Nicole Wu, a junior studying computational biology, discovered that many cancer patients had the same issue when they returned home: a lack of support. She discovered this while helping in the infusion rooms at the Breast Cancer Research Center during her freshman year. Soon after, she started developing her startup software, Panacea, to help cancer patients with their daily tasks and duties at home.
As they leave the hospital, cancer patients usually receive a binder full of resources, but according to cancer survivor Leslie Foxworth, locating and using these resources may be time-consuming and stressful. According to Wu, Panacea uses conversational AI to make it simple for patients to locate the services they require and tailors financial resources, fitness programs, and communities for cancer patients based on their location and condition.
According to Foxworth, the app offers you tools to get you through those extremely trying times without requiring you to visit your doctor or go to a frightening office. When we require care in the middle of the night, it’s provided outside the clinic’s gates. I wish I had anything similar when I was first diagnosed.
When Wu entered the Social Entrepreneurship Learning Lab during her freshman year, she started to think about Panacea and worked on her company plan. Since then, as a 2025 creator, she has taken part in the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute and the Sustainability Education Enterprise Development Program. She also enrolled in Capital Factory, a course that helped her better understand the pitching process. Wu generated more over $16,000 to finance her business by competing in four pitch competitions through various UT-affiliated groups.
According to Madison Khamooshi, senior program manager at the Global Sustainability Leadership Institute, she accomplished this rather rapidly since she is very organized and devoted in her time, whereas students typically take a year or two to get a company off the ground.
At the Breast Cancer Research Center, Wu collaborates closely with 30 patients who have breast cancer. In order to guarantee that the app suggests the appropriate materials and enhances the patient-doctor relationship, they are trying to enhance the conversational AI of the app and establish a resource hub.
Instead of just thinking, “Man, that’s really sad,” I’ve watched Wu learn a lot more about the cancer community and get enthusiastic about what she can do to be a solution specialist for cancer survivors. Foxworth remarked, “I wish I could do something about it.” Now that Man is truly depressed, I know I can take action. Let’s go.
Wu and her colleagues submitted a research proposal to the UT Institutional Review Board this summer. Wu stated that they plan to submit their second study by the end of the summer and publish it by the end of the year. She stated that she intends to collaborate with medical experts in order to start tailoring the app to their requirements the next year.
