Robert and Patricia Kern have given $100 million to Mayo Clinic with more than $87 million dedicated to the Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery. In 2011, the Kerns gave Mayo $20 million to launch the Center.
The Kerns recent gift will be used to expand center operations, endow five scientific director positions, and create online education offerings. A portion of the new gift will support concerted efforts to share the center’s portfolio of scientifically proven high value models of care with healthcare providers throughout the U.S.
“This gift changes everything”, says John Noseworthy M.D, President and CEO of Mayo Clinic. “With the Kerns support, Mayo Clinic will be able to re-engineer healthcare to improve safety, quality, and value. Importantly, the Kearns gift empowers us to share these findings with hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes across the country so that patients everywhere will get the high quality and high value care they need and deserve.”
For example, Mayo’s Center for Health Care Delivery experts are using telemedicine to provide care to rural stroke patients, studying how to reduce surgical site infections, and creating smart technology able to synthesize and prioritize medical record information on the sickest patients in the hospital.
To provide telestroke services, Mayo Clinic is collaborating with Dartmouth-Hitchcock to provide services 24/7 across New Hampshire and Vermont. Specialists at a distance are using video conferencing to communicate with emergency room teams, examine patients, interpret brain images, confirm diagnoses, and make recommendations.
In other news, Mayo Clinic has joined the Arizona Furnace Technology Transfer Accelerator or referred to as “AZ Furnace” a state-wide initiative to drive economic development through the creation of high-potential research–based startups. “AZ Furnace” is supported by Northern Arizona University, the University of Arizona, Dignity Health, Thunderbird School of Global Management, and Science Foundation Arizona.
“AZ Furnace” is designed for entrepreneurs, business people and researchers to look at unencumbered technology, be able to see the potential for commercializing that technology, and then take the steps to form a new company.
“AZ Furnace” is currently seeking new and seasoned entrepreneurs to accelerate the commercialization of Arizona’s best technology assets into viable entities. AZ Furnace is offering incentives to entrepreneurs and researchers. This includes more than $100,000 in cash and services, a $25,000 seed grant, plus nine months of complimentary incubation space, and acceleration programming led by top industry mentors.
Technologies available for commercialization have been uploaded to a new social media enabled marketing platform to enable interested applicants to easily search and identify technologies that meet their commercialization interests and strengths. To find out more information, go to www.furnaceaccelerator.com.