healthcare – UofL News

UofL, UofL Health receive funding from WHAS Crusade for Children to transform lives

Matt Willinger — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:32:00 +0000

The University of Louisville, UofL Health and the WHAS Crusade for Children are celebrating a powerful and enduring partnership that has transformed the lives of children and families across Kentucky for more than three decades.

Since its inception, the WHAS Crusade for Children has provided nearly $20 million in grant support to UofL and , fueling groundbreaking research, innovative education and expanded access to high-quality care for children with special needs.

This year, that legacy of generosity continues with more than $325,000 in new awards supporting programs and equipment that directly improve the lives of children and their families:

$200,000 for new equipment in�� Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
$50,000 for equipment at
$22,500 for equipment in the��
$30,000 to support the UofL��
$22,000 for special education scholarships in UofL’s

This support has touched nearly every corner of the university — from classrooms to clinics, and from local outreach programs to statewide initiatives — making a lasting impact on Kentucky’s most vulnerable children and their families.

“On behalf of the University of Louisville, I extend heartfelt thanks to the WHAS Crusade for Children for their extraordinary generosity and decades of unwavering support,” said��Jeffrey Bumpous, UofL executive vice president of health affairs and medical school dean. “Together, we are transforming lives, strengthening families and building a brighter future for children throughout the commonwealth.”

The latest investment from the Crusade will further elevate UofL and UofL Health’s ability to educate the next generation of health professionals and expand innovative care to more children and families in need.

“The partnership between the WHAS Crusade for Children and the University of Louisville is proof that this community’s generosity truly changes lives,” said Dawn Lee, president and CEO of WHAS Crusade for Children. “UofL continues to transform grants into care, research and education that make life better for children with identified needs. This legacy has opened doors for generations of children, and the best is yet to come.”

For more than 30 years, the partnership has not only brought critical resources to special needs children, but has also helped advance UofL’s and UofL Health’s missions of improving the quality of life for the communities they serve.

“This enduring partnership demonstrates the power of philanthropy and collaboration,” said UofL Health Interim CEO Jason Smith. “From education and research to compassionate, hands-on care, the WHAS Crusade for Children’s generosity has improved lives across the Commonwealth.”

UofL innovators, healers honored as 2023 Health Care Heroes

Baylee Pulliam — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 21:56:05 +0000

Several University of Louisville researchers, innovators and healers have been recognized by Louisville Business First as .��

The awards honor “those who have made an impact on health care in our community through their concern for patients, research, innovation, management skills and rising stars in the field,” according to the publication.��

The UofL honorees are:

Health Entrepreneur: Will Metcalf, associate vice president for research development and strategic partnerships in the . Metcalf leads UofL New Ventures, a team dedicated to furthering research-backed startups, including those in healthcare. He also leads UofL’s innovative collaborations with the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, a group working to innovate and solve important problems in healthcare.
Health Equity Champion: Edward Miller with UofL Health and UofL Physicians – OB/GYN & Women’s Health. In addition to caring for high-risk mothers with complicate pregnancies, Miller has a passion to improve health care in underserved neighborhoods and inspire Black youth to pursue health care careers. His leadership helped develop the Pre-Medical Magnet Program and JCPS’ Central High School. The program brings medical professionals into their classroom and brings the high school students into UofL Hospital for a hands-on shadow experience.��
Health Innovator: Jessica Sharon, director of innovation programs in the Office of Research and Innovation. She leads UofL’s prestigious suite of programs that accelerate translation of research-born innovations to the marketplace, including the university’s new role as part of the NSF Innovation Corps MidSouth Hub.��UofL is one of only a handful of universities in the country to host each of these innovation-associated programs — and it’s the only one to receive��all��of them.��
Health Manager: Melisa Adkins, CEO of UofL Health’s Mary & Elizabeth Hospital. Since joining UofL Health, two years ago, Adkins has combined her experience as a nurse and administrator to improve access to care in south Louisville. She led the efforts to open a 20-bed medical detox unit, women’s health center, and brought a Brown Cancer Center location to the Mary & Elizabeth hospital campus. She’s also recruited more medical specialists to the area and grew the family medicine practice to ensure residents from the UofL School of Medicine could better experience training in a community medicine environment.��
Emerging Star (joint award): Mandi Walker, system executive director for the UofL Health Office of Professional Practice, Nursing Research and Nursing ��ֱ��; and Kelly Russell, the office’s director. Walker and Russell provided the oversight for UofL Hospital’s recent designation as a magnet hospital, the gold standard in recognizing professionalism and teamwork in nursing with superiority in patient care. It was a team recognition but could not have happened without these outstanding nursing leaders.

