The American Heart Association (AHA) announced the winners of its Health Tech Competition during Scientific Sessions 2026, recognizing two companies for their potential to address significant challenges in cardiovascular and brain health. The competition, hosted by the AHA Center for Health Technology & Innovation, received a record number of submissions from health technology companies worldwide, according to the announcement issued via NEWMEDIAWIRE.
MedRhythms, based in Portland, Maine, received the Best Business, Audience Choice, and Best Overall awards for its digital health and neurotherapeutics solution that combines sensors, software, and music to help people improve walking and mobility after stroke or other neurological injury or disease. The at-home, prescription therapy uses foot-worn sensors to track walking and software to adjust music rhythm to the individual's movement, with the goal of improving walking speed and quality.
Vascudyne, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, received the Best Science award for its bioengineered blood vessel technology. The grafts are being developed to provide alternatives to harvesting a patient's leg vein for coronary bypass surgery and to create conduits for children with congenital heart defects that have the potential to grow with them. The company uses human donor cells to grow tissue, removes the cells, and leaves behind a collagen framework designed to allow the patient's own cells to populate it after implantation.
"The Health Tech Competition gives us a close look at technologies designed around real challenges facing patients and clinicians," said Lee Shapiro, JD, chairman of the board of the American Heart Association and managing partner of 7wire Ventures. "This year's winners demonstrated the attributes essential to advancing health technology: strong scientific evidence, meaningful business potential and innovative ways to address the challenges of those in need."
The other finalists were HEARTio (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), which is developing AI software to analyze standard ECGs for obstructive coronary artery disease; MEGI (Chicago, Illinois), an AI-powered digital health platform focused on women's heart health, maternal care, and hypertension management; and Seerlinq (Bratislava, Slovakia), which estimates cardiac filling pressure non-invasively from a fingertip PPG measurement to detect heart failure deterioration weeks before hospitalization.
The implications of these recognitions extend beyond the awards themselves. For MedRhythms, the win could accelerate access to a home-based rehabilitation option for stroke survivors who often face limited access to effective therapy after leaving the clinic. "Millions of people are living with walking difficulties after stroke, yet many have limited access to effective rehabilitation once they leave the clinic," said Brian Harris, founder and CEO of MedRhythms. For Vascudyne, the Best Science award validates a platform that could reduce surgical invasiveness for adults and provide growing grafts for children with congenital heart defects, potentially improving long-term outcomes.
The competition's rigorous multi-stage review by AHA volunteer experts across healthcare, science, and industry underscores the emphasis on scientific evidence and business viability. More information about the competition is available at ahahealthtech.org/aha-health-tech-competition-2026. The AHA also noted that selection as a finalist or winner does not constitute an endorsement, certification, or validation of any company, product, clinical claim, or commercial offering.
As health technologies continue to emerge, the AHA's recognition serves as a signal to investors, clinicians, and patients about which innovations may soon move from the lab to real-world care. The finalists' presentations took place Nov. 7-8 at McCormick Place in Chicago during Scientific Sessions 2026, the AHA's flagship global event for cardiovascular science. For more information about the AHA's broader efforts, visit heart.org or stroke.org.
