Doctoral student also wearable tech CEO
Lessons he learned as a Tar Heel help Jasper Mark balance his medical school studies and a start-up company.
Pursuing a doctorate is a time-consuming commitment that comes with a lot of pressure. For Jasper Mark — a doctoral student at the UNC School of Medicine — the demands are even greater.
Not only is he working on his dissertation, he’s also the CEO and co-founder of Impulse Wellness, an entrepreneurial biotech company dedicated to revolutionizing stroke rehabilitation through wearable technology.
“We launched the company right before I started my Ph.D., which perhaps isn’t the ideal time to dive into a new business,” Mark said. “Time has been tight, but luckily leading is a collaborative effort, and my Impulse team is incredible.”
Mark has had a passion for health and medicine since he first arrived as an undergraduate at Carolina in 2016, studying exercise science and chemistry. As a graduate student, Mark learned about therapeutic methods for those living with motor disorders. This led to the goals and mission statement of Impulse Wellness.
Mark was also inspired by classes not related to medicine.
“I remember taking an information and library science class that essentially taught you how to research properly,” Mark said. “The things I was taught in that class, I have applied to my Ph.D. and entrepreneurial work to this very day.”
Mark believes the key to success in both his academic and entrepreneurial pursuits is time management, a skill he learned at Carolina while balancing academics and extracurriculars.
“I was on the cheer team at Carolina and the biggest thing you learn is that you don’t want to let your team down,” Mark said. “That’s certainly helped with how I balance my time as a Ph.D. student and my time with Impulse Wellness.”
Mark co-founded Impulse Wellness in 2021 with Brady Adcock, a computer science graduate from Appalachian State University. The company strives to create a stroke rehabilitation system through a gamified, wearable piece of technology.
Mark and his Impulse Wellness co-founder Brady Adcock (pictured) traveled to Las Vegas to show-off their tech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. (Submitted photo)
“Often, people have paralysis after a stroke, and their progress in rehab can be imperceptible and slow. This lack of positive feedback can destroy a patient’s mental health and can cause them to prematurely discontinue their therapy,” Mark explained. “Impulse Wellness is dedicated to helping patients and practitioners measure so they can manage. On a basic level, our technology monitors your muscle signals and turns them into different games you can play, all to really drive patient compliance and provide qualitative data back to clinicians.”
Impulse Wellness has seen a growing interest in their approach and received positive feedback from patients and physicians alike. Mark said he is touched by the range of people embracing the technology.
In early January, Mark attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where he presented his Impulse Wellness technology to other entrepreneurs in the tech world and made connections that could lead to future collaborations.
“There is an inner struggle with the scientific side of my brain and the business side of things,” Mark said. “But at CES, I got to talk about our incredible technology and the mission of Impulse Wellness. The business side of things will come later.”
Mark has made a lot of progress in the early stages of his career and says he wouldn’t be where he is without the help of Carolina.
“Carolina has shaped me a lot,” Mark said. “Being a Tar Heel leaves a footprint on you forever.”
