medical research and innovation : Innovation + Job News

Fyodor Biotechnology Inc. expects to complete human trials on its product to detect malaria next year, with commercial production to begin in 2014. The Baltimore biotech firm is also in the planning stages for a second product, a variation of the first, that should be ready for production by 2015. The tests are significant for diagnosis and treatment of an illness that is endemic in developing countries around the world. 

"The tests will be revolutionary in malaria circles," says Eddy Agbo, CEO and chairman of the board of Fyodor, which has established a global network of malaria health professionals.

Fyodor Biotechnology is working with partners who will manufacture and distribute the tests, which will be sold to government and non-government organizations like the World Health Organization, travelers and the military. The tests are for citizens and visitors to countries in the "frontier" market, aka developing countries.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine is conducting the human trials on the first product in Nigeria and Mali. The Urine Malaria Test is the first urine-based test geared to the type of malaria seen in Africa, the Caribbean and South America. The second product will detect the malaria strain found in Asia, China and India. It, too, is the first urine-based test for this malarial type and human trials will also be conducted.  
 
The human trials are required to obtain approval from the US. Food and Drug Administration. While FDA approval is not necessary to sell the products in other countries, it validates them, Agbo says. 
 
Agbo says the tests resulted from Johns Hopkins University’s global health initiative. Using technology that came out of the initiative, Fyodor created a one-step test that is accurate, easy to use, and quick. Test results are available within 20 minutes.
 
Founded in 2008, Fyodor was initially housed in the University of Maryland BioInnovation Center. It subsequently moved to the University of Maryland BioPark where, in July, it relocated from a 700-square foot space to a 2,000-square foot space.
 
The company is doubling its staff, from its current three full-time employees to hiring another three full-time employees by 2013 with expertise in chemistry and recumbent DNA technology. It is also looking for several part-time employees and interns who are familiar with biology, chemistry and laboratory procedures.
 
So far, Fyodor has attracted a total of $2 million in state and federal grants and from private investors, including Maryland Technology Development Corp. and the National Science Foundation (NSF). In August, NSF awarded the company a grant of $476,000 to continue its research.
 
Source: Eddy Agbo, Fyodor Biotechnology
Writer: Barbara Pash

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory researchers are talking with entrepreneurs about commercializing a revolutionary prosthetic limb that can be operated by a person's thoughts. 

The limb uses different mechanisms for brain control, including a brain/computer interface for spinal cord patients and surface electrodes for amputees. Researchers at APL and its five partners are essentially taking technology developed for the prosthetic limb and applying it to both spinal cord patients and to amputees. 
 
Michael McLoughlin, deputy business area executive for research and exploratory development at Laurel's APL declined to provide more information about the commercialization prospects, saying that “nothing has been signed.”  McLoughlin says that preparations are underway to demonstrate the brain/computer interface on human subjects, a first as far as he knows. Plans call for working with five patients with spinal cord injuries.

“Spinal cord patients have a break in the nerves that go from the arm to the brain. They can think about moving their arm but those signals have nowhere to go. Using electrodes, we measure the signals and figure put how to move the prosthetic arm by bypassing the break,” McLoughlin says.
 
The development of the mechanical prosthetic limb grew out of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, a federal defense initiative that began in 2006 and has a year left to go before the project ends. The program's goal is to expand prosthetic arm options for the military's "wounded warriors."  The U.S. Department of Defense has been funding the program for a total of about $100 million so far. The brain/computer interface is the final phase of the program and, McLoughlin says, data about its research has not yet been published.
 
APL’s research partners in the program are the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and School of Medicine, California Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, University of Utah and HDT Engineering Technologies, a private company in Ohio. 
 
The APL-led team of researchers have developed a modular prosthetic limb whose arm and hand are controlled by surface electrodes, in the case of amputees, and by a brain/computer interface, for spinal cord patients.

For spinal cord patients, physicians at the University of Pittsburgh will implant micro-electrodes in the brain of a paralyzed patient to record neural signals that control arm movement and to determine if the prosthetic arm can be controlled by the user’s thoughts.

The electrodes are inserted in the cortex of the brain. The prosthetic arm is mounted on a pedestal. The researchers developed the brain/computer interface by enhancing chip technology and combined it with algorithms to, as McLoughlin put it, “listen to and interpret what the brain is saying it wants to do.”
 
