165 Cambridge Street, Suite 702
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
T
617-643-3800
F
617-643-3840
www.cimit.org
C I M I T AT A G L A N C E
C I M I T: T R A N S F O R M I N G H E A L T H C A R E
THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Virtually every day, clinicians on the front lines of medicine face urgent problems for which
innovative, timely solutions are desperately needed:
8 a man in the prime of his life drops dead from a heart attack because his developing heart
disease escaped detection
CIMIT
Mission Statement
T O I M P R O V E PAT I E N T C A R E B Y FA C I L I TAT I N G C O L L A B O R AT I O N A M O N G
S C I E N T I S T S , E N G I N E E R S , A N D C L I N I C I A N S T O C ATA LY Z E T H E D I S C O V E R Y,
D E V E L O P M E N T, A N D I M P L E M E N TAT I O N O F I N N O VAT I V E T E C H N O L O G I E S ,
E M P H A S I Z I N G M I N I M A L LY I N VA S I V E A P P R O A C H E S .
Founded: 1998
Member Institutions: 11
Industry Partners: 60+
Projects Funded: 420+
Active Projects: 121+
Principal Investigators: 200+
Peer-Reviewed
8 a teenager in a car accident bleeds to death before she reaches the emergency department
Publications: 450+
8 a young woman awaiting a donor kidney dies before one becomes available
Invention Disclosures: 170+
8 an injured soldier dies from a collapsed lung because the medic is not adequately trained to
properly insert a chest tube that could save his life
Patent Applications: 80
While challenging, these and many other pressing problems in healthcare are not insurmountable.
Indeed, technologies capable of addressing many clinical problems already exist in other industries.
The biggest challenges are overcoming barriers to collaboration, convening the appropriate experts,
and providing them with the varied resources they need to rapidly adapt existing or develop new
technologies for the benefit of patients.
This is where CIMIT, the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, comes in.
At the epicenter of one of the world’s most vibrant intellectual communities, CIMIT fosters and
nurtures interdisciplinary collaboration among world-class experts in medicine, science, and
engineering, in concert with industry and the government, to rapidly improve patient care. Equally
important, CIMIT provides innovators with the resources they need to explore, develop, and
implement novel technological solutions for today’s most urgent, complex healthcare problems.
Patents: 20+
Options and Licenses: 30
Companies Formed: 12
Direct CIMIT Funding:
$125 million+
CIMIT-Enabled Funding:
$130 million+
Patients Treated in MGH
Operating Room of the Future:
4000+
Physicians Trained Using
Simulated System for
CIMIT Members
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston Medical Center
CIMIT has already had a significant impact on healthcare, ushering into everyday practice
an array of innovative technologies that have improved the lives of countless patients. As CIMIT
continues to grow, it will have an even greater impact on healthcare.
Interventional Cardiology:
Following is a brief overview of CIMIT. To learn more about how we are transforming healthcare
through technology, please visit www.cimit.org.
Removal: in practice
Boston University
Brigham and Women’s Hospital*
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory*
Children’s Hospital Boston
Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital*
Massachusetts Institute of Technology*
Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Partners HealthCare System
10,000+
Minimally Invasive Fibroid Tumor
Remote Monitoring of Stroke
Patients: in practice
“CIMIT is the first—and only—organization focused solely on
bringing clinicians, engineers, and scientists together; encouraging
them to collaborate to find innovative technological solutions to
important healthcare problems; and supporting them at every step
of the way, from concept through implementation.”
Minimally Invasive Bariatric
Surgery for Weight Loss:
in practice
John A. Parrish, MD
CIMIT Director and Co-Founder
“The real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeking new
landscapes but in having
new eyes”
Marcel Proust (1871-1922)
*Founding members
C I M I T AT A G L A N C E
C I M I T: T R A N S F O R M I N G H E A L T H C A R E
THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Virtually every day, clinicians on the front lines of medicine face urgent problems for which
innovative, timely solutions are desperately needed:
8 a man in the prime of his life drops dead from a heart attack because his developing heart
disease escaped detection
CIMIT
Mission Statement
T O I M P R O V E PAT I E N T C A R E B Y FA C I L I TAT I N G C O L L A B O R AT I O N A M O N G
S C I E N T I S T S , E N G I N E E R S , A N D C L I N I C I A N S T O C ATA LY Z E T H E D I S C O V E R Y,
D E V E L O P M E N T, A N D I M P L E M E N TAT I O N O F I N N O VAT I V E T E C H N O L O G I E S ,
E M P H A S I Z I N G M I N I M A L LY I N VA S I V E A P P R O A C H E S .
