News Release

Innovative International Healthcare Partnership established at Arizona State University

Agreement establishes first Biosignatures Center between Arizona State University and Taiwan's Chang Gung University -- partnership will improve patient outcomes and reduce costs

Business Announcement

Arizona State University

Biosignatures Leadership Team

image: Key leaders in the new ASU and Chang Gung University agreement include (l-r): Biodesign Center for Sustainable Health director Michael Birt; Chang Gung University President Chia Pao; Nobel Laureate Leland Hartwell, Chief Scientist at Biodesign’s Center for Sustainable Health and co-director of the new Chang Gung Biosignatures Center; Biodesign Institute Executive Director Alan Nelson; Barry Broome, President and CEO, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Phoenix, Arizona. view more 

Credit: Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University

Tempe, Ariz.-Arizona State University (ASU) and Taiwan's Chang Gung University (CGU) have formalized an agreement to establish an international Biosignatures Center aimed at the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer and other diseases.

ASU's Nobel Laureate, Leland Hartwell, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist at the Biodesign Institute's Center for Sustainable Health (CSH) and will co-direct the Chang Gung Biosignatures Center. "The most important thing we can do to improve healthcare and reduce its costs, is to develop informative tests for prevention, early detection, and effective therapeutic intervention for disease. This collaboration is the most exciting opportunity I have had to achieve these goals," said Hartwell.

This agreement unites two ambitious research universities that are dedicated to improving healthcare through a comprehensive interdisciplinary effort that seeks collaborative engagement of key healthcare stakeholders including: governments, public and private health insurers, research institutes, industry, and innovative healthcare delivery systems around the world.

The Center for Sustainable Health (CSH) at ASU was founded by Michael Birt, Ph.D., Director. CSH will provide expertise, technology platforms, access, and informatics support to the Chang Gung Biosignatures Center. It is anticipated that research centers at multiple sites both in Taiwan and internationally will exchange information in a pre-competitive space to improve health outcomes and reduce the human and financial cost of disease. "In addition to our relationship with Chang Gung University itself, we have been delighted by the response from leading companies in the medical field interested in collaborating with us to provide more innovative solutions to help sustain health," said Birt.

Last year, the Center for Sustainable Health (CSH) launched the Global Biosignatures Network (GBN) to harness scientific, academic, industry, and healthcare system resources to make a major impact on 21st century healthcare practice. A global network of Biosignatures Centers is also needed to properly scale the effort, provide rigorous standards of practice needed to overcome barriers, and supply a global platform to share methods, results and experiences. In keeping with CSH's mission to sustain human health, the GBN will work with forward-thinking partners to establish additional Biosignatures Centers within member systems. Each Biosignatures Center will serve as a virtual coordinating center to discover, develop, validate, and implement diagnostic tests based on new enabling molecular and digital technologies for managing disease with an emphasis on prevention, early detection and effective therapeutic interventions.

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About the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University

The Biodesign Institute addresses today's critical global challenges in healthcare, sustainability and security by developing solutions inspired from natural systems and translating those solutions into commercially viable products and clinical practices. www.biodesign.asu.edu

About the Center for Sustainable Health

The Center for Sustainable Health (CSH) at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute harnesses science, economics and policy to improve health outcomes and reduce the financial and human cost of disease. To sustain human health, we believe that health systems must shift their current focus from expensive and ineffective late-stage disease response toward highly cost-effective or cost-saving prevention and early intervention strategies. To support this effort, we seek the active collaborative engagement of key stakeholders: governments, public and private health insurers, regulatory bodies, basic research institutes, industry, and innovative care delivery systems around the world. www.biodesign.asu.edu/research/research-centers/sustainable-health

About Chang Gung University

Mr. Yung-Ching Wang, late Chairman of the Formosa Plastics Group, the largest private enterprise in Taiwan, founded Chang Gung College of Medicine in 1987, the predecessor of now Chang Gung University (CGU). CGU has 18 undergraduate and 24 graduate programs in Medicine, Engineering and Management and provides excellent learning and research opportunities for 7,514 students and more than 650 faculty members. CGU's affiliated and teaching hospital, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, has more than 9,800 beds and receives close to 30,000 outpatient visits each day. In Taiwan, one of out every four cancer patients is cared for and one out of every four medical professionals is trained at Chang Gung University and Memorial Hospital. Since its founding, Chang Gung University and Memorial Hospital have always upheld the belief of "Diligence, Perseverance, Frugality and Trustworthiness", which reminds and encourages its students and faculty to maintain a simple and hardworking lifestyle, always in pursuit of excellence and never satisfied with second best. Chang Gung University, now ranked fifth academically among more than 70 universities in Taiwan, has surpassed all private universities and all except four public universities in Taiwan. www.cgu.edu.tw


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