Healthcare of the Future: GW on the Cutting Edge


November 7, 2014

Crandall with the governor

Keith Crandall, Director of GW's Computational Biology Institute, speaks with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe at the Innovate Conference Nov. 6. © Chasing Auras Photography

The Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 2014 InNOVAte Conference, held at the Center for Innovative Technology, focused on healthcare of the future. Two GW faculty members gave presentations and GW participated in the exhibit hall. Attendees, including practioners, researchers, educators, students and business leaders, explored the concepts and technologies transforming personal health management and healthcare with a half-day lineup of sessions. The program included two keynote speakers, Governor Terry McAuliffe and Dr. Bernadette Loftus of the Permanente Medical Group.

Sponsors of this unique event included Kaiser Permanente, an acknowledged industry leader in 21st century approaches to healthcare, and the Virginia Biotechnology Association (Virginia Bio), the premier statewide non-profit trade association connecting the world-at-large with the life sciences and innovative bio community across the commonwealth.

GW faculty member Malinda Whitlow, assistant professor and executive director of the accelerated BSN program in the GW School of Nursing, participated in a panel of eight different kinds of healthcare professionals. They presented to an auditorium full of high school students about “Jobs of the Future: Many Portals, Many Opportunities.” Malinda shared her experiences on her journey to become first a nurse, and later a professor. A number of students spoke with her after the presentation with questions.


Asst. Prof. Malinda Whitlow, fifth from the left, spoke on a panel about healthcare jobs of the future.
© Chasing Auras Photography

Another GW faculty member, Keith Crandall, director of the Computational Biology Institute (CBI), was part of the “Panomics and Precision Medicine Panel,” moderated by Jeff Gallagher, CEO, VirginiaBio, along with Harry “Chip” Davis, Jr., Ph.D., chief drug development officer, Global Genomics Group and Dr. Michael Pishvaian, M.D., Ph.D., Georgetown University.


Prof. Crandall, director of the GW Computational Biology Institute, speaks on the panel about panomics and precision medicine. © Chasing Auras Photography

CBI’s research spans a broad range of initiatives, including applications for human and animal health. A current asthma study with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Children’s National (CTSI) is translating genomics to personalized medicine through computation using cutting edge science. The study explores more accurate diagnosis of asthma and related factors through faster and more precise analysis of host pathogens (example fungi, virus, bacteria), using newly developed PathoScope software. The software has been commercialized through Aperiomics, a GW spinoff company.

Additionally, GW has a growing foot print in heath science related programs. The Virginia Science and Technology Campus anticipates the student body will continue to expand in the coming months as new programming from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences will be added in 2015 with the launch of the Post-baccalaureate Pre-medicine Certificate Program, the newly redesigned Pharmaceutical Sciences Program (formally pharmacogenomics), and additional health science programs in bioinformatics and medical lab sciences. The accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program will continue to grow with new opportunities for veterans. The new programs have been designed to meet student interest and workforce demands.

Click here for a full listing of academic programs offered at the Virginia Science and Technology Campus.
Click here for more information about programs offered at The George Washington University (any location and online).