The HHS Ventures Fund
Taking proven ideas to their next stage.
The HHS Ventures Fund offered select teams up to $200k and 15-months of support to take their validated idea to implementation and scale.
Where the Ignite Accelerator focused on testing ideas through a semi-rigourous program, the Ventures Fund helps proven ideas get implemented. The inertia of bureaucracy is strong and incorporating new ideas into existing workflows -- even those ideas that have proven themselves -- is hard.
Teams valued the money of course (though their home offices paid their salaries and often contributed more), and they valued the consulting and coaching that came with being selected. But more so they valued our ability to help them navigate the red tape of formal processes and use political clout to help them get stuff done.
I led the development, launch, and management of this program through the selection of 3 rounds.
Projects Funded
In my time overseeing the program, we launched the effort and supported 7 project teams over 2 rounds of funding. We had just selected the 3 round of project teams when I left and handed the effort off to a colleague.
The CDC & HHS Health Game Jams
Executing and evaluating 48 hour event where game developers competed to prototype – and for the winners, eventually launch – games that focused on the primary and secondary prevention of HIV/AIDS.
The NIH 3D Print Exchange
Scaling and operationalizing an online portal to open-source data and tools for discovering, creating, and sharing 3D-printable models related to biomedical science.
Global Bidding & Assignment System
Filling overseas global public health vacancies with a specialized system for global recruitment.
NARMS Collect (FDA)
Capturing data from retail meat samples about bacterial resistance for quick and effective monitoring.
Economic Evaluation for Public Health Emergency Investments
Developing a first-ever framework for evaluating the economic return for public health emergency investments. (Preparedness & Response)
Collaborative Use Repurposing Engine (FDA + NIH)
Systematically collecting data about how healthcare practitioners use existing drugs in novel ways to treat patients with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
Special Government Employee Onboarding
Reducing the burden of onboarding for expert advisors in Federal Advisory Committees.
EMS to HIE Innovation (ONC)
Testing the viability of piloting a single sign-on Health Information Exchange (HIE) system in California for providers, including emergency response personnel, who serve patients outside of the disaster area.
Automated Cell Counting for Malaria Detection (NIH)
Automating the system for detecting and counting parasites for diagnoses of malaria.
More Rapid Autism Classification for Public Health (CDC)
Leveraging algorithms (via random tree / machine learning) to review medical records and reduce labor of estimating the prevalence of autism in the US.
The Federal HR Wiki: Optimizing Human Resources Management
Crowd-sourcing institutional knowledge about federal human resources.
More at:
- https://www.hhs.gov/idealab/ventures-fund/