OH Medical Center, Siemens Strike Personalized Medicine Partnership

The Ohio State University (OSU) Wexner Medical Center and Siemens Healthineers have struck a partnership focused on advancing personalized medicine and improving access to high quality, cost-effective healthcare by implementing cutting-edge imaging and treatment technologies in OSU patient care and research centers.

Under the five-year collaboration, Siemens Healthineers and Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, will provide comprehensive technology and services, while OSU scientists and clinicians will contribute research initiatives and expertise. The partnership is hoped to form a “living lab” in which early scientific validation will speed breakthroughs in personalized medicine and healthcare delivery.

One of the initiative’s major goals is an outpatient expansion of the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James). The expansion, called Outpatient Care West Campus, is set to open in 2023 and will function as an advanced precision cancer care center. The outpatient center will offer various technologies and treatments, including proton therapy, radiosurgery, and oncology-focused interventional radiology.

Outpatient Care West Campus is also set to build on these technologies, including current treatment planning capabilities, in an effort to offer the most advanced diagnostic and treatment planning tools. OSU is also planning to build a new inpatient hospital, scheduled to open in 2026, and three other outpatient facilities, all of which will be implementing new technology with Siemens Healthineers.

Another project planned under the collaboration includes exploring opportunities in intelligent radiation dosimetric contouring algorithms, which would personalize radiation doses for each individual patient. This could spur researchers to create a platform that combines clinical, imaging, pathology, and genomic data with artificial intelligence (AI), which would drive pathways of care in nearly real time. Such a platform would enable providers and patients to make even more well-informed, evidence-based decisions together, according to the press release.

“This work not only supports a key step in our mission to improve the lives of our patients, but together we will research ways technology can accelerate breakthrough health discoveries and the care delivery process for all patients in the future," said Peter Mohler, PhD, vice president for research at OSU and chief scientific officer at its Wexner Medical Center.

The partnership also intends to integrate AI-driven advanced imaging and cutting-edge radiation oncology modalities at OSU’s Outpatient Care West Campus, develop advanced imaging methods to Improves access to care for obese and claustrophobic patients, and expand next-generation vascular robotics capabilities with the long-term goal of providing better access to advanced treatments across Ohio.

"We are energized by this partnership and its potential to bring our organizations together across multiple enterprise-wide projects that will drive meaningful, life-changing advancements in health care discovery, delivery, and access for all," said Jennifer Dauer, chief strategy and transformation officer at Wexner Medical Center.