3 Houston innovators to know this week

who's who

This week's roundup of Houston innovators includes Thomas Vassiliades of BiVACOR, Katie Mehnert of ALLY Energy, and Don Whaley of OhmConnect Texas. Courtesy photos

Editor's note: In this week's roundup of Houston innovators to know, I'm introducing you to three local innovators across industries — from health care innovation to energy — recently making headlines in Houston innovation.

Thomas Vassiliades, CEO of BiVACOR

BiVACOR named Thomas Vassiliades as CEO effective immediately. Photo courtesy of BiVACOR

Thomas Vassiliades has been named CEO of BiVACOR, and he replaces the company's founder, Daniel Timms, in the position. BiVACOR is on track to head toward human clinical trials and commercialization, and Vassiliades is tasked with leading the way.

Vassiliades has over 30 years of experience within the medical device industry as well as cardiothoracic surgery. He was most recently the general manager of the surgery and heart failure business at Abiomed and held several leadership roles at Medtronic. Dr. Vassiliades received his MD from the University of North Carolina, and his MBA was achieved with distinction at Emory University.

“I am excited and honored to join the BiVACOR team, working closely with Daniel and the entire team as we look forward to bringing this life-changing technology to the market,” says Dr. Vassiliades in the release. “Throughout my career, I’ve been guided by the goal of bringing innovative cardiovascular therapies to the market to improve patient care and outcomes – providing solutions for those that don’t have one. BiVACOR is uniquely well-positioned to provide long-term therapy for patients with severe biventricular heart failure.” Click here to read more.

Katie Mehnert, CEO and founder of ALLY Energy

Katie Mehnert joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the future of energy amid a pandemic, climate change, the Great Resignation, and more. Photo via Katie Mehnert

Katie Mehnert started ALLY Energy — originally founded as Pink Petro — to move forward DEI initiatives, and she says she started with building an audience first and foremost, but now the technology part of the platform has fallen into place too. Last summer, ALLY Energy acquired Clean Energy Social, which meant doubling its community while also onboarding new technology. On the episode, Mehnert reveals that this new website and platform is now up and running.

"We launched the integrated product a few weeks back," Mehnert says. "The whole goal was to move away from technology that wasn't serving us."

Now, moving into the new year, Mehnert is building the team the company needs. She says she hopes to grow ALLY from two employees to 10 by the end of the year and is looking for personnel within customer support, product developers, and sales and service. While ALLY is revenue generating, she also hopes to fundraise to further support scaling. Click here to read more.

Don Whaley, president at OhmConnect Texas

Texas is about a month away from the anniversary of Winter Storm Uri — would the state fair better if it saw a repeat in 2022? Photo courtesy

The state of Texas is about a month away from the one year anniversary of Winter Storm Uri — but is the state better prepared this winter season? Don Whaley, president at OhmConnect Texas, looked at where the state is now versus then in a guest column for InnovationMap.

"Governor Abbott has gone on record guaranteeing that the lights will stay on this winter, and I am inclined to agree. With the reinforcement of our fuel systems being mandated by the Railroad Commission, 2023 to 2025 should receive the same guarantee," he writes. "Beyond that, as the demand for electricity in Texas continues to grow, we will need to rely on the initiatives under consideration by the PUCT to attract investment and innovation in new, dispatchable generation and flexible demand solutions to ensure long-term stability in the ERCOT market.

Whaley has worked for over 40 years in the natural gas, electricity, and renewables industries, with specific experience in deregulated markets across the U.S. and Canada. He founded Direct Energy Texas and served as its president during the early years of deregulation. Click here to read more.

Texas is about a month away from the anniversary of Winter Storm Uri — would the state fair better if it saw a repeat in 2022? Photo by Lynn in Midtown via CultureMap

Opinion: Houston energy expert weighs in on if the state's power grid is ready for winter

guest column

The Winter Storm Uri, which struck Texas in February of 2021, was an unprecedented event in both severity and duration. At its most extreme, temperatures were as much as 40 to 50 degrees below their historic averages. The storm resulted in the largest controlled blackout in U.S. history, forcing the shedding of more than 23 gigawatts of load, the loss of power to 4.5 million homes and businesses for periods of one to four days, and the tragic loss of hundreds of lives.

A crisis of this magnitude has resulted in an intense re-examination of the Texas power grid. Not surprisingly, it has also resulted in record levels of finger-pointing and an ongoing search to identify the parties responsible. Among the casualties were all three Public Utility Commissioners that regulate the industry and a virtual purge of ERCOT, the organization that operates and manages the grid.

The Texas 87th Legislature filed an inordinate number of bills to address the electric system's failings, and Governor Abbott’s office has been vocal and actively working to ensure that there will never again be a repeat of the events of February 2021. The principal focus of the now reconstituted and expanded Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has been defining and implementing changes to system rules and operations in order to extract a greater degree of reliability from existing assets and incentivize the construction of significantly more MW of dispatchable generation. Many of the changes implemented by the PUCT will provide the market with a greater cushion against shocks to the system, moving the market away from a crisis management mode and towards a more proactive footing. We can expect even more change once current policies are assessed and more aggressive proposals are analyzed to determine whether they offer more benefit than harm to the market.

