Rowan MBA student and 2023 entrepreneurship graduate Nick Nastasi was recently recognized as one of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2023 Inno Under 25, for his medical sticker company, 4U Medical Designs.
The publication has been recognizing innovators under the age of 25 from the greater Philadelphia area for three years now, for their impacts and effects on their communities or companies. Some other notable 2023 winners include Paige DeAngelo, CEO and founder of Aer Cosmetics, a sustainable mascara company, and Rakesh Ravi, founder of Carbon Reform, a device that purifies air and removes carbon from indoor spaces.
4U Medical Designs is a business that Nastasi started during his undergraduate time at Rowan, which designs child-friendly, medical-grade stickers to put on medical devices like IV bags, feeding bags, and needles to reduce anxiety in children and adults who receive treatment with these kinds of machines.
The company has been making stickers for a couple of years, but just recently started to implement new elements of the device– QR codes that give patients information about their treatment and can provide them with resources. With the connected links, patients can access surveys, educational materials, and entertainment, and even nominate nurses for DAISY Awards, an award that recognizes nurses for exceptional care or kindness. Another recent innovation has been the addition of half-adherence stickers to allow medical professionals to see information that may be under the sticker.
“I think that was the biggest thing in learning how we can further support hospitals with comfort. These are products that hospitals loved already, the full adherence, but we wanted to go a step further. So we’re trying to think of every single possible way to make our product the best product for this solution,” said Nick Nastasi
One thing that Nastasi needed to do this year to innovate was to spend time with patients and their loved ones, listening to their concerns and feedback about the product. He traveled to hospitals and got to hear firsthand what was working and what could be improved with the product.
“Something that I really focused on from July up until December was talking to every single one of our end users, because our product is so unique, where the pain points are felt by multiple parties. So patients, whether it’s a child patient or an adult patient, we have to understand their viewpoint of infusion therapy,” said Nick Nastasi.
When he’s not at the hospitals, he works closely with other student entrepreneurs at Rowan, including his younger brother Harrison Nastasi, CEO and founder of his own business, Bobica Bars, which won first place this year at CEO Global’s pitch competition in Florida, the same competition that 4U Medical Designs won the year before. The two have seen each other through the ups and downs of their own respective businesses and support one another as they go throughout their careers.
“He’s the hardest worker, I just know even all the ‘no’s’ he goes through, he pushes through, and he is so motivated, it motivates everyone else around him,” said Harrison Nastasi.
While balancing graduate courses, running a business, and maintaining a personal life outside of it might seem like a daunting task for some, it’s the potential positive impacts of the company that motivates and drives the success of the company, and of Nick Nastasi himself.
“The more good I do with this, is what really can transform other kids’ lives here. It’s also a form of giving back…you have an opportunity here to impact so many people, do the work as much as you can,” said Nick Nastasi.
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