NIH AWARDS CONTRACT TO BIOHEALTH INNOVATION TO EXPAND ENTREPRENEUR-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

February 18, 2015
BHI to Provide Qualified EIRs to NHLBI and NINDS

ROCKVILLE AND BALTIMORE, MD - Feb 18, 2015 - BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) announced today that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has signed an agreement to extend and expand its entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) program with BHI. Under the terms of the new agreement, BHI is providing the services of five EIRs to the NIH starting with two lead institutes: the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

“BHI is excited to extend its existing relationship with NIH. By adding new EIRs within multiple institutes, we expand our ability to both support breakthrough technologies and to help identify new commercial opportunities working with national scientific experts,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President & CEO. “These new breakthroughs can then turn into new health-related products, many of which will come from the cutting-edge startup companies fostered by BHI that are focused on further enhancing the future of healthcare for all.”

The NIH EIR Program was established in 2012 with help from BHI to support the NIH’s mission to apply knowledge gained through discoveries to solutions for patients with unmet clinical needs. BHI will continue to provide NIH stakeholders-institute leadership, academic investigators, companies funded through NIH Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants, and NIH intramural scientists-with a commercial perspective on technology development that helps convert those novel discoveries into commercially relevant healthcare products. In addition, EIRs will accelerate the development of companies supported through SBIR grants and build public-private partnerships with investors and other relevant stakeholders around novel initiatives focused on transitioning commercially relevant technologies at NIH or at NIH-supported academic institutions. BHI’s existing NIH EIRs include Todd Chappell, who resides at NIH’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), and Ram Aiyar, Ph.D., who resides at NHLBI.

The EIRs that BHI will help identify and place at NIH institutes will have product development and university startup expertise as well as access to an investor network. The NIH EIRs will work alongside multiple NIH stakeholders to understand the specific needs and support them with the cadre of EIRs who will bring a range of diverse experience and expertise to resolve the issues. The term of each NIH EIR engagement under this agreement will be for 18 to 21 months.

BHI is also pleased to announce that the NIH OTT has signed an agreement to extend for another three years its Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) program with BHI that launched in 2012. BHI will continue to assist, counsel, advise, evaluate and cooperate with small businesses or educational institutions to make productive use of technologies from a federal laboratory.  

BHI is now actively recruiting for the new NIH EIR roles. Interested candidates can obtain more information and apply at: http://www.biohealthinnovation.org/biohealth-news/biohealth-regional-news/4555-neuroscience-eir-job-opportunity.

About BioHealth Innovation, Inc.

BioHealth Innovation, Inc., is a regional innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant bio-health innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland. BHI is known for providing commercial assistance to scientists and founders, educating and infusing Maryland’s life science community with new and young entrepreneurs and fueling startups within Central Maryland’s bio-ecosystem by connecting young companies to funding and business resources. Learn more at www.biohealthinnovation.org.