Johnson & Johnson Innovation Announces Awardees of the Decoding Disparities QuickFire Challenge

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Nov. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Johnson & Johnson Innovation, LLC, together with Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC, named Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, the Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences of the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Emory University and Lucia Health Guidelines awardees of the Decoding Disparities QuickFire Challenge at the Reuter's Total Health Summit.

"For communities of color in the United States, we understand that health disparities may take many forms, including higher rates of chronic disease, increased burden of illness, and significant barriers to accessing care," shared Anastasia G. Daifotis, M.D, Chief Scientific Officer, Janssen North America Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.  "For this reason, we were proud to launch this QuickFire Challenge to inspire and help advance research that could pave the way for more equitable healthcare and improved health outcomes."

Each Awardee of this QuickFire Challenge is attempting to inspire and advance data-driven methodologies or technologies with the potential to better detect, understand, or reduce health disparities.  For example:

• Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers aims to promote continuity of care for individuals with mental health needs who present in the emergency department by developing the capacity to collect, analyze, and report data on the social and systemic barriers these individuals face.
• Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California aims to develop an innovative approach to delivering community mental health services through embedded counseling within a cultural center for Black collegians.
• A team from Emory University aims to create a social determinants of health (SDOH) insight score using novel, but widely available data, that can be linked to patient electronic health records (EHR). The score will be used to improve a provider's ability to tailor clinical recommendations for optimal management of patients with cardiovascular conditions.
• Lucia Health Guidelines has created an AI and cloud-based clinical decision support tool that has the potential to detect and treat atrial fibrillation at the point of care.

The challenge invited applications from innovators working on research methodologies, tools, or technologies applied in therapeutic areas of interest to the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson with special focus on: Mental Health, Cardiovascular Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Specific considerations included the integration of population health data to identify gaps within communities of color and provide actionable insights to inform interventions to address barriers to equitable access to health care across the patient journey.

To help advance their research, the awardees will receive a combined total of $600,000 in grant funding, access to the global Johnson & Johnson Innovation—JLABS network, and mentorship from experts at the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies¹.

"We received exceptional responses from entrepreneurs, academics, and researchers for the Decoding Disparities QuickFire Challenge. The applicants showed ingenuity, submitting many data-driven approaches designed to address the root causes of health inequities," said Melinda Richter, Global Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS². "We are excited to work closely with the four awardees to help scale their ideas and deliver potential breakthrough solutions for traditionally underserved communities."

An independent panel evaluated and selected the awardees using a criteria that included uniqueness, feasibility, and generalizability of the idea; thoroughness of approach; ability to collect and analyze factors driving disparities that could potentially inform strategies and tactics that improve health outcomes in racial/ethnic groups and underserved populations; potential measurable impact of data integration, analytics, and patient engagement to improve population health outcomes both immediately and in the long-term; and alignment to the areas of strategic focus and expertise for the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson Innovation has developed the QuickFire Challenge platform with the aim to help enable potential groundbreaking science and health solutions by encouraging students, entrepreneurs, researchers, and start-up companies to tackle some of the world's most challenging problems in healthcare.

For more information about the QuickFire Challenges, please visit: https://jlabs.jnjinnovation.com/quickfire-challenges.

About Johnson & Johnson Innovation 

Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC works across the pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health sectors to accelerate early-stage, transformational solutions by catalyzing the best ideas, wherever they are in the world. We do this by harnessing our deep scientific capabilities coupled with a wide range of tools, including customized deal structures, company creation, incubation and startup services, capital investments and other innovative business models that aim to meet the diverse needs of entrepreneurs, scientists and emerging companies. Our goal is to help life science and health technology innovations thrive through collaboration and partnership with the global ecosystem, so that together we can change the trajectory of human health. Meet our passionate team of science and technology experts and learn how to collaborate with us at www.jnjinnovation.com.

About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson

At Janssen, we're creating a future where disease is a thing of the past. We're the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, working tirelessly to make that future a reality for patients everywhere by fighting sickness with science, improving access with ingenuity, and healing hopelessness with heart. We focus on areas of medicine where we can make the biggest difference: Cardiovascular & Metabolism, Immunology, Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, Neuroscience, Oncology, and Pulmonary Hypertension. Learn more at www.janssen.com. Follow us at @JanssenGlobal.

Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 related to the award announcement of the Decoding Disparities QuickFire Challenge. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC and/or Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the potential that the expected benefits and opportunities related to the collaboration may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected; challenges inherent in new product development, including the uncertainty of clinical success and obtaining regulatory approvals; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; uncertainty of commercial success for new products; the ability of the company to successfully execute strategic plans; impact of business combinations and divestitures; challenges to patents; changes in behavior and spending patterns or financial distress of purchasers of health care products and services; and global health care reforms and trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2021, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and in the company's most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC and/or Johnson & Johnson do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments.

¹ Subject to the execution of the necessary agreements and documentation
² Melinda Richter is employed by Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC

SOURCE Johnson & Johnson Innovation

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