GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. is partnering with the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital on a new advanced imaging research and development center on the university's campus.
The UC Board of Trustees on June 25 approved a $9 million project for the formation of the new advanced imaging research and development center, which will allow clinical investigators from UC and Children's to work with GE HeathCare scientists to develop new MRI methods for the next era of health care, according to Anja Brau, a general manager at GE HealthCare.
GE HealthCare (Nasdaq: GEHC) is a medical imaging equipment company based in Chicago but has major product development and production operations in the Milwaukee area, where it has about 5,100 employees.
The goal is to open the new facility early next year.
“Research and development drive innovation in health care technology, and we’re always looking for ways to serve the needs of our customers and their patients," Brau told the Cincinnati Business Courier. "We look for collaborators with track records of clinical excellence and a patient-centered focus; that’s why we’re excited about the prospects of working more closely with UC, UC Health and Cincinnati Children’s.”
The board allocated $3 million for the renovation of 321 Albert Sabin Way, which houses UC's existing MRI center, to house two magnets, considered the primary technology MRIs use to render images inside an object like the human body.
The board anticipates the remaining $6 million to come from grants. Each magnet will cost $3 million, with the first magnet provided by GE HeathCare with the financial assistance of JobsOhio via a research and development grant covering the entire cost of the magnet.
Renovations will be completed by the design and construction team within UC Health.
A second magnet will be provided by UC pending approval of a federal grant for another $3 million.
The academic-industrial collaboration is intended to support engineering and manufacturing job growth and new clinical and scientific roles at the future facility, according to a news release.
It will be solely dedicated to imaging research and development. GE HealthCare plans to embed scientists to work alongside UC and UC Health researchers and clinicians.
“I think there’s a lot of development that will occur in terms of growing people, growing talent and providing that incubator for the biomedical engineering students to work with medical students and GE scientists so that we start developing a pipeline for new jobs,” Dr. Mary Mahoney, chief of imaging services at UC Health, told the Courier. Mahoney is also the Benjamin Felson Chair and professor in the University of Cincinnati Department of Radiology at the College of Medicine.
The facility will be an advanced science lab and only the third of its kind in the United States, catapulting UC further toward the top of research and development universities.
Other collaborators on the project include Cincinnati Children’s, which will work to perfect imaging techniques and technology to better help pediatric patients, and REDI Cincinnati, which is assisting with technical and economic initiatives related to the project.
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“GE HealthCare’s decision to choose Ohio for its next research center launches a research partnership that would validate the bold vision of establishing the Cincinnati Innovation District in 2020,” JobsOhio president and CEO J.P. Nauseef said in the release. "The shared effort between GE HealthCare and the Cincinnati Innovation District collaborators would advance MRI technology, demonstrating Ohio’s leadership in improving the lives of pediatric and adult patients globally.”
