Five promising health care technologies developed within Southern California's research institutes and universities were selected from 64 submissions to receive funding and business mentoring through the inaugural Health Care Technology Acceleration Program. Led by UC San Diego's William J. von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement, the program supports early-stage innovations with the potential to be commercially viable products or services that will lower the cost of health care delivery in California.

Chosen concepts each demonstrated the ability to reduce direct costs by at least 30%, deliver care in a lower-cost setting, or utilize skilled health care professionals more efficiently. Projects that will receive acceleration assistance include:

• Next-generation cancer radiotherapy treatment planning. A web-based treatment planning system that promises to make better use of physician time, encourage treatment data sharing, and improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy devices.
• Cell phone as a diagnostic tool. A lens-free, on-chip imaging modality that enables the conversion of a conventional cell phone into a diagnostic tool, providing instant lab results without the lab.
• Low-cost test strips for diagnosis of acute illness. Test strips exploiting low-cost nanoengineered sensor technology offer health care providers a fast and easy way to recognize acute illness in patients with extremely low concentrations of biomarkers.
• Integrated heart failure disease management. A heart failure disease management system that combines clinical monitoring with a user-friendly device that allows doctors to receive regular, wireless updates about the condition of their patients.
• Mobile Mandometer® for at-home weight normalization. An application system that trains obese patients to normalize food intake by providing real-time feedback about eating behavior during and between meals.

Supported by the California HealthCare Foundation, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the von Liebig Center is well positioned to bring university-based research to market and educate future health care entrepreneurs. 

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