Hoag Innovators invests $1 million in medical innovations

Newport Beach resident Robert Brunswick described Thursday night’s Hoag Innovators fall meeting as “Shark Tank” meets “Ted Talks.”

Brunswick and his wife, Kitty, founded Hoag Innovators in 2017 with the goal of promoting innovation at Hoag through collective and engaged giving, he said.

“Most importantly, our investments in the latest technology and research are measurably impacting patient care at Hoag, while also enhancing the recruitment of nationally recognized physicians who are bringing innovation to their specializations,” Brunswick said.

There are now 63 member families and 121 members, with each Hoag Innovator contributing at least $250,000. That leads to a sizable pot of philanthropic funds — $22.5 million total has been raised, Brunswick said — and $1 million was up for grabs Thursday.

Three Hoag doctors saw their pitches either fully or partially funded following voting at the conclusion of the meeting, held at Lido House, Autograph Collection hotel in Newport Beach.

From left, Hoag Innovators Co-Founder Robert Brunswick, Dr. Rashmi Kumar, Dr. Lisa Karamardian, Dr. Sourat Darabi and Dr. Charles De Mesa participate in a panel discussion Thursday night at Lido House, Autograph Collection in Newport Beach.

(Susan Hoffman)

Dr. Lisa Karamardian and Dr. Charles De Mesa both received full funding of $299,000 and $400,000, respectively, for their pitches. Karamardian, medical director of maternal child health at Hoag, sought funding for PeriWatch Vigilance, an automated early warning system for obstetrics.

De Mesa received his full request as he seeks to pioneer a national model for pain management. And Dr. Sourat Darabi, the clinical genomics scientist for Hoag’s Center for Applied Genomics Technologies at the Hoag Family Cancer Institute, also received some funding for her request to build a translational research lab.

Each of the four doctors present were given six minutes to make their pitches to the Hoag Innovators, who then were able to ask questions. Before voting, Brunswick moderated a panel with each of the doctors.

Karamardian, who has been an active staff member at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian since 1996, had plenty of humor and quips during her pitch. Innovators member Mike Gray, impressed, called her “the closer” as she stepped off the stage.

Dr. Charles De Mesa, chief of interventional pain, physical medicine and rehabilitation for Hoag Spine Center, received requested funding of $400,000 to facilitate non-operative novel pain treatments during Thursday night’s Hoag Innovators meeting.

(Susan Hoffman)

The PeriWatch Vigilance software will help her and her team at Hoag, where about 8,000 babies are born annually, via artificial intelligence and field telemetry.

“This is technology that improves outcomes for both moms and baby,” Karamardian said, adding that her mothers at Hoag Newport often tend to be at an advanced maternal age, considered high risk. “This is the first step toward building what we call a PeriGen Command Center, and there are three command centers in this country right now.”

Karamardian, a Newport Beach resident, said in a phone interview Friday that she was very excited when she got the text message — all of the doctors had to leave the meeting when voting commenced — that her request would be granted.

“This is going to allow us to accurately prioritize attention, and in some instances realize that things are OK and we’ve got more time,” she said. “It’s really important, because there is such subjectivity to reading a monitoring strip, and I think there’s a lot that can be learned from taking millions of bits of data, digitizing it and using that to look at standards and norms.”

Dr. Sourat Darabi asks for a show of hands during Thursday’s Hoag Innovators meeting.

(Susan Hoffman)

De Mesa, who joined Hoag earlier this year, noted during the meeting that pain is the No. 1 reason that people go to the hospital, and that there are more than 100 million people suffering from chronic pain in the United States.

“At the same time, the costs are incredible,” he said. “Over $300 billion in medical treatments and also loss of productivity. That’s more than cancer, diabetes and heart disease combined.”

De Mesa’s pitch dealt with looking at different approaches to pain, including the use of biomarkers to zap distressed nerves and stimulating muscles to restore function.

“The reason for the investment ask is for the imaging technology to allow our elite group of pain physicians to carry out these novel therapies,” De Mesa said.