Ingenious Solutions to Real-World Problems

The first-place winners developed a prototype of Sugar Safe: a bracelet that would connect to a continuous glucose monitor to show whether blood sugar is low, high, or in a target range. Sirtaj Grewal/Media Solutions

Parents might expect their kids to come home from summer camp with scraped knees and a touch of sun. Those whose kids have Type 1 diabetes, however, have to worry about camp counselors who don’t know how to recognize or manage medical emergencies.

But what if a quick glance at the child could immediately convey that they’re okay? That’s the transformational idea behind the winning pitch at last spring’s ShaRx Tank at the UW School of Pharmacy, a competition where student pharmacists pitch entrepreneurial ideas for new products and services to a panel of alumni judges in the field.

First-place winners Olive Cerniglia PharmDx’28 and Callie Berg ’26, PharmDx’28 developed a prototype of Sugar Safe: a bracelet that would connect to a continuous glucose monitor to show whether blood sugar is low, high, or in a target range. A phone app paired with the bracelet would display colors to help parents, children, and caregivers understand the readings.

The team earned $3,500 to develop their idea, including pilot-testing the bracelet with real families.

Other pitches included a device for filtering out antibiotics that enter the water system; a counseling service for GLP-1 users; an app to help patients track their supplements; and a device to lessen pain related to IUD insertion. Each idea was refined by speaking with the potential patients who would benefit from the new products and services.

The ShaRx Tank program has grown to include collaborations beyond pharmacy, with students from biomedical engineering, computer science, law, and business. The teams met throughout the academic year with program leaders such as pharmacy professor Beth Martin ’90, MS’03, PhD’06 and George Zorich ’78, who helped launch the entrepreneurial student group at the School of Pharmacy and continue to mentor its participants.

“This teaches a lesson in how a corporate or business environment would work in real life and the collaboration and communication required,” says Zorich, who funds the competition’s prizes.

Judges included Sarah Sorum PharmD’05, CEO and executive vice president of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.

“The teams connected their ideas to real-world challenges facing patients, pharmacists, and the health care system,” Sorum says. “The quality of the pitches reflected strong innovation and problem-solving but also a genuine commitment to improving patient care and advancing the profession of pharmacy.”

Published in the Winter 2026 issue