How the Founder of PillMed is Making Healthcare Smarter, One Pill at a Time
You might expect a medical student to spend her days buried in textbooks or on clinical rounds- not pitching a startup, building a medical device, and winning business awards. But that’s exactly what Pranathi Bingi is doing.
This year, Pranathi, co-founder of PillMed and current student at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, was awarded the Gary R. Petersen Future Texas Business Legend Award by the Texas Business Hall of Fame. One of eight Future Texas Business Legend Award recipients in 2025.
So how did a med student land one of the state’s top business honors? It started with one small idea, a lot of determination, and most of all: passion.
And in Pranathi’s case, she’s just getting started.
From Classroom to Clinic: Where the Idea Started
Long before PillMed, Pranathi was already exploring the intersection of medicine and innovation. During her undergraduate years at Texas Tech, she served as president of Sling Health Lubbock, a student-led biomedical incubator where med-minded students collaborated on real-world healthcare solutions.
“I first heard about the Hub during my undergraduate years at Texas Tech University. As someone who was planning to make Lubbock home for the next eight years, I was excited to discover a centered dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship,” explained Pranathi. “I also worked as an operations analyst for NemaLife, a startup located within the Hub, which gave me firsthand experience in a startup environment.”
It was through Sling Health and her STEM MBA that she connected with the Texas Tech Innovation Hub and Dr. Phil Sizer, a trusted iTTU Mentor who has continued to guide Pranathi and the PillMed team.
As she moved into med school, Pranathi kept seeing the same issue again and again: patients were struggling with their medications once they got home from the hospital. Whether it was forgetting doses, misunderstanding instructions, or managing multiple prescriptions, the challenge was the same and the consequences could be serious.
That’s when the idea for PillMed really began to take shape.
What Is PillMed?
At its core, PillMed is a smart supplemental device that supports patients after hospital discharge. It helps users stay on track with their prescribed medications through simple tools, timely alerts, and clear instructions.
The goal isn’t to reinvent healthcare but to make it easier for people to stick to the plans they already have.
The idea behind PillMed had been forming for a while, but the real momentum began when Pranathi started building her team. She brought in engineers Frank Muniz, Jeena Poudel, and Dr. Paul Egan, combining medical insight with technical expertise. With their team in place, they joined the NSF I-Corps Program in Spring 2024 to test their assumptions and validate the market need. That experience helped sharpen their business model and it showed.
“Surrounding myself with people who were just as passionate, driven, and committed to solving the problem of medication nonadherence transformed PillMed from an abstract idea into a tangible mission,” shares Pranathi. “Each team member brings a unique perspective and together, we started asking the right questions, challenging assumptions, and turning vision into action.”
Pranathi and her team led PillMed to become a finalistin the 2024 iLaunch Competition, earning a third-place finish and a $1,000 prize. This spring, the team secured $15,000 through the Prototype Fund and earned a spot in Cohort 9 of the Texas Tech Accelerator Program, where they’ll continue to refine their product and bring it closer to market.
Accelerating the Future
The PillMed team was selected for Cohort 9 of the Accelerator, and while they’re still at the very beginning of the journey, the momentum is already building.
The Innovation Hub nominated Pranathi for the Texas Business Hall of Fame award, recognizing her commitment not just to medicine but to meaningful, real-world problem solving. Her win puts PillMed- and Texas Tech- on the statewide radar in a big way.
This recognition is especially exciting because PillMed is still early in its development. The next few months will be packed with mentor meetings, customer discovery, and hands-on work to refine the product and prepare it for clinical and commercial applications.
Building With Mentors and a Mission
As the PillMed team dives into Accelerator programming, they’ll be working alongside mentors from healthcare, business, and engineering; people like Dr. Sizer, who has been in their corner from the start, as well as Mike Ryan, the Accelerator Program’s lead mentor, and John Smothers, who served as their Industry Mentor through the national I-Corps program. Together with new experts brought in by the Hub, these mentors are helping the team refine their strategy and accelerate their path forward.
And while things are moving quickly, Pranathi’s keeping her focus on the patients: the people at home who deserve a simpler, safer way to manage their meds.
What’s Next for PillMed?
PillMed’s roadmap includes further prototype development, real-world testing, and eventual commercialization, but its foundation traces back to Pranathi herself. What began as an idea during her undergraduate years has continued to grow alongside her, evolving as she transitioned from student innovator to medical student founder.
Now, as she launches PillMed through the Texas Tech Accelerator while continuing her medical training, Pranathi represents a rare kind of innovator, one who is shaping the future of healthcare not someday, but in real time.
With recognition from the Texas Business Hall of Fame and the continued support of mentors and the Innovation Hub, she is proving that meaningful innovation doesn’t wait for the end of a career. Sometimes, it begins long before it.