Robert Mannino Wins $100,000 Cisco Global Problem Solver Prize for Smartphone App
May 14, 2018 – CAF congratulates Robert Mannino, PhD student at Georgia Tech and Emory University, on winning the $100,000 Cisco Problem Solver Prize at the 17th annual Rice University Business Plan Competition in April. Robert and his teammate Prateek Mittal competed against nearly 400 student teams from around in this startup competition for graduate students.
Robert’s prize-winning smartphone app proves a widely accessible and non-invasive way to diagnos anemia using photos of a patient’s fingernails. Last year, Robert won the 2017 Student Technology Prize for Primary Healthcare from Massachusetts General Hospital, making this his second time winning $100,000 to further develop this app.
Robert was diagnosed with beta thalassemia major at 6 months old and decided at the young age of 16 that he would focus his career on finding ways to improve the lives of people with thalassemia. We thank Robert for his continued commitment to this cause, and we congratulate him on this remarkable achievement.