It was a good day for children. Children’s National and Johnson & Johnson Innovation collaborate on a pharmaceutical, device and technology incubator.
We are one step closer to further solutions for children’s health. On April 9, Yesterday, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of her administration joined us as Children’s National and Johnson & Johnson Innovation announced the launch of JLABS @ Washington, DC.
JLABS @ Washington, DC will be a 32,000 square foot incubator space on the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus.
The JLABS @ Washington, DC site will be open to pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and health technology companies that aim to advance the development of new drugs, medical devices, precision diagnostics and health technologies, including applications in pediatrics.
We already knew that Johnson & Johnson was a great partner for Children’s National, and that they share our passion for investing in the health and well-being of babies and children around the world. In 1988, through Johnson & Johnson’s support, we founded Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit organization aiming to help families and communities keep kids safe from injuries.
The co-location of the Research and Innovation Campus with key partners in the areas of public health research, innovation and incubator space is critical to accelerating the translation of potential breakthrough discoveries into new treatments and technologies.
The vision my colleagues and I pursue for this campus requires a global innovation partner with a strong commitment to pediatric health and a clear understanding of the next big areas of opportunity for improving human health. I believe the JLABS model is exactly what is needed to help us drive discoveries that are then rapidly translated into new treatments and technologies.
Already, Children’s National has served as a convener of great scientists, business people and government agencies to advance pediatric health as leader of the FDA-funded National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation in collaboration with the University of Maryland, College Park. The consortium has provided mentorship support to more than 60 medical device startups to help advance their pediatric innovations. Five of the devices assisted by this program have received either CE Mark approval or FDA market clearance. Children’s National has also spun out more than 20 start-up companies from its own intellectual property.
I could not be more delighted with the progress we have made, and the trajectory we are on. Take a look at the video compilation of a very exciting day:
