Georgia Tech, WellStar Health System Announce Collaboration

The Georgia Institute of Technology and WellStar Health System announced Friday that they have entered into a collaborative research partnership to develop patient-centered technologies and best practices.

According to a news release, Marietta-based WellStar and its Center for Health Transformation (CHT) will work in tandem with Georgia Tech faculty and students in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to establish a framework for clinically and non-clinically-focused, high-impact patient-centered research collaboration. Together, the partners will assess, develop and leverage key technologies while optimizing resources.

”WellStar is looking beyond healthcare today and trying to solve the problems of the future,” Robin Wilson, M.D., president of Center for Health Transformation, senior vice president and chief health innovation officer for WellStar, said in the release. ”More than 1.4 million people in five counties rely on WellStar for world-class healthcare. By CHT partnering with organizations like the Georgia Tech Research Institute, WellStar is ensuring that our physicians and care providers stay on the forefront of technology and have a hand in shaping the future of healthcare.”

Added Brian Liu, principal investigator and researcher with GTRI’s Electronic Systems Laboratory (ELSYS): “WellStar is starting to create a network of academic and industry-wide partners with this agreement. GTRI is ready and capable to help WellStar and its partners stand up CHT as its own center for innovation.”

CHT is a partnership-based organization with a mission to focus on issues relating to improving quality, cost, access and delivery of healthcare in the current health provider environment. CHT will work directly with its new collaborators through “local learning labs” where providers and technologists will meet, conceptualize and seek innovative, collective solutions to transform the delivery of healthcare.

“GTRI is building on the good work of its Human Systems Integration Division to make broader and more impactful contributions related to healthcare research and delivery,” Bob McGrath, Georgia Tech Senior Vice President and director of GTRI, said in the release. “This exciting new partnership with WellStar will allow us to extend our problem solving expertise into more clinical environments.”

In the near-term, GTRI and WellStar will seek to collaborate on some of their current health-related research and development projects while looking for new, mutually beneficial opportunities. Eventually, the GTRI team will be able to make use of CHT’s local learning lab space and work side-by-side with WellStar’s innovative and leading healthcare providers.

“Bringing together clinicians and engineers, healthcare deliverers and technology developers in a context dedicated for innovation, experimentation and an enhanced understanding of effective healthcare is a huge step forward,” Dr. Shean Phelps, GTRI’s Health Systems Technical Director, said. “Together we are answering the call of our country’s most pressing health and wellness technology needs.”