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Join the future of healthcare innovation

Yale Helix 2026-2027 fellow application

Helix connects Yale students with early-stage startups where they can contribute to real projects across biotechnology, healthcare, engineering, software, AI, business, design, and more. Our application is designed to learn about both what you can contribute and how you approach unfamiliar problems. We care much more about curiosity, initiative, creativity, and thoughtful problem-solving than having previous startup experience. Please answer each question authentically and pay close attention to the word limits provided.

Section 1 — Basic information

Select up to five.

Section 2 — Resume & previous work

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Drag and drop your resume here, or click to browse (PDF preferred)

Accepted formats: .pdf, .doc, .docx (max 20MB)

Previous work & projects

If applicable, you may share examples of previous work that demonstrate skills you could bring to a Helix startup. This section is completely optional. Helix does not expect applicants to have prior startup, research, technical, or professional experience, and you should not feel pressured to submit anything here. Not submitting previous work will not count against your application.

We recognize that certain skills, particularly coding, engineering, design, research, AI/ML, data analysis, CAD/3D modeling, and other technical work, can be difficult to demonstrate through a written application alone. This section is simply an opportunity for applicants who already have relevant projects to show us what they have worked on. Examples may include GitHub repositories, coding or AI/ML projects, CAD/3D models, engineering projects, research posters, data analyses or visualizations, UI/UX portfolios, websites or apps, marketing materials, pitch decks, or other work you are proud of.

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Drag and drop a project file here, or click to browse

Accepted formats: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .zip (max 50MB)

Optional. 100 words maximum.

0 / 100 words

Section 3 — Getting to know you

0 / 100 words

You may draw from coursework, research, previous jobs or internships, student organizations, independent projects, or experiences outside of Yale.

0 / 100 words

This does not need to be related to startups or entrepreneurship.

0 / 150 words

Section 4 — Helix startup challenge

Before you begin

We want to hear how you think.

Generative AI tools may be used to help edit, organize, or clarify your writing. However, the ideas, reasoning, and proposed solutions in your application should be your own. Please do not use AI to generate a solution and submit it as your own thinking. Applications may be reviewed for signs of AI-generated content, and applicants may be asked to explain or expand upon their proposed solution during the selection process. We will be running application prompts through AI, we are looking for your original ideas.

There is no correct answer. We are not looking for the most polished or technically sophisticated response. We are looking for agency, originality, curiosity, resourcefulness, and thoughtful problem-solving. Creative and unconventional approaches are encouraged.

Meet Noma

Noma is an early-stage healthcare startup developing a wearable patch that continuously monitors patients after they leave the hospital. The patch collects heart rate, temperature, respiratory rate, and movement data and alerts patients and their care teams when patterns suggest that a patient may be deteriorating.

Noma recently completed a small pilot with one hospital. Patients generally liked the device, but the company has encountered several challenges:

  • Clinicians are receiving too many alerts and have started ignoring some of them.
  • Some older patients stop wearing the patch after a few days.
  • The company has limited funding and a team of only six people.

The founders aren't sure whether they should prioritize improving the technology, conducting more clinical validation, improving the patient experience, or finding additional hospital partners.

Your challenge

Earlier in this application, you selected the skill sets and areas in which you're most interested in contributing to a startup. Now we want to see how you would actually apply them. Approach Noma's challenges from whatever perspective best reflects your interests, skills, and way of thinking. You are not expected to solve every problem the company is facing. Instead, identify ONE problem you would prioritize and propose a solution.

For example, someone interested in software engineering might approach the problem very differently from someone interested in biology, marketing, product design, data science, finance, or public health. That's intentional. There is no preferred discipline or type of solution.

Briefly address:

  1. What problem would you prioritize, and why?
  2. What would you actually do to address it?
  3. How would you determine whether your solution worked?

We encourage you to be specific and creative. We're interested in how you approach the problem, not in finding a single correct answer. 300 words maximum.

0 / 300 words

Section 5 — Optional: bring your solution to life

Want to show us rather than just tell us? If helpful, you may submit something that demonstrates or expands upon your proposed solution. This could be something you create specifically for this challenge, a rough prototype or sketch, a small analysis, or another format that helps communicate your idea.

This is completely optional. You are NOT expected to submit an additional file, and choosing not to do so will not negatively affect your application. We recognize that some proposed solutions lend themselves much more naturally to tangible deliverables than others.

Depending on your approach, you might choose to submit:

  • Marketing & Communications: A mock advertisement, social media campaign, brochure, outreach email, landing page, or messaging strategy
  • Software / AI: Code, model architecture, agentic workflow
  • Data Science: An analysis, visualization, dashboard, or example of how you would evaluate available data
  • Design / UI/UX: A wireframe, interface mockup, patient journey, or product redesign
  • Engineering: A sketch, CAD model, schematic, prototype, or proposed hardware modification
  • Biology / Clinical Research: An experimental design, study protocol, clinical workflow, figure, or proposed validation approach
  • Business / Finance: A market analysis, financial model, competitor analysis, customer acquisition strategy, or pitch deck
  • Product: A product roadmap, feature prioritization framework, user research plan, or prototype
  • Policy / Public Health: A regulatory strategy, reimbursement analysis, implementation plan, or stakeholder analysis

These are only examples, feel free to get creative.

📁

Drag and drop a file here, or click to browse

Accepted formats: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .zip, .ppt, .pptx (max 50MB)

Optional. 75 words maximum.

0 / 75 words

Section 6 — Final information

0 / 100 words

This typically involves a commitment of 4-8 hours of work per week.

One day only, more specifics are TBD. We highly encourage attending.

Please fill in all required fields and upload your resume to submit your application.
Questions? Contact us at admin@yalehelix.org.