PA Bob Thomann Launched “BrightBot” to Help Prevent the Spread of Infections
‘I wanted to start a business that emotionally rang true for me.”
January 24, 2025
By Jennifer Walker

During the height of COVID-19, hospitals across the country faced a shortage of personal protective equipment. Then, Bob Thomann, a physician associate in an emergency department (ED) in Chicago, used his masks for two weeks at a time, taking them home in a paper bag every night as instructed to keep them clean. “This was supposed to be a sanitary process,” he said. “But I knew there had to be a better way.”
Before becoming a PA, Thomann was an electrical engineer and used that knowledge to come up with a solution: boxes lined with Ultraviolet-C (UVC) lights, which he designed himself. “UVC light breaks down the RNA and DNA inside molecules so they can’t replicate. It will kill everything, pretty much: viruses, bacteria, spores, fungus,” he said. Once the boxes were finished, he donated several to his hospital and to other hospitals in Chicago, where they were used to sanitize badges, masks, phones, and stethoscopes on-site.
Thomann then began thinking about how to sanitize spaces, particularly hospital rooms, using UVC light. For his first prototype, he attached UVC bulbs to an IV pole, creating a portable disinfection tool that could be easily wheeled from room to room. (This prototype evolved into a design with an aluminum frame and four UVC bulbs.) Providers and staff simply had to plug in the unit, leave the room and close the door, then turn on the unit using a remote. In about 10 minutes, the space is sanitized. He tested the product daily, made adjustments, then launched BrightBot in July 2020, which now offers three varieties of UVC lights for purchase.
“It started as a way to save lives and reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections,” said Thomann. “I wanted to start a business that emotionally rang true for me.”

Becoming a PA and Entrepreneur Through Chance and Opportunity
Thomann’s journey to becoming a PA is different than most. In 1997, he had a tree removal business, where he would cut down trees and remove them for customers. One day, as he was cutting down a tree branch, he fell and broke his wrist and had to go to the hospital. His experience with those providers inspired him to first become a volunteer in an ED, then an emergency room technician. While volunteering and working in the ED, he learned about the PA profession.
At age 37, Thomann—whose first career was a drill sergeant with the United States Army Reserve—started taking prerequisites to become a PA. He graduated from his PA program in 2004, then practiced for the next 16 years in the ED at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago.

In 2011, Thomann co-founded Star Global Connection, a nonprofit that provides sustainable training focused on medicine and water purification and donates medical supplies and equipment in countries like Burma, Laos, and the Philippines. While on a mission in Laos, Thomann met his wife, Diipalli, who was teaching English there at the time. Today, as a father of two, his international nonprofit work is limited, but he continues to offer missions when he can, mainly in the Philippines.
During the pandemic, Thomann found his way to becoming an entrepreneur. When thinking about the design for his portable UVC lights, affordability was a big factor. As a PA, Thomann saw how his hospital looked into purchasing similar disinfection products. The models they found had Wi-Fi connectivity, the ability to run reports, and price tags up to $100,000. Because of the expense, the hospital decided not to go through with the purchase. With this in mind, Thomann wanted his products to be affordable and accessible to as many institutions as possible.
“You don’t need all the bells and whistles,” Thomann said. “As an engineer, my goal was to design a light that is affordable so anyone can use it, and we could help keep our people safe.”
Designing Portable UVC Lights and Launching BrightBot
Thomann designed his first UVC germicidal tower in his basement. He included important safety features like shatterproof light bulbs, motion sensors, and a remote actuator system (though he left out the features that make other models more expensive). Along with the design, a good amount of math and computation was involved to figure out how much light needed to be emitted to properly sanitize spaces of different sizes.

From there, there was some trial and error: Thomann’s first UVC unit, for example, had the wrong type of ballast, a small device that regulates the amount of electricity released into the light, so the UVC bulbs burnt out within a week. But because Thomann is a PA—a huge benefit as he was starting this business—he could test the lights in the ED every day, then make changes to his design as needed. In 2021, Thomann invested in third-party testing to show the efficacy of his product. His UVC units currently cost less than $10,000—a fraction of the price of some other models, he said.
Thomann also had to complete a variety of administrative tasks before launching BrightBot. These included registering the company as an S Corp, completing the regulatory process with the Environmental Protection Agency, and finding suppliers so he could order items in large quantities.
After officially unveiling his company in 2020, Thomann sold 10 units to his hospital at a discounted price. Later, he sold 40 units to an environmental services company that works with hundreds of hospitals—a sale large enough to necessitate a move from his basement to rented warehouse space. Today, his main clients continue to be hospitals, nursing homes, and dental offices.
Thomann is also focused on breaking into new markets like the hospitality industry, particularly cruise ships and hotels. “Wouldn’t it be nice if a hotel room got sanitized before you stayed in it?” he said. As a small business owner, his biggest challenges are breaking into markets with bigger competitors and balancing his time as an entrepreneur, a full-time PA (now in the ED at Swedish Hospital), a dad, and a part-time assistant professor at Touro University.
It helps that all of his endeavors are focused on providing support to others. “As a PA in emergency medicine, I remind myself that these people who come in need somebody to help them. With BrightBot, it’s the same thing: It started out as a way to save lives and keep people safe,” he said. “All of this is because I want to help people.”
Jennifer Walker is a freelance writer in Baltimore, MD. Contact Jennifer at [email protected].
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