Earlier this year, for the first time and in cooperation with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Walter Reed Military Medical Center, a U.S. Army soldier who lost both legs and his left arm to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan demonstrated the use of the prosthetic limb.

The prosthetic limb was featured in the May cover story of Popular Mechanics magazine, which called it a "smart bionic limb" and its direct neural control "the endgame of bionics."
 
 
Source: Michael McLoughlin, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 
 
 

Robert Hienz, a Johns Hopkins medical researcher, is studying the effects of radiation on the brain of astronauts on future deep-space exploration missions, thanks to a $400,000 grant from NASA’s Human Research Program and its National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
 
Hienz, associate professor of behavioral biology, Johns Hopkins Medical School, and senior scientist for the Institutes for Behavior Resources, is continuing research he began in 2009 with previous grants from these NASA agencies.
 
Hienz says that NASA has identified three problems for humans on long-term space missions: bone and muscle deterioration, eyesight and radiation effects. A fourth potential problem is psycho-social, for astronauts who will be confined together in a small vehicle for several years in a row.
 
NASA requested proposals to study astronauts’ health and performance on long-term space flights. Of the 104 proposals received, it chose 29, for a total of $26 billion over a one- to three-year period.
 
Hienz’s proposal is to detect and prevent neurobehavioral vulnerability to space radiation.

The International Space Station is within the earth’s magnetic field, which deflects radiation, so it is not an issue for its occupants. However, once astronauts move beyond the station -- to the moon or Mars, for example -- they will be subject to radiation from the sun and interstellar space, even inside a spacecraft.
 
Says Hienz, “The astronauts will be exposed to naturally-occurring radiation and the longer out they are, the more they will be exposed. The longer they are exposed, the more likely they are to develop problems.”
 
Exposure to radiation is thought to increase the incidence of cancer and to accelerate the natural aging process. He says that NASA is currently engaged in a study of former astronauts to determine if they develop cancer in their later years but the results so far are inconclusive.
 
A round-trip flight to Mars would take about three years, including a short stay on the surface. With the possibility of a Mars mission in 2030, as Hienz has heard, it is expected that NASA will use more frequent trips to the moon, with longer stays on its surface, as a preliminary for a Mars flight.
 
Hienz says that other scientists are studying the effects of radiation on other parts of the body. A complication is that there are different kinds of radiation, from high-energy solar flares to the particles of interstellar space.
 
Hienz has reached a few preliminary conclusions. One is that exposure to radiation does appear to affect performance. The other, and more tentative, is that physical changes detected in the brain because of radiation may provide biological markers that can be determined ahead of time.
 
Such markers may be used to determine the radiation sensitivity of future astronauts for prevention and treatment purposes, according to Hienz. 
 
Source: Robert Hienz, PhD, Johns Hopkins Medical School
Writer: Barbara Pash

The Rare Genomics Institute says it has discovered a new gene variant in a four-year-old patient that may indicate a brand new disease.

RGI is an affiliate of the Baltimore City Emerging Technology Center incubator and a nonprofit devoted to helping patients with rare genetic diseases. It uses crowdfunding to finance genomic sequencing pilot projects and is run by 23 volunteers.
 
Researchers at a medical institution made the discovery in partnership with RGI, President Dr. Jimmy Lin says.  It marks the first time that a patient-initiated, crowdfunded genome initiative project has uncovered the genetic basis of a rare disease, he says. 

In this case, the child had undergone multiple operations and suffered from developmental delays. Despite visiting numeorus physicians, her condition had remained unexplained until genomic sequencing identified a gene active in fetal development and early childhood as the culprit.

"By looking at the sequence and comparing it with public databases, we were able to find the genetic change in her genome that was not present in either of her parents," Lin says.

He says that while there is no "cure"  for her rare disease, the discovery will help the child's physicians better understand her condition and someday may point to better treatment for her and other children like her.
 
Lin founded RGI last year while still a MD/PhD student at Johns Hopkins University. Now a professor at the Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, Lin says RGI will remain in Baltimore.
 
Lin says RGI was created to help patients with rare diseases through genomic sequencing, which enables researchers to identify genetic defects that might not show up in standard medical testing.
 
“We help patients with diseases that are so rare that no organization is helping them, no funding is available to them and no research is being done,” Lin says of diseases that, because of these factors, are often not named..
 
