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Lia Winter
CEO and Co-Founder of Winter Innovations
Lia Winter is an entrepreneur and innovator in the medical device industry. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Winter Innovations, a company she started in 2018 while pursuing dual MBA and M.S. degrees in biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.13
Winter's passion for revolutionizing orthopedic surgery stems from personal experience. She suffered an orthopedic injury in high school and witnessed her mother's complications following ACL surgery.1 This motivated her to develop EasyWhip™, a patented two-part needle designed to improve the stability, speed, and efficiency of graft stitching in orthopedic surgeries.12
Key achievements and characteristics of Lia Winter include:
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Education: She holds a B.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and dual MBA/M.S. degrees from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.5
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Innovation: Winter invented EasyWhip™, which received FDA 510(k) clearance in May 2021.23
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Entrepreneurship: She co-founded Winter Innovations with Preston Dishner, leveraging their complementary skills in engineering and business analytics.3
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Recognition: Winter has successfully pitched her company in numerous competitions, winning nearly $100,000 in prize money during her graduate studies.3
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Leadership: She is described as a strong, persistent individual who strives for excellence and inspires others to improve.3
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Mentorship: Winter now serves as a Startup Coach at the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Tennessee.5
Lia Winter's LinkedIn profile describes her as "an entrepreneur with a passion for sports and a drive to innovate".6 Her company, Winter Innovations, continues to develop simple tools for overlooked areas in surgery, with a focus on improving patient outcomes in orthopedic procedures.24


