The portable speakers are cranked up, playing “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” A conga line of older adults makes their way around the room, walking left, pivoting right, navigating cones and other obstacles and giving each other high-fives as they pass along the course. This is not a dance. It’s not a game. It’s an evidence-based group exercise program known as On the Move™ (OTM) and it’s designed to improve the quality of walking.
OTM was developed more than 10 years ago by School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) Professors of Physical Therapy Jessie Van Swearingen and Jennifer Brach as a one-on-one intervention between a physical therapist and patient. After Deborah Brodine, president, UPMC Senior Services, asked if this could be turned into a group exercise class for seniors in the community, Brach began gathering evidence.
The results of a three-year Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) grant showed OTM is not only safe and acceptable, but it also offers clinically meaningful improvements in mobility over the standard “Sit and Be Fit” programs for older adults.
It was designated an evidence-based chronic disease management program by the Administration for Community Living in 2018 and an evidence-based fall prevention program in 2025. It is only one of three dually recognized evidence based programs by the National Council on Aging in the United States.
Since then, Brach and her team have trained more than 180 OTM instructors all over the country and in Australia. The program is licensed for use in 65 locations in 20 states, including Wyoming, where the State Department of Health’s Aging Division made On the Move an official exercise program in their senior centers.
“None of this would have been possible without assistance from Pitt’s Innovation Institute,” says Brach. “They helped me with copyrighting the program and the licensing of the On the Move program.”
“Creating opportunities for researchers to get their ideas out into the world where they can have a societal impact is what we’re all about,” says Evan Facher, vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship and director of the Innovation Institute at Pitt.
It is no small task. According to Facher, last year Pitt researchers submitted 444 new invention disclosures for evaluation—44 of them from SHRS alone. But not every idea, technology or widget is ready for prime time.
SHRS Programs Launch Businesses
Both Facher’s office and SHRS have programs in place to assist with business development—everything from business plan writing to mentorship, financial support and networking opportunities.
The SHRS Innovation Challenge, for example, is a four-week virtual course that encourages Pitt-based researchers to explore the market potential of their work and learn entrepreneurial skills that will help them get there.
Amanda Mahoney (MS ’17, PhD ’24) and Erin Lucatorto (MS ’15, PhD ’25) applied for the Innovation Challenge while they were doctoral students in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders (CSD), working on a revolutionary new technology developed by now Emeritus Faculty James Coyle in the Speech-Language Pathology program and Ervin Sejdić, former assistant professor in the Swanson School of Engineering.
Their technology, the Aspirometer, showed commercial promise as a non-invasive scanning device that significantly helps to improve care of people of all ages who have swallowing disorders. The Aspirometer analyzes how swallowed material moves during swallowing to determine whether it is entering the airway and placing the patient at risk for aspiration.
Prior to this invention, the method to screen for aspiration was for a patient to drink sips of water and a nurse to watch for signs for aspiration, such as coughing or choking. “This subjective measure is only about 50% accurate,” explains Mahoney. “As a result, some patients were put on restrictive diets unnecessarily, and undetected ‘silent’ aspiration led to often fatal aspiration pneumonia. In addition, an unnecessary clinical burden was put on nurses, physicians and speech language pathologists.”
“With the Aspirometer, health care professionals can accurately and objectively measure aspiration,” she continues. “This improves care for people of all ages, reduces a lot of burdens and saves money.”
“Participating in the 2024 Innovation Challenge—and winning the $50,000 first prize— really started us on our journey,” notes Mahoney, now co-founder and CEO of the medical device company, Accelowave.
The company incorporated in 2024 and continues to develop technologies like the Aspirometer that focus on non-invasive solutions for the early detection and management of swallowing disorders.
The SHRS Innovation Challenge was not the only program that propelled Mahoney and Lucatorto to success. They took third place in the 2024 Michael G. Wells Student HealthTech Challenge at Pitt and second place in Pitt’s 2025 Big Idea Competition. In 2025, they were a winner in the National Institute on Aging’s Start-Up Challenge and Accelerator, and Accelowave was named a semi-finalist in the BNY UpPrize Social Innovation Challenge (Early-Stage Track).
“These competitions added much-needed funding to support the commercialization of the Aspirometer,” says Lucatorto, chief scientific officer of Accelowave. “But they also helped us solidify our business pitch and networking capabilities. We are still in touch with many of the mentors we encountered through these various Pitt programs.
Learning to Think Like an Entrepreneur
Eric Sinagra (MS ’14), CEO and co-founder of pathVu, a company dedicated to improving the walkability of pedestrian pathways for people of any ability, also says he learned how to launch his business through various programs and competitions at the University of Pittsburgh.
“As a student researcher, you might think your idea or technology could be marketable, but you probably don’t have any idea how to start a company,” says Sinagra. “Or maybe you’re just interested in doing the research, nothing else.”
“Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking,” he continues. “And there are many resources available at Pitt to help you get there.”
Sinagra credits the BNY UpPrize Social Innovation Challenge for giving him the tools to showcase how pathVu can make a strong social impact in Western Pennsylvania and beyond. The $100,000 second place prize allowed him to continue his work mapping sidewalks for accessibility.
Sidewalk accessibility is a deeply personal goal for Sinagra. Two members of the company’s leadership team use wheelchairs. Sinagra’s brother, Nick, who holds a master’s degree in media arts and technology and serves as director of technology, and Jonathan Duvall, research biomedical engineer for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Pitt’s Human Engineering Research Laboratories, co-founded the company and still serves as a consultant.
“Accessible pedestrian navigation is at the core of everything we do at pathVu,” adds Sinagra.
The company is currently in the process of developing a new app, pathVu Navigation Lite, which crowdsources real data from users to prioritize improvements, secure funding for communities and create safer and more accessible environments for everyone.
Sinagra says the app will eventually transform how communities assess the pedestrian infrastructure, while helping individuals safely navigate the built environment.
Jon Pearlman, associate dean for SHRS Commercial Translation and professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, applauds the work of SHRS researchers.
“Our goal is to support licensing, technology transfer and funding opportunities for our researchers to complement our school’s efforts in research and innovation,” explains Pearlman. “While they are engaged with their research, we can help make their work commercially viable so it can make an impact on society.”
“Our partnership with SHRS is unique and highly successful because of Jon,” adds Facher. “He really is our man on the ground—filling us in on every viable project and helping to bring SHRS ideas into the commercial pipeline.”
Pearlman adds that corporate as well as philanthropic support contributes to the success of many SHRS innovations. “It’s important for our external partners to understand that their funding has a huge impact on new ideas, technologies and products that will improve the quality of life for individuals of all ages and abilities.”