Founded: 1998
Member Institutions: 11
Industry Partners: 60+
Projects Funded: 420+
Active Projects: 121+
Principal Investigators: 200+
Peer-Reviewed
8 a teenager in a car accident bleeds to death before she reaches the emergency department
Publications: 450+
8 a young woman awaiting a donor kidney dies before one becomes available
Invention Disclosures: 170+
8 an injured soldier dies from a collapsed lung because the medic is not adequately trained to
properly insert a chest tube that could save his life
Patent Applications: 80
While challenging, these and many other pressing problems in healthcare are not insurmountable.
Indeed, technologies capable of addressing many clinical problems already exist in other industries.
The biggest challenges are overcoming barriers to collaboration, convening the appropriate experts,
and providing them with the varied resources they need to rapidly adapt existing or develop new
technologies for the benefit of patients.
This is where CIMIT, the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, comes in.
At the epicenter of one of the world’s most vibrant intellectual communities, CIMIT fosters and
nurtures interdisciplinary collaboration among world-class experts in medicine, science, and
engineering, in concert with industry and the government, to rapidly improve patient care. Equally
important, CIMIT provides innovators with the resources they need to explore, develop, and
implement novel technological solutions for today’s most urgent, complex healthcare problems.
Patents: 20+
Options and Licenses: 30
Companies Formed: 12
Direct CIMIT Funding:
$125 million+
CIMIT-Enabled Funding:
$130 million+
Patients Treated in MGH
Operating Room of the Future:
4000+
Physicians Trained Using
Simulated System for
CIMIT Members
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston Medical Center
CIMIT has already had a significant impact on healthcare, ushering into everyday practice
an array of innovative technologies that have improved the lives of countless patients. As CIMIT
continues to grow, it will have an even greater impact on healthcare.
Interventional Cardiology:
Following is a brief overview of CIMIT. To learn more about how we are transforming healthcare
through technology, please visit www.cimit.org.
Removal: in practice
Boston University
Brigham and Women’s Hospital*
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory*
Children’s Hospital Boston
Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital*
Massachusetts Institute of Technology*
Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Partners HealthCare System
10,000+
Minimally Invasive Fibroid Tumor
Remote Monitoring of Stroke
Patients: in practice
“CIMIT is the first—and only—organization focused solely on
bringing clinicians, engineers, and scientists together; encouraging
them to collaborate to find innovative technological solutions to
important healthcare problems; and supporting them at every step
of the way, from concept through implementation.”
Minimally Invasive Bariatric
Surgery for Weight Loss:
in practice
John A. Parrish, MD
CIMIT Director and Co-Founder
“The real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeking new
landscapes but in having
new eyes”
Marcel Proust (1871-1922)
*Founding members
CIMIT CONNECTS
THE EXPERTS
Most people with intractable
Image-Guided Therapy
Point-of-Care Technologies
Goal: Provide physicians who perform
Goal: Make patient care safer, more accessible,
more efficient, and less costly across the entire
continuum of care
An implantable device that
minimally invasive procedures with
high-resolution, three-dimensional images
of the operating field in real time
stimulates the vagus nerve can
CIMIT Solutions
epilepsy live under a sword
of Damocles, never knowing
when a seizure will occur.
CIMIT PROGRAMS
halt and reduce the severity
of seizures in many of these
patients. For maximal benefit,
Following is just a sampling of the many
innovative projects underway within each
of CIMIT’s major programs. For additional
information about these and other CIMIT
initiatives, please visit www.cimit.org.
Cardiovascular Disease
Goal: Reduce deaths and disability from
heart disease and strokes through improved
diagnosis and treatment
CIMIT Solutions
8 optical coherence tomography (OCT), a
highly sensitive imaging tool able to detect
vulnerable plaques, which trigger many
heart attacks and strokes
8 a minimally invasive approach to replacing
diseased aortic heart valves
8 cross-training of cardiothoracic surgeons and
interventional cardiologists
Minimally Invasive Surgery
Goal: Make surgery safer, and recovery faster
and less painful for patients
CIMIT Solution
8 a novel approach in which surgical procedures are performed through the mouth
and other natural orifices, making surgery
virtually incision-less
Trauma and Casualty Care
however, the patient must
Goal: Prevent deaths in the critical minutes
sense a seizure coming on, then
following accidents or trauma
immediately activate the device.
