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.”

“2021 updates: 1. Regional life sciences strategic assessment "path to 2025" 2. 2021 kansas city regional life sciences census 3. Kansas city quality and value innovation consortium (kc qvic)/healthcare institute for innovations in quality (hi-iq) 4. Kansas city regional biologics research and development inventory 5. Ethical artificial intelligence (ai) 6. Health equity learning and action network (he-lan) 7. Collaborate2cure 8. Diversity, equity and inclusion (dei) 9. Research development grant programs 10. Kc nexus fund 11. Workforce development 12. 20 year anniversary and accomplishments 13. "science2art" 14. Events: o nexus informatics o one health day 15. Social media o connection o expert exchange 1. Regional life sciences strategic assessment: "path to 2025" the path to 2025 report is the result of a regional strategic assessment for the continued development of the regional life sciences that took place in 2015. This report highlights scientific focus areas of opportunity, including animal health, health it and outcomes research, cancer and neuroscience, as well as components of the regional infrastructure that needed to be strengthened to allow for robust regional growth, including collaboration, capital, workforce development and messaging/marketing. At the halfway point of the 10-year strategic plan, bionexus kc convened its leadership to develop an evaluation framework that integrated the path to 2025 outputs and the bionexus kc vision statement to further define the role bionexus kc would play in advancing its initiative. In 2021, this framework was instrumental in identifying initiatives and opportunities most aligned with the bionexus kc mission. 2. 2021 kansas city regional life sciences census since 2003, bionexus kc has commissioned the kansas city regional life sciences industry census every three years to define the composition and scope of economic activity in this vital sector of the economy. The updated data provides insights that can influence policy making, workforce development, and area funding. Most importantly, it helps identify economic and research trends that will help steer the kc region towards life sciences success. The most recent version of the census was completed in december 2021 and found that, across the 286 companies identified, the kc life sciences industry employs 35,000 people. The number of university research centers rose to 149 in 2021, and the number of medical centers performing clinical trials increased to 32. The final report will be released in early 2022. 3. Kansas city quality and value innovation consortium (kc qvic) and the healthcare institute for innovations in quality (hi-iq) bionexus kc continued its longstanding support of the kansas city quality and value innovation consortium (kc qvic) with a $79,900 grant in 2021, which was used to help support two pilot studies to demonstrate the value of regional collaborations to improve the quality and cost of healthcare and to establish an updated marketing and communication strategy for the organization. With this support, the kc qvic secured significant additional funding and substantially expanded its infrastructure to support its growth. This led to the creation of umkc's healthcare institute for innovations in quality (hi-iq), under which the kc qvic now operates. A $600,000 gift from the bloch family foundation supported operational leadership at hi-iq and research capacity for the kc qvic to further establish its potential value to kansas city through 2023. Additionally, bionexus kc served on the strategic advisory board and supported monthly kc qvic forums engaging the community and featuring local and national speakers addressing healthcare priorities in our region. Further in 2021, the kc qvic initiated a multi-hospital heart failure 'clinical champions' committee, resulting in a promising strategy for direct engagement of the region's professional heart failure community. 4. Kansas city regional biologics research”

“Make meaningful changes to systems, policies, and structures to reduce and eliminate disparities in health care delivery and realize measurable improvements in health outcomes - particularly among people impacted by health inequities. 7. 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 2021, bionexus kc resumed its virtual c2c focused on "autism spectrum disorder (asd)," chaired by dr. Zohreh talebizadeh of children's mercy and the university of missouri kansas city. This c2c series did not suggest the need to "cure" the broad range of unique individuals affected by asd. Rather, the emphasis for this series focused on collaboration for impacting autism research, management, and advocacy. The monthly program provided a platform for partnership and convened the region's robust autism network, comprised of basic researchers, clinicians, patient advocacy groups, and start-up companies.the series tackled a variety of research and clinical topics related to autism such as team science, co-morbidities, telehealth and anxiety