UPMC Enterprises, the venture arm of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has announced that it plans to invest in the first six health tech projects developed under The Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance, which is run by UPMC, University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University.
The venture fund will invest more than $3 million into these projects over the next six months, as it assesses commercial potential of each of them. The Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance was first announced a little over a year ago with the mission of using big data to improve healthcare and wellness.
“We are excited to move forward with the first of many exceptional ideas in the Health Data Alliance pipeline,” UPMC Enterprises President Tal Heppenstall said in a statement. “This promising start bodes well for the Alliance’s goal of transforming health care by unleashing the creativity and entrepreneurialism of leading scientists and clinicians in Pittsburgh.”
One of the projects UPMC Enterprises is funding was developed under CMU’s Center for Machine Learning and Health (CMLH) while the other five were developed under University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Commercial Applications of Healthcare Data (CCA).
Here are the six projects that will receive an investment from UPMC Enterprises:
Clinical Genomics Modeling Platform, the only project developed under CMLH, is a platform that can build precision medicine models for specific diseases and populations. For example, the clinical genomics modeling platform can help build a triage algorithm that helps providers decide whether to send a patient home with monitoring or to the ICU.
MEDIvate (not to be confused with Medivate, an already existing community for meditators) is a smartphone app for patients that helps them update and share their medication lists. Medications that they are taking can be manually entered or pulled from their EHR.
Tumor-specific Driver Identification (TDI) System is a program that provides cancer clinicians with genomic information about the genetic drivers of an individual patient’s tumors.
Fall Sentinel is an automated system that allows clinical pharmacists to continuously monitor patients in nursing homes and track drug interactions that might lead to falls.
Pump is a monitoring and alert system that uses wearable devices and hospital bed sensors to document patient repositioning.
ComPACD, which stands for Computational Pathology for Accurate Cancer Diagnosis, is a software program that help pathologists provide more accurate diagnoses for complex tumor images.
Earlier this year, UPMC Enterprises led an investment in San Francisco-based Lantern, which offers web and mobile programs using cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety and stress.
Date: March 23, 2016