The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) granted $49 million in Phase 2 funding to the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, an initiative to position Wisconsin as a global leader in personalized medicine. The UW Department of Radiology played a pivotal role in earning the federal tech hub designation and is on the forefront of the transformative work the funding will drive.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is one of 18 members across industry, higher education and government who make up the Biohealth Tech Hub consortium. Through this collaborative effort, the consortium demonstrated that Wisconsin’s strengths in such areas as innovation, manufacturing, healthcare and entrepreneurship primes it be the national leader of personalized medicine. This innovative approach to healthcare customizes treatment based on a patient’s unique genetic code, medical history and environment. With an additional $7.5 million in state funding and $24 million in industry commitments, the tech hub expects to receive over $80 million.
A core element that the Biohealth Tech Hub builds upon is the history of collaboration with industry. Our partnership with GE HealthCare exemplifies that tenet. Over the past 40 years, GE HealthCare and the department have built a vital collaborative research and technology relationship, generating substantial health innovations including more than 100 patents. In November 2023, our department hosted the celebration for the new 10-year strategic collaboration between UW-Madison and GE HealthCare. One of the key technology projects funded through the Biohealth Tech Lab initiative will be the GE HealthCare-led effort to streamline the integration of new technologies into health care systems. Our relationship with GE HealthCare will assist in this important endeavor.
Another technology project will be the Wisconsin Health Data Hub, led by researchers at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Every day, technology offers new opportunities to collect data, which includes the images our faculty use in treating patients and conducting research. The comprehensive, secure, accessible and inclusive health data ecosystem will help ensure that data is available to scientists, entrepreneurs and biohealth companies developing the next breakthrough in medicine.
The CAREScan Mobile Cancer Screening, another Phase 2 project, will improve health equity by collecting community insights and increasing access to screening and care. Chair Scott Reeder, MD, PhD will serve as the local, UW principal investigator (PI) for the Medical College of Wisconsin-led project.
From contributing to the strategy development to literally opening our doors, the department has dedicated our expertise and passion to the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub initiative. To support her lobbying efforts to earn the federal Tech Hub designation for the state, Senator Tammy Baldwin visited the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR) with media in August 2023. In her tour of the facilities, she visited the UW–Madison Cyclotron lab, Radiopharmaceutical Production Facility, WIMR PET Imaging Center, and the Photon Counting CT Scanner.
“I am incredibly proud of our faculty, researchers and staff who have already done so much to support this visionary endeavor,” Dr. Reeder said. “With the funding and momentum from the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub initiative, the health care landscape in Wisconsin will be transformed and tomorrow’s patients will receive even better care because of it.”