TJ Falohun, Cohort 20, is an innovator, entrepreneur, and a well-rounded QUEST alumnus. He started his undergraduate career at UMD as a bioengineering major, with a strong interest in biomaterials and regenerative medicine. 

TJ Falohun representing Olera at a conference

He continued on his educational journey to Texas A&M University, where he studied biomedical engineering. There, Falohun focused on implantable optical biosensors for diabetes and chronic kidney disease management with a team. After receiving his masters, he started his PhD, when he received a grant from the National Institute of Health.

The Small Business Innovation Research Award from NIH went to Olera, a company that Falohun co-founded. This company “operates in the digital health/senior care space and offers guidance to families with an elderly loved one in need of medical support to find the right care solution,” according to Falohun. His team’s goal for Olera is to “use novel technologies to improve human health.”

Falohun also co-founded Ai-Ris, which is currently “developing an AI-powered headset to screen for early signs of vision loss due to diabetes for use in underserved populations and primary care settings.” This innovative technology is currently a work in progress, and it will be exciting to watch its journey unfold!

The working Ai-Ris headset.

When asked what inspired him, Falohun stated that he “witnessed lots of potentially preventable human suffering due to shortcomings in healthcare systems.” This motivated him to study bioengineering and use that knowledge to develop technologies to help those who don’t receive help from the healthcare system. 

A learning moment that Falohun mentioned is: “Too often we compare ourselves to others on a singular or narrow set of criteria. We then beat ourselves up if we don’t perform well in that domain, and external societal pressures do not help. But it helps to remember that the world is very large, and there are a wide range of domains. I think we often don’t spend enough time finding those domains where we naturally excel/are passionate about.”

Falohun, pictured on the right, testing out the AI headset.

One last life hack that TJ Falohun mentioned is to use audiobooks! This is his way to combat mental fatigue from academia. We want to thank TJ Falohun for sharing his story and his journey with Olera and Ai-Ris and wish him all the best!