Elevator Pitch: RockHealth Co-Founder Halle Tecco

Fresh out of Harvard Business Schools class of 2011, Halle Tecco could have easily put on a power suit, nabbed a high-paying gig in investment banking or corporate consulting and put off non-profit work until her golden years.

Instead she founded RockHealth, a non-profit seed-accelerator program aimed at shaking up the world of healthcare by providing health-related tech startups with funding and support. Startups selected to participate in RockHealth will receive $20,000, mentorship, and connections to RockHealths medical partners, which include the Mayo Clinic and Cincinnati Childrens Hospital.

The US healthcare industry has been slow to embrace technology in a lot of ways, but more and more app developers and startups have been getting into the space. Research has shown that using more e-care could ultimately save the government billions of dollars in healthcare spending over the next 15-20 years, and the FCC and the FDA are working to clear the regulatory path to allow hospitals to use technology like smartphones in patient care. The FDA already monitors new health-related apps like iStethoscope to assure consumers that theyre safe. RockHealth aims to be an intermediary between its medical partners and small healthcare-related startups, using its connections to lower startups barriers to entry.

I recently sat down with Tecco so she could give GigaOM readers her elevator pitch:

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