This year’s Health Care Heroes will be profiled in the Feb. 17��edition of Louisville Business First, and will be honored at an in-person event the day before at The Olmsted. You can find more details and register to .

UofL researchers, healers honored as Health Care Heroes

Baylee Pulliam — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 19:27:51 +0000

Several University of Louisville researchers, innovators and healers have been recognized by Louisville Business First as .��

The awards honor “those who have made an impact on health care in our community through their concern for patients, research, innovation, management skills and being on the frontlines fighting the Covid-19 pandemic,” according to the publication.��

The UofL honorees are:

Front-Line Hero: Andrew Odom, emergency room charge nurse with UofL Hospital.
Health Entrepreneur: Mahendra Sunkara, director of UofL’s and professor of chemical engineering, who worked to develop, commercialize and produce reusable N95-style masks during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.��
Health Equity Champions: Suzanne Kingery, director of the UofL Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship Program; and Keith Miller, a trauma surgeon with UofL Health.
Health Innovator: Mark Slaughter and Siddharth Pahwa (dual award), cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons with UofL Health; and Ted Smith, director of the Center for Healthy Air, Water and Soil in the , who collaborated with other researchers at UofL, including those in the��and��UofL Genomics and Bioinformatics Core facilities, to rollout innovative wastewater testing for pandemic tracking.
Health Provider: Dawn Balcom, a nurse practitioner with the UofL School of Medicine and advanced practice specialist with the UofL International Travel Clinic.��

This year’s Health Care Heroes will be profiled in the Feb. 25��edition of Louisville Business First, and will be honored at an in-person event the day before at The Olmsted. You can register to attend .

UofL-researched reusable, more effective N95-style face masks begin production

Baylee Pulliam — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 20:02:15 +0000

Production has begun on new University of Louisville-developed N95-style face masks that are low-cost, washable, reusable and could be better at filtering COVID-19 droplets and other airborne particles and viruses. The masks now are commercially available.

The production facility, operated by AdhviQ Technologies LLC, opened in late November on the UofL Belknap campus. It now churns out about 50 of the N95-style masks, plus about 100 three-ply non-surgical masks per minute, as well as filters for cloth masks and has made them commercially available. The company plans to ramp up production amid rising coronavirus case numbers.

Mahendra Sunkara��said he and other UofL researchers invented the masks to address , or PPE.�� While commonly worn disposable masks are meant , the UofL N95-style masks are unique in that their nanowire-woven fabric can be washed and reused multiple times — all while still filtering down to 0.1 microns.

“Being able to reuse masks and filters effectively can help people protect themselves in everyday settings like grocery stores,” said Sunkara, a UofL chemical engineering professor. “But they could especially help health care workers, who may not have access to as many disposable masks as they need to do their jobs safely. With these masks, they could wash and wear the same one over and over again without losing effectiveness.”

The technology was created by researchers at UofL’s , where Sunkara is director, and the UofL . Early in the pandemic, they pivoted from their previous studies in areas such as solar power and robotics to develop tools that could help people stay safe.

The researchers ��Advanced Energy Materials (ADEM), a UofL-offshoot company founded by Sunkara that produces nanowire for catalysts, to develop and patent the technology. A new company,��AdhviQ, licensed that technology and now manufactures and sells the finished products made using materials from ADEM.

Both ADEM and AdhviQ were created at UofL, are based on UofL research and also are physically located on UofL’s Belknap campus.

“This is an excellent example of what can be accomplished when UofL research meets industry capability,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “In this time of crisis, UofL researchers have risen to the challenge of keeping people safe in every aspect. This is yet another example of them doing the hard work to combat this virus and truly advance our health.”

The masks are made using inorganic nanowires woven into special polymer cloth, forming a porous network whose openings are too small for viral particles to pass through. Because the nanowire is made of titania and zinc oxide, the masks also can easily be disinfected using low-energy ultraviolet light as an alternative to disinfecting with soap and water.

The nanowire masks differ from current N95 masks, which rely on an electrostatic charge on polymer fiber cloth to capture and filter out particles like dust, mold and pollen. The electrostatic masks may not work to filter out liquid droplets or viral pathogens, while the UofL masks can.

“In working together, we have been able to create a truly great product, built on UofL research, that’s reusable, cost-effective and filters better than commonly available disposable masks,” said Siva Kakarala, founder and CEO of AdhviQ. “Our overall goal is to give people the tools that can help them stay safe and healthy.”

