Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Health is partnering with startup accelerator Tampa Bay Wave to launch a dual-region tech cohort focused on behavioral health and addiction treatment companies.
HealthTech|X, run through Vanderbilt Health’s Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation, will give founders selected for the 2026 cohort direct access to Vanderbilt researchers, clinicians, informaticists and health system leaders. Startups will also gain paths to clinical research partnerships and licensing of Vanderbilt technologies.
“Behavioral health and addiction don’t leave room for ideas that only work on paper. Founders need clinicians willing to test their technology against real patients, fast,” said Linda Olson, founder and CEO of Tampa Bay Wave, in a Sept. 23 news release.
Ken Holroyd, MD, director of the Brock Family Center for Applied Innovation, stated that the collaboration connects founders with Nashville’s healthcare innovation ecosystem alongside Vanderbilt’s clinical and research resources.
The cohort will run across Tampa and Nashville, with in-person session weeks in each city, virtual engagement between them, and pitch nights culminating in a remote Demo Day. Tampa Bay Wave also works with Tampa General Hospital, USF Health, Moffitt Cancer Center and the Tampa Medical Research District, all headquartered in Tampa, as well as Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System.
