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Tuesday, July 14, 2015 at 8:30 AM – Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at 12:30 PM

Enough talk about patient engagement. Take your insights and mold them into a mandate.

Are your ideas strong enough to develop a real patient engagement solution – and then present that idea to the likes of the chief technology officer of Health and Human Services?

Attendees of MedCity ENGAGE on July 14-15 in Bethesda will do just that. Teams will work on three issues critical to patient engagement – led by healthcare organizations already dedicated to the issue: Kindred Healthcare, Sharecare and Lumiata.

Each group will present their ideas to the full MedCity ENGAGE audience. The audience will vote, and MedCityNews.com will publish the winning idea. Our journalists will then continue to examine the concept throughout the rest of the year, writing stories that explore the ideas developed by the winning patient engagement solution.

Spaces are filling up fast. Sign up to attend MedCity ENGAGE and then register to join in the challenges.

When it comes to fostering innovation and the commercialisation of world class research, there is something the United States has that we lack. We ought to learn from the successes of the US in this area, and emulate one program they have pioneered to give our own innovative industries a much needed kick start.

For dozens of Australian researchers returning to the country after working in the US, the lack of an equivalent to the US’s Small Business Innovation Research SBIR scheme here reflects a major hole in our innovation ecosystem.

Thirty-six mentors from the schools of medicine, pharmacy, and nursing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) will be paired with 30 Baltimore City high school students, ages 16 to 18, for a five-week-long Summer BioScience Internship Program. The goal of the program is to teach students about careers in biomedical research through hands-on learning, and to link the students to faculty members who can support, guide, and inspire them to pursue careers in science research.

The Universities at Shady Grove (USG) announces the addition of six new members to the USG Board of Advisors, a formally constituted body established under the auspices of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.

The new USG board members include:

• Daniel Abdun-Nabi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
• Jay Clarke, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Operations of Total Wine and More.
• John Kenyon, Senior Vice President of Engineering Staff for Hughes Network Systems.
• Roya Mohadjer, Senior Strategic Planner and IS&GS STEM Leader for Lockheed Martin.
• Michael O’Brien, Global Head of Corporate Communications for MedImmune.
• Larry E. Walker, Principal of The Walker Group.

Brooklyn Community Foundation has announced the inaugural cohort of its Incubator Project– one of several new programs within the Foundation’s Brooklyn Accelerator, which launched earlier this year as a capacity-building hub for local, emerging non profits.

Through the Incubator Project, three nonprofit organizations were selected to take advantage of one year of free co-working space in BCF’s new headquarters at 1000 Dean Street, as well as a $5,000 stipend for start-up costs, plus tailored ongoing technical assistance and training to support their development.

This is the second in a 3-part series about the use of crowdfunding in health and biotech start-ups. We started with the story of a tech start-up which set records for funding through a Kickstarter campaign, triggering the interest of entrepreneurs in capital- intensive industries (Part 1: The Beginning). Part 2 discusses the JOBS Act and the government’s attempt to overcome regulatory hurdles facing companies which want to use crowdfunding to raise equity investment capital. Part 3 will address some Potential Dangers inherent in the system of crowdfunding being devised.  We hope you find the series educational and invite you to contact the authors with questions. 

In a world exploding with new technologies and gadgets to fit the up and coming generations, it seems that the older generations are getting cast aside. Even though it seems like new healthcare entrepreneurs are always moving forward, some companies, like HomeHero, took a generational step back to work in the senior care industry. Kyle Hill is the CEO and co-founder of HomeHero, a website to find in-home, affordable care for seniors. He started the company in the hopes of making caring for loved ones easier, especially when distance separated them.

The motivation to work in senior care was inspired by Kyle’s grandmother. Since their family was so separated, it made it very difficult to ensure she was getting the in-home care she needed. After he observed the poor care his family received, especially witnessing his grandmother being left alone for almost a whole day, completely immobile, and the lack of screening caregivers received, Hill and co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Mike Townsend decided to create a company that provided the best caregivers for the senior community.

The buzz word was growth at this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards on Thursday night in Baltimore as seven companies took home top honors in the annual competition that rewards innovation and financial performance.

The black-tie gala at the Marriott Waterfront showcased EY’s 24 finalists for the Maryland region before the winners were announced.A common theme was that many started in their living room or basement before becoming companies that in some cases employ hundreds of people.

FlexEl LLC, a custom battery solutions company, will open a research, development and manufacturing facility in Prince George’s County, Md.  FlexEl was spun out of the University of Maryland based upon a thin film battery technology in 2008. The company, which won the Maryland Incubator Company of the Year award in 2010 and launched as a startup at the University of Maryland, will lease more than 10,000 square-feet from the university. FlexEl currently has 10 full-time employees and plans to add an additional 50 new jobs over the next five years.

“FlexEl is an innovative company with tremendous potential and we are excited to be working with Prince George’s County and the University of Maryland to help FlexEl move to the next level of development,” said Governor Larry Hogan. “It is critical that we support home-grown companies like FlexEl that are working to develop the next generation of technology.” 

The Institute of Human Virology at University of Maryland School of Medicine has received a five-year, $24.5 million grant to help fight AIDS in Africa.

Through the grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Baltimore researchers will focus on treatment programs that have long-term potential to address Botswana’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. The grant is part of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a $48 billion initiative launched in 2004 to target global infectious diseases.