St. Elizabeth Healthcare is launching an innovation center to spur internal innovation and propel the System to build, invest in and/or partner with organizations transforming the healthcare industry. The St. Elizabeth Healthcare Innovation Center includes a venture fund that will invest directly in emerging healthcare companies that focus on improving the lives of patients through faster, more accurate diagnoses, state-of-the-art treatment options and increased cost efficiency of care. All returns generated by the Fund will be reinvested to create more opportunities to bring advanced technology and innovation to St. Elizabeth patients.

St. Elizabeth will not only invest in emerging companies but will partner with them to bring their cutting-edge clinical treatments to patients, eliminating the need to travel for world-class care—yet another step toward its vision to lead the communities it serves to become the healthiest in the nation.

“We are laser focused on ways to improve our patient experience and outcomes, and the Innovation Center opens the door to incredible opportunities that allow us to do exactly that,” said Sarah Giolando, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at St. Elizabeth. “This investment in innovation further positions St. Elizabeth as a hybrid academic and community hospital: we can be nimble in responding to revolutionary healthcare technology opportunities, ultimately leading to more lives saved.”

The Innovation Center will:

• Enhance care delivery with access to cutting-edge treatments, including Phase I clinical trials (first-in-human).
• Invest in new, emerging companies to give patients the first chance at new technologies.
• Create access and the ability to shape new technology development for patient needs.
• Enable the System and its providers to deliver more effective care: lower cost and better outcomes.

In addition to the $25 million seed funding approved by the St. Elizabeth Board of Trustees, the St. Elizabeth Venture Fund will receive a $5 million future gift from the estate and charitable foundation of the leading medical oncologist, Manish Bhandari, MD. In appreciation of this generous gift, St. Elizabeth is naming its venture fund after Dr. Bhandari and his family – The Bhandari Venture Fund. Dr. Bhandari will serve as the Fund’s Clinical Director.

“As a practicing oncologist and inventor, I have seen the impact over the last decade that new technologies such as immunotherapy, cell therapy, medical devices and IT have had to enhance the life and health of my patients, my family and society at large, It is important to fund and bring such medical innovation to our community,” said Dr. Bhandari. “There is an unbelievable amount of innovation happening every day and I feel privileged to be a small piece in making these high-tech solutions a reality, and bringing it for the benefit of our patients.”

Through its venture fund, the Innovation Center has already invested $5 million in Foldax, a company that developed a first-in-human synthetic heart valve. As compared to current heart valves, the synthetic version lasts a lifetime and offers thousands in cost savings. Also, the innovation center is helping a startup, Epitel, bring patient friendly band-aid like patch devices in the seizure detection and monitoring in the ER, in ICUs and at the patient’s home. Various such medical devices and new pharmaceutical technologies are being evaluated by the St. Elizabeth Innovation Center.

“The St. Elizabeth Innovation Center is a critical development in care for patients and providers alike,” said Heidi Murley, MD, President and CEO of St. Elizabeth Physicians. “The more advanced technology that is available to us, the better positioned we are as medical providers to deliver care effectively at a reasonable cost.”

The St. Elizabeth Innovation Center is actively seeking additional donors to join the investment in emerging, high-growth healthcare companies that improve the lives of its patients and communities. St. Elizabeth continues to bring the latest technology to the region so patients are not required to travel for world-class care – they can get it right here, in their own backyards.