Collaboration to Enhance Development of Novel Cardiovascular Health Technology
UC San Francisco’s Division of Cardiology has joined with the Rosenman Institute to speed the development of health-tech innovation at UCSF. The Rosenman Institute – established in 2012 at UCSF to support a culture of health care innovation – recently announced the UCSF Rosenman Institute BUILD™ Heart Health program in collaboration with the American Heart Association.
The BUILD program is designed as an 11-month cycle of fully funded fellowships aimed at training the next generation of health technology entrepreneurs. The BUILD Heart Health program provides an environment that helps innovators connect with and integrate all essential stakeholders and facets of development, with a focus on novel cardiovascular health technology solutions.
The aim of the partnership is to build an infrastructure to incentivize the health-tech incubation process and recruit fellows to participate in the BUILD program.
“Having teams at UCSF join forces to improve patient care is a win for all, especially our patients and the public as a whole,” said Michelle Albert, MD, American Heart Association volunteer president and Walter A. Haas-Lucie Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology and professor of Medicine at UCSF. “The UCSF Cardiology and Rosenman BUILD Heart Health program – in collaboration with the American Heart Association – has the potential to elevate developed innovations within the cardiovascular and heart health spaces into global environments.”
As an organization focused on equitable health for all, the American Heart Association participates in efforts to help people from diverse backgrounds become technology entrepreneurs to address pressing health inequities.
“We are thrilled to partner with the Rosenman Institute through BUILD Heart Health and lead the way in developing leadership in cardiovascular treatment and promote the development of the technologies that will ultimately improve outcomes for our patients,” said Jeffrey Olgin, MD, co-director of the UCSF Heart and Vascular Center as well as chief of cardiology.
Olgin will serve on the Rosenman Advisory Board in his capacity as division chief of Cardiology. The Cardiology division has designated Liviu Klein, MD, director of UCSF’s Advanced Heart Failure Comprehensive Care Center, to serve on the steering committee of the program as director of clinical program for innovation development. In this role, Klein will provide clinical and patient perspectives for program curriculum; provide guidance to create the infrastructure needed to incentivize company spin-offs; recommend and invite additional faculty to participate in the program as advisors, instructors and mentors, and recruit UCSF fellows to participate in the program as BUILDers.
“Combining the knowledge from Cardiology as a care delivery system with Rosenman’s health care innovation players will create a powerhouse to accelerate robust innovations,” said Christine Winoto, executive director of the Rosenman Institute. “We are focused on helping bring innovation to benefit patients and their loved ones.”
Since its genesis at UCSF, the Rosenman Institute has encouraged the implementation of new solutions for improving and managing cardiovascular health. For example, the institute supported UCSF spinoff company Encellin since its inception. The company’s co-founders, UCSF alumni Crystal Nyitray, PhD, and Grace Wei, PhD, developed Encellin’s technology at UCSF. The biotechnology company developed a novel thin-film cell encapsulation device for cell-based therapeutics. The Institute has also supported startups in the heart health space from outside of UCSF such as Moving Analytics, Corveus Medical, Lumi Health, and Moray Medical.
About UCSF Health: UCSF Health is recognized worldwide for its innovative patient care, reflecting the latest medical knowledge, advanced technologies and pioneering research. It includes the flagship UCSF Medical Center, which is a top-ranked specialty hospital, as well as UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, with campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics, UCSF Benioff Children’s Physicians and the UCSF Faculty Practice. These hospitals serve as the academic medical center of the University of California, San Francisco, which is world-renowned for its graduate-level health sciences education and biomedical research. UCSF Health has affiliations with hospitals and health organizations throughout the Bay Area. Visit https://www.ucsfhealth.org. Follow UCSF Health on Facebook or on Twitter.
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