their potential.
Creating those connections became the reason The Agora Initiative was founded. Led by Bailey Romans, the organization helps women-led technology companies build the relationships, insight, and confidence needed to transform promising ideas into growing businesses.
“We believe extraordinary, venture-backable companies exist everywhere,” says Bailey. “Our role is to help remove the barriers that often prevent women entrepreneurs from accessing the capital, networks, and opportunities they need to build transformational companies.”
Among the founders who have benefited from that community are Dr. Therese Canares of CurieDx and Marie Brodsky of WISE Connect. Although they are tackling very different healthcare challenges, both companies grew from deeply personal experiences and demonstrate what becomes possible when innovative ideas are matched with the right people at the right time.
Delivering Answers When Time Matters Most
Working in pediatric emergency medicine meant Dr. Therese Canares rarely had the luxury of waiting. Clinicians often needed to make critical decisions before definitive laboratory results arrived while anxious families waited for answers that could shape the next steps in a child’s care. Watching those moments unfold day after day convinced her that physicians needed reliable diagnostic answers much sooner.
She founded CurieDx to bring together advanced diagnostics and artificial intelligence using just a smartphone image. She built this to help physicians identify strep throat, influenza, and other acute conditions earlier, allowing treatment to begin sooner while reducing uncertainty for families during some of the most stressful moments they will ever face. This technology spans beyond in-person care and into remote care, where patients can scan themselves with a phone picture and get diagnosed with the help of a telehealth physician.
“I believe that you shouldn’t suffer when you’re sick. Sick patients and their families should get answers when or where they need it,” says Dr. Canares. “This is essentially a lab in your pocket, which means no more painful swabs. It means reduced antibiotic overprescribing. It means containing infectious outbreaks more quickly.”
Bringing AI diagnostic research from bench to bedside required expertise well beyond scientific discovery. Clinical validation, product development, commercialization, fundraising, and regulatory strategy all became essential as CurieDx evolved from an ambitious idea into a growing healthcare technology company.
Through The Agora Initiative, Dr. Canares connected with experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and advisors whose practical perspective helped her navigate those challenges while continuing to grow the business.
Reimagining Healthy Aging
Marie Brodsky never imagined her grandfather would become the inspiration behind her company. When Yasha moved in with her family, she watched an independent man gradually lose many of the routines that had once shaped his daily life. Driving became difficult, technology felt unfamiliar, and many of the social connections that had once defined his days gradually disappeared, even though he still wanted to remain active within his community.
Watching that transition unfold prompted Marie to question why growing older so often meant becoming disconnected from the people, services, and opportunities that help someone continue living independently.
She founded WISE Connect to bring transportation, local services, community programs, and social opportunities together in one place, helping older adults remain active, independent, and connected. Marie believes healthy aging depends on far more than medical care. Purpose, meaningful relationships, mobility, and belonging all contribute to living well.
“My grandfather completely changed how I understood aging,” she says. “I realized millions of older adults aren’t looking for someone to take over their lives. They’re looking for the confidence and connections that allow them to keep living them.”
From the earliest prototypes through each stage of development, older adults have remained active participants in shaping WISE Connect. Marie and her team continue designing alongside the people who use the platform, ensuring lived experience guides both new features and the broader direction of the company.
Success in an early pilot with the City of Fairfax helped secure support from the National Institutes of Health, accelerating product development and investment in custom artificial intelligence. The Agora Initiative also introduced Marie to mentors, investors, and fellow founders whose experience proved invaluable as WISE Connect continued to grow.
“We’re creating more than a platform,” she says. “We’re helping build a future where aging remains connected, purposeful, and full of possibility.”
Innovation Begins with People
CurieDx and WISE Connect began with very different questions, yet both demonstrate how deeply personal experiences can become meaningful healthcare innovations. One founder set out to help physicians deliver answers more quickly for children and their families. The other wanted older adults to remain connected to the people, services, and communities that allow them to live independently.
Neither company reached this point through expertise alone. Experienced founders shared hard-earned lessons, investors helped create opportunities, and trusted advisors provided perspective as each business navigated the realities of growth.
That is where The Agora Initiative continues making a difference. By bringing founders together with entrepreneurs, investors, and advisors who understand the challenges of building innovative companies, the organization continues strengthening Maryland’s healthcare innovation ecosystem while helping more promising ideas become businesses capable of changing lives.
Marie Brodsky of WISE Connect
Dr. Therese Canares of CurieDx
