Summertime is in full swing, and for many, the season is synonymous with sun protection and skin cancer prevention. At The University of Tulsa, two student entrepreneurs are taking on the issue of early skin cancer detection with a mobile app called SkinCheck.
Julian Abhari (BS ‘24) recently graduated from UTulsa with a degree in computer science and cybersecurity. But before he even stepped foot on campus as a first-year student, he was developing software for skin cancer detection.
“When my mom was 27, she was diagnosed with multiple cases of skin cancer that she battled all throughout my childhood,” Abhari said. “When I was 16, her melanoma actually came back and I was really into computer programming and AI, so of course, I built a little prototype for a little mobile app to detect skin cancer that became SkinCheck.”
While at UTulsa, Abhari joined forces with his friend Daniel Marques, an MBA student at UTulsa with a background in venture capital.
“I’ve always been really passionate about democratizing the access to healthcare,” Marques said. “And when Julian and I partnered to found SkinCheck and pursue this as a company, it was just that passion coming to life, as we’ve helped 95,000 people get access to care.”
During the spring 2024 semester, SkinCheck had an opportunity to gain international recognition at the SXSW Pitch Competition in Austin, Texas. Wright encouraged Abhari and Marques to apply, knowing that the process for selecting finalists is extremely competitive. To their surprise, SkinCheck was selected as a finalist in the SXSW Pitch Competition student division.
In the months leading up to the March competition, Abhari and Marques worked tirelessly to ensure SkinCheck was ready for the SXSW pitch. That meant working with advisors at UTulsa like Wright and Hale, holding hackathons on weekends, and practicing the pitch in front of UTulsa faculty and industry professionals. They released a brand-new version of the app shortly before arriving in Austin.
“We’re definitely so much better today because of our TU family,” Marques said.
UTulsa leadership made sure that Abhari and Marques felt the support of their UTulsa family by chartering a bus and sending dozens of UTulsa students, faculty, and staff to attend the SXSW pitch competition. It was Abhari’s job to deliver the pitch on stage and answer tough questions from a panel of entrepreneurs, and his presentation was flawless. While SkinCheck didn’t win the competition, they earned the honorary title of “Fan Favorite” during the award ceremony due to the large group clapping and cheering them on.
While Marques works to complete his MBA at UTulsa, Abhari is now focusing full-time on developing the SkinCheck technology. Currently, SkinCheck has more than 115,000 downloads worldwide with more than 11,000 monthly active users, and they’ve filed two non-provisional patents on Abhari's invention. Knowing that early detection of skin cancer gives people the greatest chance for successful treatment, they’re motivated to remain at the cutting edge of technology.
