Archive for July, 2011

Foundation Radiology Group Named Pittsburgh Tech 50 Finalist for Third Year in a Row

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Foundation Radiology Group’s rapid industry advancement and unique business model has lead to their being a finalist for the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Tech 50 in the category of Life Sciences Company of the Year. Substantial revenue growth, job creation, and technological innovation were all key attributes to their selection as a finalist for the past three years.

 

Pittsburgh, PA (PRWEB) July 26, 2011

Foundation Radiology Group, the Pittsburgh based and 7th largest privately held radiology practice in the US, has been selected a finalist to the Pittsburgh Tech 50 for the third consecutive year. The Pittsburgh Technology Council Tech 50 recognizes local organizations that are successfully incorporating technology into their business models in a variety of categories. Foundation Radiology Group has been selected as a finalist in the Life Sciences category. Companies in this area improve our health and environment. Candidates deliver medical equipment; pharmaceuticals; health services; and biomedical, agricultural and environmental products and services.

“It’s an honor to be selected as a finalist in this category since Pittsburgh is home to so many innovative life sciences companies,” said Tom Skelton, CEO of Foundation Radiology Group. “Foundation’s being named to this list for the third consecutive year is a demonstration of our employee’s commitment to providing excellent service and delivering on our mission to revolutionize the practice of radiology in community healthcare settings.”

This year’s finalists reside in a total of seven distinct categories within the 13-county area of southwestern Pennsylvania for 2011. Winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony on Sept. 20, 2011 at the CONSOL Energy Arena.

About Foundation Radiology Group

Foundation Radiology Group was founded to revolutionize the practice of radiology in community healthcare settings. Foundation combines the subspecialty services of a renowned, highly-trained physician team with a state-of-the-art technology solution to provide hospitals, physicians and patients access to a high-quality, elegant diagnostic imaging solution, with industry-leading, final diagnosis clinically relevant turn-around times.

The Foundation Radiology Group radiologists are all US-based and offer expertise in every subspecialty, including pediatric, neurology, mammography, musculoskeletal, PET/CT, cardiac CT and interventional radiology. Our physicians and highly-skilled customer service team are available 24/7/365.

For more information, visit http://www.foundationradiologygroup.com, call 412-223-2272 or follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FoundationRad

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Nashville’s HealthTeacher lands $5M for expansion

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL

Spotlight: Venture Capital

Date: Friday, July 22, 2011, 5:00am CDT

Who says there’s no money in teaching?

HealthTeacher Inc. of Nashville, a company that uses technology to improve health education, has been helping teachers across the country educate their students about healthy living.

Last month, with the support of venture capital firms Chrysalis Ventures of Louisville, Ky., and SSM Partners of Nashville, HealthTeacher completed a $5.27 million round of funding.

CEO Scott McQuigg said HealthTeacher is using that funding to expand its management team and reach outside the classroom, tapping into the surging market for products with the potential to cut health care costs.

HealthTeacher Inc. provides resources to schools in 50 states and 14 countries that make teaching health classes easier. The company also provides information about healthy living to students and parents. McQuigg said the preventative approach has caught the attention of school administrators, parents and hospitals looking to reduce costs.

“If you look at the cost of care today, a lot of dollars are spent on things that are preventable,” McQuigg said, “What (we’re) doing (is trying to) instill positive habits in young people. We’re working on their physical and emotional health. If these young people grow up healthier, they are going to have a positive impact on the cost of care in this country.”

McQuigg said engaging students in their schools was only one component of HealthTeacher’s plan to improve the health of the next generation.

“We have a leadership position being the No. 1 online resource for schools, so we want to branch out to children and families leveraging technologies that they’re already using,” McQuigg said.

He said HealthTeacher is working on interactive ways to use new technologies to equip children and parents with the knowledge they need to make healthy decisions. To help reach that goal, the company recently hired John Herbold, a former senior project manager at Apple.

McQuigg said Herbold brings “deep experience connecting with people via interactive technology” in addition to “a passion for youth health.”

Koleman Karleski, managing director of Chrysalis Ventures, said his firm’s interest in HealthTeacher started more than five years ago, before it partnered with McQuigg to buy the HealthTeacher product in 2007.

“It was one that was poised for rapid growth and development based on the fact that it was finding a ready audience in public school systems across the country and the health care providers who wanted to sponsor the program,” Karleski said.

Casey West, a partner at SSM, said HealthTeacher’s growing audience was what peaked SSM’s interest as well.

HealthTeacher is “growing very rapidly,” West said. “Its services are in high demand because of an exploding population among these children. There’s a need for what they do, and they do a great job of it.”

