In the US, a 71-year-old doctor develops Poka Snack for fruit — Fortune
In the United States, 71-year-old nuclear medicine physician and former professor Richard Brown is developing Poka Snack, a skewer-shaped device intended to make freezing and eating fruit, primarily bananas, easier. As Fortune reports, this year he launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than 90% of its initial $4,000 goal. Brown also has more than 14,000 followers on TikTok.
A career after retirement
Brown graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1980 and spent the next two decades in private practice. In 2004, he returned to the university as a professor and also became director of clinical nuclear medicine and molecular imaging in the nuclear medicine division.
In 2020, Brown formally retired from the University of Michigan, but started a new job the following Monday. He became the first associate chair for clinical operations in the Department of Radiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and held the position for three years. After that, he joined the medical technology startup Covera Health, where he now works as chief healthcare strategy officer.
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Developing Poka Snack with AI
The idea for Poka Snack emerged from Brown's experience eating frozen bananas. According to him, existing products were difficult to insert into fruit, sometimes broke, and could leave splinters inside it.
Brown tested about 40 prototypes before selecting the final version with a semi-spiral geometry, for which patent protection is expected. He is working with a U.S. manufacturer on producing the item and is finalizing the packaging.
Brown used artificial intelligence at every stage of Poka Snack's development, from the concept and design to branding, marketing, the business plan, and the launch. According to him, the technology enabled him to develop the project largely on his own.
