23rd Annual Research and Innovation Day Held May 1, 2019
Morristown, NJ – Atlantic Health System today hosted its 23rd annual systemwide Research and Innovation Day Symposium. The symposium, held at Morristown Medical Center, highlighted the critical role research and innovation play in delivering exceptional clinical care, ensuring positive patient outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs. The program included studies from Atlantic Health System investigators and industry (pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device companies).
“Research and innovation are critical to advancing healthcare and ensuring patients have access to new therapies that can ultimately improve the quality of their lives,” said Amy Perry, CEO, Hospital Division, Atlantic Health System. “Atlantic Health System is committed to creating a culture of innovation that inspires our workforce and physicians to ideate solutions that improve care delivery and clinical outcomes and reduce the growing cost of healthcare.”
The event was keynoted by Sunil Sharma, MD, Deputy Director, TGen Clinical Sciences, and Professor and Division Director, Applied Cancer Research and Drug Discovery, who highlighted advancements in immune-oncology that offer hope to cancer patients.
Key presentations included:
- Whether antibiotic cement used in arthroplasty procedures is cost effective in terms of infection prevention
- The discovery that elevated levels of the cerebrospinal fluid chemokine CXCL13 in nervous system Lyme disease can aid in the diagnosis of that condition
- The finding that patients hospitalized for pneumonia or acute exacerbation of COPD shorten their hospital stays when they engage in mobility sessions rather than rest in bed.
As part of its vision of improving lives and empowering communities through health, hope, and healing, Atlantic Health System works with pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers to conduct research across a wide range of therapeutic areas to help evaluate experimental drugs and drug combinations, medical devices and procedures. This ensures patients continually have access to the latest treatments, even before they are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Further, many investigators choose to work at Atlantic Health System because it allows them to conduct high-quality research, while continuing their clinical practice—a benefit not often seen in large health systems.
More information about research and clinical trials at Atlantic Health System >
The day also showcased innovations and inventions created by Atlantic Health System team members through AHa!, Atlantic Health System’s idea incubator. Created in 2017 to encourage innovations by Atlantic Health System team members, AHa! continues to spark new ideas that improve patient care and generate research patents.
Inventions showcased included:
- The Lighted Polyhedral Retractor, designed to create space around the thyroid so surgeons can more easily avoid veins and blood vessels during procedures.
- An Image Distance Control Device system, which allows nurses to obtain consistent photographs over time by providing positioning, orientation and lighting consistency by way of a novel camera phone attachment—resulting in more consistent and accurate photographs for the ongoing assessment and treatment of healing wounds.
- The ISSI® Box, which safely labels and stores insulin between nursing shifts in order to reduce insulin waste
Learn more about innovation at Atlantic Health System >
About Atlantic Health System
Atlantic Health System is at the forefront of medicine, setting standards for quality health care in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the New York metropolitan area. Powered by a workforce of more than 16,800 team members and 4,800 affiliated physicians dedicated to building healthier communities, Atlantic Health System serves more than half of the state of New Jersey including 11 counties and 4.9 million people. The system offers more than 400 sites of care, including six hospitals in New Jersey: Morristown Medical Center and Goryeb Children’s Hospital in Morristown, Overlook Medical Center in Summit, Newton Medical Center in Newton, Chilton Medical Center in Pompton Plains, and Hackettstown Medical Center in Hackettstown.
In addition to the employed workforce, Atlantic Alliance, a Clinically Integrated Network represents more than 2,500 health care providers throughout northern and central New Jersey. This network includes 1,000 physicians and providers comprising one of the largest multi-specialty practices in New Jersey - Atlantic Medical Group, as well as members of the Atlantic Accountable Care Organization and Optimus Healthcare Partners which work to enhance patient care delivery.
Atlantic Health System provides care for the full continuum of health care needs including 12 urgent care centers, Atlantic Rehabilitation and Atlantic Home Care and Hospice. Facilitating the connection between these services on both land and air is the transportation fleet of Atlantic Mobile Health.
Atlantic Health System leads the Healthcare Transformation Consortium, a partnership of seven regional hospitals and health systems dedicated to improving access and affordability and is a founding member of the PIER Consortium – Partners in Innovation, Education, and Research – a streamlined clinical trial system that will expand access to groundbreaking research across seven health systems in New Jersey.
Atlantic Health System has a medical school affiliation with Thomas Jefferson University and is home to the regional campus of the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Morristown and Overlook Medical Centers and is the official health care partner of the New York Jets.