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Cohen Champions Treatment, Technology

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 10, 2014

Abby Cohen was looking for a problem to solve.

Two years later, she’s potentially only one more year from helping relieve a medical dilemma faced by 25 million Americans.

And the most impressive part might be that she graduated from high school a mere five years ago and is 23 years old.  

Cohen, a 2009 MHSAA Scholar-Athlete Award winner as a senior at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood, certainly could be called proactive, going back to her days as a volleyball, basketball and soccer standout for the Cranes. Less than a year after graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., she’s co-founder and co-CEO of Sparo Labs, which seeks to provide asthma sufferers with a proactive way of monitoring their symptoms and improving their treatments.

“Everyone has a different perspective on how to go about doing things,” Cohen said. “For me, growing up trying to improve in sports, I’d write down a list of things to do every day and actually do them, follow through. That aspect of always wanting to get better, and improve, is something that’s carried through to the rest of what we do at Sparo and in general how I approach things.”

On March 22, the MHSAA and Farm Bureau Insurance will recognize a 25th class of Scholar-Athlete Award winners. In advance of the celebration, Second Half has caught up with some of the hundreds who have been recognized (see additional links at the bottom of this page).

Cohen, who also served on the MHSAA Student Advisory Council from 2007-09, chose Washington based on its strong engineering problem and successful women’s basketball program. She studied bio-medical engineering and was a freshman on the Bears team that defeated Hope College for the Division III national championship in 2010.

But that first season was followed by a series of ankle injuries that required reconstructive surgery – and, effectively, ended her collegiate sports career. She still can play pick-up games, but four-hour daily practices and the other commitments of a varsity program would've been too much.

She missed basketball. But the end of her competitive career on the court, as it turned out, allowed more time to dive into a new pursuit – and, in her words, “work with another kind of team.”   

“I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason,” Cohen said. “It was disappointing having to have surgery to make everything feel better, for the long term, not just basketball. For me at that time, I didn't appreciate that with the extra time I could have, I could take the time to try new things, make the world a better place.”

Cohen planned at first to eventually become a physician. She shadowed a number of doctors, but decided that in the long run she could have a greater impact as an engineer designing products physicians could use.

In addition to her classwork, she helped form an extracurricular entrepreneurial group – and set out for an issue in need of repair. She and her now-business partner Andrew Brimer didn't realize how many Americans are affected by asthma, “that respiratory diseases are the only ones getting worse over time rather than getting better. That although technology is improving, why it’s not making a dent.”

They set out find out and make that dent themselves.

Through a series of interviews with patients, doctors, respiratory therapists and others in the field, Cohen and Brimer got an idea what could help – an affordable, easy-to-use device to allow patients to monitor on their own their symptoms so they can better manage them and the treatments to help. Cohen and Brimer designed a device that plugs into a smart phone and allows patients to blow into it like a whistle and register lung function readings – while also collecting data on medications, pollen counts, and other variables that affect lung function. Their device also should dent the health care costs that go with current testing, which generally requires an office visit.

Sparo will work over the next six months to improve its app interface and user experience, and then submit for Food and Drug Administration approval at the end of this year or the beginning of 2015 – with the hope it will then become available to patients later next spring.

Cohen is based in St. Louis, where she and Brimer have been able to work with three large local hospitals and within a nurturing entrepreneurial community. Brimer's brother owns a tech education company in New York which has provided additional support as she and Brimer discussed what was possible. “We were talking to patients and physicians, and it just seemed like the right thing to do,” Cohen said. “If we weren’t going to do this, who was?”

Cohen and Brimer have won 9 of 11 entrepreneurship grant competitions they've entered, netting more than $300,000 to get their lab rolling and allow them to hire two more engineers. Long-term, today’s work could just be the start of what Cohen hopes eventually will reach into developing countries as well.

She remains in touch with a number of teachers at Cranbrook-Kingswood – also, her mother Sheila Cohen teaches sixth-grade math at the school – and she spoke there at the end of 2013 as part of a TEDx event.   

As she continues to build her team, Cohen is reminded of additional lessons she learned on the courts and soccer field – including a major one that will continue to pay as Sparo expands. 

“Learning how to work on a team, with really different personalities, different people who all play different roles,” Cohen said. “That really came from sports – the ability to work with people and reach one common goal.” 

Click to read the series' first installments: 

 

PHOTO: Abby Cohen (10) helps her teammates hoist a trophy while a player at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood in 2009. (Photo courtesy of Cranbrook-Kingswood.)

Scholar-Athlete Awards Finalists Named

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

January 25, 2012

The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2011-12 school year -- including three each from three schools -- have been announced.

The program, which has been recognizing student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year, will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Award, and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 544 scholarships have been awarded.

Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, there also will be two at-large honorees which also are part of the general judging process, may come from any classification, and are designated by their school at the time of entry.

Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Marlette, Northville and Rochester Adams each have three finalists this year, while 20 schools have two: Bay City Central, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, Birmingham Groves, Dearborn, Delton Kellogg, East Lansing, Frankfort, Hillsdale Academy, Hopkins, Jenison, Kinde-North Huron, Midland, Midland Dow, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Rochester, Spring Lake, Springport, Tecumseh, White Lake Lakeland and Williamston.

Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.58, while the average of the application pool was 2.13 – both within a tenth of last year’s rates in those categories. There are 66 three-plus sport participants in the finalist field, and all but three of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.

Of 386 schools which submitted applicants, 51 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,636 applications were received. All will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement.  Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on this MHSAA Website link.

