MON AM News: MCW leading health screening effort through Tech Hub initiative;Mone to step down as UW-Milwaukee chancellor in 2025, return to teaching

July 8, 2024

— The Medical College of Wisconsin will lead a health screening initiative as part of the Wisconsin BioHealth Tech Hub effort thanks to newly announced federal funding.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration last week awarded $49 million to the state-based effort, led by the 18-member Tech Hub Consortium, including MCW. The college then rolled out details for the CAREScan Mobile Screening project, one of the main efforts being supported with the Phase 2 funding.

This effort will initially provide lung, colon, breast, prostate, and liver cancer screening, and will ultimately screen for other diseases as well, according to the release. It will also use AI-based telehealth services developed by a MCW spinoff biotech company called NexusMD.

These will be offered through a neighborhood-based framework to advance access to health screening, MCW says. This approach is meant to build trust within communities that are historically underserved by medical screening services, with community outreach being conducted in partnership with Milwaukee-based InPower and Madison-based Wisconsin Health Literacy.

Plus, one element of the project will tap experts at the Milwaukee School of Engineering to employ AI as part of the community interface effort.

CAREScan will be developed at MCW’s campus in Milwaukee, with a focus on neighborhoods in Milwaukee County with low rates of cancer screening. And it will be offered to tribal communities through partnerships with tribal organizations.

Mara Lord, senior vice president at MCW and project lead for the CAREScan project, says the effort holds “unlimited potential” as the first of its kind to combine screening with participants’ expertise.

“It enables us to offer screening and care at the doorsteps of community members,” she said in a statement. “We will implement CAREScan as a community-immersed model, taking time to work with community organizations, leaders, and mobilizers to first build trust.”

The $49 million for Wisconsin’s Tech Hub program was part of a $504 million package split across a dozen hubs around the country, according to the release. The funding comes from the 2022 federal CHIPS and Science Act.

See the release and more coverage of the Tech Hub announcement.

— UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone will be stepping down from the post he’s held since 2014 and returning to teaching.

Mone in last week’s announcement said the change will be effective July 1, 2025, when he will return to his professorship with the Lubar College of Business.

The announcement comes after Mone faced criticism this spring over an illegal encampment on campus that was established by pro-Palestinian protesters. The Board of Regents’ meeting last month in Milwaukee included “personnel evaluations of chancellors” during a closed session meeting, according to the agenda.

The announcement didn’t single out a reason for the decision. Mone began receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2020.

Marquette University President Michael Lovell died last month after a battle with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

Read the announcement.

— The new president of the Waukesha County Business Alliance says the group aims to advance “pro-business public policies” while growing the local economy in the coming year.

In a recent email message, President and CEO Amanda Payne said she’s excited to officially take over the organization from former leader Suzanne Kelley after working there for the past decade. She highlighted the group’s strategic priorities, ranging from supporting key industries for the area and addressing workforce challenges to professional development and more.

“For 106 years, the Alliance has served as a voice for the business community, and I look forward to building on that strong foundation with continued growth for the organization as a regional leader,” Payne said. “Our purpose is clear – to make Waukesha County the best place to do business.”

The group’s 1,200 member organizations represent more than 75,000 employees, according to its website.

— WHEDA Deputy Executive Director and former Dem legislator Kimberly Plache has retired from the organization, according to a recent release.

The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority last week announced Plache would step down from the role as of Friday, after she was first appointed in 2019. She first joined WHEDA in 2003 as a business and community engagement officer, and previously held positions in the state Assembly and Senate.

Plache in a statement said “it has been an honor and a privilege” to work at WHEDA.

“Helping lenders, developers, housing partners, employers, and communities connect with WHEDA financing tools to increase housing in our state has been very rewarding,” she said.

See the release.

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Madison firm aims to revolutionize electronics by replacing silicon

TOPICS

AGRIBUSINESS

– Grow profits and sustainability – organic grain field days

CONSTRUCTION

– Payne + Dolan scores $2.59M resurfacing contract in Kewaskum

EDUCATION

– After DEI feud, panel will scrutinize University of Wisconsin’s future

– UWM chancellor Mark Mone will step down next July

ENVIRONMENT