STAT+: ARPA-H head Renee Wegrzyn on the agency’s new Cambridge hub and plans for cancer research
"We look for the areas that we see our asymmetrical investment can really advance on state of the art and nobody else is funding it," says ARPA-H head Renee Wegrzyn.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In an area long known as an epicenter of innovation and investment in health care, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) officially launched its investor hub Thursday that will be dedicated to commercializing its research on biomedical solutions.
ARPA-H, which boasts a $1.5 billion budget and is modeled after the Pentagon’s science office DARPA, is rolling out a “hub-and-spoke” structure, with two other hubs, in the D.C. suburbs and Dallas, focused on government partnerships and patient experiences respectively. The organization announced Thursday an inaugural cohort of Investor Catalyst spokes that will report to, and communicate with, the Boston-area hub. The spokes include venture investors, startups, nonprofits, researchers, and more from across the U.S. Organizations designated as spokes can receive expedited funding and contracts through ARPA-H.
Renee Wegrzyn, director of ARPA-H, visited Cambridge for the launch and spoke with STAT about the agency’s plans for the future. The conversation has been edited lightly for length and clarity.
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