CIMIT Solution
8 tools that first responders can use at the
site of an accident or trauma to rapidly
detect and reduce internal bleeding
CIMIT MAKES IT
POSSIBLE
The problem is that roughly
half of patients have no early
8 the first advanced image-guided operating
room, which incorporates multiple stateof-the-art imaging systems such as 3T MRI,
PET/CT, and optical imaging
8 noninvasive, focused ultrasound treatment
of brain tumors and other localized brain
disease
Colson, MD, PhD, is virtually
unflappable. Still, it distresses
her when one of her lung
cancer patients has a recur-
8 “Operating Room of the Future,” a fully
functioning operating room in which novel,
integrated technologies and new processes
are introduced, evaluated, and improved
rence following surgery.
8 “Connected Health,” an initiative to provide
care to patients where they live and
work via remote monitoring, telemedicine,
and innovative sensoring technologies
ed at the margins of an
from spreading?
What, Colson wondered, if
someone could create a
material that could be implantexcised tumor—where cancer
cells might still lurk—and
release anticancer drugs that
might prevent the disease
computer scientist to focus
Tissue Engineering
Goal: Provide realistic training tools so that
inexperienced clinicians can avoid practicing
painful, risky procedures on people
on this clinical challenge.
Goal: Create fully functioning replacement
8 “Ambulatory Practice of the Future,”
an initiative to create and evaluate an ideal
outpatient setting that incorporates the
latest technologies and optimal patientcare systems
Adapting existing patternrecognition technology to
tissue and organs for victims of trauma or
disease
Biodefense
Thanks to CIMIT, Colson
monitor brain activity, they
CIMIT Solution
Goal: Protect civilians and soldiers against
and her collaborators have
CIMIT Solutions
Simulation Training
8 a physiologically realistic mannequin for
training first responders how to insert
chest tubes to prevent a leading cause of
trauma deaths
8 a system to train surgeons to perform
laparoscopic surgery
warning of a seizure’s onset.
CIMIT connected a Harvard
neurologist with an MIT
developed a wearable device
that not only detects the
8 MRI-guided cardiac ablation for treatment
of heart rhythm abnormalities
CIMIT Solutions
Like most surgeons, Yolanda
8 novel methods to potentially create complex,
solid organs, such as kidneys and livers
earliest signs of a seizure, but
also instantly triggers the
Neurotechnology
nerve stimulation—without
Goal: Find more effective, minimally
any action by the patient.
8 a simple, realistic smallpox inoculation
training system
This novel device, which is
invasive ways to detect, prevent, and treat
neurologic disorders
now being evaluated in epilepsy
CIMIT Solutions
8 an autonomous, self-powered, interactive
full-body trauma/casualty simulator system
to train Army medics
implantable device-based
patients, is also a model for
therapies for other episodic
neurological conditions, such
as migraine and stroke.
“With optical coherence tomography (OCT), a new technology
made possible by CIMIT, the
vulnerable plaques that cause
many heart attacks and strokes
can be diagnosed and treated
before they burst, potentially
saving thousands of lives.”
Thomas J. Brady, MD
CIMIT Co-Program Leader,
Cardiovascular Disease
8 a device that detects the early onset of
epileptic seizures so that treatment
can be immediately administered and
seizures aborted
8 a wearable, wireless sensor network to
monitor motor recovery in stroke patients
catastrophic epidemics of infectious diseases
and deadly bioterrorism attacks through
early detection
CIMIT Solutions
Colson took her idea to CIMIT,
which gave her the funding,
contacts, and expertise to take
her idea to the next level.
developed just such a
technology. They now have
sufficient data to apply for
federal funding, which will
8 a portable device that can detect a
range of infectious diseases by analyzing
a person’s breath
enable them to further refine
8 a device to detect biologic threats, such as
anthrax, in public areas
“No matter how promising
and evaluate the procedure
for use in patients.
an idea, without support it
will die,” says Colson. “CIMIT
made it possible to get this
idea off the ground so that
perhaps, in the near future,
we can cure more patients.”
