Vedanth Raju and Maria Sears won the Colorado Medical Society Awards for Excellence at the 2025 Colorado Science and Engineering Fair held on April 3, 2025, at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

A longtime supporter of the state science fair, each year the CMS Foundation presents an award to one student in the junior high division and one student in the senior high division for the Biomedical and Health Sciences category. These students receive $100 and an invitation to the CMS Annual Meeting to display their project and attend the President’s Gala.

Northern Colorado Medical Society leaders Cory Carroll, MD, and Donna Sullivan, MD, served as the official Colorado Medical Society judges at this year’s fair. 

The junior division winner, Vedanth Raju, developed a novel plant-based topical drug he called “Curcaza+” that he designed to help treat diabetic foot ulcers and infections, and help reduce antimicrobial resistance. He wanted to create a novel product that was entirely plant-based, safe and cost-effective, and multifunctional to help prevent and treat diabetic food ulcers. Raju tested three formulations – a nanoparticle gel, oil formulation and paste using turmeric/Curcuma longa, neem/azadirachtin, Daruharidra/Berberis aristata and malkangani/Celastrus paniculatus – and then measured antimicrobial susceptibility, finding that his product could fill a current gap in treating infections from diabetic foot ulcers.

The senior division winner, Maria Sears, developed an innovative remote pulmonary monitoring device and companion app, MAX30105, designed to help patients track and manage their respiratory health. With more than 35 million Americans living with conditions like asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema, this device offers a solution for at-home monitoring of chronic lung disease. It measures respiratory and heart rate using a pulse oximeter and conductive knitted stretch module, allows users to input their FEV1 (forced expiratory volume) rate, and allows users to send a notification to their care team when values fall outside of recommended ranges. The app offers a tool to help patients with chronic pulmonary diseases track the deterioration of their condition and reduce their hospitalization rate.