Inno Under 25 Awards: WashU grad develops innovative solution for safer, more comfortable labor
Sandy Montgomery (MS ’25) has been recognized as one of six Inno Under 25 honorees for 2025. The annual St. Louis Inno awards program for young entrepreneurs celebrates people early in their careers in innovation and entrepreneurship. Montgomery’s startup, CERV, is a patent-pending novel medical device that measures cervical dilation throughout labor, which was developed during a biomedical engineering senior design project. Last spring, Montgomery and her co-founders won Catalyst funding through the Skandalaris Venture Competition.
The following article was written by Samir Knox and published in St. Louis Inno on August 28, 2025.
Sandy Montgomery, along with two of her classmates, recognized a gap in clinical practice when it came to cervical exams during labor. So, the idea of CERV was born.
CERV is a medical device the trio developed as a senior design project in biomedical engineering during the 2023-24 school year.
“Over the past year, we’ve been building a business around CERV, refining our prototype, and exploring our regulatory pathway, driven by the belief that we can make birth safer and more comfortable for patients everywhere,” Montgomery said.
CERV will require FDA approval before it can be sold, and the group’s goal is to launch within the next three to five years. Montgomery and her team have secured funding through multiple pitch competitions, design competitions and Washington University grants.
What’s been your biggest accomplishment in this space the past year? Our biggest accomplishment this year was winning Catalyst funding through the Skandalaris Venture Competition. This support allowed us to partner with a medical device consultancy in Chicago to develop a higher-fidelity version of our prototype, which is an important step toward meeting regulatory standards and preparing for clinical testing. We are deeply grateful to the Skandalaris Center for their continued support and belief in our mission.
Have you raised any funding? Are there other employees? We’ve secured funding through pitch competitions, design competitions, and Washington University grants, which has helped us advance our prototype and business strategy. Our team is currently made up of the three cofounders, Elizabeth Buzbee, Annika Avula, and me. This past summer, we were fortunate to have an intern through the Skandalaris Launchpad Program. Our amazing intern, Selina Park, contributed to developing the device’s software and an app for interfacing with it.
You’re deeply involved in the startup community here. What experiences have stuck with you from your involvement? I’ve loved building connections and getting more deeply involved in the Saint Louis startup community. Through CERV, we’ve met incredible people who have supported us, shared insights, and opened doors to unique experiences, like a screening of the movie American Delivery at the Missouri History Museum and the DirectTrust Conference on health IT. But the moments that stick with me most are when I can pay that support forward by making an introduction that meets the needs of a fellow founder.
Age: 24
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