Yolanda Colson, MD, PhD
2006 recipient of Young Clinician/
Special Study Research Award
CIMIT CONNECTS
THE EXPERTS
Most people with intractable
Image-Guided Therapy
Point-of-Care Technologies
Goal: Provide physicians who perform
Goal: Make patient care safer, more accessible,
more efficient, and less costly across the entire
continuum of care
An implantable device that
minimally invasive procedures with
high-resolution, three-dimensional images
of the operating field in real time
stimulates the vagus nerve can
CIMIT Solutions
epilepsy live under a sword
of Damocles, never knowing
when a seizure will occur.
CIMIT PROGRAMS
halt and reduce the severity
of seizures in many of these
patients. For maximal benefit,
Following is just a sampling of the many
innovative projects underway within each
of CIMIT’s major programs. For additional
information about these and other CIMIT
initiatives, please visit www.cimit.org.
Cardiovascular Disease
Goal: Reduce deaths and disability from
heart disease and strokes through improved
diagnosis and treatment
CIMIT Solutions
8 optical coherence tomography (OCT), a
highly sensitive imaging tool able to detect
vulnerable plaques, which trigger many
heart attacks and strokes
8 a minimally invasive approach to replacing
diseased aortic heart valves
8 cross-training of cardiothoracic surgeons and
interventional cardiologists
Minimally Invasive Surgery
Goal: Make surgery safer, and recovery faster
and less painful for patients
CIMIT Solution
8 a novel approach in which surgical procedures are performed through the mouth
and other natural orifices, making surgery
virtually incision-less
Trauma and Casualty Care
however, the patient must
Goal: Prevent deaths in the critical minutes
sense a seizure coming on, then
following accidents or trauma
immediately activate the device.
CIMIT Solution
8 tools that first responders can use at the
site of an accident or trauma to rapidly
detect and reduce internal bleeding
CIMIT MAKES IT
POSSIBLE
The problem is that roughly
half of patients have no early
8 the first advanced image-guided operating
room, which incorporates multiple stateof-the-art imaging systems such as 3T MRI,
PET/CT, and optical imaging
8 noninvasive, focused ultrasound treatment
of brain tumors and other localized brain
disease
Colson, MD, PhD, is virtually
unflappable. Still, it distresses
her when one of her lung
cancer patients has a recur-
8 “Operating Room of the Future,” a fully
functioning operating room in which novel,
integrated technologies and new processes
are introduced, evaluated, and improved
rence following surgery.
8 “Connected Health,” an initiative to provide
care to patients where they live and
work via remote monitoring, telemedicine,
and innovative sensoring technologies
ed at the margins of an
from spreading?
What, Colson wondered, if
someone could create a
material that could be implantexcised tumor—where cancer
cells might still lurk—and
release anticancer drugs that
might prevent the disease
computer scientist to focus
Tissue Engineering
Goal: Provide realistic training tools so that
inexperienced clinicians can avoid practicing
painful, risky procedures on people
on this clinical challenge.
Goal: Create fully functioning replacement
8 “Ambulatory Practice of the Future,”
an initiative to create and evaluate an ideal
outpatient setting that incorporates the
latest technologies and optimal patientcare systems
Adapting existing patternrecognition technology to
tissue and organs for victims of trauma or
disease
Biodefense
Thanks to CIMIT, Colson
monitor brain activity, they
CIMIT Solution
Goal: Protect civilians and soldiers against
and her collaborators have
CIMIT Solutions
Simulation Training
8 a physiologically realistic mannequin for
training first responders how to insert
chest tubes to prevent a leading cause of
trauma deaths
8 a system to train surgeons to perform
laparoscopic surgery
warning of a seizure’s onset.
CIMIT connected a Harvard
neurologist with an MIT
developed a wearable device
that not only detects the
8 MRI-guided cardiac ablation for treatment
of heart rhythm abnormalities
CIMIT Solutions
Like most surgeons, Yolanda
8 novel methods to potentially create complex,
solid organs, such as kidneys and livers
earliest signs of a seizure, but
also instantly triggers the
Neurotechnology
nerve stimulation—without
Goal: Find more effective, minimally
any action by the patient.
8 a simple, realistic smallpox inoculation
training system
This novel device, which is
invasive ways to detect, prevent, and treat
neurologic disorders
now being evaluated in epilepsy
CIMIT Solutions
8 an autonomous, self-powered, interactive
full-body trauma/casualty simulator system
to train Army medics
implantable device-based
patients, is also a model for
therapies for other episodic
neurological conditions, such
as migraine and stroke.
