Institute for Health Computing Primed to Partner with Life Science Companies.
The University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing (IHC) is a new academic health research institute in North Bethesda, Maryland, that serves as a hub for health computing innovation and collaboration in Montgomery County.
Founded in November 2022, the IHC merges the computational expertise, clinical expertise, biomedical innovation, health data, and academic resources of the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the University of Maryland Medical System to support the Montgomery County life science community. Funding support for the IHC comes from strategic partner Montgomery County, Maryland, from the MPowering the State initiative and from the state of Maryland.
The IHC’s core purpose is economic development for Montgomery County. Through cutting-edge algorithms, high-performance computing and a presence in the county’s globally recognized life science community, the IHC will translate the latest computational health care innovations into economic development. This includes meeting the high computation needs of the current ecosystem, attracting and co-locating new companies and ventures, creating new jobs, and providing education upskilling to support the county’s life science workforce and grow the county’s GDP within the life science sector.
“The IHC is on the leading edge of the growing marriage of computing—data visualization, machine learning and artificial intelligence—to biological research,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “This convergence of computing and lab work will only grow as it promises to speed and broaden our ability to address health outcomes that will benefit Montgomery County and beyond. This partnership with the University of Maryland system will be transformational for all involved.”
By partnering with the IHC, the more than 300 life science startups, companies and government agencies located in Montgomery County benefit from the IHC’s resources, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) expertise, clinical expertise, vast and geographically diverse de-identified health records database, and degree programs for employee upskilling. By building innovative partnerships with industry and federal agencies, the IHC will create new computational tools and peer networks to support the Montgomery County entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The IHC’s six research centers serve as the foundation for complementary and collaborative research with local companies, startups and agencies:
- Applied AI
- Bioinformatics
- Immersive Visualization
- Therapeutic Target Discovery
- Population and Community Health
- Real-World Evidence and Adaptive Clinical Trials
“Scaling up research to address grand challenges in the life sciences has shifted from collecting data to using cutting-edge technology to discover meaningful patterns hidden in the data,” said Darryll J. Pines, president of the University of Maryland, College Park.
“This Institute will tap world-class researchers who are exploring artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual and augmented reality to collaborate with medical experts, leading to broad impacts on human health and well-being.”
Located near Pike & Rose in North Bethesda, the IHC currently employs more than 50 data scientists, biostatisticians, computer scientists, database engineers, clinical content experts, epidemiologists and entrepreneurs with plans to expand to 100 researchers.
In partnership with Montgomery County, the IHC also plans to launch a new AI startup incubator and other opportunities for companies and startups to co-locate with the IHC.
IHC leaders welcome the DMV startup community to connect and learn more about how the IHC can support local entrepreneurs and new ventures.
