RAPS Advisory Board Holds First Meeting to Discuss Forward Momentum

The first "hybrid" meeting of the Pittsburgh Regional Autonomous Patient Safety (RAPS) Advisory Group was held May 2, gathering leaders from academia, health care, technology, and industry to inform the forward movement of the RAPS initiative.

At their first meeting, the group discussed opportunities for federal grants to fund innovation, topics for Patient Safety Research & Development Salons, and suggestions for Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) proposals that would engage local expertise to advance revolutionary technology to prevent medical errors.

The Advisory Board heard from potential partners on the proposed RAPS economic analysis project. Recently, the JHF Board approved $100,000 to commission a study to forecast the number of jobs that could be created or retained if the region deployed its world-renowned strength in autonomous technologies to prevent medical errors.

The JHF Board also approved a RAPS Seed Grant Program that is anticipated to open in June or July. The $200,000 Seed Grant Program will provide early-stage grants to multidisciplinary R&D teams, start-ups, or tech companies in the Pittsburgh region to spark the design, development, and testing of autonomous solutions to prevent medical errors.

Pittsburgh Regional Autonomous Patient Safety Advisory Group members include:

• Michael Becich, MD, PhD, Associate Vice Chancellor for Informatics in the Health Sciences, Chairman and Professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics, PaTH Clinical Data Research Network PI/PD and Informatics Lead (co-chair)
• Rich Cancelliere, Founder and CEO, Treatspace
• Karen Feinstein, PhD, President and CEO, Jewish Healthcare Foundation and Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative
• Frank Guyette, MD, MS, MPH, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Director of STAT MedEvac
• Jim Jen, MBA, Founder, AlphaLab accelerators
• Sandra Kane-Gill, PharmD, MS, Interim Chair and Professor, Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh
• Ari Lightman, MS, MBA, Professor of Digital Media and Marketing and Commercialization Advisor for the Center for Machine Learning and Health
• Aman Mahajan, MD, PhD, MBA, Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Preoperative Medicine, UPMC, University of Pittsburgh
• Christian Manders, COO, Promethean LifeSciences, Inc.
• Sean McDonald, MBA, MSc, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
• Leeana McKibben, MSN, RN, Chief of Staff and Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences Administration, University of Pittsburgh
• Alefiyah Mesiwala, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, Humana Government Business
• Kay Métis, MS, MA, Executive Director, Programs and Strategic Initiatives, Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh
• Co-chair -- Paul Phrampus, MD, Director, Winter Institute for Simulation, Education and Research (WISER), Professor, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Anesthesiology, Medical Director, Patient Safety, UPMC Health System, Medical Director, Donald D. Wolff Jr. Center for Quality, Safety & Innovation
• Lindsey Ronneberg, MBA, Senior Director, Global Quality and Product Services, Omnicell
• Audrey Russo, MPA, President and CEO, Pittsburgh Technology Council
• Lucy Savitz, PhD, MBA, Professor, Health Policy and Management, Senior Innovation Advisor, UPMC Health Plan & Center for Health-Value Health Care, University of Pittsburgh
• Steve Wray, MS, Executive Director, CMU Block Center for Technology and Society
• Shandong Wu, PhD, Director, Pittsburgh Center for AI Innovation in Medical Imaging, University of Pittsburgh