I3@USD-Fall 2025

and the painstaking process of FDA approval. Yet perseverance is starting to pay off. The company is launching pilots at medical institutions like Sharp Chula Vista, while also collaborating with the Mayo Clinic’s AI accelerator. Their technology — initially envisioned as hardware alone — has evolved into a powerful data-driven platform that gives nurses and clinicians actionable insights on their phones, reducing risks and improving patient-centered care. Funding has been another challenge. Shao recalls the difficulty of fundraising in 2024, when venture capital seemed out of reach. But validation from clinicians reignited momentum, and smaller investors stepped in to keep the vision alive. “We could have pursued more lucrative paths,” Shao admits, “but this work is vitally important. Seeing positive clinical reception has changed our morale and confirmed we’re on the right track.” The company has evolved since its initial founding. “If you had asked me seven years ago what our product was going to be, I would have told you it was going to be about hardware,” Shao states. “That is still part of the focus, but it’s really about using high-frequency data to predict and prevent negative patient outcomes. Now it’s more about the data.” As Darroch Medical Solutions moves closer to commercialization, Shao remains focused on the ultimate goal: transforming healthcare delivery into a system where risks are caught early, care is truly patient-centered and technology serves humanity.

Tech Serves Humanity health-tech company Shao co-founded and now leads as CEO. The venture has spent the past

W hen Anthony Shao ’18 (EE/ BBA) first considered his career path, healthcare was not at the top of his list. As an engineering student, he spent a summer interning with a defense contractor, grateful for the opportunity but struck by a roommate’s blunt question: “Do That moment of reflection changed everything. Soon after, he connected with USD’s Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science and found a more meaningful purpose: using technology to address various urgent challenges in patient care. With critical help from De Sanctis Professor of Engineering and Entrepreneurship Venkat Shastri, PhD, and USD’s Engineering and Entrepreneurship Program, that spark grew into Darroch Medical Solutions, a you realize you’re working in an industry built to harm people?”

seven years developing a platform that leverages high-frequency patient data to predict adverse events before they arise — from identifying restlessness markers to prevent dangerous falls and bed injuries to identifying early metabolic markers of sepsis. “Every engineer’s weakness is focusing only on the product,” Shao explained. “At USD, I gained a holistic view of the human, clinical and technological sides of healthcare. That perspective has guided everything we’ve built.” Darroch’s journey has not been an easy one. Shao now understands what Shastri meant when he described the CEO role as “the loneliest job in the world,” marked by long stretches of uncertainty, rejections from investors

12 USD ENGINEERING