There are about 7,000 rare diseases, legally defined as affecting from 200,000 people to one person. According to RGI, 80 percent of rare diseases have indentifiable genetic origins; 75 percent or rare diseases affect children; 30 percent of rare disease patients die before the age of 5.   
 
RGI has 18 medical institution partners, including Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland Medical System, which have agreed to do genomic sequencing.
 
RGI raises the money through a funding model called crowdfunding, in which projects are chosen, highlighted on a website and donations can be made directly to the project via the web site.
 
Since founding, RGI has highlighted 20 projects and raised more than $50,000. In the project involving the four-year-old child, it raised $3,500 over six hours to pay for her genome sequencing,
 
As far as Lin knows, RGI is the only nonprofit undertaking this effort. “There are companies that do sequencing and there are companies that do crowdfunding but we are the only ones who’ve connected all the dots,” he says.
 
Source: Dr. Jimmy Lin, Rare Genomics Institute
Writer: Barbara Pash

Sinai Hospital of Baltimore is investigating the effects of spaceflight on astronauts, thanks to a $1 million grant from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and NASA’s Human Research Program. Sinai Hospital received one of 29 grants awarded for a three-year study of astronaut health and performance on future deep space exploration missions.
 
The major emphasis of the grants is to address the recently identified issue of visual impairment of astronauts during and after space exploration, according to a NASA statement.
 
Dr. Michael A. Williams, medical director of The Sandra and Malcolm Brain & Spine Institute, will lead the investigation at Sinai Hospital, part of LifeBridge Health, a provider of health services in northwest Baltimore.
 
"We are one of eight centers working on intercranial pressure and visual impairment. The others are academic centers," Williams says. Williams will collaborate with Dr. Aaron Dentinger of General Electric Co., and Dr. Gary Strangman of Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts General Hospital on the research team looking at smart medical systems and technology.
 
In his research, Williams will gauge the accuracy of two non-invasive methods of measuring spinal fluid pressure. Neither is currently considered accurate enough to make diagnostic and therapeutic decisions for astronauts in spaceflight.
 
Beyond its value for spaceflight, Williams says the research applies to civilian life. "The NASA research builds on a program in which we routinely use invasive testing to monitor spinal fluid. For our hospital and patients, if we can demonstrate the validity of non-invasive clinical routine, it will be a boon to the patients who see us." 
 
Says Williams, "I never imagined that in my career I have would have a role with NASA. It is a great honor."

Source: Dr. Michael A. Williams, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore
Writer: Barbara Pash

Audacious Inquiry has landed a new client, conducting market research on behalf of the federal government.

The Baltimore technology services company will perform research on special topics, then report to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology with the results. The company cannot go into details about the topics, which are considered sensitive, according to Barbara Koch, analyst at Audacious Inquiry.   

Based on a federal act, the Office of National Coordinator seeks to improve America's health care delivery system and patient care through information technology. It runs several different programs that assist and support providers, coordinate within and among states, connect to public health resource, and train and equip workers.

Christopher Brandt, managing director of Audacious Inquiry, says the office identified the company for its market tracking and advisory services and sought it out for the $247,000 contract.

Audacious Inquiry deals primarily in health care and government, providing systems integration support, software development and technical project management. The company worked behind-the-scenes on the CRISP initiative that resulted in Maryland being the first state in the country to connect all of its 46 acute care hospitals and two specialty hospitals to the Maryland Health Information Exchange.

Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown made the official announcement last February. CRISP (Chesapeake Regional Information System For Our Patients is a partnership of Erickson Retirement Communities, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, University of Maryland Medical System and MedStar Health.

Brandt called the project "a major milestone for us." Audacious Inquiry is a contractor to CRISP, and the project allows approved doctors' offices, hospitals and other health organizations to instantly and securely share clinical health data. The state has invested $10 million along with $10.9 million in federal funds in the Health Information Exchange. 
 
Audacious Inquiry was founded in 2004. In 2010, the 30-employee company relocated from the Howard County NeoTech Incubator to the BW Tech @UMBC, the research park at University of Maryland Baltimore County. In 2012, it won the Howard County Technology Council award for life sciences company of the year.
 
Source: Christopher Brandt and Barbara Koch, Audacious Inquiry
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 
 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to improve the health of mothers and children in rural, hard-to-reach areas by increasing vaccine coverage.
 