The masks are available for order on the , and the company expects to receive FDA certification soon.

UofL-born company secures an additional $115 million to advance cell therapy

Baylee Pulliam — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 17:17:33 +0000

A company born at the University of Louisville has raised an additional $115 million to further develop a therapy that could improve the lives of kidney transplant recipients.

The company, Talaris Therapeutics Inc., plans to use the series B funding to support a Phase 3 clinical trial — the last step before applying for FDA approval. This series A funding round announced last year to hire staff and initiate the trial.

Talaris recently began in that trial of the unique cell therapy, called FCR001, which allows living-donor kidney transplant recipients to stay off immunosuppression drugs they would otherwise need for the rest of their lives.

Immunosuppressants help prevent rejection of the transplanted organ, but can cause side effects, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, neurological effects, increased risk of infection and decline in kidney function over time.

“This technology could help transplant patients live fuller, healthier lives,”��said UofL Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, Kevin Gardner.��“This UofL research, in the hands of strong industry partners and backed by investors, is a big step in advancing our health.”��

FCR001 consists of stem cells taken from the organ donor and processed at the Talaris facility, then infused into the organ transplant recipient. The goal is to create a durable “dual immune system” (part donor-derived and part recipient) in the transplant recipient. These two immune systems coexist, recognizing both the recipient’s own body as well as the donated organ as self.

The new funding also will advance a��planned Phase 2 trial of FCR001 in diffuse systemic sclerosis, a severe form of the rare autoimmune disease scleroderma.

Talaris, formerly known as Regenerex LLC, was founded by UofL researcher and innovator Suzanne Ildstad to commercialize the pioneering work of her team at the university. She now serves as Talaris’ chief scientific officer.

“This financing moves us one step closer to helping organ transplant recipients no longer be dependent on immunosuppressive drugs, resulting in a greatly improved quality of life,” Ildstad said of the earlier Phase 3 trial financing. “The support and research infrastructure at UofL have been invaluable in our journey to this important juncture.”

In an earlier Phase 2 trial, FCR001 allowed 70% of living donor kidney transplant patients durably to be weaned off all of their immunosuppression treatments.

The Phase 3 trial is expected to enroll 120 adult living donor kidney transplant recipients at multiple sites across the U.S. To date, the trial has been initiated at five clinical sites around the country.

UofL awarded nearly $4M to close skills gap

Baylee Pulliam — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 14:51:53 +0000

The University of Louisville has received nearly $4 million from the U.S. Department of Labor to build a program that will prepare students for the ever-evolving, technology-enabled “jobs of tomorrow.”

The competitive federal grant was announced by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a UofL grad.��

The UofL Modern Apprenticeship Pathways to Success (MAPS) program is funded through the DoL’s “” initiative. UofL was one of just 28 public-private partnerships funded under this federal program in its most recent round, and is the only one in Kentucky.

Through MAPS, UofL will create apprenticeships that connect what students learn in class with their eventual careers. The apprenticeships will also give them field experience with disruptive, cutting-edge technologies that can change how work is done.

“At UofL, we recognize that many people entering such industries as advanced manufacturing, healthcare and information technology require new skill sets or retraining in order to be successful,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “The apprenticeships created by the university and its private-sector partners through this grant program will help to form the workforce of the future.”

UofL will also work with three academic partners — Webster University, Jefferson Community and Technical College and Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. These institutions will help MAPS create transfer opportunities for associate’s degree holders who want to earn a bachelor’s degree, and connect with underrepresented minority students and those who are, have been or depend on a member of the military.

Principal investigator Dr. Jeffrey Sun, of the UofL College of ��ֱ�� and Human Development (CEHD), said preparing students for high-skilled jobs is especially important now, at a time when the world of work is increasingly disrupted and evolving due to technologies like artificial intelligence and automation.

According to a from the Brookings Institute, automation will be most disruptive in the Heartland, and especially in Kentucky and Indiana. In the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area alone, the report says some 670,000 jobs are susceptible.

But while automation may replace some jobs, some reports show it creates others — ones companies can’t seem to fill due to the skills gap. According to a from Deloitte, advanced technologies in the manufacturing industry will cause an estimated 2.4 million positions to go unfilled between 2018 and 2028.

“The workforce in the Heartland is underemployed, mostly due to manufacturing layoffs and the unpreparedness of workers for higher-skilled jobs,” said Sun, associate dean for Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at the CEHD. “We want our students at UofL to be prepared when new technologies, such as robotics and AI, alter our work or the market shifts, perhaps from 3D printing, change our business model.”

“By equipping job seekers with the training they need for good, 21st-century jobs, we can help close the skills gap and build upon Kentucky’s growing economy,”��McConnell said in a release.��“I applaud President Trump for his administration’s focus on apprenticeship programs, and I’m proud to work with him to promote investment in the future of Kentucky’s workers and their families. As Senate Majority Leader, I’m in a better position than ever to deliver for Kentucky communities, and I was proud to partner with UofL to give Kentucky workers every opportunity to succeed.”

UofL spinal fusion device wins first-of-its-kind FDA approval

Baylee Pulliam — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 13:31:01 +0000

A University of Louisville technology for measuring strain on the spine has received a first-of-its-kind approval from the FDA.

The technology is the first FDA approval in a new category for products used during spine surgery that have both mechanical and electrical components.

The device,��patented through the ,��consists of a series of strain sensors placed on the titanium rods, which are implanted into the body to hold the vertebrae in place after a spinal fusion surgery.��Spinal fusion, which “fuses” vertebrae together, is usually .

The device can help doctors see whether the spine is solidly fusing after the surgery.��The sensors measure the strain on the rods, which indicates the level of strain on the spine.��

Currently, the only way to determine that is through an additional exploratory surgery, said Dr. John Naber, a UofL professor who worked on the technology. But the UofL-invented system allows doctors to determine that from outside the body.

“The big payoff is to eliminate unnecessary surgeries,” said Naber,��who also is associate chair of electrical and computer engineering.

According to a 2019 article in the journal analyzing lumbar fusion rates, about 200,000 spinal fusion surgeries are performed every year in the U.S. And, the number of elective fusion surgeries has increased by more than 60% since 2004.

The device was invented by a team that included the ’s Drs. Naber, Kevin Walsh, William Hnat and Michael Voor, along with Leatherman’s Spine Center orthopedic surgeon Dr. Randy Puno.

The technology is now marketed by Ohio-based Intellirod Spine Inc. as the “LOADPRO sensing system.”

Ric Navarro, CEO of Intellirod, said the company plans to commercially launch the product at the Cleveland Clinic and the Leatherman Spine Center in Louisville now that it has FDA approval. The company plans to expand its launch sites in the near future.

“We are delighted to be the first device in this new FDA product category for spine to give the surgeon unprecedented new information about how much strain is on their rods as they correct a deformity,” he said.

Listen to a radio interview with Naber on .

UofL cancer-targeting technology licensed to California medical company

Baylee Pulliam — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 14:39:47 +0000

California-based medical device company, Qualigen Inc., has licensed a drug technology developed at the University of Louisville that uses tiny, DNA-coated gold nanoparticles to target cancer.

The technology, dubbed “ALAN” (for Aptamer-Linked Au Nanoparticles), has shown promise as an agent for radio-sensitizing and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast, as well as for the treatment of many forms of cancer.��

In exchange for the technology, UofL will receive cash payments on the achievement of certain milestones and royalties on future sales, as well as potential equity in the company. Qualigen also has a sponsored research agreement with UofL for further development.��

“We have very high hopes that working together, with the strengths that we have at Qualigen and what UofL has here with the research center, that we can do something good going forward,” said Michael Poirier, the company’s president and CEO.

UofL’s Dr. Paula Bates, who developed the base technology, said this drug is more targeted than many currently available cancer treatments. Those treatments may also harm healthy, non-cancerous tissue.

“The key is that the ALAN technology can kill cancer cells, but not normal cells,” said Bates, a professor of medicine.

The aptamer itself has been previously tested in more than 100 patients and has had no evidence of severe side effects. At least seven of those patients either saw their cancers disappear or shrink substantially.��

In the new ALAN technology, the aptamer is attached to gold, which should make it more durable and active than the original formulation. The new ALAN formulation is expected to enter clinical trials by 2020.

Bates worked with a team of researchers from the UofL School of Medicine and J.B. Speed School of Engineering on development. That team included Drs. Kyung Kang, Tariq Malik and Marty O’Toole.

“Together, we came up with a technology that has a lot of promise,” said O’Toole, an assistant professor of bioengineering. “It’s rewarding to know our work could really help people.”

The technology was developed with support from the university’s robust innovation programs, including the and , a National Institutes of Health Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH), as well as a Kentucky Commercialization Fund grant.��

The UofL protected the intellectual property and helped develop the commercial partnership with Qualigen.

“We are excited to work with Qualigen on the product development of our nanoparticle-based drug to fight cancer,” said Dr. Allen Morris, the office’s director. “This is more than just a license — it’s a collaboration.”