and depression. C2c sought to catalyze collaboration among those devoted to advancing autism research and care. The primary deliverable of the series is a collaborative research grant and the resulting collaborative efforts will make the region more competitive for research funding, more attractive for autism researchers and caregivers, and raise regional awareness of the impact of asd on individuals and their families. At the end of the series, a $50,000 grant was awarded to dr. David beversdorf of the university of missouri. Dr. Beversdorf found that elevated incidence of prenatal stress exposures late in pregnancies resulted in children subsequently diagnosed with asd, confirmed by studies examining tropical storms in louisiana and their association with autism births. This initial work will allow the beversdorf lab to submit larger nih proposals that can track outcomes of these pregnancies to determine which biomarkers are predictive for certain neurodevelopmental outcomes. Future work will focus on intervention to mitigate the risks for development. The outcomes of this research are of particular interest to disadvantaged communities where there is a high incidence rate of developmental disabilities. 8. Dei in 2021, bionexus kc established the regional diversity, equity and inclusion (dei) committee, composed of dei leaders from bionexus kc stakeholder institutions. The bionexus kc dei committee will serve as an advisory body to regional healthcare and life science leadership, offering guidance in these areas as requested. The bionexus kc dei committee will also integrate best practices for diversity, equity, and inclusion into regional stakeholder policies and programs. Additionally, the bionexus kc dei committee will provide education and enrichment opportunities for its members and serves as a forum for discussion of substantive best practices. A small number of additional committee members will be added, representing industry, academic, clinical and community interests. 9. Bionexus kc research grants program bionexus kc's research 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. Bionexus kc plays a key role in advancing region”

“Sectors with the life sciences requiring specific, innovative, and unique strategies for developing competencies highly desired by companies. Bionexus kc has been deeply involved in two unique approaches to meet the workforce needs of the life sciences cluster. Both are addressing critical skills gaps through creative, yet distinct, strategies. Skilled kc launched as an initiative of the ewing marion kauffman foundation, skilled kc provides an industry-aligned, agile, and student-centered learning experience for students seeking to earn a credential that will set them on a successful career trajectory in the areas of advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, or software development. In partnership with many organizations, skilled kc is closing the gap for people to access valuable credentials to jump start careers and find job placements. Bionexus kc, with other bioscience partners, has been deeply involved in the skilled kc biotechnology program since inception. Leveraging our deep network of life sciences companies, the program has learned first-hand what skills/competencies are most important to life sciences companies. To ensure industry voices were contributing to curriculum and program development, the biotechnology advisory board was established and chaired by bionexus kc vice president, keith gary. Comprised of a cross section of life sciences company representatives, the collective board has directly influenced curriculum, student experiences, faculty selection, and defined desired program outcomes. The program has successfully graduated two cohorts of students and will be seating this cohort in early 2022. Founding ceo jeff barrett recently stepped down from his leadership role though many of the foundational program principles are still in place. Newly appointed ceo, steve lanasa, has indicated some shifts in the overall strategy, emphasizing the importance of student pipelines and articulations with other biotechnology training programs. (consider a quote from steve lanasa). Skilled kc represents a short-term pathway for non-traditional students to acquire essential biotechnology skills making program graduates attractive for many entry-level positions with life sciences companies. Bioscience core skills institute (bcsi) another strategy in providing the biotechnology industry assurance that candidates for hire possess essential skills is embodied by the bioscience core skills institute (bcsi), a start-up company launched in 2021. Their mission is to validate and certify skills acquired through bioscience training programs. Often certificates or degrees in biology or biotechnology are broad certificates of completion, lacking detail about the classes taken by students or the skills acquired resulting in a disconnect between the credentials available to students and the companies that hire them. The bcsi bridges the gap with digital microcredentials