That isn’t a need that is going away. Karleski said that as consumers look for ways to control health care costs, technological products like those being developed by HealthTeacher will become even more desirable.

“One of the trends in health care is that with costs rising rapidly the patients and consumers are bearing more of the costs,” Karleski said. “They’re paying more out of pocket than they historically have, and as a result they’re paying more attention to their health and their health care than they ever have.”

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Intervention Insights Closes $7.2 million Series B Financing to Expand

Monday, July 18th, 2011

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (July 18, 2011)– Intervention Insights, a Grand Rapids-based healthcare information technology company which helps community oncologists develop individualized patient treatment plans, today announced the close of $7.2 million in Series B financing.  The deal was co-led by Michigan venture investor Beringea and Louisville, Ky.-based Chrysalis Ventures, who were joined by Hopen Life Sciences, Michigan Accelerator Fund I and other existing investors. In conjunction with the financing, Beringea Managing Director Michael Gross and Chrysalis Managing Director Koleman Karleski have joined the company’s board of directors.

The investment will enable the company to expand the commercialization of its OncInsights product platform, while furthering strategic relationships in the cancer care industry.  “Our new funding positions us well in the emerging personalized oncology market and allows us to expand our service offerings to support community oncologists,” said Jerry Callahan, CEO of Intervention Insights.  “We believe that serving community oncology, as opposed to reserving ‘optimal’ care to our academic cancer centers, is a critical element in improving cancer care in the U.S., where more than 80% of all U.S. cancer patients are treated.”

Founded in 2009 based on a technology licensed from the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), Intervention Insights’ flagship product, OncInsights, is based on VARI’s powerful bioinformatics platform.  The OncInsights service works by matching a patient’s unique cancer profile of more than 22,000 genes and matches the cancer’s unique genomic make-up to the molecular mechanisms of action for more than 300 drugs.  The end result is an easy-to-use report, electronically delivered to the oncologist to support her in making a treatment decision.  This interactive report ranks molecularly targeted therapies which may target the patient’s cancer. The OncInsights service is continually refined to provide physicians with latest evidenced-based, patient specific treatment options in an effort to improve outcomes and reduce costs. 

 “Intervention Insights is another example of innovation emerging from the state of Michigan’s investment in life science research, resulting in an industry-leading technology that is transforming the way oncologists administer care,” said Michael Gross, managing director of Beringea. “The company’s technology is part of a rapidly emerging ‘personalized’ era of medicine, which uses a patient’s unique genetic information to tailor the appropriate therapy.  Beringea is eager to help Intervention Insights bring its unique technology to a broader market and contribute to Michigan’s reputation as a leader in health care.”

“We strongly believe the proliferation of new healthcare technology, information and services will result in more personalized, effective care, leading to better outcomes,” said Koleman Karleski, managing director of Chrysalis Ventures. “In addition, customized treatment programs reduce unnecessary costs to the system by eliminating ineffective drugs and therapies while keeping the quality of care high.  We look forward to partnering with Intervention Insights as the company expands its OncInsights service offering and establishes strategic relationships with payers and oncologists.”

About Intervention Insights

Intervention Insights’ mission is to improve the lives of patients afflicted with cancer through evidence-based, molecularly targeted therapeutic interventions that are applied by community physicians.  Founded in 2009 as part of a new field associating drug therapies with genomic signatures of disease — pharmacogenomics— our bioinformatics platform maps the unique genomic characteristics of a cancer specimen to treatments designed to target a patient’s unique molecular tumor profile.  The technology is commercially available and used by an expanding network of community oncologists.  For more information, visit www.interventioninsights.com

About Beringea

Beringea offers advice, guidance and capital to support growing businesses. Headquartered in Farmington Hills, Mich., the firm is Michigan’s largest and most active venture and expansion-stage capital investor. With an additional office in London, Beringea has more than 70 portfolio companies in the U.S. and UK in a range of sectors, including health care and life sciences, clean technology, advanced manufacturing, media, Internet technologies and specialized consumer products. Beringea is the manager of several funds, including the InvestMichigan! Growth Capital Fund and the ProVen family of venture capital trusts. For more information, visit www.beringea.com or www.investmichiganfund.com.

About Chrysalis Ventures

Chrysalis Ventures manages one of Mid-America’s largest funds for early-stage and growth investments with approximately $400 million under management. Since 1993, the firm has invested in over 65 companies, primarily in the healthcare and technology sectors. With headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, Chrysalis has offices in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Ann Arbor and Houston. The firm seeks to partner with entrepreneurs to build enduring businesses in industries undergoing significant transformation. For more information, please visit www.chrysalisventures.com.

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