The applications were judged by a 62-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced on February 7; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced on February 14, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced on February 21. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Web site.

To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 24 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.

To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and submit a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.

Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan's major insurers, has a statewide force of more than 400 agents serving more than 380,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.              

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,600 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools.  Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.


2011-12 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists

BOYS CLASS A

Matthew Alexander Beem, Traverse City West

Brendon Clover, White Lake Lakeland

Ryan Denison, Dearborn

Saeed El Saghir, Bay City Central

Steven Alexander Fox, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central

Christopher Robert Hagan, East Lansing

Alexander Hassan, Ann Arbor Huron

Joshua M. Heinze, Plymouth

Knute Hoffman, Midland

Hunter Holtrop, Okemos

Josh Hoogendoorn, Jenison

Nick Iacobellis, DeWitt

Jeremy Kozler, Livonia Stevenson

Conrad Arthur Lather, Midland Dow

Alec Latta, Northville

Gabriel Martinez, Livonia Franklin

Robert Paul, Bay City Central

Andrew Poterala, Northville

Nick Rao, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice

Christopher Sesi, Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice

Blaine Stannard, Birmingham Groves

Alex Taylor, Rochester Adams

Daniel Tzou, Midland Dow

Garret Zuk, White Lake Lakeland

 

GIRLS CLASS A

Kelsey Adamski, Richland Gull Lake

Ellery Alexander, Caledonia

Kortnie L. Bush, Southgate Anderson

Jaymie Dyer, Hartland

Bethany Easom, Saline

Yara Nidal Fakhoury, Dearborn

Heather Smith, Farmington Hills Mercy

Amanda Marie Fodera, Fraser

Alexa Giovanatti, Rochester Adams

Morgan Hawver, Grand Haven

Hannah Marie Howarth, Gibraltar Carlson

Kelsey Kerin, St Clair

Hannah Lee, Rochester Adams

Maria Lepore, Rochester

Kelly Lunghamer, Birmingham Marian

Nicole McDermott, Mason

Gina Marie McNamara, Northville

Katelyn Alexandra Pekala, Midland

Abigail Rawling, Rochester

Dana Schrauben, Lake Orion

Alexis Stanton, Jenison

Alexandra Trecha, East Lansing

Jessica Turner, Birmingham Groves

Abigail Wilson, Trenton

 

BOYS CLASS B

Jordan S. Daley, Grand Rapids Christian

Griffin Dean, Grayling

Nathaniel P. Gaynor, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep

Mason E. Geno, Essexville Garber

Jeffrey John Gregory, Kingsford

Nathaniel Ferris Iveson, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg

Andrew Kelley, Allegan

Nathan Kossey, Tecumseh

Joseph Longstreet, Hastings

Dan Macalka, Comstock Park

Dillon McCarthy, Whitehall

Jacob Mineau, Marysville

Nick Huston Parnell, Spring Lake

Caleb Pung, Portland

Craig Zebell, Dowagiac

Alan Zhen, Livonia Clarenceville

 

GIRLS CLASS B

Sara Marie Barron, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep

Kathryn MacDermid Bollman, Williamston

Julie Buursma, Holland Christian

Kristin Gilbert, Hopkins

Hannah Grischke, Williamston

Sarah Hartley, Birch Run

Emily Kendro, Spring Lake

Nathalie Kenny, Manistee

Keara Kilbane, Hopkins

Laurin Masnari, Three Rivers

Erin Moser, Midland Bullock Creek

Rachel Neumann, Flint Powers Catholic

Brianne Nowak-Scott, Tecumseh

Emily Oren, Hamilton

Miranda Scott, Charlotte

Kaitlyn Stevens, Ovid-Elsie

 

BOYS CLASS C

Zachary French, Ishpeming Westwood

Dakota M. Hard, Quincy

Jonathan Andrew Harper, Clare

Ryan Hook, Delton Kellogg

Kolby Lange, Marlette

Trevor Lewis, Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker

Gregory Long, Sand Creek

Sean McBrayer, Unionville-Sebewaing

David Powers, Jr., Michigan Center

Benjamin Rebertus, Negaunee

Dirk E. Stoneman, Breckenridge

Ryan Watson, Delton Kellogg

 

GIRLS CLASS C

Brandy Bowers, Springport

Cayla Broton, Hesperia

Emily Crick, East Jordan

Lauren Dietrich, Gobles

Megan Kangas, Norway

Rachel Leightner, Springport

Lena Madison, New Buffalo

Rachel McEwen, Marlette

Karley Sauder, Marlette

Elyse Ann Louise Starck, Morley-Stanwood

Kelcey Stauffer, Sandusky

Isabella Yzerman, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart

 

BOYS CLASS D

Evan Chalker, Buckley

Evan Dhyse, Kinde-North Huron

Seth Kintigh, Jackson Christian

Timothy Logghe, Peck

Joseph Nugent, Frankfort

Adam Plumstead, Frankfort

Sabeek Pradhan, Hillsdale Academy

Benjamin Ross, Lawrence

 

GIRLS CLASS D

Haley Buckey, Caseville

Kelsey Butcher, Morrice

Quinnlin Daily, Kingston

Natalija Galens, Watervliet Grace Christian

Haley Moore, Kinde-North Huron

Margaret Aileen Ryan, Hillsdale Academy

Jamie Lyn Seppanen, Eben Junction Superior Central

Alexandria Whitman, Fulton