that are affordable, attainable with short-term training, and stackable. The idea of stackable credentials was a consistent theme in the stem education task force and experiential learning working group convened under kc rising initiatives. Bionexus kc vice president, keith gary, served as co-chair for both working groups. Students are often unaware of the credentials needed to attain careers in biotechnology. Employers often advertise for "wrong size" credentials, (e.g., bachelor's in biology) for entry-level positions that only need mastery of specific skills. Microcredentials solve this wrong-sizing by certifying and documenting the details of the applicant's work and training history in a skills-acquired format. By disaggregating the skills, bcsi gives new-hires the ability to convey their skills toolbox in a digital format while providing employers a clear advantage in hiring already-trained professionals who need little internal training to be prepared to perform their job functions. The bcsi utilizes authentic and validated rubrics that were crafted with input from t”

“In partnership with children's mercy, the fifth nexus informatics conference was held virtually for the first time on april 15 16, 2021 due to the pandemic. The conference featured 13 regional speakers including keynote speakers dr. Casey overby taylor from john hopkins medicine and dr. Subha madhavan from georgetown university medical center. The event was attended by nearly 175 informatics researchers from academia and industry who came together to discover capabilities, share tactical approaches to problem-solving, explore networks, and launch potential collaborations in the region. To learn more about the conference and informatics in our region visit: kcbioinformatics.org one health day bionexus kc partnered with kansas state university olathe, kansas state university master of public health interdisciplinary program, ku edwards campus and the university of kansas cancer center for the november 3, 2021 "kansas city one health day." this event is part of an annual, international event focused on complex collaborations across multiple disciplines to achieve optimal health for people, animals, and the environment referred to as one health. The 2021 kc one health day's topic was 'harmful algae blooms'. This event an overview of harmful algae blooms and their impact on human health by keynote, dr. Keith loftin, u.s. Geological survey, kansas water science center. Harmful algae blooms occur when algae and cyanobacteria grow out of control in bodies of water. The blooms can kill animals and plants in the water by severely depleting oxygen when they decompose. Normally, algae are important organisms, but when they grow out of control they can harm people, animals, and the environment. The event hosted over 75 attendees from academia and industry and also included a poster competition for college and high school students to compete for a cash scholarship award. 15. Social media bionexus kc serves as a resource for life sciences news from manhattan to columbia, using the following communication tools: connection blog: https://bionexuskc.org/category/the-connection/ below are highlights from the 2021 connection blog series: o saint luke's cardiologist determined to improve diabetes care, outcomes: sometimes the most dangerous element of disease is not its immediate manifestations, but secondary dangers that follow. For patients with diabetes, the most instantaneous issue is one of elevated blood sugar that can over time cause direct damage. The leading cause of death or serious disability for these patients, however, is cardiovascular and heart complications. For dr. Mikhail kosiborod, cardiologist and vice president for research at saint luke's health system, the goal is to identify the causes of elevated cardiovascular risk in patients with diabetes and mitigate or eliminate those risks. Https://bionexuskc.org/saint-lukes-cardiologist-determined-to-improve-di abetes-care-outcomes/ o tmc/uh doctors collaborate to achieve vaccine adoption among minorities faced with a global pandemic that disproportionately affected marginalized members of the community, a pair of powerhouse physicians teamed up to ensure the entire community's health and safety. Both doctors have experience responding quickly to situations that can't afford to wait. Dr. Traci johnson, obstetrician-gynecologist at university health and maternal-fetal medicine clinical fellow at the university of missouri - kansas city (umkc) school of medicine and dr. Michael moncure, vice chair of surgery, trauma surgeon and critical care specialist at tmc/uh and professor of surgery at umkc school of medicine are on a collaborative mission to improve societal vaccine adoption. Through education, they're encouraging people to get the covid-19 vaccine. With this effort, they hope to address the pandemic and improve the relationship between the healthcare system and minority populations in kansas city. Https://bionexuskc.org/tmc-uh-doctors-collaborate-to-achieve-vaccine-ado ption-amo”