This membership (by invitation only) meeting is scheduled for August 27th.
The meeting will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. via Zoom.
A collaborative group of more than 50 organizations across the academic, public, and private sectors have announced the formation of the Texas Global Health Security Innovation Consortium (TEXGHS). TEXGHS is a unique consortium organized by Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) at The University of Texas at Austin, which will coordinate efforts to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 and future pandemics through the support of innovators working toward pandemic readiness, response, recovery, and resiliency.
TEXGHS is positioned to spearhead the creation and long-term success of a health security innovation ecosystem in Texas where equitable, inclusive solutions launch locally and grow globally. The initial focus for the TEXGHS consortium is the coordination of existing resources in the Austin innovation ecosystem followed by statewide expansion to develop additional capacity to expedite research, development, commercialization, workforce development, and manufacturing at the intersection of health security and technology.
“Global health security is a state of freedom from the scourge of infectious disease, irrespective of origin or source. It is achieved through the policies, programmes, and activities taken to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from biological threats. These threats know no borders and have global consequences requiring more effective collective action.”
COVID-19 is the latest pandemic which has impacted humanity on a global scale. Pandemics like this affect the local community directly and indirectly in their health, work, finances, stress, and overall well-being. Existing health inequalities are exacerbated, disproportionately impacting low-income populations and communities of color.
COVID-19 has underscored the importance of global health security and the need to build more resilient communities, ready to respond to infectious disease threats and accelerating the recovery to normalcy. Many researchers and entrepreneurs are now working to address this timely need. TEXGHS will lead a collaborative and well-coordinated effort across consortia to facilitate a quicker and more effective response for ongoing and future infectious disease threats.
Building a new ecosystem focused on pandemic readiness, response, recovery and resiliency
TEXGHS will guide coordinated efforts among consortium members that will include company participation across incubator and accelerator programs, direct corporate/development, investment, cross institutional research collaboration, cooperation across existing networks of global health security experts, representation to local, state, and federal governments, resource mapping across the innovation ecosystem, prototyping, engineering, and legal and regulatory support.
TEXGHS is already supporting a variety of pilot projects due to the urgency of the current COVID-19 pandemic. “We are working with innovators across a range of areas including mass vaccination systems, large scale decontamination, PPE education through gamification, and community contact tracing,” said Lisa McDonald MD, MSTC, Director of Healthcare at Austin Technology Incubator and Co-Founder of PandemicTech. “We are in the process of defining focus areas for future pilot projects to align with statewide goals. We are committed to understanding health security priorities at the community, city, and state government levels, and exploring how best our efforts can support those priorities.”
TEXGHS sponsor PandemicTech, an Austin-based virtual incubator that supports innovators on the front lines of fighting pandemics, provided seed sponsorship for the formation of TEXGHS. “Our intention is to be at the forefront of this issue in Texas, and to be prepared for what we anticipate will be significant interest in funding programs targeting pandemic preparedness and response,” said Andrew Nerlinger MD, Co-Founder of PandemicTech and Venture Partner at Bill Wood Ventures. “The current COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the immense scope of this challenge.”
Dr. Lisa McDonald is Director of Healthcare Incubation at Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), the startup incubator of the University of Texas at Austin. She directs ATI's life science and healthcare portfolios, where she works with early-stage biotechnology, healthcare service/IT, and medical device companies to develop their business strategies and prepare the companies to seek investment. She has previously served as Global Healthcare Lead for the Global Commercialization Group at The University of Texas at Austin’s IC2 Institute, and she has been a lecturer in the College of Natural Sciences teaching the CNS Inventor’s Practicum.
In 2010, Dr. McDonald cofounded Endura Ventures, a global health strategic consultancy focused on delivering high impact programs internationally and through public-private partnerships. One of those programs, the PandemicTech virtual incubator, spun out as a standalone company in 2019. PandemicTech partners with organizations including WHO and CDC Africa to identify and support the innovations of ‘hot zone’ scientists developing technologies to stem the spread of pandemic infectious disease from the front lines.
Dr. McDonald contributes to the development of the local life science ecosystem through participation as an advisor, mentor, judge, and speaker for a variety of organizations and events. She holds a Master of Science in Technology Commercialization (MSTC) from The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, an M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine, and a B.S. in Chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin.