MADISON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Imagine a place where doctors can tell patients in advance if cancer treatment will work for them, without going through an entire course of chemotherapy.

The University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health, GE Healthcare and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) today announced new agreements focused on bringing that vision to life. The agreements celebrate 30+ years of research collaboration and technology invention with an anticipated $32.9 million GE investment in a state-of-the-art imaging research facility. The center will be located in the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR), which is connected to the UW Health Sciences Learning Center and UW Hospital and Clinics.

The 10-year research agreement, under which GE research support is re-evaluated and committed annually, comprises GE Healthcare providing up to $32.9 million in anticipated research support, including cash funding, diagnostic imaging equipment and research personnel, to support its collaborative research program with UWs existing Departments of Radiology and Medical Physics, which plans to expand its research activities into additional space in WIMR.

A new patent and technology agreement between GE Healthcare and WARF governs the intellectual property and licensing practices of the research agreement. According to WARF, during the past 11 years collaborations between GE and UW researchers have resulted in nearly 200 invention disclosures, more than 80 filed U.S. patents and numerous licensing agreements and technology improvements.

Through our collaboration with GE Healthcare, we will have one of the few imaging centers in the world that brings together state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging systems with physicians, engineers and scientists focused on improving patient care and personalizing medicine, in an environment that is connected to an outstanding academic medical center at UW Hospital, said Dr. Thomas Grist, chair of the department of radiology at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

The center will also be a nexus for the development of new products for GE and other Wisconsin-based start-up companies that arose from research in the Departments of Radiology and Medical Physics, like Neuwave, Novellos, and Tomotherapy, Grist added.

Tom Gentile, president and CEO, GE Healthcare Systems, GE Healthcare, said the partnership will have not only a global but a local impact. GE Healthcares research collaboration with UW-Madison not only will yield significant economic benefits to the state of Wisconsin but it will enable us to partner to create protocols that will fundamentally change clinical care both here and around the world, Gentile said. I am proud of GEs longstanding relationship with these important thought leaders in medical imaging.

The agreement ushers in the next frontier of medical and imaging research, according to UW School of Medicine and Public Health Dean Robert Golden. The long and productive partnership with GE Healthcare has yielded many advancements in imaging, and we look forward to the next era in research, said Golden.

Additional research programs anticipated through the joint UW/GE Healthcare program include:

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UW, GE Announce Anticipated $32.9MM Investment toward Next Frontier in Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology