New CoEE Endowed Chair will develop technology to encourage healthful lifestyles, prevent chronic diseases among South Carolinians
October 15, 2010
MUSC recruits top scientist to lead Technology Center to Enhance Healthful Lifestyles.
CHARLESTON, SC – October 15, 2010 – Chronic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer are all too common causes of disability and mortality in the United States. Unhealthful behaviors such as sedentary lifestyles and poor diets, along with the obesity that often results, are major reasons why people develop these chronic health problems. To tackle the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, scientists are developing new technologies to help patients make better lifestyle choices. The goal of these technologies is to address preventable risk factors, so that patients can live longer, healthier lives.
Through South Carolina’s Centers of Economic Excellence (CoEE) Program, renowned scientist Dr. Frank Treiber has been recruited to South Carolina as the CoEE Endowed Chair in Technology Applications to Prevent and Manage Disease and Reduce Risk at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).
Treiber will lead the Technology Center to Enhance Healthful Lifestyles, a University of South Carolina Center of Economic Excellence in which MUSC is a partner. Non-state support is being provided by Health Sciences South Carolina. At the center, Treiber and his colleagues will develop technology to help citizens from all segments of society, but especially rural and underserved populations, make healthier lifestyle choices with the goal of reducing health disparities.
“The Technology Center will enable us to develop and commercialize software and technology products to foster more effective health promotion, disease prevention and health care delivery for all South Carolinians,” Treiber says.
Potential products that could emerge from Treiber’s work include software and information systems for mobile phones, personal digital assistants, i-Pod technologies and web-based programs. These products could be personalized to patients and designed to help them change their behavior by increasing physical activity, altering their diets, reducing stress, not smoking, and taking their medications on schedule.
Treiber believes work at the Technology Center will foster economic growth in South Carolina in several ways. First, he believes new technology products will be developed at the center that could be commercialized. Second, he believes new hardware or software companies could be developed or recruited to the state, resulting in high-tech jobs.
He notes that the work of the center could also result in indirect economic benefits to South Carolina through improved work productivity, decreased absenteeism and decreased health care costs. Treiber says his ultimate goal is to turn the center into a national center of excellence.
“I am honored to have been selected as a CoEE Endowed Chair for the Technology Center and I look forward to working with my colleagues across South Carolina,” Treiber says. “Most importantly, I look forward to seeing the activities of the Technology Center contribute to a reduction in the chronic disease health disparities ravaging the state and result in improved health and wellbeing for all South Carolinians.”
“We are thrilled to recruit a scientist of Dr. Treiber’s caliber as a CoEE Endowed Chair,” said CoEE Review Board Chair Pamela P. Lackey. “Personalized health care technology has tremendous potential to help people lead healthier lives and to benefit the entire South Carolina economy. We look forward to the positive impact Dr. Treiber and his work will have in our state and beyond.”
“Chronic diseases have contributed to the decline of South Carolina’s public health and economic growth. Dr. Treiber and his colleagues at the Technology Center to Enhance Healthful Lifestyles will address this serious issue by focusing research on developing new technologies for improving health, preventing illnesses and managing chronic health problems,” says HSSC President and CEO Dr. Jay Moskowitz.
Before coming to MUSC, Treiber was vice president for research and development at the Medical College of Georgia.
About the CoEE Program
The CoEE Program was created by the South Carolina legislature in 2002 and is funded through South Carolina Education Lottery proceeds. The legislation authorizes the state’s three public research institutions, Medical University of South Carolina, Clemson University and the University of South Carolina, to use state funds to create Centers of Economic Excellence in research areas that will advance South Carolina’s economy. Each Center of Economic Excellence is awarded from $2 million to $5 million in state lottery funds, which must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis with non-state investment. To date, 49 Centers of Economic Excellence have been created and 35 CoEE Endowed Chairs have been appointed to lead the centers. The CoEE Program has resulted in more than a quarter billion dollars of non-state investment in the South Carolina economy and is responsible for the creation of more than 4,000 jobs. For more information, visit www.sccoee.org.
About Health Sciences South Carolina
Established in April 2004, Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) is a statewide public-private collaborative of universities and health systems possessing the shared vision of using health sciences research to improve the health and economic wellbeing of South Carolina. HSSC includes Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina, Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, Palmetto Health, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, AnMed Health, McLeod Health, and Self Regional Healthcare. For more information, visit www.healthsciencessc.org.
About MUSC
Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 11,000 employees, including 1,500 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $1.7 billion. MUSC operates a 750-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children’s Hospital, the Ashley River Tower (cardiovascular, digestive disease, and surgical oncology), and a leading Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu or www.muschealth.com.
