TECHPLUG LEVERAGES HEALTH TECH COHORT TO INK DEAL BETWEEN SIMPLE HEALTHKIT AND SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY AT NEW ORLEANS FOR COVID-19 RAPID TESTING AND OTHER
NEW ORLEANS, LA (January 12, 2022) – Today, TECHPLUG announced that Simple HealthKit and Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO) are partnering to provide COVID-19 rapid tests for the university community, beginning this semester. Simple HealthKit, a medical diagnostic company providing testing products and services, is a client of TECHPLUG. TECHPLUG has assembled a cohort of health technology companies that specifically target vulnerable communities.
“The partnership between Simple HealthKit and Southern University at New Orleans is a first of its kind collaboration between a health tech company and a historically black college and university (HBCU),” said Kornelius Bankston, managing partner of TECHPLUG. “Both organizations are leveraging their unique expertise to help address the current health crisis while also driving positive outcomes for students and their extended families. In short, this project can help impact health disparities and the health equity gap one individual and one family at a time.
” Support from retail giant Walmart was the catalyst for this effort. Walmart introduced TECHPLUG and Simple HealthKit to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) representatives, which strives to create unparalleled opportunities for students attending HBCUs. As a result, TMCF helped TECHPLUG and Simple HealthKit connect with SUNO, one of TMCF’s member schools.
“We are pleased to partner with Simple HealthKit and TECHPLUG to provide much-needed services for our faculty, staff, and students,” said Dr. James H. Ammons Jr., Executive Vice President-Chancellor. “The health and well-being of our university community are among our top priorities amid this ongoing pandemic. We feel that providing the SUNO community with this service will give them a level of ease in knowing the status of their health.”
“We hope this collaboration of services will be a model for other HBCUs to offer such amenities to their student populations.” Chancellor Ammons added, “HBCUs have always held the mindset that family, community and service are essential elements in the college experience.
Bankston added, “Because many students at HBCUs are the first generation to attend college, we as a community have an opportunity – a responsibility – to help students stay healthy while equipping them to take valuable information and resources home to their families so that they can stay healthy also. What happens at SUNO can spread exponentially and positively affect so many others far beyond the campus.”
Founded in 2018 in the San Francisco Bay area, Simple HealthKit will soon have a New Orleans office at The Lab by TECHPLUG, an innovation hub opening in the Tremé neighborhood in January 2022. The Lab will serve as a space to collaborate and develop tools and relationships to advance health outcomes in the New Orleans community. They will join five other companies with additional cohort members scheduled to come on board later in 2022.
To stay up-to-date on the latest news and services from Simple HealthKit,visit simplehealthkit.com. To learn more about TECHPLUG and the other health tech companies in the cohort, visit techplug.tech .
About TECHPLUG
TECHPLUG was founded with the intention to address health disparities in vulnerable
populations. We believe all populations should have access to tech that decreases barriers of
entry. We believe technologies should increase quality of life and health without leaving
populations behind. The Lab by TECHPLUG is a community-centric innovation hub that
provides startups and communities (members and leaders) a space to collaborate to develop
tools and relationships to advance health outcomes in the New Orleans community. Learn more
at techplug.tech.
About Simple HealthKit
Simple HealthKit is an organization comprised of health tech builders that build innovative
consumer diagnostic products that are accurate, rapid, accessible and affordable. This gives us
a unique ability to transform the healthcare industry, bringin about social impact and solving the
world’s most challenging problems. Learn more at www.simplehealthkit.com.
About SUNO
Southern University at New Orleans is a premier, cutting-edge institution that endeavors to
advance the educational standing of students by preparing them to participate in and contribute
to a global society and workforce development with the necessary skills, knowledge and
dispositions to improve their life-long learning skills, and contributions to society through a
TEAM (Togetherness Empowers all Mechanisms) approach.