Dr. Alain Labrique, director of the Johns Hopkins University Global mHealth Initiative, received a Grand Challenges Exploration Grant from the Gates foundation. This is the first time that Labrique and Hopkins’s public health school have received this particular grant although members of Labrique’s team have received other Gates’ grants.
 
“Grand Challenges pioneered funding for innovative research, for researchers to receive seed funding to take their ideas to the next level,” Labrique says. He is working with a team to develop a virtual vaccine registry, called mTikka. Part of the study will look at the impact of mobile phones on rural health delivery. 
 
Labrique says the registry builds on 12 years of public health work in rural Bangladesh, particularly on behalf of maternal, neonatal and child nutrition and survival. His team works in partnership with the Bangladesh ministry of health and family welfare and social enterprise partners mPower Health. mTikka will be test-piloted in rural, remote areas of Bangladesh for future use in other developing countries.
 
The Grand Challenges grant covers a 12- to 18-month long period. Researchers can reapply for another Grand Challenges grant after that but “you cannot hold more than one seed grant at a time,” Labrique says.
 
Grand Challenges grants have two levels, each with its own requirements. The Phase 1 grants are for $100,000 each. The Phase 2 grants start at $1 million. Will Labrique be applying for a Phase 2 grant in the future? “Oh, certainly,” he says.
 
Source: Dr. Alain Labrique, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office and MedChi, the state medical society, are partnering in a program that protects consumers from insurance company abuses. Launched last month, Insurance Watch enables physicians in the state to file complaints online on behalf of their patients.

The Attorney General’s Health Education and Advocacy Unit  has long accepted written claims filed by physicians when an insurance company refuses to cover a patient’s medical care and other insurance payment issues.

MedChi asked to be involved when a survey found that physicians were not filing the paper forms. “We wanted to make it easy for physicians,” MedChi CEO Gene Ransom says.

Physicians can opt to have the complaint sent to the Attorney General’s Office only or to MedChi as well. If they choose the latter, MedChi will monitor the complaint, which often goes to mediation.

According to David Paulson, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, more than 2,000 complaints were filed in 2011, resulting in over $1 million in claims and recovery on behalf of patients.

With the new, online system, Paulson expects the number of filed complaints to increase. “The doctors are pleased” with Insurance Watch, he says. “It’s a smart way to communicate with them, and for them to communicate with their patients.”

Che Parker, spokesman for Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic, says the health insurer has no objections to the program.

“Doctors and patients are free to use established processes and procedures to surface concerns to insurance regulators and other venues established for that purpose,” he says. “We trust those concerns will be appropriately resolved in those venues.”

Sources: Gene Ransom, MedChi; David Paulson, Maryland Attorney General’s Office; Che Parker, Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic
Writer: Barbara Pash
 
 

The state and five universities are spending upwards of $5.8 million to help startups move from a concept to a company.  

Senate Bill 239/House Bill 442 establishes the Maryland Innovation Initiative Fund under the aegis of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, or TEDCO. The bill passed the Maryland House and Senate and awaits the signature of Gov. Martin O'Malley, who is expected to sign it. 

“Maryland has premiere research universities but it ranks low on technology transfer,” Brian Levine, vice president, government relations, Tech Council of Maryland, says of the fund, which is intended to remedy that situation.
 
To participate in the fund, five universities are contributing to it. Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland College Park and University of Maryland, Baltimore will each contribute at least $200,000 per year. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Morgan State University will contribute at least $100,000 per year. The state has allocated $5 million to the fund, which will begin operating July 1.
 
Calling the fund “a great benefit for the state,” Rob Rosenbaum, TEDCO’s president and executive director, says. “We have so much research but commercialization is needed. We have to stimulate that activity.”

TEDCO is establishing an office to administer the fund. The fund helps technology concepts reach the startup phase by providing marketing and supporting the the technology transfer offices that already exist at the participating universities.
 
Rosenbaum says the fund intends to work with 40 projects per year that will result in 12 to 15 new companies. Startup companies initially generate 2.5 jobs on average, with salaries the first year of more than $75,000 per job.
 
Rosenbaum says that “all policies of the fund have not yet been defined” but the hope is that the startups it helps stay in Maryland.
 
Ronald Wineholt, vice president of government affairs of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, says the legislation provides better coordination of the universities’ transfer efforts. “Now that it’s under TEDCO, it’s a state-wide effort rather than an individual university,” he says.
 
