Detecting prostate cancer in its most treatable stage is more than a professional interest for Amin. He lost his grandfather to the disease and wants to spare others from that heartbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cProstate cancer is a cruel disease because it can often be asymptomatic and, without testing, men don\u2019t know they have it,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cThe good news is that if prostate cancer is diagnosed early, the survival rate is close to 100 percent. Diagnosed later, it falls to about 40 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur work at Bastion is about changing that equation\u2014by offering early, accessible, and private care for our male patients,\u2019\u2019 he says. Bastion also addresses prostate, hormonal, and reproductive issues, as well as cancer prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cImproving men\u2019s access to care is at the heart of what we do. We\u2019re building a future where men don\u2019t delay care because of stigma, access issues, or inconvenience,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cWhen care is confidential, virtual, and designed around them, men are more willing to use it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s Health a Growing Concern<\/strong><\/p>\n Bastion Health is based at the UConn Technology Incubation Program (TIP) in Farmington, which unites research, facilities, and business support for high-impact startups.<\/p>\n The company, created in 2020, contracts with large employers who offer the medical service to their employees. Some 120,000 men\u2014in all 50 states\u2014 have access to Bastion\u2019s services. The company is growing quickly and is set to expand, adding multiple Fortune 500 employers to its ranks next year.<\/p>\n The statistics about men\u2019s health are concerning. About one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. In the last seven years or so, there has been a spike in men being diagnosed with late-stage disease.<\/p>\n Bastion offers at-home testing, supported by a team of more than 60 board-certified urologists, who deliver comprehensive virtual care and guide patients every step of the way, offering fast referrals when in-person support is needed.<\/p>\n New patients begin with an app-based intake, followed by a nurse practitioner visit and at-home diagnostic kits delivered to their door. The tests cover blood, urine, semen, and stool. Samples are processed by certified labs, and results are reviewed by board-certified urologists to initiate treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe clinical accuracy matches traditional in-office care, but with greater convenience, faster follow-through, and a better patient experience,\u2019\u2019 Amin says. \u00a0The normalization of telehealth following the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated Bastion\u2019s growth, making virtual specialty care not just viable\u2014but preferred, he added.<\/p>\n The traditional health care system hasn\u2019t evolved with men\u2019s needs, and as a result, many men bypass it, Amin says. Long waits in a doctor\u2019s office, missed time at work, embarrassing test requirements, and difficulty scheduling follow-up appointments result in men avoiding life-enhancing or life-saving care.<\/p>\n \u201cMen deserve care that\u2019s private, seamless, and designed for them, especially when it comes to issues \u2018under the belt,\u2019\u201d Amin says. \u201cWe\u2019re a team of technologists, physicians, nurses, and health professionals building the future of men\u2019s health. With AI-powered telehealth, nationwide urologist access, and integrated at-home testing, we\u2019re redefining specialty care\u2014delivered from home, anywhere in the country. We are always keeping the patient in mind in whatever we do.\u201d<\/p>\n The medical service not only improves outcomes and prevents late-stage diagnoses, but also reduces health care spending for employers and payers.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only are we saving lives, but we are also saving companies a great deal of money. Every cancer patient who is diagnosed early saves employers and payers $300,000. That\u2019s just huge,\u201d Amin says. \u201cIn many cases that savings alone covers the cost of the program for the entire employee population.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n From Avid Researcher to Business Entrepreneur<\/strong><\/p>\n Amin\u2019s business idea began 10 years ago when he was completing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, with a focus on medical diagnostic system design, at UConn. He published his first paper on at-home testing and how it can help with cancer detection.<\/p>\n \u201cIt started as an idea on paper, but it pieced things together,\u2019\u2019 he says. As the idea took root, Amin realized he wanted to create something more impactful than a testing company. He wanted to transform access to care.