When Innovate Carolina last caught up with Sha Chang, founder of social enterprise EmpowerRT and professor at the UNC School of Medicine, she was thrilled that her venture had just secured its first test site in Africa. Now, just two years later, EmpowerRT has wrapped its initial work at the Zambia Cancer Disease Hospital and is looking to bring its solution to cancer patients in other areas of the world.
EmpowerRT improves cancer treatment in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs) with a solution similar to modern treatment technology, but at less than 10 percent of the cost. At the Zambia test site, EmpowerRT demonstrated the feasibility of its solution in a clinical setting. The field work also allowed the team to test baseline methods for preparing and deploying its solution to other low-resourced areas.
“Changing the world doesn’t mean that everyone needs to find the next big thing. We should emphasize sharing knowledge and the inventions we already have, so we can create real benefit to people in need,” says Chang, director of medical physics research in the medical school’s radiation oncology department. “I hope to make a meaningful impact in cancer treatment with our solution that enables resource-limited cancer clinics to do more with less.”
| UNC-CH