Amid all the debate, discussion, and wringing of hands, only one report has come close to identifying the smoking gun at the center of the crisis: the need for weatherization. The notion that weatherizing of generating assets is the key to future reliability has been discussed ad nauseum, but the report issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on November 16, 2021, attributes an equal share of the blame to the natural gas producing, processing, and transportation sector and its inability to perform reliably under the harsh conditions of Uri.

In the areas affected worst by the storm, gas production in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana fell by more than 50 percent at its lowest point when compared to average production in the prior month. The Railroad Commission, not the Public Utility Commission, regulates natural gas transmission, and it was slow off the mark given the focus on generation. The Railroad Commission has now begun to implement weatherization requirements, with new initiatives slated to be in full effect for the winter of 2023.

It is imprudent to use “never” as a time scale, but I would place the probability at “remote” that Texas will see a recurrence of the events of February 2021 in 2022. In the unlikely event we did, the impacts would likely pale in comparison to those experienced last February. This is due both to the heightened state of preparedness with which the industry will approach the coming winter and the impact of changes put into effect by the PUCT as of January 1, 2022.

Governor Abbott has gone on record guaranteeing that the lights will stay on this winter, and I am inclined to agree. With the reinforcement of our fuel systems being mandated by the Railroad Commission, 2023 to 2025 should receive the same guarantee. Beyond that, as the demand for electricity in Texas continues to grow, we will need to rely on the initiatives under consideration by the PUCT to attract investment and innovation in new, dispatchable generation and flexible demand solutions to ensure long-term stability in the ERCOT market.

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Don Whaley is president at OhmConnect Texas and has worked for over 40 years in the natural gas, electricity, and renewables industries, with specific experience in deregulated markets across the U.S. and Canada. He founded Direct Energy Texas and served as its president during the early years of deregulation.

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6 Houston health tech startups making major advancements right now

meet the finalists

Home to leading hospitals, universities and health-focused incubators, Houston is a breeding ground for innovative medical technology and breakthroughs that can improve outcomes and lead to a better quality of life for patients.

The Health Tech Business category in our 2025 Houston Innovation Awards will honor an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors.

Six forward-thinking businesses have been named finalists for the 2025 award. They range from an end-of-life care company to others developing devices and systems for heart monitoring, sleep apnea, hearing loss and more.

Read more about these businesses, their innovative founders, and how they're shaping the future of health care below. Then join us at the Houston Innovation Awards on Nov. 13 at Greentown Labs, when the winner will be unveiled at our live awards ceremony.

Tickets are now on sale for this exclusive event celebrating all things Houston Innovation.

Bairitone Health

Bairitone Health is bringing anatomy imaging for sleep apnea to the home environment. The company's platform maps users' anatomy during natural sleep using a facial patch to determine the root cause of airway obstruction. It then offers effective therapies for each patient. The system is currently in the research and development phase and is being used in clinical trials and studies.

The company was founded in 2022 in the Texas Medical Center's Biodesign program by CEO Meagan Pitcher, CTO Onur Kilic and chief medical officer Britt Cross. It was a member of Activate Houston's inaugural cohort and has participated in numerous accelerators and incubators. It raised a pre-seed round last year of $435,000.

Corveus Medical

Corveus Medical has developed a novel catheter device that allows cardiologists to perform a splanchnic nerve ablation, restoring the pressure balance in patients with moderate heart failure. Its pre-FDA-approved, minimally invasive solution deactivates a nerve that has been demonstrated to be a root cause behind heart failure progression, which allows physicians to treat patients who have traditionally had few options.

The company, formerly known as Caridian Medical, was founded in 2021 by CEO Tyler Melton and CMO Ishan Kamat. It has participated in incubators such as TMC Biodesign, Y Combinator, MedTech Innovator and Fogarty Innovation and was named one of the 10 most promising life science companies at Texas Life Science Forum in 2022. The company says it will move toward validation and verification testing for its device in Q4 of this year.

FibroBiologics

Regenerative medicine company FibroBioligics uses fibroblasts, the body’s most common type of cell, rather than stem cells, to help grow new cells to repair tissue and modulate the immune system. The cell therapies offer treatments for chronic conditions such as degenerative disc disease, multiple sclerosis and non-healing wounds.

The publicly traded company was founded in 2021 by CEO Pete O'Heeron. It opened a new 10,000-square-foot Houston lab earlier this year to scale up research efforts and pave the way for in-house manufacturing. The company says it plans to launch its first clinical trial for diabetic foot ulcers soon, representing the transition of its fibroblast technology to the clinic setting.

Koda Health

Koda Health has developed an advance care planning platform (ACP) that allows users to document and share their care preferences, goals and advance directives for health systems. The web-based platform guides patients through values-based decisions with interactive tools and generates state-specific, legally compliant documents that integrate seamlessly with electronic health record systems. The company also added kidney action planning to its suite of services for patients with serious illnesses last year.

