May 10, 2011 –
A group from Edwards Lifesciences visits the Collaboratory.
Recent visits to CALIT2 from two Orange County business leaders are paving the way for future collaborations among researchers, industry and community partners.
Retired Rockwell International CEO Donald Beall was followed a week later by Michael Mussellam, CEO of Edwards Lifesciences. Both men have ties to CALIT2. Beall served an eight year term on the institute’s Advisory Board; in 2009, Edwards Lifesciences joined the board. The two are instrumental in providing guidance and support to the institute’s efforts. Their latest visits were prompted by the opening of the institute’s eHealth Collaboratory.
“As we develop new programs in CALIT2, like the Collaboratory, I am appreciative for the advice and expertise these prominent individuals can offer to help us foster stronger partnerships with industry and community organizations,” explains CALIT2 Director G.P. Li. “They are great mentors to me.”
Located on the building’s third floor, the Collaboratory serves as a demonstration and design space for multidisciplinary teams working on all facets of eHealth. Visitors can view and interact with the researcher’s latest developments in telemedicine, mobile operating systems, wireless platforms and micro- and nano-fluidic devices.
Don Beall (left) engages with Jeff Russell, whose research investigates the musculoskeletal stress on performing artists.
The goal of the Collaboratory is to foster a high-touch approach to delivering healthcare solutions which includes the research teams working directly with healthcare providers, patients and industry partners to develop the new technologies.
“We plan to produce tools that can offer personalized empowerment,” Li says. “This technology must be valuable to those delivering the healthcare as well as those receiving it.”
Li invited Beall and Mussellam to see first-hand the institute’s newest endeavor, hoping the visits lead to more productive teaming opportunities that will not only foster research development and deployment but lead to product commercialization.
Already follow-up discussions fostered by the initial visits are in the works.
“I have no doubt these collaborations will further the startup ecosystem and ignite economic growth in Orange County,” adds Li.
–Shellie Nazarenus
