Emagine Solutions Technology CEO develops The Journey app for pregnant women
By Brian Powell
Flinn Foundation
Courtney Williams is familiar with the alarming statistics centered around maternal health in the United States—the most dangerous country in the developed world to give birth.
Preeclampsia and gestational diabetes are on the rise in pregnant women, leading to an increased risk of high blood pressure and diabetes later in life.
Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women. And Arizona sits toward the bottom in maternal health.
Williams, CEO of Tucson-based Emagine Solutions Technology, co-founded the company to improve maternal health outcomes. She’s motivated by these statistics to reach more expectant mothers locally and abroad.
As a mother diagnosed with postpartum preeclampsia just days after giving birth to her first child—and seeing family members suffer their own maternal health crises—Williams has a personal motivation as well.
Williams, who is biracial, tells her story of coming home from the hospital with her newborn only to start suffering from swollen feet and a horrible headache. Seven days later, she was back in the emergency room sitting alongside COVID-19 patients when a nurse realized the severity of the situation and rushed her back for treatment. Her blood pressure was at dangerously high levels. Fortunately, several hours later, she was able to go home.
After living through her health scare, Williams decided to expand the company’s offerings and create an app for pregnant women to track vitals in real time and receive immediate feedback if numbers are out of range.
“I don’t want a single nursery to be empty after another hospitalization or another woman not come home to watch her baby grow up,” Williams said.
The Journey app was released in early 2024 throughout the United States. The app is free, but Emagine Solutions is developing a paid version and companion software for a physician’s office.
The company is also the developer of VistaScan, a software platform that transforms a mobile phone or tablet into a powerful, high-quality ultrasound device that shares images in seconds.
Emagine Solutions Technology — based at the University of Arizona Center for Innovation at UA Tech Park — was a 2019 participant in the Flinn Foundation Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program, which provides funding and support through a nonprofit partner to Arizona-based bioscience startups. The $30,000 in funding came at a critical moment and helped the company receive Food and Drug Administration approval of VistaScan, Williams said. The software has been deployed in Haiti, Ghana and other settings, primarily outside of the United States.
Williams has stayed connected to the Flinn Foundation through the years and was one of three entrepreneurs who shared her story in December during the Foundation’s inaugural BioStorytellers event, “Aha!: Entrepreneurs share the moment that led to their innovation,” at Venture Café Phoenix. She will also participate in a BioStorytellers workshop at the Thursday, March 6 Flinn Foundation Bio Capital Conference, which brings together investors and Arizona’s bioscience and health tech startup community.
- Flinn Foundation Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program Selection
- National Science Foundation SBIR Grant Winner
- Department of Health and Human Services HHS Hypertension Challenge Winner
- Pharrell Williams National Black Ambition Prize, Second Prize Winner
- Roddenberry Foundation Catalyst Award
- Arizona Innovation Challenge Winner
- Thomas R. Brown Rising Star Award
- Governor’s Celebration of Innovation Finalist
- Cox Business IdeaFunding Grand Prize and Audience Choice Winner