Jump ARCHES partnership expands; endowment now exceeds $100M
Partnership expands beyond medical simulation and education to include social and behavioral determinants of health
A longstanding partnership between OSF HealthCare and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s (U of I) Grainger College of Engineering for joint research to revolutionize clinical simulation, health care systems and medical education will expand dramatically through additional endowments. This will fuel a new generation of joint research projects to include mobile sensors, Internet of Things applications, data analytics and understanding social and behavioral determinants of health. Known as Jump ARCHES (Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation), the partnership was established in 2013 with $62.5 million in support. With new commitments of $50 million, it will now be backed by a total of $112.5 million in endowment support.
The multifaceted expansion includes a $25 million gift from the DiSomma Family Foundation to the endowment pool held within the OSF HealthCare Foundation, an additional $12.5 million commitment from the OSF HealthCare Foundation, and the equivalent of $12.5 million in endowment support from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Jump ARCHES expansion
Jump ARCHES expansion will increase the types of investigators who may apply for funding beyond The Grainger College of Engineering. That expansion includes:
- Social and behavioral determinants of health
- Health care and wellness sensors
- Mobile health devices
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Health data analytics and management
- Human factors and ergonomics
- Social robotics and health automation
- Mobility options for health and wellness
As with current Jump ARCHES collaborations, teams with members from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, OSF HealthCare and University of Illinois Medical College in Peoria will receive grants to drive their research. The partnership previously provided about $2 million in grants annually. The expansion will ultimately provide about $4 million in grants annually. The grants will enable OSF HealthCare to continue improving the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of care, to advance health with intentional focus on the greatest challenges in our communities and beyond.
“This incredible new support from the DiSomma Family Foundation and the OSF HealthCare Foundation will allow our partnership to grow in exciting areas that we had not previously tackled,” said Rashid Bashir, dean of The Grainger College of Engineering. “We will continue to focus on medical simulation and health care engineering, but we will broaden our scope tremendously.”
New projects will explore the intersection of mobile sensors, devices, analytics, machine learning and social and behavioral health science research.
“Many researchers assert they are close to a groundbreaking medical innovation, but they’re challenged by resources,” said John Vozenilek, MD, FACEP, vice president and chief medical officer, Jump Trading and Simulation Center. “We believe in providing those resources out of which could come the next disruptive technology, medical device, process improvement or data analytics program that will radically improve care delivery.”
“The Jump ARCHES partnership is already unique because of its size and impact. We believe this endowment is the largest in the world dedicated to health care engineering,” said Kesh Kesavadas, director of The Grainger College of Engineering’s Health Care Engineering Systems Center and the Engineer-in-Chief of the Jump ARCHES. “With this expansion of the endowment, we are now able to combine the strengths of the Grainger Engineering with the University of Illinois’ Center for Social and Behavioral Sciences and Illinois Innovation Network to engineer the next generation of solutions to improve health care.”
Brent Roberts directs the Center for Social and Behavioral Science at the University of Illinois, and he sees great potential in marrying the insights of engineers, doctors and social and behavioral scientists.
“We are very excited to join forces with the DiSomma Family Foundation, the OSF HealthCare Foundation and The Grainger College of Engineering in the expansion of Jump ARCHES. The Jump ARCHES program has already lead to amazing technological innovations to improve health care. We see tremendous potential to harness that creativity and apply it to social and behavioral health problems, many of which are key to improving health and wellness in all communities—urban and rural, well-resourced and underserved,” he said. “We hope to support pathbreaking research to solve fundamental issues such as delivering health care more effectively to rural, underserved, communities; helping patients more effectively change their health behaviors and making sure patients can use the technological innovations generated by engineers to improve their health.”
The unique partnership through Jump ARCHES has already led to groundbreaking innovations. A simulator to train medical professionals to perform Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation is being prepared for national trials. A virtual reality skill trainer for endotracheal intubation is now being used by medical institutions in the U.S. and abroad. A new process for 3D bio-printing to develop the next generation of printed hearts that mimic the physical stiffness and properties of a real heart for the purposes of preoperative planning and surgical training is under development.
Recent Jump ARCHES grants
Jump ARCHES announced a new round of grants supporting partnerships among OSF HealthCare and The Grainger College of Engineering in April. Some of those grants included:
- 3D printing of realistic physical organs and tissues to improve surgeon training
- Robotic simulated arms that mimic abnormal muscle behaviors
- Augmented reality for pediatric resuscitation training
- Software to plan complex heart patches in virtual reality
- Methods for combining imaging and genomics to better predict the aggressiveness of lung cancer
These are among the 34 groundbreaking projects that have been funded in the last five years. Those grants have led to the launch of two startup companies, Enduvo and AirV Labs, along with millions of dollars in funding from external funding agencies and foundations.
Jump ARCHES combines broad expertise in health information technologies, sensing and devices, virtual reality, AI/machine learning, materials and mechanics, human factors/industrial ergonomics and design, and the social and behavioral sciences with OSF’s clinical experience and knowledge in the area of simulation and education toward executing collaborative projects directed to medical simulation and training of medical practitioners of the future.
