All About JADA

The Birth of JADA

As a Cal Poly senior biomedical engineering student, Alex Norred needed a project to meet his graduation requirement. He wondered if there was a way to control postpartum hemorrhage by using a device that utilized vacuum suction instead of suturing or packing the bleeding uterus. He sought advice from Dr. George Harper, a prominent physician in his hometown, and Dr. David Lagrew, a high-risk obstetrician who was also working on the problem of obstetrical hemorrhage. The three conceptualized a novel approach of a hemorrhage control device intended to have broad application in high- and low-income countries alike, and then Norred enlisted his fellow student, Davis Carlin, to help refine the device.

In 2011, after the project was selected for incubation by the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), the idea was incorporated into InPress Technologies, co-founded by CEO Jessie Becker, a recent Cal Poly business grad, and CTO Nathan Bair, a medical device engineer, along with first employee, Cal Poly engineering alumna, Amy Degenkolb. They were able to turn the school project into a business venture, securing the initial funding from key partners and developing the product with support from many other contributors along the way. The first clinical trial was completed in Indonesia, and as the team grew and new leaders joined the mission, a larger US trial followed, the PEARLE study. Data from PEARLE would serve as the clinical evidence needed to grant FDA clearance of the JADA System.

The company was renamed Alydia Health, and in 2021, Alydia Health was acquired by Organon, where the work continues to bring the JADA System to mothers around the world.