Sources: Brian Levine, Tech Council of Maryland; Rob Rosenbaum, Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO); Ronald Wineholt, Maryland Chamber of Commerce
Writer: Barbara Pash

The man who won a Nobel Prize for developing a break-through in how scientists study cells will be the featured speaker at a Baltimore event that looks at the future of biomedical research.
 
Dr. Martin Chalfie will speak at the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s 15^th annual Life Science Symposium , which is free and open to the public. Dr. Chalfie will talk about the work that won him Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008.
 
The event will be held Wed. April 18, from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the UMBC Ballroom, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore.
 
Over the years, the symposium has had a wide range of topics and speakers, but the theme is always cutting-edge research, says Caroline Baker, UMBC director of corporate relations and acting director of the career services center.
 
“It’s an opportunity for us to bring world-class scientists to this region,” Baker says of an event that generally attracts 200 people, among them science educators, healthcare professionals, biotechnology business leaders and members of the state’s bioscience community.
 
Besides Chalfie, who is a professor of biological sciences at Columbia University, the other featured speaker is Dr. Charles Bieberich, UMBC professor of biological sciences, who will talk about understanding the mechanisms and developing therapeutics for prostate disease.
 
Before the talks, there will be a faculty session in which UMBC faculty members doing life science research will talk about their work and recent discoveries.
 
“The goal is to create an opportunity for life science educators, biotech executives and scientists to come together and learn about exciting research, and to network and talk about their ideas,” says Baker.
 
Source: Caroline Baker, University of Maryland, Baltimore County director of corporate relations and acting director of the career services center
Writer: Barbara Pash

Only six face transplant surgeries have been performed in the entire U.S., one of them earlier this month on a 37-year-old male at the University of Maryland Medical Center. It was the first such procedure in the state and took place over 72 hours. 

Now Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions is following suit and expects to get approval within the next few months to perform the rare and complicated surgery. 

The request from Hopkins Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery  is being considered by a Johns Hopkins University board, which has already approved its hand transplant surgery. Such boards are fairly standard among facilities that perform research on humans, the goal being to ensure the safety of the subjects.

Face transplant surgery is a medical procedure that replaces all or part of a person's face with facial tissue from a deceased human donor. Although at this point Hopkins does not have a specific candidate for the surgery, "many patients have expressed interests, and we plan to screen patients for face transplantation" as soon as approval is given, says W.P. Andrew Lee, M.D., director of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, who has formed a face transplant team.

Besides Lee, key faculty members on the team are Dr. Chad Gordon, assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery, who was involved in the country's first face transplant at Cleveland Clinic; Dr. Gerald Brandacher, visiting associate professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery; and Dr. Patrick Byrne, associate professor of otolaryngology�head and neck surgery. 

"There are many patients with significant facial disfigurement that cannot be adequately reconstructed with conventional means.  Face transplant offers the best reconstructive option for them," says Lee. "In addition, we have an immune modulation protocol that allows us to perform such transplants with much reduced anti-rejection medication, thus minimizing their side effects. 

Source: Dr. Andrew Lee, director, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Writer: Barbara Pash

Thirteen companies from Israel will convene in Baltimore at the end of the month to gain familiarity with the nuances of doing business and living in one of the country’s top markets for high-tech and medical innovations.
 
The Maryland-Israel Development Center’s MarketReach symposium is a yearly event that brings together companies that have already received funding from private investors but are looking to test their business and fundraising mettle in Maryland.
 
In the past, medical innovation companies have dominated MarketReach events, but the 2012 crop of participants includes Organis, developer of an environmentally friendly insect repellent platform, Sol Chip, a company that makes clean energy systems for low-power applications, and Novospeech, which produces speech recognition software.
 
The event is meant to increase the Israeli companies’ awareness of the US and Maryland markets and create excitement among Maryland-based investors, researchers, and entrepreneurs. Maryland's research base includes Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland professional schools, and the Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health, among others.
 
The impact of MarketReach companies' arrival to explore their options is intended to result in local US bases for the Israeli enterprises. Barry Bogage, Executive Director of the Maryland-Israel Develoment Center, says, "As companies grow, we'll bring them here to open offices in Baltimore and Maryland in general."

More information on participating companies and attending MarketReach America 2012 on March 29 is available at the MIDC website:

Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Nancy Boguslaw, Maryland-Israel Development Center

If you're trying to beat the sniffles and sneezes of cold season, Sickweather is looking for you.
The new illness mapping social networking site offers users the opportunity to see maps of
local illness “hot spots” based on data collected from users, Facebook status updates and
Twitter streams.

