Kansas City Area Life Sciences

“The organization has a policy for the organization's audit committee to review the 990 before it is filed.”

“All staff and directors must submit any conflicts of interest on an annual basis. If a conflict arises within the board, the disclosing individual shall neither vote nor endeavor to influence the decision.”

“Compensation of the organization's president is agreed upon by the board of directors and finalized via a written employment contract. This approval is documented in the minutes of the board. In 2013 the organization created a compensation committee and conducted a compensation study to further refine the compensation process.”

“The organization's governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are only available upon request.”

“2020 updates: 1. Regional life sciences strategic assessment "path to 2025" 2. Convene kc and covid-19 3. Collaborate2cure 4. Kansas city quality and value innovation consortium 5. Workforce development 6. Research development grant programs 7. Annual dinner and "science to art" auction 8. One health research symposium 9. One health day 10. Kc nexus fund 1. Regional life sciences strategic assessment: "path to 2025" despite the challenges surrounding covid-19, bionexus kc continued to focus on regional efforts to be a global leader at the nexus of human and animal health: uniting leaders and scientists to identify opportunities, and advance life sciences research. Bionexus kc's programming continued to focus on initiatives identified as opportunities in the path to 2025, the 10-year strategic assessment that was commissioned in 2015 in partnership with deloitte. These activities are detailed below. In late 2020, bionexus kc virtually convened its own executive leadership team and its board of directors for a two-day strategic retreat focused on evaluating and prioritizing the organization's current efforts and its future opportunities. As a result of the retreat, bionexus kc leadership developed a framework that will be applied to confirm the value of current efforts and evaluate future opportunities. 2. Convene kc and covid-19 in response to covid-19, bionexus kc convened the life sciences and healthcare community virtually to discuss conditions on the front lines of care and research. The series featured thought leaders and experts who highlighted cutting-edge initiatives impacting the regional pandemic response and generated discussion of how the community could be better in the fight against coronavirus. The focus of convene kc was to unify and provide education to the region with data and research. Convene kc featured a diverse speaker lineup from across the region and covered a wide range of topics, including: uniting to combat covid-19 regional covid-19 initiatives health inequities and disparities highlighted by covid-19 community response importance of testing and regional testing efforts contact tracing telehealth technologies and remote care comeback kc regional strategy regional innovation and the ignitex covid-19 response accelerator by fostering collaboration during this time of crisis, bionexus kc facilitated in helping the kc region embrace innovation and develop a response to covid-19 that was unique and effective. Subsequently, bionexus kc received a $42,900.00 grant from health forward foundation for a project entitled "covid-19 preparedness in patients with chronic conditions in safety net provider populations." the stated objective of this project is to provide samuel u. Rodgers health center with a population level clinical decision support tool to enhance covid-19 preparedness and improve health outcomes among diabetic patients who possess high risk of icu admissions and death due to comorbidities and socioeconomic health disparities with the help from abada health (formerly helix health) and a midwest health connection, a health information exchange network. 3. Collaborate2cure bionexus kc created the collaborate2cure (c2c) program in 2016 with the goal of stimulating regional scientific collaboration and developing innovative ways to solve scientific challenges. The program provides a platform for collaboration, allowing scientists in the kc region to share their research and to better compete for research funding. Bionexus kc identifies a topic with significant interest to researchers which aligns well with regional expertise, and then coordinates a series of presentations from researchers over the course of several months. In mid-2020, bionexus kc launched its fourth collaborate2cure series to convene autism spectrum disorder (asd) researchers, clinicians, patients, and advocates in the hopes of fostering productive collaborations. The program was chaired by dr. Zohreh talebizadeh of children's mercy”

“6. Bionexus kc's research development grant programs bionexus kc's research development grants program is designed to generate preliminary data that support submission of major multidisciplinary research proposals to government or private funding agencies. Applicants receive written peer reviews, regardless of whether their project received funding, to help them improve future grant applications. This is a valued service appreciated by all ten stakeholders. The covid-19 pandemic presented unique challenges to bionexus kc's research development grant program, one of its oldest and most popular programs. With researchers locked down and shut out of their laboratories, grant projects came to an abrupt halt. Once the lockdown was lifted, grantees returned to generating preliminary data supporting submission of major multidisciplinary research proposals to government or private funding agencies. Since 2003, bionexus kc has awarded $5,666,183 in grants. From the period of 2009-2019, the return on investment has been 11:1 (for every $1 invested, $11.10 returned from external funding). Total follow-on funding since 2003 is $62,894,631 from federal sources and foundations. The 2020 bionexus kc research development grant portfolio includes: the blue kc "transforming kc health research grant" (formerly outcomes research) program: focus on partnerships aiming to address socioeconomic and environmental barriers to health through research on improving access to nutritious foods in nutritionally insecure communities. Partnering with blue cross and blue shield of kansas city to manage this grant, bionexus kc is administering year two of this $400,000 grant was awarded to the partnership between the community health council of wyandotte county (chc), the university of kansas medical center research institute (kumc) and vibrant health. The research will not only identify successful strategies to ensure members have sustainable access to healthy food and the capacity for health food preparation, but also demonstrate associated improvements in health outcomes. Paul patton charitable trust grants: this grant program focuses on genetic diseases mainly affecting children. The funds for this program are provided by the paul patton trust, ted c. Mccarter, william evans jr. And bank of america, n.a., trustee. Bionexus kc awarded grants of up to $50,000 to three researchers, two at the university of kansas and one at the university of missouri-kansas city. Nexus of human and animal health grants: this grant program focuses on biomedical research projects, ranging from using naturally occurring diseases in animals as a model for assessing human drug efficacy to repurposing human drugs for use in animal diseases. In 2019, funded by the hall family foundation, bionexus kc awarded $50,000 grants to four researchers, two at kansas state university, one at the university of missouri, and one at the university of missouri-kansas city. 7. 2020 annual event and "science to art" auction bionexus kc's october 22, 2020 virtual annual event brought together 210 unique attendees including regional life sciences leaders and students, to highlight collaboration and opportunities that lie ahead. The kc region has some of the best researchers and clinicians working in some of the most innovative healthcare systems. The theme for this year's annual event was, "learn. Adapt. Thrive" with the message that "kansas city will be at the forefront as we learn novel ways to collaborate, adapt our methods to fit our new normal and work together to build a future in which we all thrive." the event featured calaneet balas, president & ceo of the als association, an organization with experience in building a robust and reactive ecosystem of collaboration and innovation. Balas's comments were heavily tied to the pandemic, as the als association quickly adapted by providing remote support and utilizing technology for meaningful care service interventions. In 2014, the ice bucket challe”

“Developing an ever-growing pipeline of projects that fit the fund's thesis while the region has improved access to capital for all entrepreneurs, there is still a lack of understanding and support for life science entrepreneurs, specifically. With the infrastructure for the kc nexus fund nearly complete, bionexus kc is set to officially launch the fund in 2021 and will begin making investments that will impact the region almost immediately.”