This summer, 42 interns gathered at Fogarty Innovation for the fifth annual summer Healthtech Exploration Workshop. The students represented a variety of backgrounds and are pursuing college majors ranging from biomedical engineering to business, but they all had one important thing in common: an interest in advancing health equity. Participating companies included Apreo Health, Element Science, Imperative Care, Recor Medical and Fogarty Innovation. Over two days, July 9-10, 2026, the interns were immersed in presentations, panels, and hands-on activities to help them leverage innovation, technology, and their own voices to improve access and equity in the medtech ecosystem.
“Everyone’s journey is different, so sitting in a room with dozens of students, health professionals, and mentors allowed me to understand a plethora of viewpoints on health tech in a way I have never experienced before.” – Apreo Health intern
“The program really helped me understand the “access” aspect of the healthtech. I have more clarity on what kind of innovation I can do as an engineer that improves healthtech access for everyone.” – Imperative Care Intern
“It’s not every day you get to sit down and interview three different startup founders in the span of an hour. I had lot of incredible conversations.” – Apreo Health intern
“Amazing thoughtful speakers who shared a fantastic ratio of examples and lessons to connect them. The sessions are immediately relevant, and I plan to take what I’ve learned into my current internship and beyond. The sessions did a great job accounting for various disciplines and levels of knowledge.” – 2026 participant
Key takeaway: “The importance of providing healthcare to areas with little resources. Also, how easy it can be to solve some of these issues but how often it goes ignored. As an industry, we need to constantly be thinking of ALL patients.” – Imperative Care intern