“With Sickweather, we hope to offer a new and useful resource to help people stay healthy. It
really is baffling to me that people check the weather report every day before they leave the
house or before they go on a trip, but health related symptoms go ignored. If people prepare
for the weather by bringing their umbrella with them, why don't they do a similar thing by
drinking an extra glass of orange juice in the morning to boost their immune system?” asks
Sickweather COO James Sajor.

The Baltimore based start-up behind Sickweather is preparing to launch the social networking
site , which is currently in its final Beta testing phase. The brainchild of entrepreneur
Graham Dodge, formerly involved with Crime Map, and marketing expert James Sajor,
Sickweather aims to not only help healthy people avoid virulent spots, but also allow people
with compromised immune systems and their families a resource to help them avoid exposure
to a potentially life threatening germ.

“I had recently moved back to Baltimore to take care of my mother, who was diagnosed
with an advanced stage of cancer. She was going through a variety of treatments, and her
immune system was severely compromised. That meant that I could not get sick. It would
actually have been a life-and-death situation if I caught a common cold. I was extra careful
when I left the house. So when Graham approached me, I immediately saw the value in the
idea,” says Sajor.

In addition to the final beta testing of the site, Sickweather is also developing a mobile app
version for Android and iPhone.

Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: James Sajor, Sickweather

http://sickweather.com/

The National Healthcare Career Network has added several new partners to its job board alliance. The Hunt Valley-based company specializes in making connections between job seekers in the healthcare industry and recruiters looking for healthcare workers with specialized skills.

"By having intrinsic knowledge of the industry, we're able to develop solutions that address specific talent acquisition needs. We continuously gather feedback from employers to understand their challenges in order to create practical, cost-effective products and services," says Carol Barber, Managing Director at the National Healthcare Career Network.

First established in 2008, NHCN is an alliance of 267 healthcare professional association and trade group job boards. One of NHCN's founding partners was the American Hospital Association. The company recently announced that it has entered into new partnerships with three organizations. The Interamerican College of Physicians & Surgeons, the National Society of Genetic Counselors, and The American Academy of Ophthalmologists joining the NHCN means that the company now has connections to 60 physician-based organizations with over half a million members.

"Healthcare is the only industry that has continually added jobs in this recession. That said, the openings tend to be very specialized and not at the entry-level. Like all industries, healthcare has felt the effects of the economy and must be very targeted and efficient in recruiting," Barber says.

The National Healthcare Career Network is also working to improve it's connections to healthcare workers with a new mobile app offering job seekers access to other things at NHCN besides just the jobs boards, including candidate screening tools and strategic counsel.


Writer: Amy McNeal
Source: Carol Barber, National Healthcare Career Network

Dr. Kenneth P. Johnson, longtime head of neurology at the University of Maryland-Baltimore, joined representatives of international pharmaceutical giant Teva at the UMB BioPark on February 24 to talk about advances in the treatment of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) that took place as a result of research at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science and UMB.

Dr. Johnson spearheaded efforts to ease self-injection of Copaxone by MS patients, and pointed out Baltimore's unique status in life sciences and more specifically in medicine: "There are a few primary places on the map, one being Baltimore, where you can expect new development and superior patient care." Across Maryland, the region's advantage is even heavier: "Between Johns Hopkins, UMB, and the National Institutes of Health [in Bethesda], very few places in the country even come close to what is available here."

The Maryland/Israel Development Center, which promotes bilateral trade and encourages Israeli companies to establish their North American bases in Maryland, sponsored the event. John Hassler, VP of Marketing at Teva Neuroscience, also spoke about Teva's dual role as both the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the world -- one in every six U.S. prescriptions is filled with a Teva product -- and maker of branded treatments like Copaxone. Teva worked with Dr. Johnson to make Copaxone easy to use, and the company achieved positive results over the years for consistent treatment by introducing nurses as trainers and assuring proper administration through consultation with physicians.

"One of the key issues with MS is that we don't know what causes it, so there are multiple methods of treating it," Hassler said.

Over 2.5 million people are affected by MS worldwide.

Writer: Sam Hopkins
Sources: Dr. Kenneth Johnson, UMB, John Hassler, Teva Neuroscience