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UMass Lowell, MA
SUD Sprint: Tackling the Drug Crisis with Entrepreneurial Leadership
2025 SUD Sprint Now Open!
Join us to learn more at our February 13, 2025 open house.
No Cost to Participants!
What is the Babson SUD Sprint?
Now in its third year, Babson SUD Sprint (formerly L-SPRINT) is a 6-day bespoke program in entrepreneurship and commercialization for researchers and inventors tackling substance use disorders (SUD)/drug addiction, taught at the world’s #1 college for entrepreneurship. Come join us at our Open House on February 13 at 4 p.m. ET to learn more.
Meet our 2023 cohort and 2024 cohort, with innovations encompassing recovery support, addiction risk assessment, medication management, substitution pharmacotherapy, and many more prevention/treatment modalities.
The program’s 30 participants will also attend follow-on monthly virtual mentoring sessions and nurture new network connections to a greater ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors interested in drug addiction solutions.
A FULL SCHOLARSHIP for every participant.
Babson created SUD Sprint with a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to facilitate the commercialization of innovative SUD prevention and treatment solutions. Thanks to this grant, each of the 30 admitted applicants will receive a full program scholarship — including round-trip flights to the Babson campus.
I got the equivalent of a Master’s Degree in SUD innovation and market acceleration in one week.”
Denise Hummel Isaacson
Founder and CEO, RevMyLife
Game-changing entrepreneurship education in the hub of life sciences innovation
While NIDA funds several programs to advance early-stage SUD prevention/treatment solutions, only Babson SUD Sprint is devoted exclusively to developing YOU as an entrepreneur. Because the sooner you can take your idea to market, the sooner you can start saving lives.
2025 SUD Sprint Cohort In-kind Awards
Last year, seven Babson SUD Sprint alumni turned their innovative ideas into award-winning ventures by applying what they learned in the program. Now it’s your turn.
Babson SUD Sprint at a glance
For five intensive days, you and your peer innovators will engage with Babson’s signature Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® methodology. Expect to expand well beyond your science, to explore and develop your untapped potential as an entrepreneur with workshops covering topics including:
- The SUD Ecosystem: Stakeholders and Challenges
- Methods for Moving from Invention to Opportunity
- SUD Entrepreneurship: Teams, Processes, and Outcomes
- Methods for Addressing Uncertainty in the SUD Commercialization Process
- Financing for SUDs
- and more.
And because of Babson’s optimal location just west of Boston, you’ll have opportunities to make connections in one of the world’s largest, most influential life sciences innovation ecosystems.
Babson Health Entrepreneurial Leader Network: Substance Use Disorders (SUD)
Whether you are part of the SUD Sprint cohort or not, you are welcome to join our community. Visit our Babson Health Entrepreneurial Leader Network, and join forces to accelerate innovation in the prevention or treatment of substance use disorders and addiction.
I learned so much! My business partner and I had previously discussed many of the topics that were covered during the L-SPRINT, but this was the first time that they all came together in a way that I understood.”
Danielle Dick
Professor of Psychiatry, Director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center, Unchained Health LLC
Resources for applicants
- Join our mailing list for the latest SUD Sprint updates.
- Watch 1/23/2025 SUD Sprint Open House and Info Session featuring 2024 cohort member Daniel Morgan, Ph.D.
- Watch 2/13/2025 SUD Sprint Open House and Info Session featuring 2024 cohort member Brian Benson, M.D.
- Watch 12/3/2024 SUD Sprint Final Demo Day featuring our 2024 cohort
- Join our Babson Health Entrepreneurial Leader Network: Substance Use Disorders (SUD)
- Join us for our SUD Speaker Series: Voices of Innovation
- January 30, 2025: Kurt Nielsen, PhD, Managing Director and Co-Founder at Longview Leader, Former President & CEO - Parmaceutics International Inc. (Pii)
- Register here
- Read the recap of our Inaugural Program.
- Meet our 2023 Cohort
- Meet our 2024 Cohort
- Need approval from your director? Download an SUD Sprint Email Draft (docx).
| Schedule | |
|---|---|
| December 3, 2024 | Register for the SUD Sprint 2024 Cohort Final Demo Day |
| January 15, 2025 | Application Opens; apply now |
| January 23, 2025 | Open House #1 of 3; Watch recording |
| February 13, 2025 | Open House #2 of 3; Watch recording |
| February 19, 2025 | Early Decision Deadline |
| March 12, 2025 | Open House #3 of 3; Register here |
| March 31, 2025 | Application Due Date |
| April 4, 2025 | Early Application Decisions Announced |
| April 25, 2025 | Application Decisions Announced |
| May 15, 2025 | Announcement of Cohort 2025 |
| July 27-August 1, 2025 | Course takes place in-person on Babson College campus |
| July 31, 2025 | SUD Networking Event in-person; Boston TBA; Register here |
The wealth of business information and grant and support opportunities [shared during L-SPRINT] has inspired me to continue to move forward with my project. The faculty are so engaged in making a difference.”
Jeanie Chung, MD, PhD
Connect With Us
Why Babson College?
Babson College is the No. 1 school of entrepreneurship. It has maintained this prestigious position for over a quarter of a century.
What is NIDA?
NIDA is the National Institute on Drug Abuse and is one of the 27 institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their mission is to advance science on drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual and public health. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency which makes important discoveries that improve health and save lives.
What’s included in this NIDA-sponsored Babson SUD Sprint program?
A five-day in-person workshop for accelerating the commercialization of innovative solutions for substance use disorders; course materials; site visits, networking events with actors in the SUDs solution ecosystem; faculty-led mentoring meetings; travel to and from Babson College, housing accommodations, and meals. Babson College will make all travel arrangements and provide the housing accommodations and meals.
Is there any cost to participants?
There is no cost to participants as the NIDA grant provides funding for scholarships. Every admitted participant gets a full scholarship. Reimbursement will not be made for travel arrangements not made through Babson College.
What does the scholarship cover?
The scholarship covers program registration, tuition, workshop materials, housing accommodation, meals, and travels (ground, rail, and air).
What topics does the program cover?
Entrepreneurial Thought & Action,® design thinking, product and customer development, commercializing emerging technologies, entrepreneurial sales and marketing, entrepreneurial finance, entrepreneurial leadership, raising resources, and the art of pitching.
What is the schedule for the five-day in-person workshop?
Participants will arrive on a Sunday and have a welcome introduction dinner. The next five days feature workshop activities in 90-minute blocks with breaks. Evening events will consist of guest speakers and networking. The program ends by 5 p.m. on Friday.
Where does the program take place?
Babson Executive Conference Center, 1 Snyder Drive, Babson Park, MA 02457. It is located within Babson College, Babson Park, Massachusetts.
Do I need a finished product/solution?
No.
Do I need to already have in place a team working on the innovative solution?
No.
Can I apply individually? Or as a group?
You may apply individually or as a group. If applying as a group, there is less likelihood of the whole group being accepted into the program.
Have another question not listed here?
Contact us at sudsprint@babson.edu.
Program Facilitators
Wiljeana Jackson Glover
Co-principal Investigator and Co-director
Vincent Onyemah
Co-principal Investigator and Co-director
Angela Randolph
Co-principal Investigator and Co-director
Gina O’Connor
Affiliate Faculty
Michele Bernier
Program Manager
Andrew Zacharakis
Affiliate Faculty
Sherene Shenouda MBA’19
Innovation and Licensing Specialist, Mentor
Richard Bottner ’07, DHA, PA-C, CPHQ, FACHE
SUD Senior Advisor
