Former InnerWireless CEO to lead development of ubiquitous wireless health platform for hospitals, health care settings to help accelerate innovation and lower health care costs
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The West Wireless Health Institute (WWHI) today announced the appointment of Ed Cantwell as senior vice president. In this new role, Cantwell and his team will work with a broad coalition of stakeholders to create a ubiquitous and low-cost platform for wireless health care delivery, specifically within hospitals and other medical facilities. With the proliferation of wireless devices – both medical and consumer – in health care environments, there is a pressing need to create standards and solutions for interoperability, safety and reliability.
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Cantwell is a pioneer in the global in-building wireless space, and in particular, in creating a medical grade wireless utility for hospitals. Most recently, he served as director of 3M Corporation's Wireless Business Unit and as chairman, president, and chief executive officer of InnerWireless, which he founded in 2000.
"Our mission is to lower health care costs, and as a non-profit medical research organization, we believe we can play a unique role as an honest broker between all parties to develop open solutions," said WWHI's founder and chairman, Gary West. "We were looking for a world class talent with the right experience to lead this critical initiative, and Ed has been at the forefront of delivering assured wireless connectivity within hospitals and other medical facilities for a decade. His expertise is invaluable as we work to make the use of wireless medical devices safe, reliable and dependable across every aspect of health care delivery."
West added, "If these standards and solutions are broadly adopted, it will dramatically accelerate the pace of innovation focused on lowering health care costs."
WWHI, founded in March 2009 by the Gary and Mary West Foundation, is one of the world's first research organizations dedicated to lowering health care costs by innovating, validating, advocating for, investing in and commercializing wireless technologies to transform medicine. The Gary and Mary West Foundation has committed more than $100 million to WWHI to date.
"It's an honor to join the Institute and the high-caliber team assembled by Gary and Mary West," said Cantwell. "I have witnessed the rapid adoption of wireless services, devices and applications in almost every sector, and am excited to be playing a leadership role in the proliferation of wireless in health care delivery. We want to enable hospital administrators and CIOs to feel confident that the combination of wireless technologies within the patient environment is safe and reliable. This work will ultimately make the deployment of wireless medical devices inexpensive and ubiquitous."
Cantwell's team at WWHI will work with a range of stakeholders to accomplish this goal, including regulators and health care providers, as well as wireless service, infrastructure, equipment, sensor, and application providers. The team's focus will include developing reference architecture for open and carrier-neutral infrastructure, as well as standards and processes that will facilitate end-to-end interoperability and quality of service.
"Ed is a respected visionary and technology entrepreneur and one of the few people in the world with real world experience in making wireless an assured utility inside health care settings," said Don Casey, CEO. "He knows the full range of players and will be able to bring the right people to the table to work together. We're thrilled he is joining WWHI as someone who can help us accelerate innovation and achieve our mission to lower health care costs."
Cantwell's wireless experience began while working for Texas Instruments, where he led a number of high technology businesses and successfully obtained spectrum allocations from the FCC. What started as an incubator project there became SpectraPoint Wireless, and Cantwell served as its president and CEO. Before founding SpectraPoint, Cantwell held several positions within TI's Defense Systems and Electronics Group, where he helped to develop a variety of communications and weapons systems. He also served as an Air Force fighter pilot for 12 years. Cantwell graduated from the University of Michigan's executive training program and is a Graduate of the Air Force's fighter weapons school. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University.
For more information about WWHI, visit www.westwirelesshealth.org.
ABOUT THE WEST WIRELESS HEALTH INSTITUTE
The West Wireless Health Institute (www.westwirelesshealth.org) is one of the first medical research organizations in the world supporting the exploration and application of wireless technologies to advance infrastructure independent health care. Founded in March 2009 by the Gary and Mary West Foundation, the nonprofit Institute is dedicated to innovating, validating, advocating for, investing in and commercializing wireless technologies to transform medicine. Its mission is to lower health care costs by accelerating the availability of wireless medical technology. The Institute is based in San Diego, California, the global center for health care innovation.
SOURCE West Wireless Health Institute