<\/p>\n \u201cWe dove into everything\u2014regulations, diagnostics, emerging tech,\u201d he says. \u201cToday, we\u2019re an AI-powered virtual care platform integrating at-home testing and automated clinical workflows. With help from AI, we streamline medical documentation, enhance clinical decision-making, and engage patients more effectively, improving the experience for both patients and providers. It\u2019s about reducing friction, increasing satisfaction, and delivering high-quality care at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n The year after completing his Ph.D., Amin added a master\u2019s degree in global entrepreneurship from UConn to his resume. He is also the co-founder of Encapsulate, a precision personalized cancer therapy program.<\/p>\n Urologists Often Difficult to Find<\/strong><\/p>\n Because urology practices are most frequently located in cities, some 62% of United States counties don\u2019t have a single urologist, Amin says. That makes it difficult for many men, even those who are health-conscious, to get an appointment and schedule follow-ups if a problem is detected.<\/p>\n At Bastion, the team tries to make accessing care as seamless as possible. A dedicated care coordinator alerts men to appointments, testing, and medication refills. If follow-up care is needed, the patient is quickly referred to a health care system that can address even complex treatment.<\/p>\n If men are comfortable receiving care at home, let\u2019s bring it to them there. We are leading the market but not abandoning high-quality service. — Reza Amin, Bastion Health<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/span><\/p>\n Through Bastion\u2019s focus on patient satisfaction, Amin and his team reviewed and adopted technologies designed with the male patient experience in mind\u2014making it easy to collect blood, urine, semen, and stool from home.<\/p>\n \u201cWe strive to be tech-savvy and futuristic thinking,\u201d he says. \u201cIf men are comfortable receiving care at home, let\u2019s bring it to them there. We are leading the market but not abandoning high-quality service.\u201d<\/p>\n UConn Instrumental in Bastion\u2019s Success<\/strong><\/p>\n Bastion Health has also benefitted from numerous UConn entrepreneurship programs through the School of Business, College of Engineering, the Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation<\/a>, and the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation<\/a>. As an entrepreneur, Amin says, he ran into many people who discouraged his efforts. The support from UConn offset the challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cOur company is a UConn spinoff. We\u2019re Huskies through and through. We\u2019ve had great support, lab and office space, and we utilize talent from UConn,\u201d Amin says.<\/p>\n Amin has also competed in prestigious entrepreneurship competitions, including Connect Next, Mayo Clinic Incubator, Mass Challenge, and Plug & Play.<\/p>\n Bastion has been recognized in Forbes twice and as a Top 100 Healthcare Tech Company by Healthcare Tech Report Nation. He was also chosen as a \u201c40 Under Forty\u201d award recipient by the Hartford Business Journal.<\/p>\n \u201cIn growing this business, I realized that talent is key. I wanted to spend enough time to find the right people. Technology and funding are important, but it is talent that brings the ideas, builds the culture, and shares the vision that creates value,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cOur partnerships and alignment are very important.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018It Impacts Everyone and Everything\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Although Amin is focused on caring for men\u2019s health, he recognizes the work he does has a profound ripple effect.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether you\u2019re addressing men\u2019s health, women\u2019s health, or children\u2019s health, it is all family <\/em>health,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone wants a healthy family and if any one member has a problem, it impacts everyone and everything, from fear and disruption to employment and income concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLosing lives to conditions that are treatable, when solutions exist and can\u2019t be accessed, is failure,\u201d he says. \u201cWe hope to save many families from going through the terrible experience of advanced prostate cancer.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reza Amin\u2019s Bastion Health creates virtual, confidential, progressive approach to medical screening to help save lives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":232366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,1731,2231,2649,2648,1862,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2105],"class_list":["post-232353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-entrepreneurship","category-health-well-being","category-blue-pride","category-blue-research","category-busn","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 14:44:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232370,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232353\/revisions\/232370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/232366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232353"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=232353"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=232353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bastion](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Reza-Amin-Bastion-Health-June-2025-300x200.jpg\")
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