“With optical coherence tomography (OCT), a new technology
made possible by CIMIT, the
vulnerable plaques that cause
many heart attacks and strokes
can be diagnosed and treated
before they burst, potentially
saving thousands of lives.”
Thomas J. Brady, MD
CIMIT Co-Program Leader,
Cardiovascular Disease
8 a device that detects the early onset of
epileptic seizures so that treatment
can be immediately administered and
seizures aborted
8 a wearable, wireless sensor network to
monitor motor recovery in stroke patients
catastrophic epidemics of infectious diseases
and deadly bioterrorism attacks through
early detection
CIMIT Solutions
Colson took her idea to CIMIT,
which gave her the funding,
contacts, and expertise to take
her idea to the next level.
developed just such a
technology. They now have
sufficient data to apply for
federal funding, which will
8 a portable device that can detect a
range of infectious diseases by analyzing
a person’s breath
enable them to further refine
8 a device to detect biologic threats, such as
anthrax, in public areas
“No matter how promising
and evaluate the procedure
for use in patients.
an idea, without support it
will die,” says Colson. “CIMIT
made it possible to get this
idea off the ground so that
perhaps, in the near future,
we can cure more patients.”
Yolanda Colson, MD, PhD
2006 recipient of Young Clinician/
Special Study Research Award
CIMIT RESEARCH
AWA R D S
Awards are granted in the
following categories. For
details, please visit our website.
S U P P O R T I N G I N N O VAT I O N :
CIMIT RESEARCH AWARDS
Science Projects
8 New Concept:
$25,000
8 Proof-of-Principle:
$75,000
8 Application Development:
$250,000
New Opportunities
8 Clinical Fast Forward:
CIMIT provides critical funding for investigators whose research may be considered too embryonic or
high risk by traditional funding sources. Consistent with CIMIT’s mission, awards are granted to
investigators conducting translational research projects focused on novel, technology-based solutions
to urgent healthcare problems.
CIMIT awards also support the career development of young investigators and graduate students
whose interests align with its mission. In addition, CIMIT provides funds that enable individual
investigators or multidisciplinary teams to explore emerging technologies, develop systems to
improve healthcare facilities or processes, or create novel approaches to managing a specific disease.
$20,000
8 Working Groups:
$25,000
8 Career Development:
funding varies
F R O M C O N C E P T T O PAT I E N T: E D U C AT I O N
P R O G R A M S A N D FA C I L I TAT I O N S E R V I C E S
Hospital Pull/System Push:
$75,000
Medical-Engineering
Fellowship:
$52,000
Young Clinician
Research Award:
$50,000
Integrating innovative technology into healthcare requires convening the appropriate experts to
focus on complex clinical problems and identify potential technological solutions, then providing
them with the expertise they need to rapidly take an idea from concept to the patient. CIMIT’s
education programs and facilitation services meet these essential goals.
Education Programs
CIMIT provides a rich, varied environment for the cross-fertilization of ideas and information among
leaders and students in medicine, science, and engineering, as well as industry.
CIMIT’s multi-faceted education program includes the CIMIT Forum, a weekly presentation and
discussion featuring speakers in multiple disciplines; courses at Harvard Medical School, MIT, and
other institutions; and the CIMIT Innovation Congress, an annual educational conference.
What makes CIMIT unique—and effective—is its in-house team of experts, who facilitate the
complex process of introducing technological innovations into healthcare rapidly, efficiently, and
cost-effectively. This highly experienced team provides support and specialized expertise to
investigators in diverse areas such as intellectual property, patents, clinical trials, the small business
grant process, regulatory issues, and much more.
HELP SUPPORT CIMIT’S MISSION
T O T R A N S F O R M H E A LT H C A R E
THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Through its Industrial Liaison Program, CIMIT also links investigators with industry partners who
can commercialize ideas, and provides industry representatives with access to investigators who are
eager to collaborate.
CIMIT depends, in part, on the generosity of
donors to help fund its mission to improve
patient care through innovative technologies.
For information about the many ways you can
support CIMIT, please visit www.cimit.org.
“CIMIT is the only organization whose purpose is to match the great reservoir
of technology being created in university labs and the private sector with the
urgent needs of healthcare”
John Cullinane
Chairman, LiveData, Inc.
Design: Communication via Design, Ltd. Copy: Bennett Medical Communications
Facilitation Services
165 Cambridge Street, Suite 702
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
T
617-643-3800
F
617-643-3840
www.cimit.org