Israel's Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer is partnering with Kaleidoscope Health Ventures to develop and execute the Chicago ARC (accelerate, redesign, and collaborate), with a vision of no less than transforming healthcare.
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The center is projected to be an anchor for the $7 billion, 100-acre Bronzeville Lakefront development on the historic site of the Michael Reese Medical Center.
The Chicago ARC aims to offer international companies a US foothold, develop health disparity solutions, incubate health innovation startups, collaborate on data science initiatives and be a gateway for global investment.
Sheba Medical Center in Israel, ranked the world's 9th leading hospital by Newsweek in 2020, has more than 70 years of clinical and research leadership. Sheba has led accelerated research and innovation on COVID-19 and other public health challenges through open collaborations with academic and government institutions, corporate partners and private and state-owned investment funds.
Kaleidoscope Health Ventures is a venture development firm that brings together world-class startups, partners, investors and talent to address socioeconomic and health issues while providing high-value services to support a new wave of life science startups and healthcare solutions.
Under the leadership of the joint venture team, the Chicago ARC seeks to foster new capabilities that grow health ventures through access to data, experienced operators, customers and capital. Focus areas include precision medicine, big data and artificial intelligence, virtual reality, telehealth and medical technologies. As one of only four US cities with three tier-one research universities, Chicago area institutions amassed over $900 million in National Institutes of Health-funded research and development funding as of 2019.
Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot said that "The Chicago ARC will enhance our incredible reserve of STEM talent, expand our next generation life sciences ecosystem and attract further capital to accelerate growth, while also serving as a transformational epicenter geared toward creating healthcare equity across our city's South Side communities."
"Our primary purpose goes beyond turning scientific discovery into financial returns; it's about turning scientific discovery into scalable innovation that drives health equity for all. The Chicago ARC redesigns the way healthcare innovation is done to achieve this commitment. It's an especially critical goal in Chicago because there's a 30-year life expectancy gap between the city's poorest and wealthiest ZIP codes," Kaleidoscope Co-founder S. Bob Chib noted.
Chief Medical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Sheba Medical Center Dr. Eyal Zimlichman said that "The ARC Innovation Center aligns with one of Israel's greatest priorities – the transformation of health care. COVID-19 has reinforced how important it is to address and achieve health equity, making new and smarter healthcare approaches even more urgent and pressing."
Sheba Director General Professor Yitshak Kreiss added, "Transforming health requires more than a single institution or nation, which is why global collaboration is so important. Israel, and Sheba as its national medical center, started the journey long ago to disrupt health care through groundbreaking technology. The Chicago ARC Innovation Center will expand our efforts in the largest global market."
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