The expansion of Jump ARCHES will also contribute to the new Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and Illinois Innovation Network (IIN), statewide initiatives led by the U of I System to foster discovery and entrepreneurship that drives progress, job creation and economic growth.
The Illinois Innovation Network is expected to provide for infrastructure to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which will be critical to the success of the expanded Jump ARCHES Partnership. OSF, as the first corporate sponsor in the Discovery Partners Institute and Illinois Innovation Network through its Innovation Lab, will work with the OSF Innovation Team to better serve Illinois’ poor, rural, and elderly patients, and through its partnership to create a new downtown Peoria Innovation Hub, and continue its work with Illinois.
This new investment brings the total non-state funding that would leverage the DPI/IIN to $347.5 million.
“The successes we’ve already witnessed from our initial investment is largely responsible for the enthusiasm we share in committing additional support to expand the boundaries of discovery,” said Bill DiSomma, CEO of Jump Trading and founder of the DiSomma Family Foundation.
“OSF HealthCare has a mission of serving with the greatest care and love,” said Tom Hammerton, President of the OSF HealthCare Foundation. “Part of living out this mission means leading transformative change through innovation and in partnership with others. Philanthropy can be a compelling incentive for organizations to work together for common good. The DiSomma Family Foundation has done just that and has created a powerful engine for health care innovations. We are grateful for their visionary gift bringing this to reality.”
OSF HealthCare is an integrated health system owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. OSF HealthCare employs nearly 21,000 Mission Partners in 126 locations, including 13 hospitals - 9 acute care, 4 critical access - and two colleges of nursing throughout Illinois and Michigan. Its physician network employs more than 1,200 primary care, specialist physicians, and advanced practice providers. OSF HealthCare operates an extensive network of home health services; owns OSF Saint Francis, Inc., comprised of health care-related businesses; and OSF HealthCare Foundation, the philanthropic arm for the organization. More information at osfhealthcare.org
OSF Innovation, launched in 2016, is the overall umbrella initiative for the planning, structure, goals, and services OSF HealthCare uses to innovate for the improvement and transformation of health care. More information at www.osfinnovation.org
Illinois - Grainger College of Engineering: As one of the world's top ranked engineering programs, their students, faculty, and alumni set the standard for excellence. The College is focused on driving the economy, reimagining engineering education, and bringing revolutionary ideas to the world. They work to solve the world's greatest challenges and look toward the future to find ways to make it a reality. Learn more about the College of Engineering at https://engineering.illinois.edu/
Health Care Engineering Systems Center (HCESC) of the U of I Grainger College of Engineering provides clinical immersion and fosters collaboration between engineers and physicians. The goal is to use our expertise in the broad areas of simulation technologies, smart health systems, data analytics, human factors, and medical robotics to design and develop collaborative solutions that improve health care outcomes. HCESC partners with Jump Simulation of OSF HealthCare at Peoria, Illinois, in this innovative relationship of Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation (ARCHES). Learn more about HCESC at https://healtheng.illinois.edu/
University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) educates 244 medical students and nearly 300 physician residents annually. The College of Medicine is home to the Cancer Research Center, the Center for Outcomes Research, and a collaborator in Jump Simulation. Learn more about UICOMP at http://peoria.medicine.uic.edu
The Center for Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS) was created to help address some of the grand challenges facing society that can be answered using the deep social and behavioral science expertise housed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In particular, the CSBS will focus on three grand challenges 1) solving poverty, 2) understanding the effect of technology on society, and 3) the role of social and behavioral factors in health. More information can be found at https://csbs.research.illinois.edu/
The Discovery Partners Institute is a purpose-driven, collaborative research institute located in Chicago that is focused on building prosperity for all and growing the state’s workforce by creating solutions to grand challenges. Its mission is to revitalize the Illinois economy by reinventing the role of the research university through interdisciplinary public private partnerships that aggressively drive technology-based economic growth with global impact. DPI addresses themes of health and wellness, food and agriculture, computing and data, and environment and water, considering these issues through the lenses of society and culture, entrepreneurship, public policy, and education and workforce development. Learn more about DPI at https://dpi.uillinois.edu.
The Illinois Innovation Network is a system of connected university-community-industry based hubs throughout the state that will work together to drive innovation along with economic and workforce development across Illinois. IIN hubs will collaborate on research topics that are of great importance to the state of Illinois, including food systems, health and wellness, water and sustainability, and technology. Hubs also will work together to deliver collaborative courses and training for students across the lifespan, and provide entrepreneurship training and support throughout the state. Learn more about IIN at https://iin.uillinois.edu.
* * *
Contact: Colleen Reynolds | Media Relations Coordinator – OSF Innovation 309.825.7255
Contact: Bill Bell | Executive Director, Marketing & Communications – University of Illinois - Grainger College of Engineering 217.265.5102