Koda Health was founded out of the TMC's Biodesign Fellowship in 2020 by CEO Tatiana Fofanova, chief medical officer Dr. Desh Mohan, and chief technology officer Katelin Cherry. The company raised a $7 million series A earlier this year, and also announced major partnerships and integrations with Epic, Guidehealth, Medical Home Network, Privia Health and others.

NanoEar

NanoEar has miniaturized hearing aid technology so that it can be implanted across the eardrum, allowing adults with age-related hearing loss to enjoy better sound quality than they would with behind-the-ear hearing aids.

Dr. Ron Moses, an ENT specialist and surgeon at Houston Methodist, developed the technology, and the company was founded in 2016 with CFO Willem Vermaat and COO Michael Moore. The company participated in the TMC Innovation Institute in 2016. It has issued nine U.S. patents and performed successful human cadaver and animal proof-of-concept experiments. Its next step is developing a prototype.

Wellysis USA

Wellysis USA Inc. works to detect heart rhythm disorders with its continuous ECG/EKG monitor with AI reporting. Its S-Patch cardiac monitor is designed for extended testing periods of up to 14 days on a single battery charge. The device weighs only 9 grams, is waterproof and designed to be comfortable to wear, and is considered to have a high detection rate for arrhythmias. It is ideally suited for patient-centric clinical trials to help physicians make diagnoses faster, cheaper and more conveniently.

It was established in Houston in 2023 and participated in the JLABS SFF Program the same year. It closed a $12 million series B last year. It was founded by CEO Young Juhn, CTO Rick Kim, CFO JungSoo Kim and chief strategy officer JoongWoo Kim.

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Houston university is at the top of the class in new college ranking

Top of the Class

Rice University is maintaining its reputation as one of the top colleges in the U.S., according to a new batch of rankings from WalletHub.

Rice topped WalletHub's 2026 lists comparing the best colleges and universities in Texas and the best universities in the South. The private institution also ranked as the 9th best university in the country, three spots lower than its 2024 ranking.

The personal finance website's experts analyzed nearly 800 colleges and universities in the U.S. using 30 key metrics, including factors like student-faculty ratios, graduation rates, campus safety, and many more.

Rice was ranked across seven major categories in the report and scored highly for its faculty resources (No. 10), student educational outcomes (No. 12), student selectivity (No. 16), student career outcomes (No. 26), and campus experience (No. 46).

The only two categories Rice lagged behind in were campus safety (No. 576) and cost and financing (No. 700). U.S. News & World Report says tuition and fees at Rice can add up to more than $65,000 per year for in-state students, with the total cost soaring to nearly $84,000 when factoring in the price for housing, food, books and supplies, transportation, and personal expenses.

In addition to topping WalletHub's rankings, Rice has also claimed top spots in other prestigious lists by U.S. News, Forbes, The Princeton Review, and more. Rice's revered graduate schools – including the MBA program at the Jones Graduate School of Business and Brown School of Engineering and Computing – are also among the best in the country, according to U.S. News and The Princeton Review.

Locally, University of Houston also ranked among the statewide top 10 and ranked as the 268th best university in the U.S. for 2026. In the regional rankings of best universities in the South, UH ranked 52nd on the list

The 10 best colleges and universities in Texas for 2026 are:

No. 1 – Rice University, Houston
No. 2 – The University of Texas at Austin
No. 3 – Trinity University, San Antonio
No. 4 – Texas A&M University-College Station
No. 5 – Texas Christian University, Fort Worth
No. 6 – Austin College, Sherman
No. 7 – Southwestern University, Georgetown
No. 8 – University of Dallas
No. 9 – The University of Texas at Dallas
No. 10 – University of Houston

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Port Houston reports emissions progress as cargo volumes climb

Greener growth

Port Houston’s initiatives to reduce emissions have shown some positive results, according to new data from the Port of Houston Authority.

Pulling from the Goods Movement Emissions Inventory (GMEI) report, which tracks port-related air emissions, Port Houston cited several improvements compared to the most recent report from 2019.

The port has seen total tonnage and container volumes increase by 16 percent and 28 percent, respectively, since 2019. However, greenhouse gas emissions have increased at a slower rate, growing only by 10 percent during the same time period, according to the data.

Additionally, emissions of nitrogen oxide fell by 7 percent, and emissions of particulate matter fell by 4 percent, despite adding 280 more pieces of cargo handling equipment.

“These results show that our emission-reduction efforts are working, and we are moving in the right direction,” Chairman Ric Campo said in a news release.

The Port Commission also recently approved items related to the $3 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Ports Program (CPP) grant, which it received last year. The items will allow the port to work towards five new sustainability initiatives.

They include:

An inventory of the port’s Scopes 1, 2, and 3 for greenhouse gas emissions
A Port Area Climate Action Plan for the area and surrounding communities
A CPP Truck Route Analysis
Creation of the CPP Trucking Industry Collaborative
Design of a customized website for Port of Houston Partners in Maritime Education, which is a non-profit leading maritime workforce development effort in local schools

Port Houston aims to be carbon neutral by 2050.

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